mixed media

ABC Christmas Challenge

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you had a fabulous past few weeks. We are back at ABC Christmas Challenge at the beginning of the alphabet. We are having a little change in the amount of entries you can make to our challenge – it is now 5 entries maximum to make it fairer for the random prize winner.

Helen is hosting and we have the Christmas themes of:

A is for Anything Goes

&

B is for Buildings

Here are my cards:

A for Anything Goes
B is for Buildings

My first card was created using some layering stencils from Spellbinders with Pinkfresh Studio Inks. This involved quite a bit of masking so I could add different colours to the same stencil layer, but I must have been in a fiddly and faffy mood because I enjoyed the process.

Once the image was ink blended, I then used the matching die to cut it out.

The background was created using white embossing paste from Altenew with a stencil from Brutus Monroe to create the white on white background. Once dry, the ink blended image was adhered with 3D foam.

I then used some gold shimmery acrylic paint to splatter across the whole card, and added some gems. The sentiment is also from Spellbinders and using their gold card stock.

For the second card with the houses, I went slimline. I die cut the house strip using glittery silver card stock and Time 4 Tea Designs slimline die. Some of the same glittery card stock was adhered to the card base, the blue layer added after die cutting with a Elizabeth Craft Designs ‘Dotted Background‘ slimline die so the glittery card stock would show through.

The blue card stock from my stash must be years old, and has some very. very fine texture of lines to it.

I hope you can come and join us and start your stash of cards ready for the end of the year.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Girls Creative Christmas – anything goes Christmas

Jingle Belle’s Rock – Christmas with something old and something new – old card stock and dies, new glittery card stock and Spellbinders stencils

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Guest Designer Creative Artiste Mixed Media

Hello there. I was thoroughly pleased and excited to be offered a chance to be Guest Designer at the new Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge, when THIS card was chosen as winner by their Design Team.

The theme is always ‘anything goes mixed media’. Here is my creation:

I started by creating the background by using a snowflake stencil from Funky Fossil and Distress Texture paste in ‘Sparkle’. This set off to one side to dry and I then moved to creating some panels with Colorsparx watercolour powders in red and green – these were then set to dry, and for the other foliage, I created some panels using Distress Inks and Distress Mica sprays.

I already had an ink smooshed panel of lighter brown and dark splatters which I dug out ready to use.

Once all the panels were dry, I used Tim Holtz ‘Holiday Brushstroke 3‘ die set for the poinsettia and leaves, Spellbinders gold card stock for the centre of the poinsettia, and Sizzix ‘Buds and Branches‘ for the other foliage. The layers of the poinsettia glued together, and the edges with a Brutus Monroe Tricolour ink pad for more shadow.

The snowflake panel a was adhered to a square card base, and the floral and foliage images around to my satisfaction then attached with either 3D foam pieces or glue.

Some snow effect was added splattering Liquitex acrylic iridescent ink in white and gold, a foiled sentiment attached, and then some Pinkfresh Studio ombre glitter drops – I do like sparkly gems.

I absolutely loved creating this project. Mixed media is quite scary for me, but I have found that if I just go with my gut – it usually turns out reasonably good.

I hope you can have a go yourself and join the challenge this time round. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Try It In Tuesday – traditional Christmas

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner – anything goes – option of three or more layers taken

Beautiful Blossoms – florals

Love To Craft – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner I Spy – something for Christmas

Flowers, Hares, and a Bird

Hello everyone. Whilst I was watching the England football this evening, I decided to create something using techniques and mediums I rarely – if at all – use. Like most of us, I have them, but am unsure of how to use them, so today I just went with it to create this collage mixed media panel:

The starting off point was the image in the centre. This is actually a layering washi tape from ‘AALL and Create’. I have never seen these before, and one of my go-to shops showcased them recently – so I bought a few different ones to try.

This is the ‘Sunflower and Hares’ washi, and I layered it onto some Distress Kraft Heavy stock and cut it down into a square.

Now to play with ‘stuff’…..I took a spare piece of white card stock and some Tim Holtz papers and went to town. Using the vintage collage medium to give a sepia tone, I created layers on the background.

I then took an Indigo Blu red rubber stamp and Archival ink to stamp partial images over the dried collage. I created a brown stencil paste using Altenew embossing paste and brown Impasto acrylic paint, a Tim Holtz stencil, and added detail to the background.

