Ho Ho Ho - Merry Christmas

From all of us at Mixed Media Mojo - we want to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Barb is sharing one of her canvases for this year.

See you January 1, 2015, for our first challenge for the NEW Year.

Pet Christmas Decorations

Hello all! Niki here (aka Pawsitively Creative) on the blog today and as some of you may know I am a vet tech that loves her furry family members. I make this dog biscuit wreath ornament for them every year, so I thought I would share my process.

First, get your supplies ready.

 Using old cardboard boxes cut out a round wreath shape. The size of the wreath depends on the size of your treats (cat treats work as well). I like to use wired ribbon because it holds the treats better. Cut a very long piece of ribbon (more than you think you will need.) 

Grab your glue gun and attach your ribbon at an angle to the back of your cardboard. 

Next-wrap your ribbon around your wreath and insert treats at every new wrap. Does that make sense?

Continue wrapping and inserting treats until your entire wreath is done. The last wrap will be the top of the wreath so make sure your ribbon is long enough to reach the back of the wreath. We don't want the end to show on the front. Use your glue gun to secure the edge. You can stop here, or to add an elegent touch, use an embellishment or a holiday pick to attach to the front top. I used 2 gold leaves and some gold balls. 

This is an easy way to include your pets in your holiday festivities. TIP-some animals have allergies to certain foods so remember to get hypoallergenic treats if needed. TIP-make sure these wreaths are out of reach of pets! We wouldn't want them to eat the ribbon or cardboard!!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays to all! If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment and I will answer ASAP. 

Carpe Diem!

Holiday Ornament How To

Barb here - telling you how I made this ornament.  There are many ideas all over the net on how to decorate the glass bulbs you can buy at the craft stores.  This ornament is one I did this year.

This one of the flatter ornaments so the front surface is a good one to do some artwork on.

I first primed the glass with Gesso.  I had bought some clear Gesso and wanted to try that.  Here is what it looks like on the front of the ornament.

Not really that clear.  Hmmmm - false advertising.  I used regular Gesso on a page of a book and then stamped my snowman (Paper Smooches).

I colored the snowman with my Big Brush Pens from Faber Castell and carefully cut him out.  I used gel medium to put him on the front of my ornament.

Oops and once again I forgot to take pictures of what I did so get your imagination working here to see what I am talking about.  I used embossing paste and made a snowbank for my snowman to sit in.  I then used my distress paints and colored the sky.  After it was dry, I used a new stencil and made those random dots with more embossing paste.  I added some snowflake stickers I had.  I brushed the snowman and snowbank with a glitter and glass bead gel from Faber Castell.  I used more normal gel medium over the top of the sky to set the color and the stickers.

I decided I wanted to fill the bulb with some sparkly gift bag shreds.

Lucky me - I found 3 bags of these shreds in my supplies so guess I need to get busy and make some more ornaments.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today.  Make sure you enter our monthly challenge.

Mixed Media Mojo December Challenge

Welcome December!  I can't believe it's the holiday season already!  This month we are making mixed media projects for the winter holidays with a twist of ornaments.  Before we get to the beautiful creations of the design team let's announce our winner and Guest Designer for January from our November challenge!

And the winner is:  BECCA from The Damsel of Distressed!!  Becca we would love to have you as our Guest Designer for January!  Please contact Maria at riann1973 at yahoo dot com.

Now let's take a peek at what the DT Created this month:

Barb

Maria

Kim

Niki

Shery

Thanks for stopping by! I can't wait to see what you come up with this month!! And this month's winner will be our February Guest Designer!!

Maria

Thanksgiving Place Cards.

Hello again, Niki here aka Pawsitively Creative. I wanted to share a tradition in my family with you all today. This also goes with our challenge this month at Mixed Media Mojo-the theme is THANKS. You still have time to enter!

Every Thanksgiving my Grandma and I make name cards for everyone that is coming to Thanksgiving dinner. My Grandma is a proud 87 years young and she can't craft like she used to so I made these for her this year, with her input of course. Someone has to be the boss right? :) Unfortunately we won't be together for Thanksgiving, I just wanted to keep our tradition alive and well. We all love our traditions right? Here is how I made these. 

I started by painting my heavy chipboard piece with Silks Spiced Pumpkin (love the Silks!). I edged the sides with black Archival ink. Make sure to paint the back as well! 

While that was drying I used some white cardstock and stamped my Give Thanks image with embossing ink. I then brushed Luminarts Primary Elements Sunflower onto the embossed image (new technique?). I had to use what I had on hand because I don't have any gold embossing powder. The results were just what I was going for. Yippee!

Using a small paintbrush I curled the edges of the stamped piece to help give dimension. 

I then added a brown curly "twig", a small piece of wheat, and two leaves. I used dimensional dots to add the leaves. 

The chalkboard sticker was added last. This is where the names of the guests will be. I used a chalkboard pen to write my Grandmas name. I didn't finish the rest of the writing because I don't know the names of everyone going. But luckily my Mom said she would write their names when she got to my Grandmas house and my Mom has gorgeous handwriting! Winning!

