May Flowers - Scribbly Bird Canvas

Hello MAY! It always feels like the first unofficial month of summer. It's a lovely month and I'm certainly looking forward to May 2015! To celebrate May 1, of course, Mixed Media Monthly Challenge has a brand new theme... MAY FLOWERS

We want to see your projects that are filled with FLOWERS! We also have a fantastic sponsor and TWO PRIZES from Stampers Anonymous! 

The PRIZES include some sought after Dina Wakley products... she also happens to be our Guest Designer for May! Make sure you click over the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge blog to see her gorgeous creation.

Alright, now that the morning news is finished it's time to share my flowery canvas!

I even remembered to take some photos along the way!

I started with an old canvas that already had a lot of 'stuff' painted on it. No matter, because I just covered it up with some bold tissue paper using DecoArt Matte Medium. I created a lot of bunched up areas and wrinkles to add texture. 

Next I grabbed a LOT of flowers. Paper flowers. Burlap flowers. Wood flowers. Fabric flowers. It really didn't matter, because every one of them got a thick coating (or two or three) of DecoArt Gesso. I let the flowers and the canvas dry overnight.

I tried a lot of different arrangements until I settled on this diagonal pattern across the canvas. I made sure to keep the bulk of the flowers toward the bottom so the canvas didn't appear 'top heavy'.

Once the largest flowers were adhered, I filled in gaps with a mix of the smaller flowers. All of these items were adhered with hot glue (it's just faster and we probably all own a hot glue gun so dust it off and use it!).

Think you were finished with the gesso? Wrong! Now apply another very liberal coat of gesso over the entire piece. Again, I let it dry overnight. I then applied from DecoArt Crackle Paste to various parts of the canvas. Make sure it is COMPLETELY dry before moving on to the next steps.

This step is definitely 'where the magic happens'. Pick a few different ink sprays/mists and spray across the canvas. I used a scrap piece of paper to block off sections of the canvas while I was spraying. This helped keep the defined color areas throughout the piece (it also stops any chance of a beautiful MUD color from all those mists mixing). I used a combination of Prima Color Bloom Sprays and Heidi Swapp Color Shine sprays.

These Scribbly Birds from Stampers Anonymous are a FAVORITE of mine! I colored the bird with my Faber Castell Design Memory Craft Aquarelle pencils. These are watercolor pencils that are permanent when dry... perfect for mixed media. I also stamped a quote from the Collaged Hearts set by Stampers Anonymous and cut each word individually.

Now for the glamour close up shots :)

Welp, you made it all the way to the bottom of the post! Now click over to the MMMC blog to see what the rest of the design team created for the MAY FLOWERS theme. And you definitely don't want to miss what our guest designer, Dina Wakley created! 

I'm also adding this project to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "Anything Goes"

Love,

Rachel

Unity Birthday Hop!

Wow, I have been absent lately! I have spent the past two weeks all over Arizona and New England... it's been busy! Happy to be back home and into my routine... which includes Unity Thursdays!

Unity Stamp Co is celebrating its 7th birthday! Obviously Angela has to celebrate with a SALE so the entire site is 57% off with code "UNITY7"... don't blame me when your wallet runs dry ;)

Angie Blom has created some more new whimsy girls, and she is so so cute. I love the image and I got lost coloring it with Prismacolor Pencils.

I also bordered the girl with some brand new journal stamps by Suzi Blu. They are such a great accent for planners, but also for cards and scrapbook pages.

I used some more of the Suzi Blu journal stamps to make my own little bookmark...

All of the stamps are separate, so you can really build your own pattern to your heart's content! The bookmark was also colored with Prismacolor Pencils.

We have TWO amazing Unity filled prize packages to giveaway.  Leave a comment on EACH blog in the hop (including the Unity blog) for your chance to win.  The winners will be announced Monday night on the Unity blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Rachel

April Showers

I know I posted an April Showers project on April 1, but this one is different, I promise!

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge has issued an APRIL SHOWERS challenge going from April 1 through April 30th. There is still time to play and there are AMAZING artistic prizes to be won! For a refresher on that project, you can click here to go straight to my post.

This card was created for two reasons

1) There is a new DCWV Stack-a-Holic Sketch Challenge! I followed the card sketch

2) I had already cut out all these cute images to create the MMMC April Badge

This fun sketch is from pagemaps.com and is the April DCWV Challenge! Make sure you visit the DCWV Blog for details and a chance to win some amazing free paper products!

The papers I used to create the card are from DCWV "Sky's the Limit" paper stack. Here is a peek at the MMMC Badge I created, too...

I created this card for DCWV and used the theme for the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "April Showers". And don't forget to check out the MMMC April Showers challenge as well!

Now it's time for me to pack for my trip home to Phoenix tomorrow! Yippee!

Love,

Rachel

3 Layouts with 1 Free Cut File

Happy Easter! This is a very non-Easter related post. I have created THREE layouts from ONE fabulous cut file (that I only cut one time woohoo). Paper Issues has released a new Sketchy Saturday which always makes me giddy! I have also combined the sketch with my use of last week's free cut file. Double whammy!