When the paste had dried, I took some gold wax and rubbed it over the top – I wanted some vintage yellow to somewhat match the sunflowers.

I then added some green die cut leaves I had laying around on my desk, covered them with the vintage distress collage medium to tone down the green a little,

Once all that was dry, I added the square with the images with the other collage medium, then found some light brown paper flowers, adding some of the gold wax to the petals, and stuck them down as you see.

As I was putting some of the papers away, a strip dropped out ‘Made in England‘ so I added that to the bottom.

Here are the products I used, and you can see the roll of washi tape off to the side:

All-in-all, a fun but messy creation. I still have no idea what I’m doing – but I did enjoy the process.

Here is a picture of the washi tape just attached to white card stock and the image the four layers create, ready for making into a card:

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More – make your mark

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Inkspirational – stencils – option to use paste taken

We Love 2 Create – anything goes mixed media

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge – anything goes mixed media

Triple B – birds and/or butterflies and/or blooms

Stained Glass Bird

Hello again. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘B’, and Debbie has chosen the theme of ‘Birds’. Here is my card:

This cute little bird is a die and stencil set from Simon Says Stamp. I ink blended the bird areas, masking off some parts so there was no contamination between the areas, adding some darker shading to some of the areas. I then die cut the white stained glass portion several times, adhering all but one of them to the ink blended image.

I then went in with some glossy accents, let that dry, then added the final white layer. I then added a black gem for the eye.

The background panel was created using an embossing folder from Spellbinders, using their sage green card stock and cut down slightly so there would be a white border on the card base.

The scalloped circle was cut, and dry embossed with another embossing folder.

The floral images are from Concord & 9th, stamped then die cut, and I made sure I made a lot of them in similar colours to the bird, so I could put as many down as I wanted.

I then added the bird, and slotted the floral images all over the bottom of the circle, adding some gold gems in the centre of the flowers and some around the edge of the circle.

A foiled sentiment to complete the card.

I hope you can come and join us with your projects incorporating a bird/birds. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of weather not taken

Tic Tac Toe – stencil, die cut, critter

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

We Love 2 Create – anything goes mixed media (ink, foiling, glossy accents)

Creative Artiste Mixed Media – anything goes mixed media (ink, foiling, glossy accents)

Triple B – birds and/or butterflies and/or blooms

Stencil Fun – use a stencil – option spring/flowers taken

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – stencil it

ABC Christmas Challenge – A and B

Hello once again. The ABC Christmas Challenge is at the beginning of the alphabet again. Helen is hosting this time round, and we want to see your ‘A for Anything goes’ and ‘B for Bears’ Christmas creations. Here are my cards:

A is for Anything Goes
B is for Bear

As you can see – two very different styles of cards.

The first CAS card is using s Clearly Besotted image, stamping, colouring with Copics, then using an oval to die cut, layering that white oval with black, then adding a foiled sentiment.

The second definitely not CAS card took a little more preparation.

I sprayed some Tim Holtz mica spray onto some Distress Heavystock card, splattered with white acrylic paint and set aside to dry.

I then totally channeled Tim Holtz from one of his YouTube videos, and die cut the bear from white and grey wood grain card stock, layered together, then added a pink scarf using a previously created ink smooshed panel.

The trees were die cut from a panel of card onto which I had glued some tissue paper, added water, added Brushos, then when dry added some gold wax. The die cutting of the trees flattened the ridges on the trees – but if you add the wax prior to die cutting then the detail is still there.

I snipped and placed the trees, added the bear, added some white glitter drops for the snow on the ground, then added the sentiment – die cutting the ‘board’ from the same white and grey card stock, and adding the letters in a haphazard fashion – I struggle with straight when I do a sentiment like this, so I went overboard with the higgledy-piggledy.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CAS card:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Creative Knockouts – anything goes

Crafting Happiness – celebrations

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

Bear card:

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with critter as main focus

The Four seasons Challenge – anything goes winter

Challenge Up Your Life – ice, ice, baby

Most Magical Time Of The Year – anything goes Christmas or Halloween

Cherish The Season

The new challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has begun. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas‘. Here is my card:

Onto a slimline card base I added a strip of embossed card layered with some gold.

