Foxglove's Mixed Media

Hello again, everyone!   Man, it’s been a while since I last posted.   It’s a challenge to juggle work, home life, make and edit video, write blog posts AND have fun creating, but I hope to do a better job with it. So much (artsy-wise) has happened – more swaps, more cards and look!    I bought a 2-lb grab bag of stamps from Viva Las Vegas Stamps (their online store is here .)     This is a bit out of character for me, as I am wary of grab bag and random bulk buys.   In my head (and I know this isn’t always the case), I associated “grab bag” with “things that didn’t sell.”   I did some research online, and I didn’t see where other people had recently posted their grab bag hauls – I was worried about getting a bunch of political, religious, or super-basic stamps, but in the end, I am glad that I took the leap and ordered them. So can you guess how many stamps is in a 2-lb grab bag?   152 stamps!   Wow…that’s a l...

Hello, and happy weekend everyone!  I am back (again) after taking a break to study for a computer certification course.  I am happy to say that I passed, yay me!   This time around I made four artist trading coins for a monochromatic white (with some silvery glitter.)  It's hard to get the right angle to show the details of these coins, but I did my best.  For three of these, I put down bookpages and gessoed over it with white gesso.  I wanted to have that extra bit of interest, but I also wanted to keep to a monochrome color scheme.  The coin in the top left doesn't have a bookpage background, though, because I goofed on the original, then forgot to do the bookpage step when I redid it.  C'est le vie!   Here are the tools I used:   --2.5" circle punched from Canson Mixed Media paper --Stencils: "Persian Gate" from The Crafter's Workshop (this is the one in the photograph); "Wildflowers" from My Favorite Things...

Hello, everyone!  I am back with a couple of more artist trading coins for you.  If you're new to "coins", these are 2.5" circles that you art up and trade, just like the artist trading cards.  These two were quick to create and uses mostly Tim Holtz products. To start off with, I mushed various Distress Ink colors into my craft mat and spritzed it with water. For the tree/sunset, I laid the ink down in rows: first a yellow, then pink one, and last a red one. (Forgive me - I made these weeks ago, and I don't remember the exact colors I used.)  I spritz with water and moved the mixed media paper through it with one smooth, slow swipe.  For the blue on the right, I laid down colors in various blues and blue-greens. I dried everything with my heat tool, and then pulled out some background stamps by Seth Apter and Bo Bunny and stamped randomly with archival inks. From here, I pulled out stamps that I felt would make a nice silhouette.  The red/ora...

Hello, everyone!  Sorry - I couldn't resist the urge to throw in a Wizard of Oz reference.  :-) Today, I have an artist trading coin, four inchies and four twinchies to show you.  For those who don't know what these are, the "coin" is a 2.5" circle (you may also hear the term "artist trading circle", the inchies are 1" square, and twinchies are 2" square.  I do want to apologize in advance - I don't have has many in-between photos today.  I use my phone to take pictures of my projects in progress, but for some reason, the phone doesn't always save the pictures.  They just disappear.  I don't know what's going on with that, but it's getting pretty frustrating.  Anyhow...moving on... I will start with the coin - I used my 2.5" circle punch to create the circle from Canson mixed media paper. I pulled out my Distress Inks in Iced Spruce and Peacock Feathers and mushed them onto my craft mat.  I spritzed them ligh...

Hello, everyone!  Welcome back!   Today, I'd like to show my twelfth index card.   For this card, I decided to use a modeling paste background, Liquitex Acrylic Ink and the Tim Holtz Paper Dolls. Instead of using a bookpage as my base layer, I decided to use paper that I took from my of Flow Magazine Book for Paper Lovers. I tore a page into strips, and glued them down.  The paper had a different pattern on each side, so I alternated between the busier print and the subtler print.  At this point, I didn't know where I was going, but in the end, you don't even see the paper. (Of course.)  When the mod podge dried, I brushed a thin layer of gesso over it.  At this point, you can still see the base layer. I needed some texture, so I pulled out a Finnabair stencil that was part of a stamp/stencil set called Flowers on the Deck.  This is one of the sets that Michael's recently started setting. I used Golden Light Modeling paste through the s...

Welcome back, everyone!  I have two projects to show you today.  The first is a star-themed artist trading card, and the other is an abstract landscape artist trading coin. First off, the star-themed artist trading card: I began this card the way I do a lot of my cards - I glued down a bookpage and gessoed lightly over it.  I then added a light wash of fluid acrylics in Payne's Grey and Ultramarine Blue (DecoArt).  When it was dry, I added stars to the background using the Tim Holtz star stencil and Distress Oxide in Faded Jeans.  Lovely!  I set the color with my heat tool, however, the Oxides are reactive to water in the same way the Distress Inks are, so I wanted to do something to keep the ink from rubbing off or getting smeared, so I pulled out my Art Basics 3D Gloss Gel by Prima Marketing.  I used the stencil to go back over the original star shapes.  Because the gloss gel is a "wet" medium, the Oxide color blended in with the gel....

Hello again!  I am back, this time to show how I made the Artist Trading Coins pictured below.  The Coins continue to be all the rage amongst the mail art traders, and I personally really enjoy working on a round shape. Aren't they cool?  I love how they turned out! (I say that because most of the time, I don't know where I'm going when I start a project, so sometimes there's no telling how something will turn out!) Anyhow, I started with a 5x7 sheet of Canson mixed media paper and Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Inks in various colors of blue and the Iced Spruce color.  I mushed one, two or three colors onto my craft mat, spritzed lightly with water, and dragged the paper through the wet colors.  By dragging the papers, I get a nice smooth blend of colors.  Because I had so much ink left over, I pulled out some blank Artist Trading Card mixed media paper to sop up the extra inks.  I dried the papers between each layer, did another drag-through w...

Hello, all!  Thank you for taking the time to stop by and check out my projects!  Today, I wanted to show some insight in how I made some of my previous artist trading cards (ATCs).  Well, one was "previous" and one was completed today.  These are the cards (and altered puzzle piece) that I will walk through. First off, the newest project.  Since this is a new blog, I'm fairly certain that the recipient of one of the card won't see this yet, so I will go ahead and share. As mentioned, I like to make two of whatever I make.  One for me (usually the 'experiment') and one to trade. In the cards above, I randomly spread Dylusion paints onto the card with my fingers - the paints are so creamy, and blends so easily!  Next, I took some background alphabet and number stamps and stamped with Ranger's Archival Ink. When dry, it's permanent and won't smear if you add wet mediums to the card.  I also dabbed gel paint through a leafy sten...