Foxglove's Mixed Media

Hello all!  Happy Wednesday!  Today I am sharing three artist trading cards, all using washi tape. (Because if you hadn't read my last post, I LOOOOOOOVE washi tape!) I also have to apologize - these photos are taken with a phone, and some of the pictures I take disappear somehow.  I KNOW I've taken them because I see the little thumb image, but when I go to search for it later, the image is gone.  Right now, I don't have a more professional set-up, but I am hoping that by Christmas, I will have the ability to make videos, and hopefully better photos. Anyhow, these three are part of a swap on ATCsforall.com, where players make ATCs based on a person's profile.  (See my previous post for the first two cards I made for the same swap.)  Person 1 liked bare trees and an night scene with a moon, Person 2 liked flowers and whimsy, and Person 3 (the person hosting the swap) likes mixed media with a lot of texture. So - back to the ATCs!  I'm sure y...

UPDATE -- The Halloween ATC was one of the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Winners!   Thanks to the SSS Design Team! Happy weekend, everyone!  I hope you are enjoying it - they never last long enough. Today, I am sharing two ATCs for a swap.  If you are new to Artist Trading Cards (ATCs), these are little works of art that are 2.5x3.5 inches.  Basically, they are the size of a baseball card or a poker card. The themes for these were based on the profiles for two different people.  One person liked blackbirds and Halloween, and the other liked the color turquoise and the Tim Holtz crazy dogs.   These are the cards I came up with: I started both of these cards the same way: I glued bookpages from an old book to Canson watercolor paper.  When it was dry, I lightly brushed gesso over the bookpage to push it to the background a bit.  I don't want to cover up the page completely, and you can still see the text peeking through. On...

Hello, and welcome back!  Today I am showing four artist trading cards I made with the theme of "Proverbs."  Two are mixed media and two are mostly watercolors. I didn't take pictures of these cards in process, unfortunately.  I was enjoying making these cards and just sort of...forgot.  "Turn your face to toward the sun and the shadows fall behind you. ~Maori Proverb" For this card, I put down a layer of watercolors in shades of yellow, orange, blues, greens and a bit of bright pink. I was a little worried that these colors may make mud, however, everything turned out great in the end. Once the watercolor was dry, I added some stamping with a script stamp, a Seth Apter background stamp and archival ink.  The Seth Apter stamp is that swirly circle one that you see inside the silhouette. I sketched the figure lightly with a pencil, and painted around the figure with watered down acrylic paints. For this, I used the Dina Wakley acrylics as they were m...

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, everyone!  I am back with a pair of sun-themed Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) and to show my failed ICAD for Day 6. (There will be a surprise cameo from on my fur-babies, Chubby!) I will start off positively, with the pair of ATCs.  These are for a swap on the ATCSforAll.com trading forums.  If you are interested in trading ATCs, I encourage you to check out this very friendly site! I started off with the way I start most of my mixed media projects - by gluing down bookpages, this time with mod podge (sometimes I'll use soft gel medium.)  I covered the ATCs with a good layer of the mod podge to seal the cards, because I knew I would be using a lot of water later on.  For once, I didn't cover the book text with gesso. After the mod podge had dried, I spritzed the cards with water and dropped yellows and oranges onto the card using DecoArt fluid acrylics and acrylic sprays.  I let the colors mingle by tilting the card and gently swirling the ...

Hello, everyone!  I've been working hard on some trades, but I won't show what I've made just yet.  I want to until the recipients have received them before I show them to everyone else.  In the meantime, I've also been working on some watercolor artist trading cards I've made: For the Lunar Moon (as always, I make two in case I make a mistake), I started off using the Donna Downey Bubbles stencil to draw a large circle. I wet the area inside the circles, and then layers watercolors in shades of red, orange and yellow.  For the 'craters', I dabbed shades of blue and a light purple while the paint was still wet.  When it was dry, I painted in the night sky and used a clear stamp to create the tree branches across the moon.  I finished by using white gel pen to create the stars.  The process for the planet was the same, except that it's all done in watercolors with the white ink splattered around to create the stars.  Th...

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...

Welcome to all!  I decided to start this blog to share my mixed media creations, with the goal of showing readers how I create my art and to hopefully inspire others to create (I will also share the occasional kitty pictures). I love mixed media - I love the textures, the various mediums used...it's messy and oh, so wonderful!  I am by no means an expert in anything, and I definitely am NOT an artist. But I am learning, I am improving and I do love to experiment.  Not everything turns out well, but that's part of the journey, am I right?  I have no trade secrets, so eventually I will post pictures of my progress from beginning to end. I trade ATCs For All, a very friendly site for both the experienced and the new creators out there - I highly encourage you to check it out if you haven't already.  I primarily experiment in small art - Artist Trading Cards, Artist Trading Coins/Circles, Inchies, Twinchies...you get the idea.  The largest size I trade are...