Spring Smiles Mixed Media Card

 

Hi friends! I'm excited to share a fun springtime mixed media card using all kinds of products from the Topflight shop! I just love to grab a bunch of mixed media elements and see what happens with my creativity! It's the most relaxing way for me to make a card because mixed media is very forgiving! 

For this card, I started with the background. I wanted to create an interesting yet subtle backdrop to the flower in the photo above. Utilizing a gelli plate, Ronds texxture plate by Carabelle Studios, and Zucchini acrylic paint by Fresco, I created a delightful and interesting background! Then I used the texture plate as a stamp to create another background. I trimmed and layered both backgrounds using my deckled edge paper trimmer and adhered them over a black frame. Then I adhered all of the layers onto a kraft 5.5x4.25 card base. 

Next it was time to work on my focal point - the beautiful flower from Daisy Grunge and the butterfly from Wings of Change, both by Visible Image. These are really awesome mixed media stamps! I stamped both with black ink and fussy cut them out. Next, I added Prism Glimmer Spray in Violet Ash and then splattered Lavinia Acrylic spray in Teal over the top I also added a bit of metallic gold paint. Then I die cut Fern Leaves from Craft Emotions and sprayed those with Glimmer paint as well. I used the same paints to splatter my background panel. Splatters are a great technique to bring interest and detail to your cards! 

Once everything was dry, I placed the pieces over my background panel and finished with the Smile sentiment and a few gold sequins. 

This card was very easy to create, and it was so enjoyable to just sit and play with all the mixed media pieces! Thanks for stopping by! 

SUPPLIES USED:

Daisy Grunge stamp by Visible Image

Wings of Change stamp by Visible Image

Ronds Texture Plate by Carabelle Studios 

Fern Leaves dies by Craft Emotions

Fresco Paint in Zucchini

Prism Glimmer Spray in Violet Ash

Lavinia Acrylic Spray in Teal

Zentangle and Copic Coloring a Butterfly

The Leane Creatief  "Doodle Butterfly 2" stamp is deceptively simple and yet so beautiful! And the open spaces in the sections of the butterfly are perfect for zentangle art as well as traditional Copic or color pencil coloring.

This is the first time I've tried zentangling (is that a verb?), and I am in love! It truly is very zen to sit and doodle and try different designs and patterns. Using Faber Castell Pitt Pens in XS, S and B point sizes, I had a blast making each butterfly I stamped onto a card front unique. 

Then to add some color, I used a Copic B00 to color the spaces between the butterflies and a couple of color pencils to add some depth of color in the nooks and crannies of the butterfly wings.

I separately Copic colored a butterfly with a few other blue markers, adding some dot details with a Signo Uniball White Gel Pen. Fussy cutting out this butterfly and adding some foam dots behind the wings, I popped this butterfly onto the card base that I first layered with a smaller sheet of vellum for some visual softness. I secured the vellum to the card base with glue just under the butterfly and under strategically placed sequins.

As this is a Fathers Day card for my dad, for the sentiment I heat embossed "Thank You" in Korean from the Altenew Oriental Orchid Stamp Set. I popped this up on foam dots for some dimension and took this opportunity to tack down the vellum in hidden spots again.

Although might not think of a butterfly stamp for a masculine card, I think the black and white graphic nature of the zentangling and limiting the actual coloring to blues, made this beautiful but totally appropriate for a Fathers Day card. If you'd like more details about the products I used or to watch the start-to-finish video of crafting this card, please check out my blog post HERE.

Industrial Steampunk Heart for Courage

Hello Topflight fans. Today I've made a card for a dear friend who is contemplating shuttering his start-up. It is a very emotional time, and a lot of dreams and hopes are being dashed. But I think he is right to close this chapter and move on to the next. I created this card not only to let him know that I am thinking of him, but to remind him of the quote, "Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts."

I created this Industrial Steampunk card inspired by the striking Carabelle-Studio "The heart has its reasons" stamp set. I Copic colored it, and fussy cut it out and then painstakingly popped the whole image up on fun foam for added dimension. I also added some Ranger Glossy Accents to give it some shine and interest.

For the card front, I really wanted to create a layered and textured background. I rummaged through my paper scrap box and found some thick watercolor paper that I had long-ago painted with blue and green fluid acrylics. Just a bit of that peeks around the next layer up, which is a glossy and slightly textured patterned paper of keys and clock work hands. I also found a bit of corrugated kraft card stock that I decided to paint with streaks of turquoise shimmer mister, black acrylic paint and putty acrylic paint. 

For some Steampunk accents, I die cut 5 gears from 100 lb black card stock using some Diemond Dies Steampunk Gears Dies. To give them a metallic shimmer, I blended on some Delicata Golden Glitz Ink to the die cut gears. I positioned them around and behind the top layer, which was the beautiful Steampunk heart image. 

For the inside liner, I simply stamped out the faucet from the Carabelle Studio "The heart has its reasons" stamp set on the upper right side. I matted the liner on more of the watercolor paper with the fluid acrylic paint to echo the matting on the card front. Then I used my computer to print out the quote into a big water droplet shape. I hand cut out the droplet, blended on some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass, and positioned it as if it were falling from the faucet.

I really enjoyed crafting this Steampunk Industrial card. If you'd like more details about the materials or to watch a Copic coloring video of the Steampunk heart image, please check out my blog HERE.

Cats Defined?

Hi Topflight fans! Today I'm sharing a layered mixed media card that tries to play with the idea that cats are a bit of a mystery (at least they are to me, a dog person - LOL).

I first created a background with a Tim Holtz Plaid Layering Stencil and Distress Inks blended through the stencil with fabulous Clarity Stencil Brushes (oh I love how softly they blend in color without any harsh blending tool marks). Next I stamped out the awesome Studio Light Cats & Girls Cat Sayings background stamp. I think the various definitions of cats in this stamp are a hoot!

I took a cue from one of those definitions ("cat around like to spend one's time aimlessly or idly") and picked an adorable For the Love of Stamps "Cute Kitties" stamp of a kitty sleeping on top of a pile of clean laundry as the focal point for the card. I Copic colored and fussy cut, and popped up this image on foam adhesive.

To add a little dimension to, softness behind and frame around this kitty image, I die cut a rectangular stitched frame and backed it with a piece of vellum before popping it up with foam adhesive strips. The the words in the background were still visible but softened through the vellum so that the kitty image stood out and popped from the card front. 

Since now the particular cat definition that was applicable to this kitty image was mostly obscured by the frame and vellum, I re-stamped just this definition with VersMark Ink on black card stock and heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Embossing Powder. To center this definition under the kitty image, I cut it apart and popped up the different segments on foam adhesive too. For a sparkly finishing touch I sprinkled on a healthy number of gold and orange star confetti and sequins.

I hope you had fun visiting with me today as I played with lots of different media to craft this card. If you'd like more detailed information about the products used or process of creating this card, please check out my blog HERE.