Made You Smile - mixed media mini art

Spring is in the air. Can’t you just feel it?
Truth be told, here in Minnesota there is plenty of snow on the ground still and the only imminent spring is for those traveling somewhere warm for spring break.

I’m Crew Member Betsy Skagen of Paper Calliope and I wanted to share my “Made You Smile” mixed media mini art piece with you because no matter what the weather is like outside, Canvas Corp’s bright and cheerful papers make it feel like spring.

Great Stuff

Architextures Parchments Rub Ons – Grow
Canvas Corp The Watering Can: Seed Packets on Ivory
Yellow & Ivory Mini Dot Reverse
Butternut Squash Glimmer Mist
Adhesive
Brown ink pad
Colored distress markers
Gesso
Acrylic paints
Foam core

Tutorial How to Make ‘Made You Smile’

Begin by cutting a 5″ x 6″ piece of foam core. Cover the foam core with a coat of gesso and dry with heat gun.
Apply texture paste through stencils of your choice onto the foam core and dry with heat gun.

Next dry brush assorted blue acrylic paints onto the surface, drying between each color.
Then paint white acrylic paint onto another embossed cardstock and press the cardstock against the foam core as if you were pressing a stamp to the board. Dry with heat gun.

Run white cardstock through an embossing folder, tear into two rectangles and paint one a light blue and one a pale yellow. Ink the edges with brown ink.

Rub a message from Architextures Parchments Rub Ons – Grow on to your yellow rectangle. Since you are applying the rub-on to a textured surface, you might need to touch up the message with a black pen.

Color the Made You Smile flower from the Canvas Corp The Watering Can: Seed Packets on Ivory paper and cut out. Spritz with Butternut Squash Glimmer Mist and darken the edges with brown ink.
Now layer the flower image over the light blue embossed cardstock and adhere to your foam core base. Adhere the yellow message strip on the left side.
Lastly, adhere the entire unit to Yellow & Ivory Mini Dot Reverse paper.

I hope this project has inspired you to create your own little bit of springtime.
Have a sunny week!

– Betsy –