The holly leaves from hero Arts were die cut from a previously created mixed media panel. This panel was ink smooshed in a dark green, then a stencil laid on top, some grit paste added, and once dry, I gently brushed some gold wax over the top.

Once these were adhered to the card base, I added some gold facetted gems, and the foiled sentiment.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations – remember- it’s anything goes Christmas. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Krafty Chicks – anything goes

CYHTP – embossing folder – option leaves

Shopping Our Stash – leaf/leaves

Mix It Up Challenge – anything goes – option ink smooshing

We Love 2 Create – anything goes mixed media

Most Magical Time Of The Year – anything goes Christmas or Halloween

Because Nice Matters……

Hello. Another messy crafty time creating – trying my hand at some mixed media creations:

Onto \ piece of white baseboard, I stuck another piece of card, some crackle paste, and a couple of stencils to create the diamond area in a couple of places, and there are some dotty areas too – but I think they are covered.

After those areas were dry, I added a layer of Gesso, let it dry, then applied some Sizzix acrylic paint in a yellow and a teal blue/green, sprayed some water, used a brush and basically moved it around the piece to create some messy shadow areas. Before that layer was dry, I also added some mica shimmer powder – wet them down a little more to create a more concentrated colour.

I used a whole host of flowers I had in my stash, keeping them mostly to the same colour or tone – or I even altered them a little with some paint. I also used some Tim Holtz die cut wallpaper flowers.

I also used a rectangle of Tim Holtz wallpaper, distressed the edges, ink blended around those edge, then stuck it down – leaving the edge kinda curly.

Then I played with my stash of flowers and die cut leaves – tinting the leaves with the same acrylic blue/green paint, the edges of the some of the flowers, and even used some mixed media art stones – coloured yellow for the centre of the flowers. They are a little fiddly to get where you want them – but I persevered because I only wanted them in the centre of the flowers.

The flat die-cut flowers are also from Tim Holtz, and I used them as a base layer on the small panel, and glued the rest of the flowers down – hot glue gun – as you see.

I added some clear glass cabochons and used a Tim Holtz ‘Quote Flair‘ as the sentiment.

After all had dried, I applied some dots of glue then glittered select places – some flower petals in particular.

So – lots of layers, lots of messy crafting, drying time required – though the heat tool comes in handy sometimes. I really enjoyed playing this way for a change – I am sure I will learn more about the techniques and layers as I continue to play – and watch YouTube, of course!

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – add some green

We Love 2 Create – anything goes Mixed Media

Creative Artiste Mixed Media – anything goes mixed media

Dragonfly Dreams Challenge – make something to make you smile

Butterflies and Flowers

Hello there. I have a project to share with you today that has taken me completely outside of my comfort zone. I have no idea what I’m doing, I have no idea what I’ve done – but I enjoyed playing.

I took inspiration from several challenges, gathered some stuff together, and set to gluing and sticking and layering and……well – here it is:

I printed out some digital papers and tags Vectoria Designs, and stuck down to some card to give a little bit of body to them.

On the base card I placed some patterned paper – no idea where from – and started to add the elements. I wanted the butterfly sticker and sentiment to be used on one side, and lots of flowers on the other.

I added some glitter – then decided it looked awful – so I covered the glitter with pieces of washi tape……..!

The flower tags were cut and arranged as you see, and I even added another butterfly.

I found some glass domes and added some of them and laid one over a flower image to give some more dimension to the colour.

Some of the areas looked a little bare, so I took a swirly heart stamp and added some detail with that – you can see part of it next to the black butterfly sticker……

I still have no idea what I’ve done, or what I’m going to do with it – but I enjoyed the process – very freeing……..no focus or plan to what I did, no squaring things off – just sticking…….

I have another kit from Craft Box UK – the Alice in Wonderland kit – so I may have another go at a different – well – what is it? Is it collage? Is it mixed media? Is it both? No clue, absolutely no clue…….

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Just Add Ink – Mixed Media – (ink, 3D objects, tags, washi tape…..)

Craft Hazelnuts Patterned Paper – anything goes with patterned paper

Crazy 4 Challenges – collage background

Daring Cardmakers – add 3 of something (3 pieces of washi tape)

X for Xtra Embellishments

Hello. A new challenge has begun at The Alphabet Challenge, and this time we want to see Xtra Embellishments – more than you would normally add.

