June Winners!!!

It's finally time to announce the winners from our first challenge! Yay!! First of all, let me say that it was incredibly hard to pick only a handful of projects from all the amazing entries that we had. Our design team was literally blown away by the all the creativity and talent that we saw in our June Gallery. You guys are so inspiring to us and I know you are to each other also. I hope that you have taken the time to look through our June gallery, you won't be disappointed - I guarantee it.

So, without further ado, the winner of our first ever Mixed Media Monthly Challenge is Marianne with this stunning layout! (Marianne please grab your winners badge!)

Marianne

Our Honorable Mentions are listed below (in no particular order). Please pick up your badges for your blogs:

Marina

Stacy

 Creativeheart4

And, finally, our random winner who will win the $25 gift certificate from Inspiration Emporium is Ellie. Please e-mail us at mixedmediamonthly@gmail.com for your gift certificate information.

Ellie

Congratulations to ALL our winners. We hope you will all join us for  our July challenge where we will have a TWO random winners!!!

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #2 - Around the House

Welcome to the second Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - Around the House!

Hello! This is Rachel, and I'll be your host this month! For the month of July, I am challenging you to look at your household items in a different way. Use string, paper towels, cheese cloth, or tin foil to create texture. Try 'stamping' with paper rolls, cardboard, or bubble wrap. I was browsing my utensil drawer and thought that cheese grater could make an interesting stencil! Just think outside the basic supplies and look at things in a new light! And of course HAVE FUN and use your imagination!

Our generous sponsor this month is Die Cuts With a View. This fabulous paper company has started making amazing textured papers like corrugate, burlap, canvas, even chalkboard and white board stacks! DCWV also has a great collection of stencils that any mixed media artist would want in their collection. They have supplied this unbelievable prize package for TWO random lucky winners! Package includes 1 12x12 paper pad, 4 textured 6x6 paper pads, and 12 stencils!

Now to get to the gorgeous Around the House projects! I created my tall canvas using a beautiful piece of 'junk mail' as the centerpiece...

Here is a collage of my step-by-step process, including how I used some around the house items...

#1 Shows the beautiful images I tore out of the most recent Yale Medicine Journal. #2 I adhered crinkled pieces of tin foil to my canvas. #3 Pick out some bright matching paint colors! #4 I also adhered strips of DCWV burlap paper and then painted. #5 The cut image was decoupaged onto the canvas. #6 and #7 I stamped over the image with paper tubes and bubble wrap. #8 I rolled kitchen string in decoupage and paint and wrapped it throughout the canvas.

I'll have a lot more up close photos posted on my personal blog post, but I really wanted to share this one here. The tin foil is such a great item to add. Even when it's covered in paint, the shimmer from the foil still peeks through.

Guest Designer - Jenn Shurkus

Jenn lives in New England, with her kitty Mister Harley and her boyfriend Chris. She's been papercrafting for 15 years, and has played multiple roles in the paper craft industry as an independent store manager, designer and teacher. With a degree in graphic design she is also Copic and Ranger certified. She is part of the Lawnscaping Challenge Design Team. Jenn loves to show people new and clever ideas to design their cards and projects. She has a flair for the "artsy-fartsy" without going over the top. She designs her projects in the way to inspire, but not intimidate. Jenn is eager to share her creative passions with others and encourage their artistic growth. She currently is teaching classes with Lawn Fawn, Hero Arts, Ranger and more. You can read more about her, and her handsome kitty Mister Harley and wicked cute boyfriend Chris on her blog {creative chick} http://www.shurkus.com/ . You can also follow her creative adventures on instagram and facebook.

I was lucky enough to be with Jenn while she created this stunning art journal page for our Around the House challenge. Make sure to visit her blog for more amazing tips and tricks about her process, plus a bonus Around the House page she created for us!

Now more inspiration from our amazing Design Team!

Donna 

Carved a wine cork for a stamp, cut a wine cork for flower centers, used plastic bottle top for circle stamp, added Dixie Cups to background

Lynn

used bottle caps and silicone pot holder as stamps; cardboard as a stencil

Lalo

Used bottle caps, string, and even a pizza cutter

Lynn K

used bubble wrap, paper towel, old gift card, and CD case as applicator tools; bottle caps as stamps

Melanie

used masking tape, dry wall mesh, and pieces of wood

We don't have many rules, but ask that you do follow the ones we have! 

* Mention in your post how you used Around the House items

* Your post must link back to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge post

* Add a link to your direct post, not your entire blog

* You can enter up to 5 times, create whatever you want, and HAVE FUN!

An InLinkz Link-up

You Still Have Time to Play in Our June Challenge!

First of all, we would like to thank everyone for your support for our new challenge. Our gallery is filled with beautiful and inspiring mixed media creations. We just want to remind you that you have until midnight EST on June 30th to link up to our challenge.

Our random winner will receive a fabulous $25 gift certificate from our sponsor Inspiration Emporium. Our design team will also choose a winner and honorable mentions who will be able to proudly display our badge on their blogs. Winners will be announced on July 5.

