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.

Where are YOU going?

Ever have a day where yo wander around aimlessly?

You KNOW you should be doing something but just can't settle on what, or even where.

This page came about from that restlessnes.

I knew I wanted to work on something but couldn't settle on what. Bouncing around from project to project with nothing really catching my attention.

Then I came to this page.

Several year ago my oldest was bored in class and wound up folding tissue paper into tiny squares and dip dying it into watercolor paint.

She didn't need them for anything so as usually is the case here they became mine, where they sat on the desk forever.

Until today.

I applied one layer of tissue paper using gel medium, wasn't totally happy with the coverage so applied a second layer of the tissue paper on top.

I then swiped Gesso over the page in spots (there was way to much purple & orange before I did).

I then used a wet brush and a very light coat of Silks Acrylic Glaze in Teal Zircon. I love these paints, they cover completely but still are translucent enough for the background to shine through.

Once it dried I added Bolivian Blue in some spots.

BoBunny background stamp and Archival ink.

Followed up with a ton of RubOns (still didn't make a dent in the stash though)

Some ink was rubbed through a Crafter's Workshop arrow stencil and a Club Scrap question mark stencil.

I'm happy with what my aimless wanderings produced. I may not always know where I am going but I definitely enjoy the trip.

Now if I could apply the same energy to the suitcases that need packing….

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Possibility....

Messing around today with a friend's art journal.

This isn't my typical creation, both the colors which are super bright and the actual hand doodling are not my normal.

I started out by laying down color on the background with my NeoColor II water soluble crayons.

I then drew in the border with a Sharpie and added more color.

Along the inside I used up a bunch of number rub ons from 7 Gypsies, then misted with Vibrant Turquoise & Squeezed Orange ink sprays by Dylusions. I lifted u the book before drying to get some good drips.

Then white ink through sequin waste.

The hearts were cut out from various papers and layered together then machine stitched down the center. I only glued the bottom heart to the page. The rest can be flipped through and written on if you want to add more journaling. 

I outlined the hearts with a Sharpie.

Super thin layer of Gesso and then a Rub on.

I doodled around it a bit to draw focus to it.

Lastly I took a white gel pen and Crafter's Workshop stencil and created some diamonds across my page.

This page is making me very happy, guess it's good to step out of the normal every once in a while.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!