MIX93 Friend to Friend- Together Again

 Hi Stampers!!

This has been another busy doctor appointment week for my hubby and I – my hubby had his first chemo treatment on Tuesday, and so far, so good (he has not had adverse side effects yet- Praise the Lord!)

Recently I have been experimenting with mixed media, so I decided to play with some of my new “goodies” last night and created two different cards using a similar color palette.  

I will be posting the two projects in separate posts and I was inspired by the Mix-Ability MIX93 Challenge at Splitcoaststampers- we were encouraged to check out France Papillon's site to be inspired :-)

  

I hope you have a chance to check out all MIX93 gallery- such inspiration from all!

The panels for both cards were created using similar colors and techniques- here are the steps to create both background panels:

On your piece of cardstock, apply a coat of Gesso and allow it to dry completely (you can use a Heat Tool to speed up the drying process).  

NOTE- I used a cardstock that is quite a bit heavier than Whisper White and it has a bit of a sheen to the finish- I received a large amount of this cardstock free from my last employer (it was "Over" from an old print job) and do not know the name of the manufacturer… I would definitely recommend Watercolor Paper or Natural White  (versus Whisper White) due to the amount of water used throughout the background process…

Once the Gesso has dried, apply Faber-Castell Gelatos™ to your craft mat (I used Cotton Candy and Guava)- spritz  water onto the Gelatos™ and mix together with your fingers (yes, this is a messy project but oh, so much fun)! 

Lay the Gesso background onto the mat and pull up- allow the Gelatos™ to spread around and dry with the Heat Tool.

Clean your craft mat and apply Ranger® Tim Holtz® Distress Stains to the craft mat- I used Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers and Dusty Concord (I applied them to the mat close together but separate).  Spritz with water and lay the background panel onto the colors, twisting and picking up.  Again, allow the stains to swirl around, laying the panel down again for more color as needed- dry with Heat Tool.

Add some dimension with stencils and Gesso – dry with the Heat Tool (this layer will not be evident except when you look at the card from different angles). 

Add drops of Adirondack® Jim Holtz® Alcohol Inks directly to the background- I used Eggplant, Latte, Denim, Mixative Copper and Mixative Silver- spritz with water and rotate the background panel to allow the inks to swirl and merge together, dry with the Heat Tool (the ink will spread a bit more with the air from the Heat Tool), apply more drops and keep building up the background as desired. 

Once you are satisfied with the background layer (I wanted to mimic a stone wall), ink the retired background stamp, French Script with Elegant Eggplant Classic Ink.  Lay the panel onto the background stamp (with the background stamp face up on the table) and lightly press certain areas onto the stamp to give a sporadically stamped appearance.

Use the stencil with Gesso (I used my finger) and apply Gesso to a few areas with the various stencils and dry with the Heat Tool.

Use the Distressing Tool to distress the edges and sponge Ranger® Tim Holtz® Tea Dye Distress Stain over the edges to “antique” the white part of the paper.

To create the first card:

Use the Distressing Tool to distress a piece of Blackberry Bliss cardstock, mount onto the card base (again, I used the same heavier weight of cardstock that was used for the background panel) and use a Sponge Dauber to add Ranger® Tim Holtz® Tea Dye Distress Stain to the white areas of the card base.

Mount the distressed, ink background panel to the card front.

Using My Digital Studio (MDS), insert the Postage Due and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp brush images into a blank document and resize (I had both of these already pre-printed in my stash).  I printed both of these out onto the same type of cardstock as noted above for the background panel.

Color the Postage Due using Ranger® Tim Holtz® Distress Stains – again, apply to the craft mat and lay the image into the stains, lift and dry with the Heat Tool.  Apply a bit of the Adirondack® Jim Holtz® Alcohol Inks – Mixative Copper, distress the edges and sponge Ranger® Tim Holtz® Tea Dye Distress Stain over the edges to “antique” the white part of the paper.

Mount the panel onto a piece of Blackberry Bliss cardstock, distress the edges of the Blackberry Bliss using the Distressing Tool and add the 3/8” Blackberry Bliss Stitched Satin Ribbon with the metal “Together” Embellishment (this was part of a scrapbooking kit from years ago- again in my stash).

Add the Postage Due focal image to the card front using Stampin’ Dimensionals®, insert the Paper Studio clock embellishment below the ribbon detail on the focal image and mount the lower part of the clock using Stampin’ Dimensionals®. 

Create the rolled flowers using Blackberry Bliss cardstock and Scallop Circle Punches-one each using the 2 ⅜” , 1 ¾” and 1 ¼” Scallop Circle Punches.  Hand cut a spiral from the outside edge of the scallop toward the center of the cardstock, scrunch the cardstock to break up the fibers and hand roll the flowers and adhere to the center of each scallop (I used Hot Glue to hold the flowers together)- here is a basic tutorial using Designer Series Paper (DSP)- I have found that cardstock makes a sturdier flower :-)

 Using your finger, lightly apply Gesso to the flowers and use the Faber-Castell™ Pitt Copper 252 Artist Pen to the petals to add a bit of metallic and mount the flowers onto the card front (again, I used Hot Glue).

Cut the sentiment apart, sponge a bit of Ranger® Tim Holtz® Tea Dye Distress Stain to distress the paper and mount to the card front using Stampin’ Dimensionals® to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets:  Postage Due, Teeny Tiny Wishes- both MDS versions, French Script (retired background)

Ink: Faber-Castell Gelatos™, Faber-Castell Pitt Pen- Copper 252, Ranger® Tim Holtz® Distress Stains, Adirondack® Jim Holtz® Alcohol Inks

Paper: Blackberry Bliss, misc. cardstock (from my stash)

Accessories: Gesso, Stencils, Distressing Tool, Sponge Dauber, Craft Mat, 3/8” Blackberry Bliss Stitched Satin Ribbon, Metal Embellishments- Clock- Paper Studio, Together- not sure of manufacturer, Scallop Circle Punches- 2 ⅜”, 1 ¾”, 1 ¼”

Thanks again for taking the time to visit- you are all such an encouragement to me!!  I will post the second card along with a few more of the HYCCT challenge cards later this evening – have a fabulous Friday!!