varadasharma
- Jul 9, 2016
- 4 min read

Spellbinders Die kit of the month – Mixed Media Canvas

I have always wanted to play with mixed media – I love working with different materials like canvas, patterned paper; I love adding lots of dimension to my projects and I love embellishments. In today’s project I got crazy with all of the above :-D and because it combines various materials and coloring media, I am calling it mixed media :-) I am not sure technically that is true or not, but oh well…

The inspiration for this project came from three different places:

In my local Chuy’s restaurant I saw a painting where the flower centers had sequins… Loved that idea.
I knew the colors I wanted for my flowers but didn’t have cardstock in those shades. Specially the yellow ones. So I took inspiration from Yana Smakula (her cards are stunning!) where she often die cuts using white cardstock and then colors them. I did the same here for all flowers. I ink blended.
I used some ideas from Vicky Papaioannou for my background. I am always inspired by her mixed media projects. Simply gorgeous!!
I also used one fun tissue paper / kitchen towel painting technique that my friend JC taught us.

To start with this project, I used a 8×10 back stapled canvas that I got from Michaels. I covered it entirely with a patterned paper. This paper was not very thick, so it was easy to fold around the edges. I think it came out of a patterned paper pad I got from Hobby Lobby Christmas clearance. To adhere it on top of the canvas, I used my trusted modpodge :-)

I did play with doing some stenciling using gesso for the corners, but didn’t like it. I need more practice. When that didn’t work, I covered the corners with some blue acrylic paint and added some fun texture using kitchen towel. Rolled a kitchen towel into an uneven ball and dabbed it over the paint when it was wet. I learned this part from my friend JC.

While my canvas was drying, I worked on my flowers. I die cut several flowers using white cardstock. The for the larger ones, I ink blended using mini ink blending tool and red colors. I picked abandoned coral from the distress inks and also did a couple using hot lips ink by SSS. For the yellow ones, I used two colors from Altenew warm sunshine and buttercream.

After all the flowers were colored, I added matching sequins in their centers using glossy accents. I die cut some leaves from green card stock and added embossed details on the leaves using the same dies. Yes, these Spellbinders dies let you cut, emboss as well as stencil! Will show that in some video later.

By this time, my canvas had dried and was ready for me to work on. I added some more details to the corners using the sketchy leaves / vines from Look for the Miracles SSS Stamp set. I used Ranger archival black ink for this. To help get a good stamped impression I put a small book behind the stretched canvas. I still got some uneven stamping, but was quite happy with the overall effect.

Then I planned out my floral arrangement. I wanted it to cascade down on one side, so went with that look. I curled each flower petal using my fingers. Adhered some directly to the canvas using glossy accents while I foam mounted the rest to add some more dimension. Here’s a closer look.

I wanted this project to be a reminder for remaining grateful and speak some positive affirmations. So, I used the word die ‘grateful’ from MFT and some Pinkfresh Studio stickers. I die cut the word grateful from a gold foil cardstock. Love how it turned out!

For finishing touches, I added confetti hearts from the Hello Love sequins by Crate Paper. These came in SSS February card kit. Also added a couple clusters of the same round sequins that are in the flower centers. And just because I could not stay away from my project, I spread some icicle stickles around two corners for added sparkle.

I hope you liked my project and are inspired to try something like this.

Supplies List

For your convenience, I am sharing links to the supplies I’ve used for these cards – click on the picture or link to go directly to the product. Wherever available, I have used affiliate links, which means when you make a purchase, I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) which I use to run this blog. I truly appreciate your support!