mixed media art

Phoenix Rising | Lifting Others | Card

Posted on by helen

Hello and Happy weekend to you! Leanne is here on the blog today showing how she made an amazing card with our FACE IT and PHOENIX RISING stamps, with the bare tree from our INTO THE WOODS set and lots of paint and ink…


Hey there!

I’m sharing this creation that I’ve made using some of my Visible Image stamps.


phoenix stamp | flames | eyes | face | we rise by lifting others | handmade card


Many people ask where I get my ideas from or how I got to the finished result so today I’ve got a couple of step by step photo’s so that I can explain what I did with this one.

Believe it or not, I often don’t start with much of a clue of what I’m going to do with a stamp set and because my style is experimental, it often changes very much along the way!!!


So here we go…



Ok, so I chose a piece of card that I’d sprayed with my ink sprays previously (this was a yellow and pink sprayed piece) and I stamped the eyes from Visible Image’s Face It! stamp set in black versafine clair ink and clear embossed over the top to seal it.  The eyes were then covered with some masking fluid.

I then used my Ecoline liquid watercolour in black to give an ombre effect coming down from the top of the page using a 1 inch watercolour flat brush – this darkened that original sprayed piece of card perfectly for me.

Next I used the Visible Image Into The Woods stamp set (the stand alone bare tree) and firstly stamped using a Versafine smokey grey ink pad, and then applied my Dylusions yellow and orange paints to the stamp with a dauber and had lots of fun!



I have now rubbed away the masking fluid from the eyes (they still look a little pink as remember, I had used a yellow/pink ink sprayed piece of card to start with).  Now I stamped the Pheonix from Visible Image stamp set Phoenix Rising in black Versafine clair ink, and covered that with black embossing powder to cover any areas that were struggling to cover over the Dylusions paint – note, some of the embossing powder caught the damp paint but that’s ok – it adds to the effect!



Here is the finished card


face stamps | eyes | phoenix | flames | tree | handmade card


You will see that I have coloured the whites of the eyes with a grey watercolour pen, and highlighted with white pastel pencil. The eyes have been coloured with an orange watercolour pen. and then I have used black, orange and white pastel pencils to take the glow of the flames up in to the eyes. Matted on to another piece of card that I had blended mustard seed and Kitsch Flamingo distress inks on to, and used the flames stamps from the Pheonix Rising set with Versafine clair ink. The sentiment is also from the Pheonix Rising set, and I have white embossed onto black card for this.



Supplies


face stamps | eyes | lips | closed eyes | wink | clear | rubber



phoenix stamp | flames | we rise by lifting others | clear | rubber



forest stamps | woods | trees | owls | stay grounded | clear | rubber



Well, hope you stuck with me, a lengthy post and hope that you got a small glimpse in to how my mind works to achieve the effects that I need!


Thanks for stopping by!

Leanne xxx




Incredible card! It’s full of drama! Loving the combination of stamps and the effects created with the tree stamp!

Thank you Leanne ♡

 

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Do show us what you make too by sharing in our Facebook group or tagging us on instagram.

 

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for LIVE DEMOS and pre-recorded tutorial videos!

We will be back soon with more gorgeous inspiration here on the blog. Do check out all the fabulous inspiration from our instagram team too!


Have a lovely weekend.

Helen + Mark xx



 

Design Team Intro | Gill Sansom

Posted on by helen
We are really excited to introduce NEW Design Team member…


Gill Sansom



As a mum to two teenage boys, crafting has been both my therapy and escape, my bit of time out for myself to immerse myself in the colourful creative world of messy painted backgrounds and beautiful stamped and coloured images. My mindful messy moments of joy!



Gill is on our TV SAMPLES TEAM!


