Mixed Media ICAD, Using Up Some Scrappy Papers

Mixed Media ICAD, Using Scrap Papers From My Stash

Hello, everyone!  I am back with another ICAD – this time, I was determined to use up some of my leftover bits of papers and used postage stamps.  I will apologize up front, as some of the photos aren’t very clear, but I used the ‘snapshot’ feature on some of them using a video editing software, and the images became blurred when I made them bigger. 

Yes, you heard right!  I made my very first YouTube video!  Whoot, whoot!   I’m doing the jiggy dance as I type this – soooo…I still have areas that I need to improve on, but hey, you never learn if you never ‘do’, right?  If you are interested in the video, you can find it here or find it at the bottom of my post.  That being said, I don’t think I will use photos from the video anymore.  They just get too fuzzy when I enlarge the images.  Lesson learned for next time!

As I mentioned above, I have too many leftover bits of papers that I used in other projects….bookpages, scrapbook/patterned papers, security envelopes, used postage stamps, unused images/stamped images….I really need to use these things or toss them, so I decided to pull out my book of index cards.  I glued the bits here and there.  I used up some torn bookpages, a couple of patterned papers (one of which had a butterfly shape punched out of it…I ended up covering it up, so you can’t see it now), and some random bits of punched shapes and cancelled postage stamps.  Everything was glued down and sealed with Mod Podge. 

Once it was dry, I took my Art Basics Heavy Gesso and scraped it all over the project with a cheapy palette knife. I didn’t want to completely cover the papers, but I did want them pushed to the background and make the random bits and bobs more cohesive. 

Once the gesso was dry, I used the Tim Holtz mini-stencil called “Mini Blossom” and some Liquitex light modeling paste, and added the flowers to the left side of the index card.  I dried it with my heat gun, but I either didn’t dry it well enough or I got too close with the heat tool, because I discovered later that the modeling paste wasn’t completely dry in some areas.  

I pulled out three paints:  Decoart Fluid Acrylics in Payne’s Grey and Colbalt Teal, and the Dina Wakley Acrylic in “Night”. (Oh my gosh, this is one of my favorite shades of blue!!  It’s such a gorgeous shade of sapphire!)   I spritzed the heck out of the card and first dabbed the Payne’s Grey along the bottom edge – a little more spritzing with the water had it running nicely into the nooks and crannies.  I did the same with the much lighter Cobalt Teal – I just used a bit to help add some visual interest, but it was the Dina Wakley “Night” that really popped.  For this one, I dabbed a tiny bit on my glass mat and added enough water to make it the consistency or an ink or watery watercolor.  Then I added it to the page with more spritzing of the water and wow – it’s such a gorgeous color!  

As I dried the paint, I decided that I would use a blue heron image that I downloaded from The Graphic’s Fairy (link here).   I had originally intended to use it in a different project, but never did…which worked out well, because he fits so perfectly here!   I did end up lightening the area I was going to place him by rubbing on a bit of Liquitex white gesso because I thought the heron blended into the blue background a little too much.  I also pulled out my Inktense blocks and added some shading here and there – there was a punched flower shape behind the heron that I wanted to highlight, as well as some of the other shapes. 

I finished by tearing some scraps of patterned paper, added a strip from a Tim Holtz tissue tape, and viola – it’s perfect!  

I hope you liked today’s project!  Until next time, have a great week!