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Friday, May 5, 2017

Can Mixed Media and CAS Live Happily Ever After?

Short answer: 
Anything's possible.

Long, rambling, discursive answer:
So, ever since I settled on a screen name of LateBlossom at SplitcoastStampers, I've been fully committed to clean-and-simple (CAS) stamping. Sure, I occasionally dabble in collage or shabby chic styles because, you know, it's fun to get outside your box and play every now and then. But clean and simple is my box, and I love my box. My box makes me happy. It's a very good box for me.

Collage and shabby chic get along nicely with CAS on quick playdates, but you don't really need a whole lot of special supplies to make those playdates work. A bit of ribbon or lace, a charm, a scrap of fabric, a button or two...nothing special. Stuff the average crafter has lying around on principle.

Mixed media is a whole different critter. Every time I poke my nose into it, I pull away in shock and horror at the cost. What if I pay $50-$75 on a few different pastes and paints and tools, and end up hating it? Then I'd also hate myself for not spending that money on stamps and ink I know I'll love.

Even worse, what if I love it? Ohmygosh! My obsessively acquisitive self would have to buy some of everything. My kid's going to college next year. I can't afford that.

Or perhaps I'm over-analyzing this whole thing in typical drama queen fashion.

The kit I won a week ago fixed that problem of initial investment, and I've been playing around with it to see if a buying spree is in my future. The jury is still out on that, but my first card is a pretty cool union of CAS and mixed media.



Mixed media is all about layers, texture, and color. CAS is all about minimalism and white space. My strategy going into this was to create smallish focal points of intense texture and mat them onto cards of white. As I used the Force to feel my way toward something that didn't look silly, it dawned on me that bringing elements of white into the design would have a unifying effect.

To make this card, I took a small scrap of cardstock and covered it in gel medium and crumpled up white tissue paper on it, adding gel medium to get all the folds (or at least most of them) to stick down. This was messy, and there was plenty of tissue hanging off the cardstock, but I left it there.

After it was dry, I painted on pink, orange, and gold metallic Gelatos that I'd prepared with a bit of water on a palette. I let each color dry before adding another so they wouldn't blend too much and make mud. The Gelatos can stay sort of lumpy and thick as watercolor, which can add more dimension and interest to the final product.



After the coloring was done and dry, I trimmed all the extra tissue off the cardstock scrap with scissors and spent an inordinate amount of time trying to decide what to do with this little background. After much hemming and hawing, I settled on a simple white butterfly with bling and a couple of words from an old StampinUp set.

And there you have it. My first official foray into mixed media.

Not too shabby, eh? I'm pleased, and hope you are, too.

But as for happily ever after? That remains to be seen.


Supplies
stamps: StampinUp
ink: Archival potting soil
paper: Papertrey white, tissue paper
accessories: Gelatos, gel medium, brush, glue pen, rhinestones, craft foam, glue, butterfly punch (Martha Stewart)

25 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks, Vicki! You're so fearless and that inspires me!

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  2. Gorgeous! And still CAS... You are my idol.

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  3. I love making backgrounds & your mixed media is superb! I used to get so caught up making all sorts of backgrounds and then couldn't figure out what to do with them! When I found your blog, you gave me "permission" to go back to clean & simple & invigorated my stamping again! Interesting journey I've been on. Still like making backgrounds however & have now added die cutting now for simplicity. Seems they all can live harmoniously together!

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    1. Aw, Marilyn! I'm so glad you got reinvigorated! It's awesome that you find your own way of incorporating backgrounds that works for you!

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  4. Lovely! As an aside, I was glad you mentioned colouring jewels in one of your posts. I had done it before but not in a long time. I've been experimenting again. Thanks!

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  5. Awesome first try in mixed media The card is so elegant. Can not wait to see next card.

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    1. Thanks, Debbie. We'll see how many more I can get out of this kit.

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  6. I love your panel, the colours are beautiful but I feel that there's a bit too much white space on the card. What if the card was slightly smaller or you added some stamping in a colour to match the panel across the bottom right hand corner and placed the panel so that the corner of the panel cut across the stamping? Sorry I'm explaining it really badly.

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    1. If you think there's too much white space, try making your own version! My eye loves all that white space, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If your eye doesn't want so much white space, play around to get it right to your eye. I hope that all my readers can adapt my designs or be inspired to make what pleases them. Go for it and share it with us!

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    2. I am really sorry if I have offended you it was not intended. I love your cards and am always in awe of how well you use white space. Your cards are always beautifully balanced but I feel (and it is only a personal opinion) that this card of yours does not quite have that balance. I don't know whether it's the angle that the card has been photographed at or what but for the first time ever (and I've been reading your blog for several years) it just didn't look as pleasing to my eye.As I said earlier there was no intention to offend.

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    3. No offense taken at all! You are always entitled to your opinion, and I to mine. I take cards that seem mostly right to me (but not quite ME) and vary or play with them all the time. It's fun and extremely educational for me. I really like this card as is, but I think it would be extremely cool for you to make it your own, fix the balance for yourself, and then share it with us! That is the highest kind of praise I can get as a blogger...to have inspired you to make something of your own that fulfills YOUR vision! It's all good!

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  7. Susan, this is the most impressive piece of Gelatos work I've ever seen. The color blend and texture are hugely appealing to me, all the more so standing out against the white. Good idea to bring the white into it, as well. I don't know much about Gelatos. My own box has never allowed room for a lot of mixed media. Over the years I've come to believe it's okay to stay comfortably in your box if you like your box. The occasional adventure outside will tell you what you want to bring back with you. This gives me an idea for something I've been wanting to try with simple supplies on hand. Now, to find the time outside my box to experiment...

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Leslie. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!