Summer colours ...

Sunglasses might be needed for looking at some elements of this post!  If I had to describe my style of cardmaking I would probably choose Clean and Simple (CAS) as my approach tends to be minimalist - a little stamping, some colouring and very often monchrome.  This card is anything but, I have used nearly every product that I own (including some I don't remember buying!!)  I have to admit to being in awe of the mixed media artists that I follow and dream of being able to create an Art Journal. 

I think that one problem I have is that I don't always have the patience to wait for things to dry ... something that I now realise is essential when working with mixed media.  I thought if I worked on two projects at the same time as one was drying I could add to the other and this is how I end up with this:

To me this reflects the colour of summer

JOFY flowers combined from different sets

I've been working on this card since the new challenge at "The Mixed Media Card Challenge" was announced on the 1st August - the theme is Summer, the first thoughts I had were of summer meadows and clean clear colours.

When I started I did not have much of an idea as to the final design so I just kind of let it evolve. My understanding of mixed media (apart from the obvious of using a variety of techniques and products) is to build up layers of interest, dimension and texture - this card certainly has a lot of layers some of which are not obvious!

I started with a piece of cream cardstock and base coated it with gesso, then added stamped pieces of tissue, followed by layers of colour using gelatos (funnily enough I thought this was Italian Ice Cream) plus a touch of distress inks.  As the background began to build I needed to find images to act as the focal point - JOFY stamps seemed to provide the answer.  I added some detail to the background using texture paste through some stencils before spritzing with some shimmer mist.  I stamped and heat embossed the two large 'flowers' on the background and also on a spare piece of card.  The smaller flower heads were stamped onto some scraps of watercoloured card as was the sentiment.  Finally out came the glue and the whole thing was assembled!!

If you have made it this far - thank you for reading!  I have experienced a number of problems along the way but not enough to put me off trying again and no doubt again!  Any hints and suggestions you would care to make by way of a comment would be really appreciated.

Here are most of the items  I used:

Faber Castell Gelatos
Distress Inks
Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Mist
Versamark
The Crafters Workshop Stencil - Mini Chickenwire reversed
PaperArtsy - JOFY Stamp Sets 09 and 11
Gesso

Enjoy!