Rain Puddles Design

I've never had a second thought about mixed media not having layers. It's might not exactly be like master artist hiding a whole work under a layer of gesso, but I'd like to wish that I've hidden some gems that peak up out from the layer above it. Well today's post is about loving those layers as a challenge on Splitcoaststampers Mix-Ability Challenge. MIX53: Loving Layers The process I went through is not entirely documented in my mind, but it started with an acrylic wash and then stamping with bubble wrap, some dry brush strokes, stencils were used, inked up stamps and then splatters of white gesso. It doesn't stop there, but it's almost a rinse and repeat at this point. :)   I gathered up all the paint used on the background and rubbed it onto a die cut paper doily and cut it around my already glued in place sentiment. I guess I decided that this layering was fun and I wanted to do more of it. These kinds of cards I don't min...

 I've got some FUN, EXCITING STAMPENDOUS to show you today. At Winter CHA 2014, Stampendous introduced a very well thought-out and creative new way to get crafty. It's called Stack Art and is exactly as the name promises. Here's some examples I created for two of Stack Art Kits lines. This humdinger of a project uses two kits plus Stack Art Essentials Kit. Here is what I used for the white Regal Bird Tag. 1. Stack Art Regal Bird Kraftboard Kit which includes diecut shapes,  preprinted sentiments/words and matching  double-sided sticky panels for easy embellishing. 2. Coordinating Stack Art Regal Bird Stamp Kit that includes an  acrylic handle just the right size for the stamps. 3. Stack Art Survivor Elements Kit with lots of different texture that stick  easily onto the Sticky Panels from the Kraftboard kit. And another tag using the kits  Royal Heart Kraftboard , Royal Heart Stamps and Fusion Elements Kit . ...

I was able to play in the studio yesterday and create some warm paper for the Splitcoaststampers Mix-Ability challenge, MIX52 - Warm Up! . Dina has challenged us to use two or more warm colors on our project and it certainly brightened my day since we are sitting in a seemingly unending weather inversion for the Treasure Valley. This card was a time to just get back into creating for fun. I've used a piece of white tagboard paper and painted a prep layer of white gesso all over it. I used Naphthol Light Red from Amsterdam Acrylics for a base color. The wide chisel brush used was quite wet and created a nice even layer of color. Each layer was dried with my heat tool, I might not mention it each time but know I'm not willing to walk away and wait for it to dry. I switched to a smaller chisel brush and barely wetting the bristles in water I grabbed Liquitex Burnt Sienna and quickly brushed it vertically then horizontally in patches across the paper. Cleaning the brush for...

The new Mix-Ability Challenge is today and I'm hosting over on Splitcoaststampers. We are creating MIX51: SPEED BUMPS on our projects and camouflaging them with color. I'm using the easy to get started mixed media style stamp from Stampendous called Baroque Cross . That's it! It only takes one gorgeous stamp, paint and some bumpy material with glue to complete this card. Here's some close up sections where I mixed glue with classroom glitter (because it's chunky) and the other is micro beads and paint with glue (I've had these and never used them until now.). Details: Stamps:   Baroque Cross (Stampendous) Paper:   Natural and white (Neenah) Ink:   Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), acrylic paints Accessories:   Matte decoupage glue (Mod Podge), Micro Beads (Stampin' Up or POP! or Martha Stewart as well), Liquid Pearls (Platinum, Ranger), Chunky Classroom Glitter Shop other products here:

Happy New Year!  It's been a long time off from my blog and quite unannounced unfortunately, but I'm so excited to get back in to the swing of things. Let's just say that my hip recovery/therapy and the holidays were putting limits on my creativity and mobility. Enough of that though. I'm posting today for the first of the year Diva Dare on Verve's blog . You can jump over there and get the details to play along as well as link your "Smitten" projects. Last weekend I made a surprise trip back to my hometown for two birthdays in my family. The surprise was for my mom and it went well with me walking in her door without invitation behind the known arrival of my older sister. The other birthday was my oldest sibling, Randy. He's started up a cattle business late in life and that seeps into our family conversations. It's what has inspired my card for this month's Diva Dare, "Smitten".  One of our conversations during my ...