Mood Board Mixed Media

It's Pinspire Me Monday at Paper Issues. I was instantly smitten with the image of the beautiful flowers on the mood board. To see the stunning mood board, check out the Paper Issues blog. I thought it would be fun to do a mixed-media project and the Bella Blvd. Illustrated Faith (She Blooms) patterned paper was perfect for the project! I had an old canvas lying around that was never finished so I grabbed it and put a coat of gesso on it. I fussy-cut several flowers and hand-cut stems, leaves, and the vase. I played around with flower placement until I was happy and took a quick photo with my phone for reference.

I pulled out acrylic paints and started layering paint on top of the flowers to make them pop and add dimension to the piece. I wanted to keep the clean, fresh look of the inspiration image, so I didn't get too messy with it. I absolutely love the end result. I decided to hand it on my craft room door because it makes me happy!

As you can see, I also painted on the sides and wrapped some flowers & leaves around the edge. It's a fun, little detail that I love to add, especially if the canvas will be seen from the side. I adore this paper so much that I also created a layout with it! It will be on the Paper Issues blog in a couple of weeks. Lots of fun things happening at Paper Issues... ISpywithPI started a few days ago. Be sure to join the FB group and share all your gorgeous spring photos. You'll definitely be inspired to scrap and more importantly, have beautiful photos to jump-start your mojo!

Into The Woods with PI

It's New Issue Monday at Paper Issues. This month's issue is "Into The Woods", which encompasses many fun themes: wood veneer, camping, outdoors, woodland creatures, etc. I chose some photos from my daughter's week at camp last year. I started with the new, fabulous Cocoa Vanilla Totally Rad collection. The embellishment pack has wood veneer, acetate stars, and a blue and white twine that I love. The patterned paper (Say What) is the perfect neutral for the colorful elements on the layout.

I colored some of the wood veneer with Distress markers so that the wood-grain would still show. To adhere the acetate elements, I used Ranger's Multi Medium Matte. The colored tags are from Fancy Pants Attwell collection. I love the blue and green color combination; it reminds me of summer days! To see more lovely inspiration for this issue, be sure to check out the Paper Issues blog here. There's still quite a bit of Cocoa Vanilla in the shop - grab it while you can! For 20% off your entire purchase, use discount code, "sherry20".

Mood Board Inspiration

Do you love mood board inspiration as much as I do? Today, at Paper Issues, the February mood board is up and it's gorgeous! When Mary-Ann first posted it, I gasped and was instantly inspired by the colorful, whimsical hearts on the bottom right.

Since I knew I was be adding several mixed media layers, I started with Strathmore Acrylic paper, 246 lb. To keep it from warping, I taped it down to a board and also added a layer of gesso to prep the paper. For color inspiration, I used a photo of my cat, sitting on my lap in my craft room. I grabbed several paints, stencils (The Crafter's Workshop & Heidi Swapp), rub-ons, waterproof pens, stamps, and started playing.

At one point, I couldn't decide if I loved or hated it, but I kept pressing on and I'm so glad I did. Since the background is so busy, I matted the photo with patterned paper (Shimelle) and used the glassine bag from my Paper Issues Swag Bag. The Amy Tangerine foam Thickers were perfect for the layout but too white and clean, so I got messy and altered them. For the finishing touches, I added the ribbon clip from the January Swag Bag and the wooden arrow/heart from Crate Paper's Hello, Love collection.

I had such a blast getting dirty with this mood board! Although my scrap style is typically clean and photo-focused, it's fun to let loose and mix it up from time to time. I hope you're as inspired by this beautiful board as I was. Be sure to add your creations to the Paper Issues {Friends & Fans} Facebook page - you may win a store gift certificate! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments. To see more Pinspire Me creations by the Paper Issues DT, click here. Wishing you a lovely, creative day!