Catzncards: Mixed Media Challenge

Saturday, 25 June 2016

Left of Centre DT Project #136

Hi again - no you're not seeing double, I have actually written two blogs on one day! It just so happens that the newest challenge blogs DT I have joined happened to have their first, or latest challenges on the same day this time round.

I'm just as excited about this challenge blog as the last. Left of Centre Creative Challenges is a challenge blog that showcases the weird and wonderful world of gothic, fantasy, punk, grunge, dark and quirky. We also welcome the traditional here, but we do ask that your work is mixed media- on whatever medium you prefer whether canvas, art journal, card, bottle or anything else really! The challenges run every week from Saturday morning and we have a fantastic range of sponsors who we showcase each week, and who are generous in offering prizes of digi images to winners of our challenges. We also do winners badges for those chosen by the DT each week to proudly put on your blog/instagram/website.

This is my first DT project for the team and this week's sponsor is Moonflower Digistamps.

The week's theme is Monochrome and so with this in mind I decided to rummage through my colours and decided on blue as my main colour.

I chose Minako the Oriental Maiden as my digi image, she's gorgeous!!

I adore this image, and have always loved oriental imagery. It was a very popular this week and I'm not the only DT member to choose it, so I had to think about what colour to use so as to not duplicate what had already been done.

I printed on white card and set about colouring her in with my Promarkers. I used four different blues: Blue Pearl, Sky Blue, Duck egg Blue and Indigo Blue. For her skin I used Vanilla and Pink Blossom and for her hair I used Henna. I added a touch of green for the leaves on her kimono.

I used a mix of paper from my stash for the background on my Daler Rowney Mixed Media A4 paper. I tore the papers up and stuck them down, then once coloured, I fussy cut the digi image out and affixed her to the page. I added a sentiment I found in my stash, coloured parts of it with blue ink to keep to the monochrome theme. I added some sequins from my stash to her head dress and in the centre of her fan to add some bling, and some tiny blue flower gems to the centre of the flowers. I coloured a silver metal fan charm from my stash with Indigo Blue Promarker and affixed it to the quote. It didn't feel quite finished so I got my white gel pen and added dots of white to the quote and flowers, and doodles circles and arrow heads onto the blue background papers to add some interest.

I hope you enjoy my project and that you'll come along and join us for this week's challenge at 8pm GMT today. The theme is Monochrome. Go to Left of Centre (LOC) Creative Challenges. We also have a page on Facebook.

I shall be entering this project into the following challenges:

Classic Design Team Open Challenge Blog - #03 Anything Goes

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - #25 2nd Anniversary
A Bit More Time to Craft - #22 Anything Goes
SLS Lines Digital Stamp Challenge - Anything But A Card

Michelle xx

Challenge #1 - Anything Goes at A Inky Mess

Today is an exciting day here in the world of blogs, a brand new mixed media challenge blog starts today over at A Inky Mess. The very first challenge is sponsored by Ike's Art, designed by a fantastic lady and the DT at A Inky Mess had a wonderful array of digis to choose from to showcase her work.

I chose a fantastic image called Robot #1 from Ike's Art

I just had to do something a little futuristic and steampunk with this!

I adored working with this image!! First I printed it out on Daler Rowney Mixed Media paper twice, and once on a piece of Kanban Metallica paper. I then set about colouring it in with my Distress Markers and waterbrush. Once that had dried, I added the eyebrow with Distress Stickles in Pewter. I took a piece of leather, the type you get attached to the tag on leather shoes when you buy them (mine was from my son's new school shoes) and cut it to the shape of the eyepatch. Once stuck down, I covered it with Distress Stickles in Vintage Photo. I cut out the hands on the second printed image and coloured those in with silver and gold pens from my stash and added Distress Stickles in Vintage Photo to the gold areas to match the eyepatch colour.

I fussy cut the helmet and chin strap from the image printed onto the Kanban Metallica paper and used my bone folder and the palm of my hand to break the fibres and add a curve and dimension to them. I stuck them down onto the first printed coloured image, and then stuck the hands I had cut out and coloured from the second print. I finished the image with shading with a Distress Crayon and added some bling from my stash and a mini cog from Dusty Attic I had heat embossed with Debbi Moore UTEE embossing powder then stuck to the eye patch.

The background is a mix of papers from Kanban Metallica and from Tim Holtz Idea-ology Lost and Found. I tore the papers up and stuck them to my Daler Rowney mixed media A4 page and added Liquitext Heavy Gesso in white in patches with an old credit card, and some mini and large cogs and the word Dream chipboard pieces from Dusty Attic that I had heat embossed in pewter and gold Debbi Moore UTEE embossing powder. I fussy cut the completed image and adhered it to the background, and added some washi tape to the background top and bottom to complete the piece.

Here are the materials used to create this piece:

Distress Markers (see pic 2 below for colours), Distress Stickles (see pic 1 below for colours), Distress Watercolour Crayon, Waterbrush, Kanban Metallica papers, Tim Holtz Lost and Found papers, washi tape from stash, bling from stash, Liquitex Heavy White Gesso, old credit card, silver and gold pens from stash, chipboard pieces from Dusty Attic, Debbi Moore UTEE embossing powders, leather tag from shoes.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my art journal page and that you'll join us at A Inky Mess to see what the other DT members have produced, and join in with our mixed media Anything Goes challenge. A Inky Mess challenges run from 25th of every month.

I shall be entering this project into the following challenges:

Classic Design Team Open Challenge Blog - #03 Anything Goes
winner - Best Technique