Monday 27 March 2017

Mixed Media Greenhouse ATCs

Hello springtime, flowers and greenery! To welcome the new season, I enjoyed joining a Greenhouse swap at ATCs for All. This was a mixed media swap and another cool twist was that the cards were to be actually house shaped. They were so much fun to make and I can't wait to see the returns I get!



I was inspired by the following challenges:

The Artistic Stamper: Springtime
Crazy-Lab: Spring Feeling
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Layer it Up!
We Love 2 Create: Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes



For the spring themed challenges, the inspiration is quite obvious, I guess! As for Simon's Layer it Up challenge, I actually tried something new with layering. I'll get back to that a bit further down!



In all the four cards, I began cutting the background and roof from different papers. I included both DIY papers, like Gelli prints, and scrapbook papers and magazine pages.



I then added collage elements like postage stamps, washi tape, magazine cuts...



And some colour with Gelatos and Crayola crayons.





And then to the last layer! I had done some stamping on tissue paper and other nearly see-through papers earlier this week. I've been wanting to build a pre-made stash for beeswax collage, which is where I have previously used stamping on tissue. The thing is that the paper becomes invisible with wet media, and only the stamping shows. This is a cool way to add stamping on surfaces where the stamping ink alone might not show very well, or might bleed, depending on what you're going to add next.



I usually only make beeswax collage when I can dedicate a whole day or longer stretch of time for it, since it takes a while to take the supplies out and clean afterwards. Mainly it is that I use the same ironing board that I use for clothers so I need to cover it properly before I get started. Anyway, I'm glad I thought of using the stamped tissue in another way! And acrylic medium worked in a similar way as beeswax - the paper seems to completely disappear.

Remember that for both beeswax and acrylic medium, the stamping ink has to be permanent! I always use Staz-On.



Thank you for your visit!