Hello AC friends! I’m excited to be with you today to share a new project that I had so much fun creating! Before I show you my layout, let me be clear: mixed media techniques are definitely out of my paper crafting comfort zone, but American Crafts keeps coming up with products that make it easy to get comfortable with paint, glaze, stencils and the beautiful projects that they can create!
This 8-1/2” x 11” layout began the new Kelly Creates wreath stamps. I had to try these out as soon as they hit my desk! The lovely floral circles measure at 2.5 inches in diameter, so I matched them with spring photos to start creating. After stamping the wreaths on smooth, white card stock, I fussy cut each one, then cropped and cut my photos to 2.5 inch circles. Once I glued the wreaths onto the photos, I added dimensional adhesive to the bottom and set aside. I also stamped the smaller wreaths onto three Field Notes papers that would coordinate with my color scheme.
Next, I took a deep breath and added some colorful watercolor to my background using the fantastic Stay Sweet watercolor set. After mixing the colors in the built-in palette to match the coral, teal and yellow found in my daughter’s outfit in the photos, I added one color at a time to a spare piece of transparency using a paintbrush. Next, I blotted the transparency onto a 8-1/2” x 11” piece of the Vicki Boutin Mixed Media Art Paper, in a diagonal line from top left to bottom right, alternating colors along the line.
After my watercolor paint was dry, I stamped three small wreaths along my line of color using the light gray ink pad. It is the perfect shade of gray! This ink pad is included in the Kelly Creates ink pad and stamp block set. I wanted to add a different texture to the background, so I reached for another mixed-media must have: the Vicki Boutin stencils! Using the rose gold CreativeFX glaze and the new art wedge, I added three clusters of dots around my colorful watercolor splotches.
How about adding another media to the background? Rub-ons are back, and they are better than ever! The new Kelly Creates rub-on transfers adhere like butter, and I added three small cross shapes to the background before grabbing card stock and chipboard hearts from the Goldenrod collection. These matched my color scheme perfectly. Now that my background was complete, I adhered my photos and decided on the opposite corners to add my title and journaling. To create my title, I again reached for the Kelly Creates rub-ons to add “hello beautiful,” then “day” using the Goldenrod chipboard phrase stickers, adding a thin, colorful washi tape in between.
To balance that bottom corner, I added my journaling in the top right corner with another strip of washi tape below.
This colorful, springy layout was easy to create with a range of wonderful, easy-to-use AC mixed-media products and Kelly Creates stamps and rub-ons. If you’ve never tried these techniques before, I urge you to give them a go to create something spectacular today!
Supplies | Kelly Creates collection: Wreath stamps (351372), rub-ons (351382), ink pad and stamp block set (351370); Stay Sweet collection: watercolor set (351199); Vicki Boutin Mixed Media collection: Mixed media art paper (343917), CreativeFX rose gold glaze (346459), art wedge (346523), brushes (343918), stencils (346545); All the Good Things collection: washi tape (343898); Field Notes collection: Abstract Moments paper (348112), Among the Wildflowers paper (348102), Collect and Document paper (348109); Goldenrod collection: chipboard phrase stickers (350330), cardstock stickers (350332); Other: Sticky Thumb adhesive tape runner (342038), primaries cardstock (376982)