Hi there! Today, Hero Arts is celebrating the release of their new Mixed Media Catalog with a blog hop, and we are hoping to inspire you to step outside of your comfort zone. You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. I will admit, my initial thought was that Mixed Media was a bit too far of a departure from my normal style, but guess what I learned? For a project to be considered “mixed media,” it only needs to mix more than one medium-embossing, painting, stamping, ink blending, pastes, pearls… something that we do frequently as cardmakers!! I combined some of the new products from the Mixed Media Catalog with some older products and art supplies to create this card/tag combo, so let’s get started with the details!
Both of my projects feature the Floral Silhouettes stamps as the base of the projects. I love using colored pencils on vibrant colored cardstock, and thought it would be great fun to combine the Hero Arts Liquid Watercolors with white gouache to do some painting on Nautical cardstock. I stamped the images from Floral Silhouettes onto Nautical cardstock using Unicorn White pigment ink, then created a lovely pastel palette by mixing gouache with Strawberry, Mulled Wine, and Jungle Mist liquid watercolors. The opacity of the gouache makes it stand out perfectly on the dark navy blue cardstock.
Painting with gouache is a bit different than my normal painting technique. I painted the images flat, then added highlights to create definition on the individual areas, which is a bit of a departure from my usual technique of adding shadows to my images. The Floral Silhouettes stamps are solid silhouettes, so they leave some room for imagination when it comes to adding details. I fussy cut the finished images using my sharp scissors.
For my card base, I used White Satin Pearl embossing powder to emboss the new Calligraphy Bold Prints on a full size A2 panel of Nautical cardstock. I trimmed down a thick strip of more Nautical cardstock, adding a thinner strip of silver glitter cardstock on either side, then adhering it to the embossed card base. I added the greeting on a strip of cardstock using some foam adhesive, then arranged my flowers above the sentiment strip like they were exploding from the top of the sentiment strip. I love how the colorful gouache painting pops so beautifully from the dark blue cardstock. This is an experiment that I definitely will try again!
My tag features some of the leftover gouache flowers and another embossed background from the Calligraphy stamp, this time backing a Looking Glass Fine Art Frame, die cut from more navy blue cardstock. I arranged the flowers and foliage, as well as a sentiment, then punched a hole in the top and threaded a ribbon through to create a tag. Simple, and would look so lovely adorning a plain gift bag!
Well, that’s all for my projects today. I so enjoyed stepping out of my comfort zone creating these projects-I can’t wait to try more gouache/liquid watercolor experiments! Solid silhouette stamps are just the foundation for some really fun techniques!
To celebrate this new catalog release, Hero Arts is giving away a super fun prize pack. You can check out the Hero Arts Blog for all of the details on the items included in the prize pack from the new release. Simply leave comments along the hop to be entered to win. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!
Your next stop is Ilina Crouse. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!
Pretty flowers, layers & more.
Melissa
“Sunshine HoneyBee”
Beautiful project! I love your color choices!
The Blue is so striking with the other colors on the card and tag.
Thanks for sharing.
These are so pretty! I love the colors! That blue is amazing!
Love the layering to give so much
depth to the design. The dark blue
is wonderful. thanks for sharing
txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com
WOW, the blue makes the flowers really stand out. I LOVE it. WOW again!
I LOVE the colors! The blue is stunning! Great flowers!
Thanks for showing us all of the cool painting techniques! So beautiful!
SO PRETTY
Your projects are always so creative and lovely!
Gorgeous card and tag, the colors you chose are so pretty together.
I love the Floral Silhouettes set! Beautiful card and tag featuring these flowers! Gorgeous coloring of the images!
I just love everything about your card and tag. The colors, the calligraphy stamp, the design. My favorite.
I love the blue you chose for your projects! Striking!!!!
Love your color choices and beautiful designs!
Love the Asian inspired look of your card. Beautiful!
The dark background with light colors is fabulous. I need to incorporate that style more often in my card making.
The color palette is beautiful on these projects!
Pretty set. I like the colors.
I love your projects, they are inspiration over and over again. Thanks!
So stunning! That deep blue is so beautiful!
So pretty! Love the way the colors pop on that dark background.
Lovely creations! Mixed Media just makes my heart happy! So glad to see it coming more into the card making arena!
Love the flowers on the the Nautical yardstick.
uh, that should have read card stock…dang, spell check.
Such gorgeous creations. Love the colors.
Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful card and tag! I really love your flowers!
Beautiful projects! Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful creations! Mixed Media just makes my heart happy! So glad to see it coming more into the card making arena!
So pretty! I’m loving seeing these mixed media techniques
These are so pretty. The colors look great against the blue.
So pretty. I love your projects
Those colors are so beautiful together!
Unique and beautiful work! LOVE this collection, and you’ve used it to make such imaginative and lovely projects!
Dear Emily
Be it in cards or mixed media your coloring is more than perfect. love to see you color one day. thanks for the inspiration. Tc stay safe
So beautiful. Thanks for sharing, Emily
Love those images on dark blue! And the way that you colored the flowers, very nice!