Spread Your Wings Mixed Media

 Hi sweet friends! It's Julee popping in today with a little mixed-media inspiration using the new Spread Your Wings and Spotted stamp sets. I've been in a bit of a creative slump lately, just having a hard time getting into the creative mood and staying there long enough to make a card. I know it's just the normal ebb and flow of the creative process, but I sure wish there was an instant fix!

Here's what I did to try to break out of the cycle. I found a pad of paper at Ross that was $1.99. It was 8.5 x 11" 300 gsm mixed media paper and I was intrigued by the thickness. So even though I have a ton of other cardstock, I bought this pad expressly giving myself permission to just play with it. See how well it worked, play with inks and paints, and see where the process took me. 

So I tore out one of the pages and got my fingers inky blending distress inks, oxides, and sprays to my heart's content. Next I pulled out the Spotted stamp set and stamped the different stamps randomly over the paper in archival ink.  I then added a bit of texture with the Script Background stamp here and there.  I watercolored some of the open circles with distress crayons and a waterbrush, then added gel pen accents to others.  When I was satisfied with the page, I cut it into six 3 x 4" panels and inked around the edges with black soot ink. I took two of the panels and stamped them randomly with the butterflies from Spread Your Wings.

Next I stamped the larger monarch butterfly several times and watercolored with distress inks.  When it was dry, I fussy cut the butterflies, then coated with Versarmark and embossed with sparkle embossing powder. This makes them not only sparkly, but have a little less fragile when you add them to your card.

For my first card I went with a simple HOPE sentiment from the God is Sovereign set, embossed in white on black cardstock.  I added a panel dry embossed with an embossing folder behind, then accented with some shiny sequins and distressed edges to finish it off.

For the second panel, I stamped out the quote, then cut with my paper trimmer to add to the side of the panel.  I then added a couple of the butterflies.  The background is from a second mixed media page I did with some similar colors, usiing tissue paper, paints, and gel crayons. I tied it all together with some black around the edges and two cards are done.  I still have four more panels for next time I need a little jump start getting created!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you're inspired to just play a little in your studio and see where it leads.

-Julee