Home is where the ART is...

Inspired by a post from Close To My Heart's Make It From Your Heart blog highlighting "She Art" and the sweet little 6 x 6 Display Canvas I decided to try some mixed media crafting myself. It is so much fun combining stamps, papers and ink in a non-traditional way...  that it is very easy to get addicted. Today, I am going to showcase one of the projects I have made...  and be prepared to find more mixed media blog posts from me in the future!!

To create my Home Décor project I simply cut a 6 x 6 square of paper to use as a base and built my design from there. My square was cut from the newsprint style paper from the Heartstrings Paper Pack. I used a combination of 4 different paper packs to create my scene - Hopscotch, Brushed, Snowhaven and Heartstrings. Most of the paper piecing was created using some of the new stamp sets featured in the Seasonal Expressions Idea Book/Catalogue. However, the house was cut from shapes using my Paper Trimmer and Scallop Border Punch. I didn't use a pattern of any kind I just cut the basic outline of a house...  along with roof, door and windows until I had a design I was happy with.Creating the clouds was one of my favourite parts of this project. I LOVE to get inky! Using the stamp set Rain or Shine and the base & shade stamping technique I was able to create clouds with texture. I stamped the base shape stamp in Crystal Blue Ink then the outline shaped stamp over the top in Black Ink . Next I dabbed some small dots of White Daisy Pigment Ink into the centre of the cloud shape... as this ink is more dense in consistency it gave the clouds a "fluffier" appearance.

To give the design a touch more of a whimsical look, I added faux stitching and doodling with a fine tip journaling pen (.5mm)... I used the  Marvy® Uchida® LePen™ . The quote was computer generated and printed on White Daisy Cardstock. I took the quote from page 163 of the Annual Inspirations Idea Book/Catalogue - I thought it was just perfect for my little house creation! You will find the My Creations 6 x 6 Canvas Display featured on this page too!

Everything was adhered to the base with Bonding Memories Glue Pen and I used the larger Bonding Memories Glue to add this base to the canvas rather than Mod Podge^®
To seal my design I sprayed some Matte Finish Lacquer ( the type Folk Artists use ) over the entire finished piece.

I have also given you a "sneak peek" of February's Stamp of the Month called "A Happy Hello" ... I used it to stamp the leaves. This stamp set would be ideal for creating mixed media gardens - take a look at the complete set at my online shop. I suggest getting your wishlist together now so you can purchase this set at the discount price of $5 once the calendar ticks over to the 1st Feb!!

Projects such as this canvas, are a great way to use your leftover scraps of paper and let your creativity flow... give it a try I am sure you will LOVE the results!