Mixed Media Art Jounral & Tutorial

Hi Guys hope you all are doing well.. Well lately when I was browsing through crafting techniques blog I came to understand a completely new area of Paper crafting.. that is MIXED MEDIA.. Once I started browsing through various crafter’s creation I couldn’t stop myself from creating some of my own.. I had created a scrapbook cover page quiet long back.. I was also inspired to start my own art journal.. So here is the front cover of the art journal that I made –

I just love the way it has turned out.. Now to the part on how I made it.. Here we go to another long post 🙂 

I first took the cover and painted it black using some acrylic colors –

Then I started adding textures and dimension to my page.. You can use absolutely anything and it is completely based on your imagination.. The best part about mixed media is you can never go wrong –

I have used some Daler Rowney texture paste, Pie lane metal butterfly, some rope pieces, blue silk flower, some metal flowers, a RAM (yes you can add absolutely anything.. based on what look you want) .. I was actually creating a garden rail effect using the ram and the rope pieces on the tops are supposed to be vines, once I complete with the entire things.. On the left hand upper corner of the page I have used texture paste and did some indentations just to create a texture.. You can also do some doodling or use some stencils based on the look you decide.. 

Here are some more closeups –

Sorry about the lighting.. I was working on this project at midnight and this was the best light I could come up with.. After again coloring everything in black I still felt the bottom of the page was not completely filled and the RAM needed some vines (as RAM was my fence).. Now instead of rope for the vines I have used some 3d glitter glue..

Again the bottom was too empty for my liking and I felt it needed some more layering.. Hence I used some doctors tape which you get in any of the medical stores –

I again added a layer of black paint on everything and then planned on adding another contrast color using a spray.. Now so that the picture is not spoiled I have covered it using a thick paper (you can also use cloth) 

When I had made this project I hardly had any information on sprays and hence had made my own homemade spray using some acrylic paints and water.. It worked well  for this project since the base layer was black.. When I sprayed this mixture on a white paper I realized that the acrylic paint made water too thick causing a blotchy effect when sprayed.. Also, if you keep the acrylic paint and water mixture in you spray bottle longer it sticks inside the spray pipe making it useless for future use.. I had throw away 2 – 3 spray bottles because of this issue.. Hence if you are using acrylic paint please make a fresh spray and then throw the excess and do remember the blotchy side effect..

Had sprayed the entire page using the mixture I created.. and here is the final effect –

Some more details of the texture paste effect after spraying –

You can go on adding black and golden depending on the effect you want.. Once I had completed this I started embellishing the page using some paper die cuts to create this – 

The small flower are cut out using a punch bunch punch.. The small butterflies are actually some leftovers from the EK Success Butterfly border punch.. The alphabet die is from Sizzix.. 

I have later on used some Pie lane glitter balls and gold stickles for adding some final effect’s to the page..

Hope you guys enjoyed the tutorial,

Khyati