Mixed Media Album Cover by Gloria

Good morning! It's Gloria and I am sharing a mixed media extravaganza for project today. I am not "known" for my mixed media work, however I do enjoy playing with paste and getting messy from time to time!

The GSLCuts team was given a selection of products from ColourArte and I decided to give them a try! (As you can probably tell from many of the recent GSLCuts Blog posts, Graphic 45 is also a team sponsor, so I used some G45 Artisan Style for this project.)

I got my mess on and decorated the cover of a large notebook. The hardest part of the whole project was waiting for each layer to dry! I did try my heat gun, but it seemed best to just let things air dry, so I had to play the waiting game a bit. That gave me time to work on a few other projects...and I may have taken a small nap! Let's get started on the tutorial.

Select your chipboard elements and get them ready for use. I usually wipe each item with a cloth and also, I use a paper piercing tool to remove any bits that are still stuck in the holes.  For this project I used everything you see here, except the Victorian Corners 2. You will need: Words and Phrases 1, Steampunk Shape Set, Butterflies and Dragonflies, Butterfly of Gears, and Mixed Media Fragments 1.  

I found this notebook in my stash. I think I purchased it at the beach in North Carolina three years ago! It is a Fancy Pants Brag Book containing 50 journaling pages, 15 photo sleeves (4x6), and 15 pocket pages. It is 9" x 7 1/4" and about 1 1/2" thick! The covers are nice and sturdy, perfect for mixed media!

I started out by mixing some gesso with Luminarte Spanish Moss Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist to create a pale green gesso. I keep a stack of paper bowls and cups, as well as craft sticks for a time such as this. It makes clean up easy...I just toss the whole mess away when I'm finished!

I placed a piece of washi tape over the black binding to protect it from all the mess. (However, when I removed the tape, it pulled up some of the black color from the binding!) Using a foam brush, I began to paint the cover with the gesso mixture.

I saw a video where the artist used gesso to adhere torn paper to her project. However, I have the very thin type of gesso, so that was not working. I resorted to matte gel to adhere the paper, and then I painted over it with the gesso mixture. I tore up pieces of Graphic 45 Artisan Style 6x6 paper for the cover. I used green, orange, blue, and black papers from the collection.

Once I had all the paper attached to the cover, I used a baby wipe to remove some of the gesso from the paper. I kept a few areas of the cover "paper free."

I pulled a selection of stamps from my stash to add some more layers to the cover. I used Black Soot Distress ink because I know it reacts with water. I wanted the stamped areas to smear a little bit. If you want your stamping to be crisp, use an archival ink.

Once the stamped areas were dry, I painted on a thin coat of matte gel medium and allowed that to dry. The gel medium will seal the paper to the cover. I then used an old gift card to smooth on some crackle paste to a few areas. (This did not really work the way I wanted. I either put the medium on too thick or too thin, or did not allow it to dry long enough. It did NOT crackle. However, a few areas did bubble up when I hit them with the heat gun, so that was fun!

While I was waiting for layers of the cover to dry, I used the ColourArte products to paint all my chipboard shapes. My favorite product was the Nutmeg Radiant Rain Dauber! When I mixed the Nutmeg with the Copper Metallic Radiant Rain Dauber...I got some great rusty gears!  I covered some of the items with the green gesso mixture, and then added various colors to match the paper. I used the Plum Crazy Radiant Rain Dauber and the Persimmon Shimmering Mist. 

 I used the Nutmeg Radiant Rain Dauber to add some splotches to the cover. 

I then flicked on some white shimmer mist. However, the coverage was too translucent, so I tried again with white gesso. 

Once the cover was dry, I added all my chipboard elements. I glued everything with white glue and added some foam tape for dimension. Notice, I painted the phrase with black gesso, and then sprayed it with Green Pearl Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist.

After all the chipboard elements were attached, I added some flowers and a tiny light bulb with hot glue. I then flicked on more white gesso. 

I added a few blobs of Glass Bead Gel, to which I mixed real beads (black and gold). I just scooped some of the gel out with a craft stick, and then dabbed the stick into the canisters of beads. I simply wiped the whole mess off onto a few areas of the project. The gel dries clear and acts like a glue for the extra beads!

 You can see more of the beads here. And, check out those rusty gears!

I dry brushed some of the white gesso onto the flowers. I added a few spirals that I made from the flower stems.

 Here you can see some of the designer paper peeking out!

Here is another view of the tiny light bulb and the flowers. 

I hope you enjoyed my voyage into mixed media! Thanks for looking! Find all these wonderful chipboard items at the GSLCuts Store! Check out ColourArte for some fantastic color products! And, find amazing Graphic 45 papers HERE.

~ Gloria Stengel: Scraps of Life

Supplies:

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts: 
Words and Phrases 1  
Steampunk Shape Set 
Butterflies and Dragonflies 
Butterfly of Gears 
Mixed Media Fragments 1 

ColourArte: 
Spanish Moss Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist 
Green Pearl Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist 
Persimmon Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist 
Plum Crazy Radiant Rain Dauber 
Nutmeg Radiant Rain Dauber 
Copper Metallic Radiant Rain Dauber 

Other: 
Glass Bead Gel: Golden 
Gesso (white and black): Liquitex 
Matte Gel Medium: Liquitex 
Crackle Paste: Golden 
White Shimmer Mist: DecoArt 
Ink: Ranger Distress Black Soot 
Paper: Graphic 45 Artisan Style 6x6 pad 
Brag Book: Fancy Pants 
Stamps: 7 Gypsies (cities subway art), Stampin' Up (grid, splatters), Close to My Heart (stoneware texture) 
Adhesive: white glue, hot glue