Thank you for stopping by and Happy Thanksgiving!

 What are you thankful for? I am thankful for the opportunity to share my art with you all and to have a warm, safe home that I can go to everyday. I am thankful for my amazing husband and my two lovely/lively dogs-Nanook and Jaz. 

Carpe Diem! ~Niki

Need a Simple Last Minute Thank-you Card?

Hi!

Happy Wednesday!

It's Kim here today with a little "Thank you" idea to make whenever you need a special card.

This simple card can be customized with your favorite colors and sentiment. I used a Tim Holtz Butterfly die to make a card. This die comes with a matching embossing folder to add the details and extra color. But, you could use any die you have on hand or even punches. Just do two or three layers and stack them up! It really makes it POP when it is not all flat.

The "Thanks" sentiment and mini leaves and berries are from the Falling into Autumn set by Newton's Nook. The frame stamp around the sentiment is Unity. The background and butterfly were colored with Distress Ink and Paints. The cardstock is Core'dinations.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving if it is a Holiday for you! It is getting so close and everything is getting so busy! If you find a moment to make a project we would LOVE to have you link up in our Challenge this month, the theme is use "Thanks" in some fun way!

Have a great day!
~kim

How Did She Make That Sunflower?

I am totally in love with the sunflower I created for this canvas.  I will walk through the steps with instructions and pictures so you can create your own sunflower. 

To create the sunflower, I used my Silhouette Cameo to make my patterns.  I then traced the patterns onto lunch bags.  I cut them out by hand.  I was not overly particular if I cut exactly on the lines because Mother Nature is not perfect when she is creating flower petals.

I wanted to add layers of color to the flower.  I mixed acrylic and water and did a wash.  I let it dry and then added another color mixed with just a little less water. 

I then stamped a background stamp on all the leaves with some distress ink.  This adds more depth of color and texture.

Now comes the fun part.  It is time to release all your frustrations from the day.  You need to take each petal and scrunch and crumple it up.  I usually let them sit crumpled up for a few hours so that the texture is embedded in the petals.  The picture shows petals crumpled and then how they look uncrumpled. (I think I invented a new mixed media word.)

The layers of the flower were put together with glue dots.  I had some dimensional glue dots and I used several in the center for each layer.  The glue dots added a little space between each layer and made the flower look more dimensional.

I needed to have a center for my flower and also leaves and stems.  For the center of the flower I cut a circle of brown felt and then a circle of a brown plaid.  I used some lightweight yarn and made French dots on top of the circles.  The French dots resembled the seeds that appear in the middle of the sunflower. 

For the stems, I decided to go with fabric again to add more dimension and texture to the canvas.  I tore strips of the green fabric.  For the stem, I just loosely rolled it and used a needle and thread to loosely tack it in a rounded dimensional shape.  The leaves were done the same way but just used a smaller strip of fabric.  I tacked the leaf together at the bottom and molded it into the shape of a leaf.  The stem and leaves were applied to the canvas with double sticky tape.  The center of the sunflower was added with the dimensional glue dots.

As I put the flower together, I decided it needed something extra.  I was looking through my “stuff” and I looked at a wreath I had taken off the wall.  It was a grapevine wreath and it had those little twiggies sticking out.  I clipped some off and added them in the layers of the sunflower.  I just stuck them into the dimensional glue dots.  These twiggies (another new mixed media word) added more color and interest to the flower.  Here is the close up of the flower so you can see all the layers. 

I think you could use these basic ideas to make any flower.  I don't think you would need a Silhouette to cut your pattern - you could draw it free hand.  I think a poinsettia is next on my list of flowers to create.  

Mixed Media Mojo November Challenge

Hey there!  Thanks to all who played along in last month's challenge!  Our Mixed Media Mojo Diva for October is:  KEELEY!

Keeley will be asked to join us as a GUEST ON OUR DT for December!  And going forward the Mixed Media Mojo Diva will be our guest the following month.  So get your creations in we would love to have you join us!

This month our Mixed Media theme is "THANKFUL"!  Create something mixed media, can be a canvas, journal page etc using this theme.

Here is what our Design Team came up with:

Maria

Barb

Kim

Shery

Niki

Can't wait to see what you create this month!!!

Maria

There is still time to play

Hey there Mixed Media fans!  There is still lots of time left to play with our October Mixed Media Challenge! 

Come show us your Halloween / Fall themed Mixed Media Creations!  One person will be selected as our Mixed Media Mojo Diva for October!

If you haven't seen our other posts throughout October be sure to scroll back and check out all the great projects our Design Team worked on this month!

Thanks for stopping by!

Maria

Halloween Fabric Stamped Panel~Wednesday October 22

Hello! Happy Wednesday!

So happy you have dropped by today. Kim here from TangledBlueRose.
The time is flying by! Can you believe how fast October has gone by? Not fast enough for the kiddos though!