Our new challenge will start Tuesday, July 1 and run through the month of July so be sure to check back next Tuesday for our new theme, sponsor, and guest designer!!

Also, did you know that we are on social media?? Here are all the places you can follow us for mixed media inspiration, techniques and challenge reminders. And, be sure to follow our blog!!

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mixedmediamc
Twitter - https://twitter.com/mixedmediamc
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbaaS2uV_xR-MR98X0N1upA
Instagram - mixedmediamc

We look forward to seeing your amazing spray ink creations and having you join us for our second challenge starting July 1!!

WINNER WINNER WINNER!

***Click here for our June Challenge***

Happy Friday!! I'm here to announce the super lucky winner of our HUGE mixed media prize giveaway!

Congratulations to.....

MICHELLE LIIMATAINEN!! What a lucky lady! Michelle, please contact Donna at mixedmediamonthly{at}gmail.com to claim your prize!

Our first challenge is ready for your entries!! Grab your spray inks and mists and get busy! Our prize this month is a $25 gift card to the Inspiration Emporium! 

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #1

Welcome to the first Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - Spray Inks & Mists!! 

We are thrilled to have you with us for our first challenge!! We are so lucky that the amazing online store Inspiration Emporium is sponsoring our challenge this month. They are generously offering a $25 gift card for our Random Winner and a discount code for anyone reading this right now!! Just use the code MMMC for 10% off your entire order!!

We are also excited to introduce our first ever Guest Designer - Shelly Hickox!! Shelly is an amazing mixed media artist who is also on the Inspiration Emporium Design Team. Later in this post you can read more about Shelly and see the fabulous project she made using spray inks.


I'm Donna and I'll be hosting the challenge this month. The theme for this month's challenge is Spray Inks. Just use spray inks to create any type of mixed media project. I want you to be able to make almost anything and have fun. And, who doesn't have fun using spray inks? I'm going to show you my project for this challenge along with a tutorial. Keep going and you will see the projects from the other MMMC Designers. I know you will be inspired to make something amazing!

If you are new to using spray inks we have an entire Playlist on YouTube that contains videos on how to use spray inks. Click here to check out our Spray Inks Playlist for fun techniques and inspiration.

Remember, if you don't own any spray inks, all you need is a spray bottle, a reinker, and some water and you can make your own spray. 

I made an Art Journal Page where I used spray inks 3 different ways. By the way, I learned everything I know about spray inks from the classes I have taken with the lovely Dyan Reaveley, the creator of Dylusions products.

This page was made in a Dylusions small journal. To start with I always spray the pages with water so the inks will blend together.

Then I spray my first color - be sure to use BIG sprays. Don't be afraid to spray a lot!

Then a second color. 

And finish it off with a third color. I like how the yellow and pink blend and make orange.

It was still pretty wet so I lifted it up and let the inks move around the page.

Finally, I mopped up the excess with a paper towel roll.

Before I finished my art journal page I wiped up the craft mat with a tag, added some water to blend in the colors, wiped with a paper towel and now I have tag all ready to go!

The second way I used spray inks was on the canvas butterfly. I sprayed the butterfly with Adriondack Inks that are made for fabrics. I used the colors Wild Plum and Stream. I sprayed the butterfly until I liked it and then let it dry. I also made a tag from the overspray on my craft mat.

The third way I used spray inks was to put a dropper full of green in a watercolor brush and color the leaves on my page. I used it full strength. I didn't add any water. I colored all the leaves with straight water before coloring it over with the green ink (another Dyan Reaveley Technique)

Materials List
1. Dylusions Small Journal
2. Dylusions Spray Inks- Pure Sunshine, Bubblegum Pink, Lemon Zest
3. Dylusions Leaf Stamp
4. Impression Obsession - Chicken Wire Heart Stamp
5. My Favorite Things - Circles From the Sunny Day Doodles Borders and Accents Stamp set
6. Ranger Archival Ink - Black
7. Maya Road Canvas Butterfly
8. Unity Stamp Company - Sentiment Stamp - Angie Girl: Dream With Your Heart
9. Adirondack Color Wash Sprays - Wild Plum, Stream

Guest Designer

We welcome our first Guest Designer - Shelly Hickox!!

Shelly Hickox is a paper crafter who loves experimenting with inks, papers, and all forms of mixed media. She has designed for many different companies, including Tim Holtz, Sizzix, and Artistic Outpost. She currently serves on the design teams of Karen Burniston, Eileen Hull, and Inspiration Emporium. Shelly has been fortunate to have her work published in numerous magazines as well.  When not holed up in her studio, she loves nothing more than a good junkin' trip, or a hike in the woods. Shelly lives in the Memphis area with her husband, chickens, and a small herd of cats.  

Shelly made a stunning mixed media project for us this week. Be sure to check out her blog for a tutorial on how she made this gorgeous creations. 

Now for more inspiration from our Amazing Design Team

Rachel

Lynn A. 

Lalo

Lynn K.

Melanie

**Please remember to explain how you used spray inks or mists in your project AND provide a link back to our challenge.**

An InLinkz Link-up