Today on our blog, Cathy Caines shares an alternative to mixed media featuring Stampin’ Up!

Here’s the thing. Sometimes, I just don’t want to get dirty. I am too lazy to go back and forth to clean my hands and my stencils and then my stamps.. blah, blah… hassle, hassle.

This layout has lots of layers but I didn’t touch any sprays or mediums besides my stamps and ink.

It’s easy. Stamp in layers.

My biggest tip would be to think about your color combinations before you start. Then pick out some of your favourite stamps. Background stamps are ideal. Here’s my first layer using Stampin’ Up!’s Daffodil Delight ink and Gorgeous Grunge stamp set.

Another tip is to consider “stamping off” first. Don’t know what that means? Instead of stamping on the page directly, stamp on a piece of scrap paper and then immediately stamp again on your page. This gives you the ability to have a sort of “opacity”. My next layer is using Stampin’ Up!’s Soft Suede ink and the Dictionary stamp. My third layer is the little blue dots. They are doodles I made with my markers.

If you don’t like what you see, you can use a white gesso to tone everything down. A thin layer will do the trick! But I can’t guarantee you won’t get messy.

At this point in the evening, I hit a wall… I was dealing with a toddler insistent on taking every package out of my embellishment basket. I had ignored this for a long time… but I could no longer.

I didn’t know where I wanted to go with this page so a good night’s sleep was probably exactly what I needed.

Wow, I really did need a night’s sleep because this page started to quickly take shape after I die cut some feathers using the Stampin’ Up! Feather Framelits die.

I looked for everything gold and found some buttons and clips.   Although this is a paper clip from Stampin’ Up!’s Hodgepodge Clips, I didn’t want to lose an inch of that cute star behind a page so I sewed it directly onto the page.

 I took several scraps of paper and stapled them behind my photo to give it some dimension. I also found a sticker that represented exactly how I felt at that moment “magical” from the Love Story Project Life Accessory Pack by Stampin’ Up! In addition, I journalled some of the emotions of the day. I simply used regular computer paper and changed the font color to a brown, then glued them on the page in strips so that I didn’t lose much of my background.

No page should go without sequins so I finished it off with them. I don’t like having lots of pieces left on my desk so I took the scraps of my page and turned them into a bundle of birthday cards.

Here’s a close up – it’s a simple white card with some machine stitching and a banner. I can’t get enough of Stampin’ Up!’s Banner punch – its so easy to make banners any size.

I hope you had fun! I can’t wait to see what you create! Make sure to share with myself at In the Cat Cave and Canadian Scrapbooker on Facebook!

Cathy Caines, Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator

St. John’s, NL

www.inthecatcave.com

Supplies used are Stampin’ Up! unless otherwise stated: Whisper White cardstock, Victorian Trim, handheld staplers, Feather framelits, Dictionary stamp set, Hodgepodge clips, fancy foil vellum, gold cardstock, gold glimmer paper, Color Me Autumn DSP, gold basic metal buttons, marina mist marker, soft suede ink, daffodil delight ink, Gorgeous Grunge stamp set, Typeset DSP, kraft paper, Love Story Project Life Accessory kit, date stamp, in colors sequins, gold sequins trim (thread only), white tea lace doily, banner punch, pool party ink, Remembering Your Birthday stamp set and machine stitching.