Hi readers! Happy Tuesday to you!  I’m so pleased to welcome back Finn to Simon as a guest on our blog!  What some of you may not know is that she was on our (now Wednesday challenge blog, at that time our only challenge blog) long ago!  It’s fun to see how she has continued to inspire, create, & grow! She has created a really cool mixed media project for us today!

Enjoy!

I just love collecting vintage objects – and old photos and cabinet cards have a special place in my heart. Looking at them I’m always wondering what is the story of people captured on them, who were they and why their photos were left behind. To create this project I picked one of the cabinet cards I had in my collection and combined it with an old photo plate I found on the flea market.

Because the surface of the cabinet card was glossy I covered it with a coat of Art Basics Clear Gesso – and when it was dry it turned into beautifully matte, easy to work on surface. I added a bit of color to it using watercolor pencils blended with waterbrush and I stamped it a bit with Archival Ink (Jet Black) and Vintage Vanity Stamps to create more artistic vintage look.

My next step was applying Art Basics 3D Gloss Gel – medium which is not only great to create texture but also great dimensional glue – on the vintage metal plate to create interesting texture. Damask stencil was a great choice and the effect was just beautiful! I dried it with heating tool until it started to turn clear and I was ready to continue: building multi-layered composition. I used a selection of my Mechanicals and Ingvild’s Junkyard Findings which I glued down to the plate and photo with Art Basics 3D Gloss Gel. To add more dimension t the project I used 3D Foam Squares too – my favorite are from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L. The combination of Prima embellishments and a bit of found objects added a nice, “grungy” touch to my little collage – and strong vintage feeling of course!

When the composition was finished I dried it for a moment with heating tool to make sure they will stay in place and I covered all my slippery embellishments such as metals or plastics with a coat of Clear Gesso to  help my paints to stay on them. When the Clear Gesso was dry I sprayed them a bit with Color Bloom Sprays  (Gold Foil, Iris, and Pressed Petal) and dried them again.

Finishing touches were made with a selection of 3 colors of Silks Acrylic Glazes: Ginger Peach, Boysenberry and Honey Amber. I took just a bit of this acrylic paint on my brush and dry brushed it in the selected places to balance the color and add some extra shine.

Supplies: