I adore everything about this card – this is quite possibly my most favourite stencil of all time, and the Glitz glitter gel takes the simple ink blending to a whole other level.
Project: Drop down (snowflakes drop down)
Colours: Supper table (my crockery is all blues/aquas so that’s what I based my colours on)
Element: Season(s) (I chose the festive Christmas season)
Random: Shiny (you can’t get much more shiny than that Glitz glitter gel, but I also foiled my sentiment for an extra bit of shine)
A few weeks ago I spent a weekend away so I could do a full day of craft classes at The Scrapbooker’s Confetti Box in Swansea, NSW. Because it’s a two-hour drive each way, I opted to book a hotel room by the beach to make it more of a full weekend of recharging the batteries.
The first class I attended in the morning was learning how to pour quick-cast resin into moulds, and oh boy was it fun! I went mostly with ocean/beach themes for my choices and managed to use up the entire bottle of resin we received as part of the kit.
The afternoon was more intense learning as I was stretched outside my comfort zone again – I’ve come to realise I’m a super slow crafter, and we needed a full six hours to get the projects completed. My goodness it was a fun project to work on … I especially loved the effect of adding mica powder to the glue paste through the stencil for dimension. This project was another of the ones originally taught by Antonis Tzanidakis, designer for Stamperia called ‘Poison’ – so many fun details of this one. Loving the stone paper ‘leather’, although mine looks more like hammered metal,which I love too. I definitely need more practice with painting, but I’m pretty stoked with my attempt!
My next personal mission is to recreate something similar myself using a beach theme … unbeknownst to me at the time there would be an ocean theme release by Stamperia before I started, so I’ll have more inspiration in the near future.
Oh boy did I get outside my comfort zone with this project! I visited a scrapbook store two hours north of where I live back in May and heard they had some mixed media classes. I kept an eye out on their schedule and when I saw this project I knew I really wanted to give it a try. Sadly I missed out on the first round of classes when it was held with the Stamperia designer visiting from Greece, Antonis Tzanidakis as they sold out within 24 hours. I was so disappointed, then found out the store had been given the go-ahead to teach the classes again using some leftover kit supplies. Well, I couldn’t hand over my credit card quick enough for this one!
I’d never ever done a project like this before and had no idea what I was really signing up for – this book is a full A4 in size, so it’s not a small project, and it’s uses a lot of resin pieces and chipboard gears etc. I learnt so much from this class, and it was the most inspirational craft session I’ve had in a long time – totally new techniques to learn, and different products in use that I’d never heard of. As a first attempt at this, I’m incredibly proud of my achievement, and look forward to doing more in the future. I can totally recommend classes at The Scrapbooker’s Confetti Box in Swansea, NSW – they’re a joy to craft along with … although my bank balance may believe otherwise, going by all the goodies in my car boot on the way home!
I watched a mixed media video by Libby Hickson at Hero Arts on the weekend and learnt about creating texture with Hero Paste using rubber stamps. I decided to create this card to try it out, and I’m also using it for my Just Add Ink wildlife submission this week. The texture of the water is so fun!
These inky things of beauty came about from the recent 4-in-1 card video by Jennifer McGuire , and the fact that I want to try more mixed media techniques. There was a challenge in the Hero Arts Mixed Media Facebook group this month to create a project with at least two different types of media – then I watched Jennifer’s video and the rest is history. It’s the most fun and liberating project I’ve done for a while … just playing with whatever I laid my hands on with no plans for how it would end up looking like!
I’m still surprised that I managed to make these, but the hardest part now is turning them into cards – the first once I created, though, was turned into a birthday card this morning – and hopefully the recipient will enjoy it.
As for the two media types used in the project? Well there were a LOT more than that in the end – dye ink, pigment ink, heat embossing, Distress mica spray, Hero paste and Hero pearls – with a final touch of acrylic paint splatter! So much fun trying some of these products out for the very first time, and also christening some stamp sets etc at the same time too!
Here’s where it all began … I chose some cool colours in the purple/purpley-blue range from Gina K Designs. And I’m also using the finished card for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, as it includes multiple areas of stamping.
Add a ton of different products randomly around the panels – using multiple stamps and stencils from various brands (Stampin’ Up!, Gina K Designs, Simon Says Stamp, Pink & Main, and My Favorite Things from memory) – and a masterpiece is born. OK, perhaps not an actual masterpiece … but truth be told I’m pretty chuffed with it, and can’t believe I actually made it myself!
I needed a birthday card this morning for someone who’s a lover of the colour purple and who enjoys the odd glass or two of wine … so hopefully this card fits the bill.
I joined the Hero Arts mixed media Facebook group, hoping to dip my toes into the mixed media creative world to learn something new and to see if I enjoyed the techniques. This week saw the first challenge where we watched a demonstration video about adding very simple texture to a cardfront – and this is my attempt at trying to replicate it. Sadly I don’t have any of the Hero Arts mixed media products yet, so I made do with whatever paste I could find (it was a very thick pastillage texture paste from Gina K that I hadn’t opened yet). It didn’t give the same results, but I’m super happy with how it turned out! I used the Mermaid stamp set by Hero Arts for my image and sentiment – as for what I used on the background, I threw so many different types of ink etc at it, I couldn’t honestly tell you what ended up in the final product!
I have so much more to learn with mixed media, but I’m looking forward to the journey along the way.
OK the heading may be stretching things a bit, but I think this qualifies as mixed media so I’m saying it’s true 😉
Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected me to create something like this … Craft Roulette once again pushes me outside my comfort zone. What started as a boring background (made months ago just to mop up some leftover ocean mist ink after ink smooshing) looks totally different ink blended randomly with two brown inks, with a rice paper postcard stuck down with Modge Podge, washi ephemera stickers, and ephemera labels, and a few random stamps. I freaking LOVE this!! My first ‘real’ mixed media attempt!
Project: Collage
Colours: 3 pops of red (very small hearts)
Element: Far away (the Eiffel Tower is far away from me, and the postcard is sent from far away)
Random: Vellum or tissue paper (rice paper postcard is acceptable as tissue paper I think)
That also means I can submit this into the Use Your Stuff challenge of ‘mixed medfia’ this week – and three older items used from my stash, the rice paper and the modge podge, and also christening the ephemera pack that contained the butterflies and labels.
I’m also going to enter it into the V is for Vintage challenge over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers … although I have another snarky card in mind for that challenge too!
