Background Tutorial...(with a give away)

Today I want to share a background tutorial with everyone.

This background will be turned into mixed media postcards for a swap I found over at

MixedMedia.club

and hosted by Lisa Vollrath who can be found at TenTwo Studios .

(I have been a fan of her collage sheets for years)

Anyhoo

I am in a use up mode lately. 

Trying to use the items I have around my house rather than go buy the newest latest & greatest.

I realize over the years I have bought and bought...now I need to USE!

This background uses what I have on hand, 

nothing fancy or special today, yet in the end I have a unique background waiting to be turned into

6 postcards.

Several for the swap and several left over.

Like what you see?

Leave a comment and you may get randomly picked for a piece of happy mail from me!

So let's begin...

First up I am using a 12x 12 piece of card stock (which I have piles and piles of)

You don't need special heavy weight paper for mixed media projects, I find that card stock works well for just about everything I am doing right now.

I tore some Washii tape and added strips here and there.

Squirted on some blue Americana acrylic paint (again I love my fluid acrylics but you know what...inexpensive craft paint works just as well for these) craft 

Spread it with a brush and squirt on some green paint by Plaid Folk Art.

Using the same brush spread it around.

Some orange...

And some yellow. Again these are the paints you can buy sometimes on sale 3 for a dollar etc. 

Nothing fancy.

I still had some white space so went back in and added a bit more color.

I took a fan brush and dry brushed some Liquitex unbleached titanium

to calm everything down and blend some edges. Wipe most of the paint off on a piece of scrap paper first, I wanted just a touch of the light color.

A script stamp and Archival ink...perfect for use on paints.

It dries quick and smudge proof. Script stamps are some of my favorite ones, they find their way onto just about everything I do.

A circle stamp by Club Scrap and Teal Blue StazOn ink.

This is where a mistake happened but turn the mistake into a happy design element.

I was using a mister with water & acrylic paint inside. The mister clogged so I took the nozzle off and started flicking, until I forgot I had the open bottle in my hand and tipped it over.

Yes...I meant to do that lol

Dylusions mist through a Crafter's Workshop stencil in areas.

Stamping with numbers and Archival ink.

I went back with the same stencil and used it with Gesso this time.

In some spots I got white diamonds, others the Gesso reactivated the Dylusions mist and it absorbed and  was tinted by the mist.

I went into my drawer full of rub ons.

You know the ones I HAD TO HAVE and never use.

Well here I just applied a bunch of the little tab ones randomly around the page.

Remember this is going to be cut up so each postcard will have a similar but different background.

Lastly some Punchinella and the same yellow paint as used on the background before.

I just rubbed it through with my finger here and there.

And here is the finished background all ready to be cut up.

Remember leave a comment and you'll get entered into a random drawing for a piece of happy mail from me created using a piece of this background.

Deadline for comments to be entered in the drawing is 8/30 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

A little more mail art...

A little while ago I stumbled across and online mixed media postcard swap

being hosted by Ursula Markgraf .

As I love getting mail that isn't a bill I immediately signed up to play.

Super easy, create several mixed media postcards and get several in return.

I can't wait to see my mailbox filling up with fun mail.

These are the ones I created for the swap.

                           

I started with a piece of cardstock 12x12 with the idea I could create a large background then cut the cards to size.

Acrylic paint in multiple colors were swiped across the paper.

Stamping added after using Solvent ink and several different stamps.

Added some washii tape and a light wash of white paint in spots.

The circles were stamped, painted in and then outlined with a Sharpie marker.

Acrylic paint wasdabbed through some punchinella.

Finally some scribbling with a fine black tip pen and a white pen.

The hearts were freehand cut from a dictionary page that I had used to clean excess paint off my brayer. They were then outlined with a Black Soot Distress Marker.

Each card then had a sentiment stamped onto it.

All are ready to go postal (YAY).

I can't wait to come back and share what I receive in return.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Coming soon!!!!!

ANNOUNCING...

     Hey everyone, I have some exciting news for all you paper craft hoarders out there! 

On the 5th of every month, starting September 5th, a fantastic group of hoarding crafters will be participating in an inspirational Monthly Blog Hop! We will share projects with you, show you how we are using up our hoarded supplies, and encourage you to dig into your own stash! Our goal is to inspire you to USE IT UP!

Each month, you will start at Gloria Stengel's Blog and hop through 20 amazing blogs. The participating crafters will share projects in all styles and media types, using both old and new product! Some designers will share tutorials; some will share storage solutions; some will share how to use your scraps and leftovers; some will share videos. There is a wealth of experience and creativity among these crafters! Many of the designers are on popular manufacturing teams and a few are part of exceptional challenge blogs. I hope you will take the monthly journey with us, and DE-HOARD your supplies!

Here is the list of the participating Bloggers. Make sure to hop along and say hello! We will share our first projects on September 5th!

Gloria Stengel

Vicki Robertson

Debbie Seyer

Ginny Nemchak

Pam Bray

Jacquie Southas

Glenda Brooks

Amber Milone

Tracey Sabella

Donna Idlet

Bonnie Garby

Nancy Dynes

Wendi Robinson

Teresa Horner

Kathy Clement

Jan Ennenga

Barbara Rankin

Karen Zueger-Brownell

Marisa Job

Christy Houser

 Mark your calendars and get ready to hop and be inspired!

Making my first DECONSTRUCTED Art Journal page...

I recently joined a group on 

Facebook called DECONSTRUCTED Art Journaling.

Instead of swapping full on art journals we swap pages or signatures.

In the end you get 3 pieces of art to add to your journal.

I loved this idea and quickly jumped in, I'm always looking for inexpensive ways to swap art.

Pages are definitely easier to swap, almost instant gratification, instead of waiting for a book 

to make it's rounds the pages come directly to you.

Absolute fun!

This was my first creation for the swap.

In the end you create a front, center and back page to swap.

My front page is created using Gesso, NeoColor IIs and stamping.

Open up the signature and this is the main piece.

The background is created with acrylic paint, stamping and collaging some 

Gelli printed tissue papers.

I did a little machine stitching up the side and added some Crafty Secrets collage images.

The quote is a Donna Downey stamp on more Gelli printed tissue paper.

The back page is created using

Modeling Paste, A Stencil Girl stencil, and several

layers of acrylic glazes.

Off to get this in the mail.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!