You still have about 9 days to join our Challenge this month. Have lots of fun with this theme, Fall or Halloween with the twist use fabric.

Today I'd like to share with you a canvas I made. I wanted to make something to hang up in the window. So I thought I would play with fabric and stamping.

This was a piece of crinoline fabric I had. I cut a piece and started stamping. The black images I used Jet Black Archival ink. The fencing at the bottom and bottom border are stamped with Distress Ink, Vintage Photo. I painted the sky using a water brush and Distress Ink. I added the orange touches using Distress Paint.  I love the natural edge the fabric has!

The bats, ghost, and witch stamps are Unity. The sentiment is Inkadinkado. The fence and border is Hampton Arts. The crow is Recollections.

I really love how the texture of the fabric comes through. Have fun stamping and try new surfaces, it is amazing what you might discover along the way!

Don't forget, come link up your art with us and see if you will be the next Mojo Diva!

Have a fabulous day!
~kim

DIY Fabric 3D Pumpkin

Hello y'all! Niki here (aka Pawsitively Creative) on the blog today. I wanted to share a how to on making my fabric 3D(ish) pumpkin. This is an easy way to add dimension to your project. Grap a Pumpkin Spice Latte and enjoy!

I started out by drawing a pumpkin shape that I could use as a template. I used the very back cardboard piece from a set of cardstock papers I bought awhile ago. I traced the template and cut out my pumpkin. 

Then I grabbed my gingham type fabric and glued down the bottom edge, and part of the sides using Tombow Multi liquid glue. Make sure to glue the fabric to the back of the pumpkin. 

Now this is the fun, sticky and messy part. Grab some cotton balls and start filling your pumpkin. I had glue stuck to my fingers so this was a bit messy but fun. As you add your cotton balls glue the edges of the fabric as needed. 

When you have your pumpkin stuffed to your specifications you can close the very top and add some string to represent the ridges in your pumpkin. I used hemp that I colored black. Then my baby girl, Raj (German shepherd) helped me pick out a stick from our backyard that was used as the stem of the pumpkin. 

Pick a spot on your project and glue your pumpkin down (I used E6000). Add your stem and now you have a fabric 3D pumpkin! Easy right?

Happy Halloween!

Remember to have fun and enter our October Halloween/Fall use Fabric challenge HERE at Mixed Media Mojo!

Happy crafting and Carpe Diem!

~Niki aka Pawsitively Creative

Mixed Media Halloween Card

I am getting my money's worth out of the fat quarter I bought to use on my original Halloween jar - the Candy Jar.  Here is another card I made with a touch of that fabric on it.

If you want to find out a few details on the card, you can pop over my my blog for more information

I actually have another card made using this fabric.  It is pretty cute also.

From Pickle Jar to Candy Jar – the Journey

I was a lowly pickle jar but I aspired to be something greater.  I knew in the creative hands of Barb I would emerge from my dullness to be a fun candy jar that everyone wants to dip their hands into for a tasty treat.

Grab some candy and join Barb on the journey taking me from dull and boring to fun and spectacular. 

Clean your jar and remove all the glue residue from the label.  Usually a good soak will take care of this but if needed, Goo Gone works to get off the last little bits of adhesive.  Just make sure you wash me well after using this stuff.

The first step was to add designs with embossing paste.  Barb scribbled gelatos on her mat and mixed in the embossing paste until she got the perfect color.  She used a Hero Arts stencil to add the design. 

Barb then resumed a long lost relationship with Webbing Spray from Krylon.  She had forgotten how much fun this product was. The black webbing was a perfect accent for a Halloween project.  (on a side note – Barb said the white webbing was great on winter projects).  Just make sure you do your spraying in a box so as not to make a mess.  

Well I had to cover my belly.  You can’t have your belly hanging out – even for Halloween it is not pretty.  Barb grabbed some great Halloween paper and some black fabric. 

Did you notice my belly band has four layers.  She tore a strip of fabric for a layer.  Another strip of fabric was tied in the cutest little bow.  She glued it on my middle and I am almost ready to go but every candy jar needs a cute lid to finish off their costume.  She cut paper for the top and a strip of paper to put around the edge.  Gel medium works great for this.

Don’t tell Barb but she really needs to work on her photo taking skills.  I keep telling her but does she remember.  No.  Must be old age sneaking in on her.

She got out her trusty spray can of black webbing and decorated my top.  I am getting better by the minute.  Barb dug through her ample supplies (OMG ample is not the word to describe her enormous stash).  She found these great eye ball stickers, a sentiment and a pumpkin and the embellishment journey began.  She used all those eyeball stickers – I have eyeballs where candy jars shouldn’t have eye balls.  See – I am now beautiful.

Be brave, grab an old jar you were going to recyle and go to town.  Make that jar into something fun.

Thanks for stopping by.  I do hope you learned something from Barb.  I will keep on her to keep improving her craft so stop by and visit us again.  Happy snacking.