Experiments with Marabu Mixed Media

Hello fans of Mix Media, I am inking with Marabu products today. The Mix Media Monthly team got to play with a few of their products this month. I decided to make a few art cards while experimenting. To see how these products perform read on! If you would like to win some see the challenge at the end of this post.

Here is Art Card #1, I will be posting a few more on my Instagram over the next few days so follow me over there to see what I come up with. https://www.instagram.com/karenbearse/

These are the products I was given. A stencil called Mandala, an Art Crayon in Sunshine Yellow, an acrylic Art Spray in Sunshine Yellow & Acryl Mousse in White (pastel paste). 

Acryl Mousse

I started with, (to me) the obvious what happens when the paste is used with a stencil? The paste is a gritty yet fairly smooth consistency. It held it's shape up well when scraped through the stencil. Dry time was 15-20 minutes for a thin layer, 30-40 for a heavier stenciled layer. I love the texture it creates.

Art Crayon

The best way I would describe this is- "if a Gelato & a Distress Crayon had a baby it would be this Art Crayon". Medium softness, water reactive with a good level of pigment, works better on a gesso surface. It is also "wipe proof" in 24 hours which is nice for layering. I did a test to see how the crayon would perform & was impressed with the results. This was just on card stock, it acted similar to the other products. I like how the pigment held up when water was added.  

I mixed a bit of the crayon with the Acryl Mousse & was impressed with how easily the crayon blended into the Mousse. The color saturation was also very good, ie: the paste did not just become a pastel color even though I did not use much crayon which indicates good pigment. Great way to color your mediums.

Art Spray

Billed as an Acrylic Spray that is highly pigmented, water soluble (when wet) with colors that blend. This I was very interested to play with as most sprays are watercolor & re-activate when water is added. Thus less desirable for creating layers. I found the spray went on easily with very good coverage. The color was bright & when water was dribbled while still wet, I could create water spots. Bonus when I dried it with a heat gun the color did not budge, even with a wet paintbrush and scrubbing. 

Let's Put Them Together

What happens when we put them together? I took my stenciled image & scraped the Acryl Mousse through it, let it dry. Next I added the crayon through the stencil on another part of the art card. The crayon blended easily through the stencil which was good. Using a baby wipe definitely helps this process. However I wasn't overly fond of the design I had created. User error!

I decided to blend out the crayon which was very easy to do & using Art Spray, misted over the stencil paste image. As it is an acrylic spray it did as expected which was to completely cover the white paste. 

Deciding that the white paste looked good, it was a simple fix to put the stencil back & add another coat of the mousse. I was surprised that the mousse stayed a perfect white, normally the spray color underneath bleeds through. That is the advantage of the acrylic spray. When dry it is fixed with no bleed through-hum.... 

Overall I thought the products performed really well. Really love the acrylic spray and the texture on the paste! Remember to hop over to Mix Media Monthly & participate in the challenge & you can win a prize package from Marabu Creative!

Art Card with Darkroom Door Stamps

Hello Blogland! I decided to just play today but thought I would bring you along. I was lucky enough to receive some Darkroom Door Stamps & stencils at Creativation. So I decided this rainy, yuck Sunday would be a perfect time to play. 

Here is the art card I made starting with a piece of watercolor paper. I have been limping along in the #the100dayproject but have decided I need to move it and get this done before the next one starts!!  This is #59/100.

Starting off, adding some book paper randomly & topping that off with clear gesso. Next step was some paint. I just bought the latest Dina Wakley colors so let's go with those. The paint was applied using Dina's Media Tools. I just scraped on small amounts of paint all over the background. This made the paint very translucent so some of the book paper shows through.

Here are just a few of the new products Darkroom Door has. If you are in the US you can buy them at your local scrapbook store or online at Topflight Stamps.

While the background was drying I made my quote box by dry painting on a piece of card stock. Once  dry, a gesso wash was added to mute the colors. Now that the background paint was dry it was time to grab a stencil. Very exciting that Darkroom Door now has them!

I scraped texture paste through the stencil. Once that was dry randomly stamping on the raised areas seemed like a good idea. 

The quote was heat embossed with black so it would stand out. This saying is too perfect for me!

To finish the card off, took a tag from my stash and did  light wash with Peacock paint. I added a line from a poem by Felicia Dorothea Hemans. 

Lastly some paint splatter & mark making. Life has been crazy busy & it was fun to take time out & just play. I hope you take some time out to get inky! 

*I am entering this card in Words & Paintery Challenge.

*Love this mood board from Mixed Media Place too, helped with the color inspiration. Love those feathers! Humm another project maybe. 

*Also fits brilliantly on A Vintage Journey challenge which is "melt it" I used black emboss on the quote stamp.

*Craft Stamper Blog has "Anything Goes" & the sponsor is Darkroom Door! 

Supplies:
Darkroom Door Stamps: Quote stamp- I am Creative, Correspondance
                                  : Stencil- Polka Dots- small.
Dina Wakley Paint- Eggplant, Marine, Peacock, Olive, Sedona, Bluff.
                            -Clear & White Gesso.
Ranger Ink- Texture Paste-Opaque
                -Emboss Ink & Powder.       

