Mixed Media project - Part 1

Please note: I've had to split my post up into two parts (blogger wouldn't save it - must have had too many photos lol!) This is part 1. Part 2 can be found here (also a link to part 2 at the end of this post).

I had so much fun yesterday afternoon making this little project for my mum. She had to spend Christmas away from Dad (both had to work in different towns), he was back for two days then has had to leave again for work so she is feeling a bit down (plus her back is not being very nice to her at the moment). So I made her this little project as a "cheer her up" :-)

I apologise for the number of photos I'm going to post but I love looking at other people's step by step photos... so I thought I would post mine too :-)

Firstly this is a photo of the finished project (so if you have no interest in looking any further you don't have to!):

Now on to how I made it :-)
For this project I took a 6" x 6" piece of 1 mm Bazzill Board and covered it in gesso primer.

I then sprayed Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist "Key Lime Pie", "Jack Frost" and Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst "Down the Rabbit Hole" over the board. After that I decided that it needed a little more colour so I added Distress Ink "Salty Ocean", "Mowed Lawn" and "Shaded Lilac" - sponged on with Inkssentials cut-n-dry foam (gives practically the same result as using the Ranger Ink Blending Tool but it's way cheaper...maybe a little harder to hold...but cheaper!)

I then took some Prima Marketing Finnabair Mechanicals Vintage Trinkets - Leaves and covered them in the gesso primer. I do like the way they look already but I was experimenting with my gesso primer (first time I'd used it!) - so I had to know what it was like on metal :-)


Then I used distress ink to colour each one. I used "walnut stain" and "gathered twigs" for one of the pieces and different combinations of "bundled sage", "peeled paint" and "crushed olive" for the others (not pictured).

Then decided that they needed some sparkle :-) I found that the sprays kind of reacted with the distress ink giving it a more aged and weathered look. Compare the above and below photos.

Back to the board - I thought that the purple wasn't quite as dark as I would've liked so I added some Distress Ink "Seedless Preserves".

I ended up getting a baby wipe and wiping a lot of the Seedless Preserves away again! And then reapplying it once more but not as strong in the middle. You will see in the next pictures where I stamp the words that it is a lot lighter.

I stamped a bible verse from Our Daily Bread Designs "Fishers of Men" set and some grasses from AnnaBelle Stamps "All Things Grow". I used Memento "Tuxedo Black", "Olive Grove", "Bamboo Leaves" and "New Sprout" (the last one is really hard to see but it is there).

Then I stamped a butterfly in Memento "Lulu Lavender" amongst the grass but you couldn't even tell it was there - the ink was too light! So I decided to emboss the butterfly. Except that I didn't wait for the grass to dry enough so the embossing powder stuck to the grass around the butterfly... so I ended up embossing all of the grass! The butterfly is there but not easily seen in the photos. In fact it's not easily seen when looking at the actual project!

The embossed grass that I ended up with. The butterfly is in the purple "out of focus" section.

I stamped another butterfly in Memento "Danube Blue" from the same AnnaBelle Stamps set.

Please see the next post here for more details and photos :-)