Easy Mixed Media Layered Backgrounds

Mixed Media has always intrigued me. I love the carefree spontaneity of it, but have always been intimidated by it’s complexity. At least I thought it was complex. The key is layers.

I’ve recently been exploring a ton of different styles and watching a lot of different mixed media artists. My friend Vicki is a master. I’m not only drawn to her artistic style, but her teaching style and no fail approach to mixed media is infectious. In a good way!

I decided to take some of this new found exploration of products and apply it to card making, and I’ve got to say…it’s amazing!

How gorgeous is that? Sigh I could stare at it all day long. To start this card, I created a homemade stencil by cutting a few leaves from the Woodland Basics Die from acetate. I stenciled several of the leaves in two different sizes on a piece of Mixed Media card stock, in this case it was the smooth side of Ranger Distress Watercolor Cardstock . You can use Bristol if you have that on hand, or other mixed media papers. Just make sure it can handle water, because we will be adding another layer using Distress Inks as well.

When stenciling the leaves I allowed overlapping for a fun “scattered” effect. I chose a gorgeous palette of rich autumn colors from our PURE Color Dye Ink collection including, Cranberry Crush, Wild Mango, Last Leaf, Sea Breeze and Cockleshell.

Once I had my leaves stenciled in, it was time to “grunge” it up a bit. But I wanted colorful grunge! I chose similar colors of Distress Ink – Wild Honey, Crushed Olive, Aged Mahogany, Seedless Preserves and Speckled Egg Distress Oxide. I applied this to the background using the Ink Smooshing technique. Super easy to do – just squish some color onto a small piece of acetate, spray a little water on to it, and then kiss it to your background. Press and lift, move, press and lift. So easy! Our inks are water proof so I did not have to worry about disturbing my leaves as I added the ink smoothing over it.

I added lots of paint splatters using the same Distress Ink colors, and even added some dry smooshing as a finishing touch for another layer of texture.

I finished it off with a very linear and simple sentiment from a retired Concord and 9th stamp set and a few white die cuts from the same Woodland Basics Die. The clean version of the leaves helps unify the bright organic background with the stark clean sentiment.

I was on a roll and decided to create a few of these backgrounds while I had the supplies out. This background is created in the same way as the previous, using all of the same steps.

This time, I used the negative space of a die cut. I cut out a rectangle using our 4 Bar Stitched Rectangles Die and then cut then leaves from our Foliage Frame Background Die from that.

I finished off both cards by adding a nest of gold thread and a sprinkling of sequins and jewels from Pretty Pink Posh.

If you haven’t given mixed media a try, I would definitely recommend it. Especially if you are in a creative slump. Something about just creating and playing without worry about an end product is so cathartic. And, if you enjoyed these cards and want to see them created, be sure to join our Wplus9 – Encourage Creativity Community Facebook Group. I’ve been doing Lives every Tuesday and Thursday and created these backgrounds a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are having a wonderful week!