Heat Emboss Experiment with Art Cards

Hi Blog Land!! I am here with a fun heat emboss experiment while creating an art card. It is Thursday so time for my Topflight Stamps blog post. I wanted to play with white emboss powder and was questioning what goes first the powder or the paint? 

Art Card Therapy

First off here is my art card. My father is older and has been ill. I have been feeling worried & stressed about it so I thought what better way to help deal with all that, then an art card. This is a photo of me & my dad when we were both much younger. We have had a complex & tumultuous relationship but this photo suits the situation today. 

Next, let's talk about the Carabelle Studio stamp set by Zorrotte. You can find it here. I was actually surprised that I made the whole card with this set. I really like how the hearts ended up being a main component while the other images created the background. 

Time To Experiment

I started by heat embossing the circle stamps with 2 different powders. I used white on the lower & Emerald Creek (EC) Iridescent Shimmer on the top. As I added the layers I wiped off the embossed circles using a paper towel with some water. The paint is Fresco Finish by PaperArtsy and it has a nice chalk finish. I used the layering technique by Seth Apter. I have been playing with this lately & it is a great way to make backgrounds. You can see me play with this technique in another project as well as Seth's video here. 

I decided the background was too light so I added a layer of Smoked Paprika. You can really see the water droplets on this layer. 

Here is my paper that I used with the technique to pull up the paint- kinda cool. Like how the embossed areas create a pattern -hummmmm. 

Continuing with the experiment I added the triangles on the left with the white emboss. I added the triangles on the right with the EC emboss powder. Let's look more closely.

Experiment Results

Here are the 2 different white embossed images. Quite a difference, but both are valid. The one on the top which was done after the paint dried is crisp and clean. The one on the side which was done before the paint layers were put down, & wiped clean in between, is slightly discolored and looks more embedded in the page. I like the results and can see there are uses for both. I realized the reason the upper image is crisp & white is because acrylic paint dries permanent, therefor there is no color transfer. 

Iridescent Shimmer Powder

Let's try with our other emboss powder by EC .   This was quite a drastic difference. It was my first time using this powder but it sets clear with glitter. The one on the right side which was put down before the paint & wiped off in between layers, is slightly discolored. The circles take on the color of the index card which is a cream color. The image on the bottom was embossed after the paint. It takes on the color of the paint and much more of the glitter shows. This is kind of cool looking. I outlined the images with a pen so you could see it better. Again both ways are valid & look totally different. 

Lastly adding background images using the other stamps in the set created interest. I stamped the hearts on blue scrapbook paper & on a sheet from my stash that was covered in shimmery Glimmer Mist. They added a wonderful embellishment to my project. 

That is it for this week. My photo and word chips on the tab were the finishing touches. The sentiment says " every detail of their journey" perfect for this card. That is it for this project. I have to say I really love how it turned out. Thanks for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed my tutorial & you get to try it for yourself.

Making Nautical Art Cards with Topflight Stamps

Today I have my weekly post from Topflight Stamps. Check out the sale at the bottom of my blog after you read the post! The theme over there is summer or nautical & I got to play with these awesome stamps from Joy Crafts-Seashore Icons.

Stamps by Joy Craft have such great detail!

Playing with Stamps!

I decided to make some simple art cards, here is a quick rundown of how I made them.

This card started with random scrap paper adhered and was covered with acrylic paint & a scraper. I actually was arting on the beach where the picture was taken. Some random stamping of the Ships Wheel in black- notice how applying different pressure changes the look of the stamp. That is also as I was stamping on my lap! When I got home I added a photo from the trip, I love adding photos to my art cards.

The seagull was stamped on beige scrapbook paper, the postage stamp is from Pinterest & is on my Digi board. I added a few embellishments from Bo Bunny & did a bit of sewing. The feather was picked up on at the beach & adds the perfect touch of memory from the day!

 

Let's Make a Tag!

My second project is a tag that I had started with some cheese cloth & artisan powders. It was a demo I did in a class I was teaching. Perfect to add some nautical stamped images. I stamped the oh so cool light house & compass on scrapbook paper, & cut them out. The compass was adhered with pop dots. 

The lighthouse was added to with just a touch of color using Distress Oxide. Below I added some Glass Bead Gel & GemStones to act like the rocks! The background stamping at the top of the tag was part of that same stamp. The edges of the stamp are seagulls & clouds, so they were inked up and stamped. A bit of ribbon at the top & shazam, done. Thanks for joining me today, I hope I can inspire you to make some art. Pop on over to Topflight to get the best of Europe's stamps right here in the U.S. 

I am entering my tag in the Craft Stamper Magazine challenge. 

 There is a huge sale going on, all the summer stamps!

Topflight Stamp 

• Seashore Icons by Joy Crafts

Other Supplies:

•  Ranger-Jet Black, Cobalt Archival Ink
•             -Fossilized Amber, Fired Brick Distress Oxide
• Tombo Mono-Aqua Glue
• Liquitex-Glass Bead Gel
• Emerald Creek-Gemstones
• Bo Bunny- Noteworthy Ephemera
• Letters-Me & My Big Ideas