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 ~

"Best of Days" and "Hope Is the Thing" Guest Designer for Zeus and Zoe

I was so excited when Marivic invited me to be Zeus and Zoe's first Guest Designer. It was delightful to create with the amazing package of gorgeous trims, embellishments and paper crafting products from her Zeus and Zoe Etsy Shop. If you haven't been to Marivic's Etsy shop, you are missing out. Because of the nature of her products including vintage finds, her inventory changes and is and a place to frequent so you don't miss out!! 

My first project to share with you is for the Zeus and Zoe April challenge, "Life as it Is Now," about me as an individual. One more thing - buttons are a requirement. Be sure to check out the Zeus and Zoe Etsy Shop for fabulous buttons and more. For all the challenge details and rules check out Sandi's challenge here.

"Best of Days"

I used the April OUAS Sketch:

The journaling theme this month at Once Upon A Sketch is "Best Day of Your Life." I've had many best days and certainly Elizabeth and Andrew's wedding was one of those days. We've been praying for Elizabeth's future husband forever and to see her marry a Godly young man, the man of her dreams was one of those best days. To see such a wonderful answer to our years of prayer makes it a special day indeed.

It's also a special day because it represents where I'm at today in my life. My roles have changed dramatically over the past couple years. I home educated for 19 years until our youngest entered our local high school for her final two years ~ she graduates next month. Our children are stepping out and creating lives of their own. Although it hasn't always been easy, I've chosen to embrace the change. No moping empty nester here. I've hand written my thoughts about this day and these changes on a tag attached to the back of my layout. The photo was taken at our daughter's wedding last October, and the butterflies represent the wings of change.

A package of Prima Ruby Violet trinkets including a flower was included in my package. The star, focal flower of this layout was created by pulling that flower apart. I painted the fabric portion and tucked a smaller Prima flower into the center. I rubbed with distress ink to achieve the vintage look. I placed Zeus and Zoe buttons here and there into my clusters. The other smaller flowers are from my stash. 

Moving to the other corner of the photo you can see the fabulous battenburg lace doily is the one thing I left untouched, allowing this gorgeous white lace to frame my photo. One of my goodies was a selection of vintage lace pieces. These two sweet butterflies were bright orange. I simply gessoed and inked them and adore how sweet they look "fluttering" on both ends of this cluster. The background leaves were stenciled using molding paste tinted with Lumiere paint and a Dylusions stencil. 

When I saw this gorgeous medallion, it begged a prominent place on my page. Of course I did a bit of altering. It started out with a glittery hot pink resin center and coordinating heart dangle. I adored the large clear crystal and left it in place. The heart was replaced with the butterfly while the center was painted with Lumiere paint and dotted with little beads from my stash. 

I happened to have a perfect stencil in my stash used to add molding paste behind the medallion. Once dry, I misted with the Lindsy's Stamp Gang Aloha Avocado mist from Zeus and Zoe. I let it pool and drip down the page. Finally, I inked the molding paste with distress inks for more depth. 

Aren't these lace pieces simply gorgeous?? They started life in bold bright colors which masked the gorgeous design. A couple coats of gesso and some inking brought out their amazing beauty. I also touched the brown lace and daisy with a bit of gesso. The little metal butterfly beads were alcohol inked with several shades of green and gold. The two chipboard butterflies are from my stash and brushed with Lumiere paints. 

One more close-up of the clusters around this photo of "Me." The larger metal butterfly charm in the top corner is also from Zeus and Zoe.

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My second project to share with you is a card I created for my sister. She has been dreaming of owning her own home and has held on to her hope and faith as she saw several deals fall through after being told her offers had been accepted. This time it looks like the deal will go through and this will be the card included with her house warming gift. 

"Hope Is the Thing"

Close-Ups:

I deconstructed the May Arts Velvet Ribbon with Crochet Lace. The velvet created a gorgeous base for my layered flower, and the lace looks so pretty here. The pink resin rose and chandelier beads came glued and wired together as a single flower. Now separated, I used the wire to attach and dangle the beads and placed the resin piece in my flower cluster after highlighting the edges with a bit of metallic brown paint.

This view shows off the gorgeous lace flower. In addition to the gesso and inking, I added some sparkly seed beads to the center.

The gold cording had been woven into a lace with blue sequins. You guessed it. I pulled it apart and tied on these sweet tree charms that I altered by dabbing on brown metallic paint. The daisy stick pin was also dabbed with paint. The layered flower was created with a variety of Zeus and Zoe pieces - all but the inked paper daisy layer.

My package included this fabulous TPC Vintage Birdcage stamp set. The sentiment couldn't be more perfect to describe the enduring hope my sister has embraced on this journey to find a home. I used Truffle Mix'd Media Inx to stamp and heat emboss with clear embossing powder, then fussy cut around the image. I colored by spritzing with the Lindsy's Stamp Gang mist and a bit of distress ink on the edges. The bird and cage were also part of this set. I stamped and heat embossed these images onto watercolor paper then lightly inked over the white background and fussy cut.

Nearly all the products used on this card are from Zeus and Zoe, such a great source of gorgeous and unique products!

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Here are the amazing prizes up for grabs when you link your project at the Zeus and Zoe blog. Don't forget to read the "Life as it Is Now" Challenge details and rules here.

The winner of this challenge will receive this fabulous prize package sponsored by Zeus and Zoe. As  you can see it is full of amazing products from an entire set of Lindsey's Stamp Gang Magicals to flowers, buttons, stick pins, stamps and more.

And a random winner will be selected to win this lovely May Arts lace and ribbon:

I hope I've inspired you to take on the challenge of creating a project about yourself. I know we're usually the ones behind the cameras, but each of us has a special story to tell about where we are in life.

This layout was entered at:
Word Art Wednesday - Challenge #75

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Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~