Beautiful Reef Mixed Media Layout for Helmar and Prima BAP

Vacation trips are always fun to remember. In 2012 Gary and I took a trip for our 30th anniversary to Baltimore Inner Harbor. We spent a day at the National Aquarium where I took this shot of the coral reef exhibit. The coral and fish are so colorful and vibrant. I enjoyed extending the feel of the reef onto the layout and have featured Helmar Liquid Scrapdots. I've used primarily Prima products with the January Prima BAP challenge for inspiration.

"Beautiful Reef"

Prima BAP Sketch

Tips and Techniques

When adding flowers over mixed media and layers, sometimes it's a challenge to get them positioned the way I like. A great solution is to use Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots. Often we think of this great product for adding dimension, but it's perfect for getting just the right placement over uneven surfaces as well. Here I've put a nice dot of Liquid Scrap Dots on the back of my focal flower. As you can see I've adhered it over several distressed paper layers which would normally tilt it away from the photo, but the Liquid Scrap Dots allowed me to position all of my flowers properly as you can see in the following photo. 

Here you can see how nicely the Prima flowers are positioned using Liquid Scrap Dots, despite the uneven base. 

Often, I look at my chipboard pieces "outside the box." Here the coral pieces are cut from the branches of a Leaky Shed Studio chipboard Christmas tree, painted with Lumiere gold and green metallic paint. I painted and then bubbled the paint with a heat tool in several layers to build up the paint to achieve a coral-like appearance. I adhered these pieces with 450 Quick Dry Adhesive.

A close-up of the background which was stenciled with molding paste using the Prima Scales stencil then misted, stamped, splattered with thinned gesso, and doodled. I've also scattered some Prima crystals around the page.

More flowers Prima flowers and Leaky Shed chipboard "coral" adhered with Liquid Scrap Dots.

The photo was adhered to the photo mats using Premium Craft Glue, and then to adhere the mat to the mixed media background, my go to adhesive is Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive which adheres well to mixed media surfaces. 

Leaving you with one final photo.

Helmar Products
Liquid Scrap Dots
450 Quick Dry Adhesive
Premium Craft Glue

Other Products
Prima ~ Sunrise Sunset - Collection
Prima ~ Sunrise Sunset - Alphabet Stickers
Prima Flowers ~ Cottage Blossoms, Soubrette - Blue/Green, Metallic Iron, Divine Vine - Yellow, Guava Peony Brahms, Calypso Tin - Teal
Prima ~ Say It in Crystals - Circles Iridescent, 560577
Leaky Shed Studio ~ 9" Christmas Tree
Prima ~ Clear Stamp Script, Build-A-Frame Collections 1 & 2
Prima ~ Stencils - Static, Scales
Ranger ~ Distress Ink - Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain
Ranger ~ Archival Ink - Jet Black
Golden ~ Light Molding Paste
Liquitex ~ Gesso
Heidi Swapp ~ Color Shine - Mustard, Chartreuse
Tattered Angels ~ Glimmer Mist - Cork, Dragonfly
Lumiere Paint ~ Bright Gold, Halo Blue Gold
Pigma ~ Micron 05 Black
Prima ~ Distress Tool
Ranger ~ Heat It Craft Tool
Darice ~ Heat Tool

I hope you've been inspired to try out some Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots on your next project!

Thanks for stopping by today! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~