Create A Little Beauty Mixed Media Canvas

For the first time ever we've paired up with not one but two of our friends in the industry! We were just a bit excited when we were making plans and realized it would be a trifecta of fun for all of us!

Picket Fence Studios

If you're unfamiliar with Picket Fence Studios (makers of the Life-Changing Blender Brushes) and My Sweet Petunia (makers of the MISTI) it's time for you to do so! Picket Fence Studios makes some of the cutest stamps and stencils along with tools you'll soon realize you MUST have on hand! Like their Blender Brushes...a must-have for stamping, blending and more! Click here to learn a bit more about them and meet their designers who are joining the fun this week! My Sweet Petunia is the company who created the MISTI. What's a MISTI you ask? Click here!

My Sweet Petunia

It's the perfect way to stamp without the headache of lining things up only to find you're off the mark! It's a must-have in your craft room! Be sure to visit their website to see all the new products (check out the Cut-Align) they have in addition! You'll find all this week projects on all three of our blogs and we hope you'll take time to pop in every day for inspiration and ideas and chances to win as well! Kicking things off for our Mix It Up Monday feature is an absolutely incredible canvas piece from Heather Collins featuring Poppy Blossoms stamps from Picket Fence Studios and the MISTI platform from My Sweet Petunia! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or is it? Too many times we allow other people to influence us on how we shape ourselves. As a Mom of two, I am constantly questioning myself on what I am trying to teach my kids. And at times it all gets a little bit much. Luckily though there is art. Art not only allows me to escape but gives me some tools to express myself, but an outlet to express myself in ways I never thought possible. As a mixed media artist, I often find myself looking at things and thinking of ways in which to use them in my own unique style. When I found this little canvas at Five Below, I knew it was going to be the perfect way of exploring myself again.

Beauty Mixed Media Canvas

To start the project I grabbed my Original Misti and Picket Fence’s “Poppy Blossoms” stamp set and stamping out several sheets of images on Brutus Monroe’s “Aqua Pigment Paper”. When I use a stamp set for the first time I always first stamp it a few times with Brutus Monroe “Embossing Ink” and then Brutus Monroe’s “Raven Detail Ink”. I have found this is a way of lessening the staining on the stamps that I use. Then I heat set my images with a heat tool and set aside to color. Next, I took several colors of Brutus Monroe Aqua Pigments and Water Brush and colored directly on the canvas piece with no other prep needed. I worked with Brutus Monroe’s “Sunflower” Metallic Aqua Pigment first since it was going to take up most of my canvas and was the lightest color. I used my heat tool in-between colors, so they wouldn’t muddle, but blend where I wanted to. To get the effect that I wanted I layered many colors from the Aqua Pigment line including “Brown, Sunflower, Arachnis, Iris, and Blueberry”. While my girl was drying I went back to the flowers I had stamped and colored them with some watercolor pencils that I had, then using my Brutus Monroe Waterbrush and more of the Brutus Monroe Aqua Pigments including “Iris, Lavender, and Sunflower”. Next using some fussy cutting scissors I cut out my flowers and slightly bent them to give a 3D look. When I went to color the girl I made sure that my canvas dry. Then I used a qtip, some sponges and makeup. This was a little bit of a challenge since I haven’t worn makeup myself in about 15 years. The eyes were done with more Aqua Pigments, assorted black and white markers. Then I took a little silicone brush and I added iCraft Decofoil Metallix Gel - Pure Gold some of the stars and Gina K Designs Glitz Glitter Gel - Gold. I also used some of the Gina K Designs Glitz Glitter Gel - Gold very lightly over flowers and the girl’s eyebrows. Gina K Designs Glitz Glitter Gel - Black was added to the centers of the flowers. To finish the piece I heat embossed a little wooden “Beauty” sign I had in my collection with some Brutus Monroe “Embossing Ink” and “Embossing Powder-Golden Gourd”. Then using 3D Zots and iCraft Ultra Liquid Adhesive to attach my items to complete everything.

Create a Little Beauty Supplies

Original Misti Picket Fence’s “Poppy Blossoms” stamp set iCraft Decofoil Metallix Gel- Pure Gold Gina K Designs Glitz Glitter Gel- Gold Gina K Designs Glitz Glitter Gel- Black 3D Zots iCraft Ultra Liquid Adhesive Brutus Monroe’s “Raven Detail Ink” Brutus Monroe’s “Aqua Pigment Paper” Brutus Monroe Aqua Pigments and Metallic Aqua Pigments Brutus Monroe “Embossing Ink” Brutus Monroe “Embossing Powder-Golden Gourd” Beauty wooden sign silicone brush Heat tool Canvas (with design) from Five Below a Rafflecopter giveaway Be sure to stop by the Picket Fence Studios Blog as well as the My Sweet Petunia Blog!