Guest Post: Mixed Media

As mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm taking a little blog vacation this week and have invited some friends to share on the blog for the next few days. 

Today my very good friend Sara is here to give you a little tutorial on mixed media. This girl knows mixed media folks. I can dabble in a little paint here and there but honestly, she knows what she's doing. Check out her classes at The Paperie or her blog at SaraThings for more of her inspiring designs. 

Take it away Sara...

When Krista asked me to contribute as a guest blogger this week I was thrilled.

And then I was worried.

I mean, come on, she’s an awesome scrapbooker, right? So instead of showing you something that you can get in an awesome form her, I decided to get messy hands!

I love making home décor – really, it’s one of my favourite things to do. No stress over what pictures to scrap, no worrying about timelines or if I have too many LO’s of Molly, my daughter, and not enough of Gabe, my son- just fun playtime!

I’ve been wanting a new canvas for my front porch and this seemed like the perfect time to make one! So grab a cup of whatever you fancy and enjoy the pictures and mini tutorial!

First, I add my base layers with Ranger Matte Multimedium – usually text or book paper, tissue paper, and doilies. In this case I was lucky enough to have a dictionary with the word “home” and tissue paper with antique keys on it – perfect for a home canvas even though you won’t see much of it once I’m finished - the trials of mixed media layers! That’s ok though, I just like knowing they’re on there!

Next, I always add a layer of molding paste through a stencil . This is a step a lot of people don’t take but I love the dimension and look it gives the finished product - way more texture and visual interest than just the paper layer.

Now comes the waiting game. If you’re totally impatient (and I normally am) you can carefully heat set it but I find I like the molding paste better for this type of project when it air dries. Sigh.

So do this step late at night and then go to bed. It will be ready in the morning and you won’t feel like you’ve waited at all!

Once it’s dry you can paint, mist, ink, whatever – just add some colour! My favourites lately are the Luminarte Silks – they’re a waterbased, shimmery glaze, and the colours are incredible! I usually slap them on randomly but since I kind of knew where I was going with this canvas the colour placement  was a little more deliberate.

See how the paint picks up the stenciled designs and the doilies? Sweet!

Next, while you wait for that to dry, you can cut your images from patterned paper or book text. Don’t be too fussy, this is not a perfect piece – it’s art! Once you’re happy with the pieces, use the multimedium to adhere it all to each other and the canvas.

Now this is where we get into the little details!

First, add some shadows – I love my Distress Markers for this since they blend over the multimedium really well:

Then some doodling, stamps, and rub-ons for detail and more texture:

Add some word stickers, some extra embellies if you like:

And you’re done!

This is a quick (seriously, it took about an hour, tops, including most of the drying time), easy, and great way to use paper scraps and all those rub-ons you won’t throw away!

I hope you liked this little break from the norm here on Krista’s blog – I know I enjoyed showing you some of what I do! You can catch up with me any time over at my spot in the blogosphere, sarathings, where I do more of what you’ve just seen, scrapbook LO’s, tutorials, and more. Hope to see some of you there and who knows, maybe someday I’ll convince Krista to guest blog for me! And big thanks to her for having me here – it’s been a blast getting painty!

xoxo
S