Follow Gill on instagram: @sansom.g


Gill’s gorgeous cards and mixed media projects with fabulous inky backgrounds really caught our eye ♡


Daisy stencil | canvas | stamping | grungy butterflies | kindness


Gill made her fantastic background with acrylic paints and tissue paper then added more texture by randomly stamping our GRUNGE TONES stamps using rose, yellow and green inks. Next Gill added more interest by inking through our WORDS OF SUPPORT stencil. To create the gorgeous flowers Gill used our DAISY DAISY stencil as a template, painted the petals with white acrylic paint, then coated them with Starlights metallic paint in ‘clotted cream’. The centres were painted to co-ordinate with the bright oranges and yellows in the background, and gold paint was stippled to create the stamen. The grungy butterflies from our WINGS OF CHANGE set were stamped with Versafine Clair ink onto smooshed inky backgrounds made with ‘scattered straw’ and ‘worn lipstick’ distress oxide inks. The sentiments were stamped and then clear embossed, and Gill finished by hand drawing doodled frames around the sentiments and canvas edges using a black fine liner pen.


close ups














supplies




equality | hope | love | kindness | sentiment stamps | definitions



grungy butterfly stamps | transform | clear | rubber



grunge background stamps | dots | circles | clear | rubber



daisy stencil | texture | backgrounds



words stencil | mindful | compassion | love | friendship



Welcome to the team Gill! We are really excited to work with you!


We will be back tomorrow with some fabulous new inspiration from Ericka.


See you then!

Take care.

Helen + Mark xx


 

Mixed Media Wall Art | Butterfly Stamps

Posted on by helen

Hi there, we are sneaking in with an extra post today! We just had to share this stunning art work by Lynda Hall featuring our fabulous new butterfly stamps and sentiments on an incredible textured background…


For my latest Visible Image inspiration I am sharing a piece of wall art that I have created, featuring the new release Summer Wings stamp set. I love the clean lines of the butterflies, they offer endless opportunities for creativity.




I started this piece with a piece of watercolour card, that I sprayed with water before applying watercolour paint. I wanted lots of lovely texture on this, so I used the salt technique.



This is a simple process where you sprinkle rock salt over the painted card when still wet, and allow it to dry naturally. It absorbs the moisture and leaves the most interesting patterns and texture.



When fully dry, I brushed off the salt and sealed with a layer of matt medium.



Then for more texture! I coloured crackle paste with acrylic paint and applied it liberally with a pallet knife.



While that was drying and doing its magical crackly thing, I finished off my butterflies. The day before I had stamped and gone over the outline with Pebeo Cerne Relief. This enabled me to fill the gaps with Pebeo Prisme paint, which once dry contains beautiful patterns. This does take a while to dry fully. I left mine overnight before fussy cutting out.



With the crackle paste dry, I then really went to town on adding more texture. I added Izink Ice, acrylic ink, embossing powder, texture sand and beads. I also added some stamping detail using stamps from the Shape It Up set (this is SUCH a useful set to have in the stash for backgrounds!)





To finish I mounted on black, and added the sentiment stamps and adhered the butterflies.


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When framed it makes a beautiful unique piece of art work.


mixed media wall art | butterfly stamps



Products used


mixed media wall art



Summer Wings stamp set


butterfly | dragonfly | stamps



Shape It Up


background | stamps | shapes | lines | triangles | geometric



Visible Image are currently offering the chance to win a whopping £100 voucher over in the Facebook Group with the challenge ‘Shades of Purple’ so do pop over and join in if you can. This challenge is in memory of a dear friend of ours, Erika, who sadly passed away a year ago but still very much lives on in our hearts. She LOVED the colour purple!




Wowee! Just look at all that delicious texture! Your background really is a work of art Lynda.. we absolutely love this project! Thank you ♡

You will find more inspiring cards and projects from Lynda over on her blog.



All our social media links:

Shop where you will find all our stamps and stencils
Blog see all our latest posts here
YouTube watch inspiring videos from Mark
Facebook group show us your makes and enter our giveaways and challenges
Facebook PAGE …like and follow us to be first to hear our news

You can also follow us on:

instagram
pinterest
twitter


We really hope you will join in with our Facebook Group challenge… that £100 coupon could be yours!!!


We will be back tomorrow with more fabulous inspiration from our wonderful team ♡

Mark will be starting a series of LIVE demos over on our Facebook PAGE this evening at 8pm, showcasing our new stamps!


