Back to playing with mixed media today, and this is the result…

It’s around 8″ x 6″ in size and 300lb Smooth watercolour paper by Daler-Rowney is the substrate.

First, I coloured the paper using Distress Oxide inks, with a light spray of gold mica mixture.

Once that had dried, I added the diamond motif and text to the background using texture paste through stencils.  Once the paste had dried, I used a rich gold System 3 acrylic paint from Daler-Rowney to paint the texture paste.

Yesterday, I had used embossing folders with my Big Shot from Sizzix to emboss coloured card which I then added metallic and iridescent colours to.  The dark red-brown layer of cogs is part of one of these papers. Behind it, there’s a piece of patterned paper.  Both have had their edges roughed up (distressed) and then inked using black Archival Ink from Ranger.

I next chose an ACEO or ATC card from my stash to act as a focal point.  I also firtled through my stash of steampunk diecuts to find some cogs and a clock dial to add to the background.

The diecuts were all made from kraft card and I used Distress inks to add the base colours of a rich blue, an intense blue-green and a red-brown before dry brushing metallic and iridescent acrylic paints from Liquitex over them to give the appearance of old metal.

Finally, I assembled everything together in an arrangement that pleased me.  I used a Payne’s Grey Inktense pencil and a water brush to add shadows, and finally a few sparkly gems (I can’t resist the use of sparkle!).

I thought I’d finished, however, the postman brought me a box that contained some Foamiran sheets I’d ordered a couple of days ago, and I just had to have a go at making some flowers.  You can see one of the flowers on the mixed media piece.

The flowers are quite easy to make.  I die cut flower shapes from the Foamiran.  I then used a couple of Faber-Castell Gelatos and a damp baby wipe to apply colour the the front and back of the flowers.

Next, I used my heat tool to warm the foam so it curled up a little and then shaped the petals before using hot glue to stick the layers together to make fluffy flowers.  Finally, I used an alcohol marker to colour some clear gems in so they complemented the flowers and attached to their centres.

I think I’m going to be making more of the flowers, they are easy to make, if a little fiddly given the current manicure I’m sporting.  Next time my nails are done, I’ll make sure they are kept fairly short!