Memories

 

     This week I decided to use one of my own family pictures to create a canvas. I used a little different process, in that I left the canvas white and immediately began adding components and layering with inks and paints. Usually I color the canvas first and then add more as I go along. This was a fun way to venture out of my normal habits and try a new technique. When using vintage and one of a kind photos, please save the originals in a nice album. Make a copy and use the print instead. This way you can enjoy your family photos to decorate your home, but still preserve the originals to be passed down to future generations. I just use a good quality card stock and a standard HP ink jet home printer, but you can have them printed at a print shop or office supply, if you desire. With the ink jet prints, I always spray with an acrylic matte sealer before using. This keeps the ink from running or fading when it comes in contact with glues, inks or other mediums. There's usually a lot of water in the mediums I use, and this technique has worked very well. I also have found that in humid climates or environments (bathroom, kitchen) prints can lose their color by absorbing moisture from the air. The sealer helps prevent that and also adds a nice, non-glossy finish to the photo.

I love the details and appearance of nostalgia that the multimedia process achieves. 

Beautiful Moments Layout

Ever since I was first introduced to scrap-booking years ago I have loved it. Somehow, combining my favorite photos along with commentary (journaling) and creative elements really struck a chord. It's nice to have perfect albums with all the family photos carefully mounted and preserved in orderly fashion with names and dates carefully lettered under each one, but I love the personality of a scrap-booked album. Not only am I able to tell much more of the story behind the pictures, but I get to be creative in decorating each page according to the personality of those in the pictures. Sometimes, I just express myself and don't worry about whether my work reflects the likes of those in the photo. Now that so much digital storage is available, I don't always print out my photos and put them into books. A concept that I've embraced more recently is to create a scrap-book layout, but mount it to heavy chipboard and display it instead of binding it into a book. This one combines my love of multi-media with some scrap-booking concepts.

                                                              

Penny Farthing Fun

Another project wrapped up, I think. I haven't decided if I'm really done with it yet. I think I am. This is a really fun project with a metal piece from Prima Marketing. The large wheel can be a frame or shadowbox. I made a steampunk type composition inside and mounted it to the inside front of the frame, leaving lots of room behind it to be a secret stash spot. It would be great to put a mini picture album in there, or the extra set of car keys, or maybe your chocolate stash...

I do need to put a pretty paper inside here. I'm on it!




See you soon!

                                                      This is better.

Heart With Wings

Happy Friday. Working on several projects at the same time creates the problem of lapses between shares. I've had a picture in the back of my mind for a while of how to use the resin heart I purchased from Prima Marketing. It is one of their Archival Cast pieces which I've had for at least a year. I finally decided to mount it on a canvas with angel wings. I designed the wings, then cut them from heavy chipboard. After a couple layers of gesso, I applied some thick homemade modeling paste with a palette knife to create the appearance of feathers. A thorough dry and then a layer of black gesso followed with a layer of crackle medium and a thin coat of white acrylic paint created the aged plaster effect.

Here are some closeups!

Believe in Magic

I wanted something with more gold tones than I normally use and I may have gone a little overboard. I seem to always end up with lots of blues and greens. Teal, turquoise, forest...it doesn't matter what shade, I seem to gravitate towards the cool color spectrum all the time. Odd, since I prefer warm colors for my clothes and home decor.

I repurposed a canvas for this project. That's one great thing about mixed media, the more layering and textures you have, the better. Also, it allows me to change up my decor without investing lots of dollars, just my time.

There are lots of elements here: printed tissue paper in the background, resin pieces, papers, mulberry paper flowers, metal bits, micro beads, pearls, and loads of bling. This was all layered on modeling paste stenciled designs and I also used some honeycomb packing paper to add additional texture and dimension to the background.

 I love incorporating vintage photos and artwork into my designs, but because I didn't permanently fix the photo into the frame, it could actually be removed and a current personal photo displayed in the frame instead.

More details can be seen in these photos.