Monday, January 20, 2014

MIXED MEDIA LAYOUT

This is Donna here sharing another layout idea with you - this time I did a mixed media background.  I only used one sheet of patterned paper for the background.  I love mixed media because you can find so many things in your house, at the dollar store or just in your stash to create very textured backgrounds.  Here is the layout.  Unfortunately my camera was giving me a bit of trouble and the colours did not come out too good.


For the background I used a piece of patterned paper from my stash, a circle doilie, a square doilie, mesh, drywall tape (yes that is what I used), gesso,  matte mod podge and 3 colours of mists or sprays.  I added other items as I went.


To start I placed a fair amount of the mod podge onto the patterned paper.  I then placed the large circle doilie at the centre onto the mod podge, sticking it down.  I then took more mod podge and applied it to the entire surface of the doilie.  I used this same process for the rest of the medium items.  Next I took the square doilie and cut off the decorative corners.  I placed them at the corners of the patterned paper.  I then took the dry wall mesh and cut off strips which I placed randomly onto the paper.  You can go over the doilies, just stick it down.  Next I took some squares of this mesh that I found at a fabric store and adhered these down as well.  Below you can see how the texture from these products is taking shape.  I decided to place some twine completely around the outer edge making loops here and there.  Let this dry completely.

At this point I decided to also add some lace across the bottom edge and across the upper edge of the page as well as some modeling paste using Tim Holtz honeycomb stencil. I used the paste in three areas.   See how you can keep adding things.  I like to layer lots of  items to get lots of texture.

I decided on the size of my picture and placed a piece of paper where I wanted the picture to go.  I then went to my stash and pulled out all kinds of items - flowers, leaves, metal embellishments: butterfly, music notes, circle items, etc. - anything I could get my hands on.  Mostly one item things.  I then placed them around the picture as shown below.  I may not use all the items and I may add some or move things around, however, this is what I came up with at the time.


Now I took all these items and placed them onto a piece of paper in the same manner as I did above.  Nothing worse then forgetting where you wanted to place an item.

 I did some spraying using green, pink and blue mists onto the background. Always start with your lightest colour first.  It is very important that you let each spray colour dry before using the next one.   I started with the green and only sprayed in  a few areas.  I then sprayed with pink.  As pink is my main colour for the layout I pretty much sprayed everywhere.  Even slightly on top of the green.  Then I used the blue very lightly here and there.  
When my background was completely dry I began adhering the embellishments using a hot glue gun.  The glue gun is great for adhering as it holds really well.  But it dries very fast, so be sure you have the item in the right place.  I did change some things and added others as I went. More flowers and leaves.   When you have adhered all your embellishments,  here is where the gesso comes in.  I took a flat-edged paint brush and completely painted all the embellishments with the gesso.  Some of the metal items I had to put two coats on.   Let dry completely.  You can use a heat gun or a hair dryer to dry faster.   You can see at the top of the picture below where I sprayed first before adding the embellishments.

Using the same sprays, begin spraying the embellishments lightly at first.   You can always add more colour after.  Dry between each colour (very important) as you do not want pooling which can make for a muddy colour.  Here are some close-up pictures of sections of the embellishments after spraying.



And there you have it.  Remember mixed media is all about using whatever you want.  I like it because I can use up a lot of "stuff" that I  didn't know what to do with.   Search out your local dollar store - I have found lots of "stuff" there.   It is fun and you never know what you will end up with.   I hope you enjoyed.  Until next time
HAPPY SCRAPPING!!!!!!!

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