My Scrapbook Evolution-Blog: Mixed media

Saturday, February 6, 2016

For the Love of Mixed Media Blog Hop

I have been dabbling in mixed media art off and on over the past few years. It is something I enjoy but don't always make the time for. One of my goals in 2016 was to change that. Being held accountable is always a good thing, even for your creative process. Collaborating on a blog hop meant that I would not only be held accountable for my piece being finished, it also meant I would find inspiration along the way.

I decided my first mixed media project for 2016 should be something with a Valentine's day theme. I had an ulterior motive. Not too many of our Valentine's day decorations made it with us on the big move. Some were old and not in good shape. Plus, we didn't have much for Valentine's day anyway. After talking things over with my son, he decided to join in on the project as well ( which made me completely happy). Initially, we had planned to buy a few decorations from the store and alter them. After some thought, we felt we should challenge ourselves to use only what we had in the house.

Mixed Media Wire Heart

I am sharing my son's project first because, in many ways, I think his is the best of the two. He was inspired to create a heart out of copper wire.

He cut a heart from cardboard, then cut slits with a craft knife.He then inserted wire into the slits and wound it around the edges to secure it. He was then able to place the heart and wires in the center of a larger wire heart. The cardboard and wire strands in the center served to reinforce the larger heart a bit. He decorated the heart with some wood veneer bits and a locket. The locket was made with a silicone mold and hot glue, then painted red after it dried. He used a lace scrap as the hanger.

The project was easy to make and has a nice rustic feel. It's perfect if you need some quick valentine's day decorations.

Tip: The gauge of the wire seemed to make a difference. I tried a heart with a thinner wire and it wasn't stable. My son did wish his wire was a tad bit thicker.

Valentine Cat Fairy

After seeing several cute cat fairies around pinterest, I determined that I wanted to make one. I had a small wood heart with stand left over from my JBS Mercantile days. I covered it with scrapbook paper and painted the edges with acrylic paint. I printed a largish photo of my cat, Momo, and cut him out.

I made the wing with a silicone mold and hot glue. I left it unpainted, but as you can see from my son's project, the hot glue takes acrylic paint nicely.

tip: The photo I used wasn't the best of my cat. The lighting made him a bit blown out. I thought it wouldn't matter much, but I felt it would have been a better project if I had chosen a great image to begin with.

Ready for some more inspiration?

The wonderful thing about mixed media is that there are no rules about what you can make. Many of the projects shared today were quick and easy. Be sure to jump around to the other blogs to find more mixed media Valentine's Day inspired projects. There is no particular order to the For the Love of Mixed Media blog hop. Just hop around and enjoy the inspiration.

Robyn Crowningshield

Tina Walker

Katie Smith

Beth Soler

Susan M. Brown

Lulu Bea

Melissa Johnson

You can also check out my Mixed Media Pinterest board for more ideas.

Follow My Scrapbook Evolution's board Mixed Media Art Inspiration- Valentine's Day on Pinterest.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Altered Paper Mache Animal Collaberation Blog Hop

It's time to welcome September and what better way to do so than with a creative project! A few months back, I mentioned on the DigiScrap Geek Podcast that I was part of a collaborative mixed media project. I joined some friends and acquaintances in a commitment to create a paper mache animal. It's finally time to share what we made!

I was pretty excited that my son chose to join in the project as well. It's been a while since I have gotten to do any crafting with my teen. We started by looking around Pinterest for a few ideas. I finally settled on a cat and my son chose a fennec fox.

We cobbled our animals together from plastic cups, duct tape, cardboard and tin foil. These bits of left over "trash" made a nice skeleton for our animals. We chose to use paper clay instead of a traditional paper mache. It is very humid in the Bahamas and the paper clay has a reputation for being fast drying whereas traditional paper mache may take weeks to dry fully here.We were very happy with the results though the paper clay ended up being a little rougher than we expected.

Because of the rough surface, we opted to use spray paint as our base coat. Initially, we chose acrylic paint to decorate the animals with, however, we quickly switched to chalk markers. We had a little more control with the chalk markers and they were fast drying. They also allow for coverage over darker surfaces( in most cases not even needed a second coat).

My son chose a navy base coat for his fennec fox. He then used both silver and gold to spray sections of the fox, in some cases using a stencil.

The rough surface made it harder to draw on the animal, so he opted for a more primitive tribal look.

I chose a gold spray paint as the base for my cat. The coat was rough but nearly as rough as my son's animal. I was able to lay down a stencil in a few spots and to spray some of the navy paint to allow the design to show through.I also drew some hearts and used the stencil to give my cat a sort of crown.

Not all of the stencil was crisp, given that the surface of the cat was curved. I used a chalk marker to outline small sections of it.

My son and I had a great time making our animals together and I am truly hoping to work on future collaborations. I have wanted to to more mixed media projects in the past, but I never seemed to find the time. Joining the collaboration gave me a bit of accountability while still allowing me to enjoy creative freedom.

You can see other animals from the Altered Paper Mache Animal Collaberation by hopping from blog to blog. There isn't a specific order to hop in. You're free to hop around and enjoy at out own whim.

Tina Walker