Everyday Expressions

Hi Everyone! It is cold and snowy in Ohio, so I needed some warm sunshine to brighten the dull day. I used some of my favorite warm spray stain colors and Tim Holtz’s Rays stencil to create the background for this mixed media card, and I plan to submit it for Simon Says Stamp’s Monday Challenge, Stencil It.

I’m chuckling as I look at this card, because I don’t think I could squeeze one more Tim Holtz product onto this thing! Come on, though. Don’t we all have a love affair with his products? (By the way, have you seen some of the Tim videos trickling onto Pinterest from CHA? So exciting to see all of the new products. Have you started your wish list? I have!)

There is too much to discuss with this card today, so I will just highlight some of the most important aspects. I began by die cutting the watercolor paper, and sprayed with Dylusions tangerine dream ink spray, and squeezed lemon and barn door Distress Stains. The Dylusions stain is so rich and bright that it makes this background pop. I followed this by dribbling water with my fingertips, pulled excess off with a paper towel, and then used barn door stain with Wendy Vecchi’s Polka Dotty stencil. Next, I mixed Ranger transparent gloss texture paste with gold and yellow Faber-Castellated gelatos then thickly spread over Tim Holtz’s Rays stencil.

After the paste dried, I cut the “beautiful” sentiment from Tim’s and Sizzix’s thinlits Adventure. The “moments” die cut is from thinlits’ “friend” set. I spread mowed lawn Distress Paint on the panel, dried, and then dotted with broken china DP. Bundled sage DP and Encore silver dye ink jazzed up the moments die cut, and a white gel pen was added to the beautiful negative space die cut.

The butterfly is a Tim Holtz/Sizzix framelit with stamps. I used black embossing powder for the butterfly, die cut it, and then watercolored it with gelatos and perfect pearls. After drying, I re-heated the embossing in sections and pressed Ranger Vintage gold foil to add shine.

I painted the paper flowers with antique linen DP, and then rubbed them with DI. However, I decided they were too drab, so I dabbed and sprayed distress stains to brighten up the petals. I adhered them with foam tape and dots, and finished with liquid pearls. Before adding the butterfly, I splattered red distress paint. NO! You say! Oh … Yes … I … Did! And instantly wished I hadn’t. Yup. It looked like a crime scene with blood everywhere. I won’t make that mistake again! I softened it by splattering tarnished brass Distress Stain and pickett fence Distress Paint. The last steps were to add the butterfly with foam dots, and adhere the panel to SSS black cardstock.

Well, does this bright mixed media card warm you up? Make you wish for summer days yet? It just makes me smile. Butterflies, stencils, Tim Holtz products… I could just keep going. Thanks again for stopping by! Love and artsy hugs!
Erin