LAYOUT NUMBER 1

Here is the fabulous sketch my layout was based from...

And here's the cut file that I only had to cut one time to get three very different layouts...

I had already cut the free cut file, which I of course used as a stencil! I misted through my 'stencil' using a variety of pink and gold Color Shines onto white cardstock. I cut a large circle from the white cardstock and used the negative for this layout.

You can see the misted stars throughout the white cardstock. I also had countless stars that came from the cut file, so I added a variety of sizes diagonally across the page.

The layout has photos of me, Lynn Kopas, and Jenn Shurkus at the Crop on the Cape! I had so much fun that weekend and have enjoyed scrapping our fun photos.

Supplies for Layout 1:

Silhouette Cameo Cutting Machine

My Mind's Eye - Collectable 12x12 paper

My Mind's Eye - Fancy That Mixed Bag Embellishments

Gossamer Glue - On my Desk

Heidi Swapp Color Shine - Gold, Coral, Blush, Mint, Mustard.

FujiFilm Instax Camera 

DCWV - Chick Chat stack (Michael's Stores exclusive)

LAYOUT NUMBER 2

For the second layout I also use both the Paper Issues sketch and the free cut file. I used the circle that was cut from layout number 1. 

I used a lot of distress ink on the circle to make the paper pink/purple to match the fun polka dot background. I also used more of the purple stars from my original cut file.

Yes, I scrapped another photo from Crop on the Cape! This time with Kathy Skou, myself, and Lynn Kopas (my roomies!). 

My favorite technique with my Dear Lizzy watercolor words... I painted the die cut 'smile' with my Peerless Watercolors in yellows and oranges. Once it is completely dry I added clear Wink of Stella. Once that's dry I apply a pretty thick coat of Glossy Accents. Annnnd once THAT completely dries... it looks awesome! Happy dance

Supplies for layout number 2:

Silhouette Cameo Cutting Machine

Peerless Watercolors

Heidi Swapp Color Shine - Gold, Coral, Blush, Mint, Mustard.

DCWV - Chick Chat stack (Michael's Stores exclusive)

Dear Lizzy Serendipity Words

Simple Stories I AM collection

Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush Pen

Glossy Accents

Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserve, Spun Sugar

LAYOUT NUMBER 3

I didn't think this layout would happen... I was planning on throwing away my original cut/stencil, since it was covered in failures of modeling paste and crackle paste, and a variety of ink sprays. But after a day of it drying and sitting... it kinda looked fantastic...

By the way, this is the patterned side of the page... I now have endless purple stars!

I turned my dirty stenciled page into this shiny gold gold and GOLD layout. Oh, and some gold stitching :)

You can kinda see some of the crackle paste on the stencil. And a variety of Color Shine mists.

If we're pals on Facebook this photo might look very familiar! This picture is of my dad, mom, hubby, myself, and the puppies in Maine.

Supplies for layout number 3:
Janome Sew Mini Sewing Machine

Silhouette Cameo Cutting Machine

DCWV Glitzy Glitter (gold background)

DCWV Premium Paper Pack (foiled vellum) - Sold at Joann's Craft Stores

DCWV Gilded Stack

Heidi Swapp Color Shine - Gold, Coral, Blush, Mint, Mustard.

Dear Lizzy Serendipity Word Thickers

Simple Stories I AM collection

Maggie Holmes Photo Overlays

Hope you all have a very Happy Easter! Please come visit back tomorrow for a super exciting announcement!!!! :)

Love,

Rachel

Unity Easter Hop

Thursday Thursday Thursday! I swear Thursday is becoming the new Friday ;) Especially when the Unity Easter Sale hits! There are some beautiful new releases and crazy sales ahead

I'm MOST excited about the brand new Whimsy Girls by Angie Blom! They are so adorable and I really loved coloring them :)

Isn't she darling?! Her little hat reminded me of a strawberry, so naturally I turned into a little Strawberry Shortcake :) I colored her with Copic markers and used Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to shade the sky. I even did some sewing!!! I sewed the sentiment in the corner using my new best friend, Janome Sew Mini.

I'm so excited that Angela used my little strawberry girl on a sale graphic this week!!! It's the little things that make some weeks a bit happier.

I had so much fun with that first Whimsy Girl that I had to color up the second one...

I also colored this darling fairy with Copic markers and used Distress Ink around the edges. A fairy needs SPARKLES so I went totally overboard adding Faber Castell Design Memory Craft Glass Bead Glitter Gel to her skirt and wings. It. Is. SO. SPARKLY! I adore that stuff.

We have TWO amazing Unity filled prize packages to giveaway.  Leave a comment on EACH blog in the hop (including the Unity blog) for your chance to win.  The winners will be announced Monday night on the Unity blog. 

Now keep on hopping for more inspiration! And happy shopping!

Love
Rachel