{Mixed Media Tutorial} Altered Cardboard House by Sanna

Hi there everybody and happy January! It's Sanna Lippert here today with my first mixed media tutorial for this year. For today's post, I've prepared something very special -- a cardboard house which I altered and created for storing artist trading coins, for example.

Here is a look at the finished project:

And now to the steps:

As you can see, the house is made of cardboard and has a roof that one can open, so it's perfect for storing something fun, like small art projects. I started by covering it randomly with tissue paper to create some structure to the surface.

Then I added a fairly thin layer of white acrylic paint on top and stenciled over the paint with the Molecules stencil using bronze Nuvo Mousse. This is just to create more depth and layers to the project, so don't get scared about how it looks at this point :).

There is always the drying time and waiting, but when the mousse had dried (which happens fairly quickly), I painted the house with a warm grey acrylic paint tone and let it dry again. Here you can see the stenciled pattern nicely too!

Now that I was done with the surface work, it was time to start decorating. I took one of my favorite Nuvo Mousse tones (Mother of Pearl) and stenciled it thru the Weaving stencil onto the house walls and roof. Again then waited everything to dry.

Next I added Glimmer Glaze ink splatters on top of the stenciled pattern and needed to let the color dry properly before moving on (I am not the most patient person, so waiting for things to dry is really hard for me).

Next I moved to stamping. I took a Dylusions stamp to add some random patterns here and there with black ink. This was just for interest.

I then adhered some misted chipboard pieces around the house walls for decoration. Next I added some Tim Holtz goodies, a feather and some sequins to accompany the chipboard pieces.

After everything was done, I filled the house with some of my artist trading coins. For the moment it offers enough space for them, but I might need to change to something else later, because of the limited space. Maybe a tiny mixed media book would be a nice thing?

Here is the finished piece from all sides. I really like how it turned out! I still have two more houses to alter - they are both a tad smaller than this one, so I might add them to the family later.

I hope I could inspire you with my January tutorial. Now is your turn to get your "hands dirty". Dig out those stencils of yours and play a little. And while you are at it, do submit your projects to the various STAMPlorations challenges (just remember to play by the rules there).

As always, feel free to go shopping and use my discount code STAMPGIRLSANNA upon checkout to get 20% off your order there. Happy shopping and

Happy crafting,
xxx, Sanna


Products used:
Weaving, Molecules