{Spotlight Project} Monika Does Some Confidence Building

Hello STAMPlorations Friends! I needed a bit of cheering up the other day to try and recover my mojo. A bit lost for ideas I rooted through my stamps and found a not-yet-used Typografia Motivate: Doubts stamp, the wording of which somehow spoke to me. I pulled it out, had a closer look at it, reflected on the words a little and decided that I needed to allow a bit more intuitive flow when crafting. It had gone AWOL in recent days.

Getting messy with Mixed Media projects is great for gaining confidence and winning back your mojo. You can really loose yourself in the process. It certainly worked for me, have a look.

Let me take you through my process ....

I picked up a small canvas (18cm x 12.5cm or 7x5 inches) and some papers which I tore up and glued to my canvas. Yes, I simply used my ordinary tacky craft glue and made sure to apply it generously.
The torn edges make for a smooth and step free transition from paper to canvas.

I then added a thin coat of gesso, a little thicker in patches.

In my bits box I found a Dragonfly die-cut from when I tried cutting it with the Grand Calibur (it doesn't cut intricate dies well, I'm much better using my Big Shot). It was a bit messy, but would be perfect for a variation of texture.

I snippet around it leaving part of the frame intact and glued it to my canvas. As the gesso was still a bit wet, I used a large acrylic block to firmly press the die-cut down into place.

Next I picked up Stone and Eggplant PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics, opaque and semi-opaque finish respectively, and painted some of each as my next layer.

I then added a piece of doily and painted French Roast and Beach Hut, both translucent Fresco Paints, as my next layer.

TIP!: If you don't have any translucent paints, try diluting your acrylics to get a similar effect.

I stamped the Typograhia Motivate: Doubts stamp in black Versafine on a piece of mixed media card, carefully snipped it into pieces and laid it out on my canvas. On my table was little ink smudged heart (I used it as mask for another project, check back on July 31 to see which one 😀), it a sort of fitted and I added it to my canvas.

At this point I took a photo to remind me of the layout as I wasn't quite yet ready to attach these pieces.

Rooting through my draws, I found a stack of rub-ons and added a couples of them to my background. Bummer, I got more than I bargained for. A piece of frame was too eager to stick, I hadn't even rubbed over it.

Aged Silver Frantage embossing powder to the rescue. I used a clear Emboss pen to apply my pigment ink around the edges (you can equally well use a clear pigment ink pad), sprinkled the powder on and heat set it for an aged and distressed look. The little frame piece was covered up.

I added the sentiment pieces and heart roughly in the same position I wanted them to be in and applied some Royal Amethyst and Sapphire Treasure Gold metallic wax finish to highlight some of the texture.

To hang my little canvas, I simply added a couple of glass beads to organza ribbon, attached it to the revers of my canvas with strong double sided tape and secured it further with a glued on piece of strong, pretty paper.

I then finished off with some doodles and a sun charm.

Not having had a plan when I started the project, it simply developed as I went along, for example: originally I thought that I'd keep the sentiment as one. I ended up snipping it apart. Rather than gathering supplies, I only looked for them as part of the next step.

It was rather nice to loose myself in the process. The most important thing in preventing doubts from taking over is to start. The way will become clearer as you go along. You got all the tools to create your own kind of beauty. Just go for it!

Here are some more photos:

If you feel like doing some confidence building of your own through making a mixed media project or using one of our other Stamp Club sets or making a project using any of the techniques or ideas shared by my teamies in their Spotlight Posts, make sure to link up your makes with our spotlight project gallery here.

The Dragonfly Cover Plate Die is one of the products in our July sale at 40% off and can be found in the SUMMER CLEARANCE section. Use code HEYSUMMER on checkout. Code can be used only once per customer/shipping address. Ends 7/31.

That's it from me for today. Hope my project inspired you to get creative with mixed media.
Have a lovely week!

hugs
Monika xxx
Doubts, Dragonfly Cover Plate Die