Collect Moments Not Things

Hi Off the Rails Scrapbooking readers!

I'm Mabel Sim from Singapore and this is the first tutorial I created for Off the Rails Scrapbooking, bringing you a photo tutorial on how I created my Mixed Media Canvas display piece.

I first primed by 5.5 x 7 inches canvas board with white gesso. I pulled out my Tim Holtz blending tool as well as Peacock Feathers and Seedless Preserve ink pads. I randomly brushed on those inks using my blending tool onto stencils from Crafter's Workshop and Dylusions. Since the inks are water soluble, I actually sprayed water to allow the inks to flow slightly. 

See the white patches? I create the effect by 'stamping' gesso using my palette knife. I just thought that the colours are slightly too vivid and wanted to tone down my colours slightly. So by creating this white patches, I can not only tone down my colours, I can also create some additional interest and effects.

As my canvas was inspired by galactic theme, I wanted something sparkly and dimensional for my canvas. I applied heavy matte medium from Liquitex over my Dina Wakley stencil and poured a mixture of Black Sparkle and Silver Tinsel embossing powder from Ranger. As the matte medium was still wet, it managed to capture those embossing powder. The trick to this technique is to wait till the medium is completely dried before you heat-set the embossing powder to prevent the medium from bubbling.

So this is the final look after embellishments. The papers are from 7 Dots Studio Soulmates Collection and my sentiment is actually a sticker from Mambi. I used Thailand's Mulberry flowers for my canvas, but you can actually purchase these flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts. 

I used 13arts pastel mists in Lavender and Cobalt to highlight my centerpiece. I actually dipped my brush into the mist bottles and colour it around my centrepiece. 

See those texture over there? I actually mixed Glass Microspheres from 13arts with my Clear Gesso. I chose to use Clear Gesso instead of matte medium was that my matte medium will act as a resist to watercolours unlike clear gesso. So I randomly swipe this mixture onto my canvas and also sprinkle some Platinum Glass Glitter from Prima Finnabair line. I also gently brushed on white gesso as highlight after everything dried.

And who say stamens can only be used at the center of flowers? I layered stamens underneath my flower composition so that it looks like they are bursting around the flowers. 

That's all for my tutorial.

Thanks for reading! :)

You can see more of my projects over HERE!