Well – I took this to a whole new level, and decided to go with a mixed media kinda look – something I have not tried for years and years:

I don’t ‘do’ mixed media, but it is something I want to try, I want to learn, and have even booked a 3 day workshop at Indigo Blu for just having a go and having a play.

I have watched quite a few YouTube videos, but the best for me – by far – are those of ‘Maremi SmallArt’. I love her style of working, her chat, her whole attitude to the mixed media genre. I can hear her now – ‘just do it‘ and ‘why not?’ – so I did………..I went and did it, why not? :)

Here is a link:

https://www.youtube.com/user/MaremiSmallArt/videos

I started off with a piece of card board from a Simon Says Stamp card kit and went from there. Patterned paper on the background, distresssed around the edges with Distress Ink, stenciled some glitter paste in parts of the background and then waited. That’s the hardest part for me!

Whilst waiting, I hunted through my Tim Holtz Bigz dies for some stuff to add – found keys, feathers, butterflies, honeycomb – so I cut them all out with other pieces of cardboard and my trusty Sizzix Big Shot Pro. Then waited – and thought – tried to plan………….then heard Marta – ‘just do it‘.

I used some glitter paste on some of the elements and just stuck then down, just a little planning – I knew I wanted the bright flowers on the left, and more muted on the right…………….

I think I’m hooked…………..maybe next time I’m going all out with white Gesso and colours and metal bits and frames and – and – and…….!

Phew…….I need to calm down – but I am not working for the next 12 days. Hmmm! The products I used are on the side – and it’s a huge list – I think I got them all!

Anyhoo – I hope you can come and join us for this challenge – it has certainly inspired me, and I hope will inspire you too. The challenge welcomes any handcrafted item – so it doesn’t need to be a card (thank goodness!)

I hope to see you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnuts Patterned Paper – atg patterned papers

A Bit More Time To Craft – anything goes

Mixed Media Academy – mixed media celebration (birthday)

Tuesday Taggers – go green or recycle (cardboard box)

More Mixed Media – mixed media option of red

Attempts at glue gun art

I had a great playtime yesterday afternoon and evening, inspired by Maremi Small Art of YouTube. I have been subscribed to her channel for a few weeks – and what she can’t do with household stuff for creating mixed media and texture probably isn’t worth knowing! Kitchen towel, cotton wool, egg shells, tea bags – you name it, she has probably tried it. All I can do is watch and listen to her videos, and be inspired to think about doing something – well, not actually doing it. Until yesterday.

She posted a video about using a glue gun and creating a bubble technique, which really got my creative juices flowing. I have a glue gun, I have some glue re-fills, I have small and large canvases – all waiting for that special thing to make. They have been waiting for quite a while………and on one of her videos she did say we spend a lot of time looking at things for inspiration, without actually doing it. I think her phrase was something along the lines of ‘just go and do it’.

I hunted out my glue gun, plugged it in, then got my canvasses – and went for it! I tried the small 6 inch squares first – not brave enough to attempt the larger one first time.

I glued a flower shape that vaguely resembled Altenew’s stamp set ‘Adore You’ main flower shape, after coating the base with a mixture of acrylic inks I had. Let that dry, coloured the canvas with some inks, coloured the flower with a red ink, then smoothed on some gilding wax to the outline of the flower.

I then moved onto the leaf – glued the main leaf shape, and filled-in the rest of the canvas as I thought it was too plain, (I keep trying for clean and simple, honest), added ink over the whole canvas, then used different colours of gilding wax to the raised glue areas.

The largest one was a challenge. I covered the whole canvas with a mixture of three or four different colour acrylic paints, let it dry, added some straight lines at the bottom (because I could!), added some vague flower outlines in glue, then realised it almost looked like cliffs, a beach, and the sea – so I attempted an outline of those images.

I again went in with some more inks and colours, then rubbed different wax colours over the raised sections.

Oh what fun! Loved it. May not be to everyone’s taste, but I really, really, loved playing. It’s messy, too. Well, it is for me, anyway!

I am entering one of the makes into the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge – showers and/or flowers

Altenew Inspiration Challenge – photo inspiration (inspired by Sveta’s card)

Creative Artiste Mixed Media – anything goes mixed media