Take care and stay well.

Helen & Mark xx


 

Upcycling | Mixed Media Art

Posted on by helen

Good Evening, we are back with our 3rd and final dose of colourful art today! Heather Mitchell has created some awesome inspiration for our Facebook group up-cycling challenge…

Hey Everyone…

The latest challenge over in the Visible Image group is an up-cycling challenge where you are encouraged to up-cycle something you would normally throw away!


upcycling | cereal box | mixed media | stamping


I sat (for ages) trying to figure out what to make and then it hit me that what I actually needed was a small box to pop my makes in so that they are kept separate from those cards I’ve already blogged or posted on social media.  I like keep my un-posted makes separate so I know where my head is at!


I needed a box wide enough to fit an 8×8″ card in and initially I looked at a small cardboard box I had but realised the porridge box in the bin was perfect!



At 8.5″ on it’s side, it was perfect size-wise but a tad flimsy so I backed it with some thick card and then added watercolour card over the top so I could distress and grunge it up.  I filled in the gap round the top of the box using modelling paste and a palette knife just so it looked a bit more ‘finished’.



I didn’t have a theme for the box, didn’t know where I was going with it really so I just went with the flow.  

I began by using the Stars and Stripes stencil, utilising the stars with modelling paste for the sides of the front  of the box. Once dried (over night) I just spritzed it with blues and green Distress Oxide Spray as I love the chalky finish they give and added some Picked Raspberry Distress Crayon to the stars to contrast with the cool colours.


I had to use my favourite stencil, Ripples, on the project somewhere so grabbed a Chipped Sapphire ink pad and dotted the fabulous circles around the box.



It was then a matter of layering up the stamps.  I love the two fish from the Art Rebel set so stamped those swimming around and then added the seaweed image from the Dare to Swim set.  I hadn’t really intended the box to have an underwater theme but the colours kind of dictated it a bit.




I love the Scribble stamp on the Total Chaos set and had to have it on the make somewhere, so heat embossed it using WOW’s Angel Eyes powder


To give the box a random feel, I added the tree from Into the Woods using Versafine Clair ink pads in Rain Forest and Verdant and ‘sealed’ the ink using a clear powder from WOW.  The leaves, from both Total Chaos and Tree of Life, are done exactly the same way and coloured using Arteza watercolour brush pens.




The sides needed some art and so again, make it a little quirky, I used the bulbs (and moth) from Glimmer of Light and Shining Bright and tucked the word ‘Shine’ in between them.



For the front of the box, I went all out colour clash and stamped the gorgeous Visible Image eye using Versafine Clair Charming Pink and Glamorous which I then heat embossed using a clear powder.



To finish, I needed a hefty sentiment, something that meant something to me so I chose ‘Create Your Imagination’ from the Just Be Happy stamp set.



So there we have it… think I’ve mentioned it all!?





You can find the challenge in the Visible Image Facebook group  and there is a HUGE £40 voucher for the first winner and then two £20 vouchers for the next two! Enough to grab yourselves a stamp set or stencil or two… and there are some new ones on there way!!

Take care of yourselves and I’ll see you soon and thank you for taking the time to read my posts… it’s massively appreciated.

H xx




Wow!!! This is amazing! So many stamps!!! We love your underwater themed background and all the layers, details and texture! Really awesome inspiration!  Thank you so much Heather ♡

You will find more inspiring projects from Heather over on her blog.



All our social media links:

Shop where you will find all our stamps and stencils
Blog see all our latest posts here
YouTube watch inspiring videos from Mark
Facebook group show us your makes, and enter our giveaways and challenges!
Facebook PAGE …like and follow us to be first to hear our news!

You can also follow us on:

instagram
pinterest
twitter


We hope you will join in with the challenge over in our Facebook group … how can you resist the chance to win a £40 coupon… get upcycling!


We will be back later tomorrow with gorgeous new cards from Nadine and Macarena!


Stay safe!

Best Wishes,

Helen & Mark xx