Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Use Patterned Papers

Hi Everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and that you're ready for a new challenge for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This is a challenge that will not only be a ton of fun but one where you can use some of those old patterned papers that have been lying around. If you don't know what to do with them, then this is your lucky day because I'm going to show you how to create a mixed media panel using old patterned paper that will make you so glad you kept them and didn't throw them in the trash.

Check out all the details of the challenge and see all of the design team's amazing creations and join in the fun and check out my step by step tutorial on how I made my "Every Day Is A Blessing" mixed media panel below.

Before we get started, get out those old patterned papers and chose the ones you would like to use to make your project.  I chose colors of paper that coordinated with the picture I had in my head of what I wanted to create and then I stuck with that color palette. This is a great project for an old paper pad that you have sitting around because all the papers in those pads usually coordinate with one another.

I first chose patterned paper for my sky and grass and some die cut sets that follow a landscape theme. The only one I used in this picture was for the rolling hills but it's a good idea to get out what you have so you can get a better picture of what you can create and how it will look.

I cut the top portion of my rolling hills using My Favorite Things Stitched Basic Edges die set first and then cut the blue patterned paper to fit my panel for the sky. I adhered both pieces with Ranger Multi Matte Medium to my 6" x 8" piece of white chipboard. (As of this writing, the MFT Stitched Basic Edges were out of stock but you could use Simon Says Stamp Stitched Slopes and Hills).

I cut some clouds from the Lawn Fawn Sunny Skies die set and played around with the placement on my panel to see where I wanted to adhere them. I also cut more hills and placed them on my panel and adhered them with Ranger Multi Matte Medium. I didn't adhere the clouds yet because I knew I wanted to place the sun behind some of them.

I cut out the sun from the My Favorite Things Things With Wings die set.

I cut two circles from My Favorite Things Stitched Circle Stax and two rectangles and a triangle for my house. The house shapes where cut by hand, no die cut pattern was used.

I placed all the shapes for the house and clouds on my panel to see where I wanted them to go. I tried several different placements before settling on this one but I still need to put the sun in the sky. (When I was placing all the pieces on my panel, I forgot to put the sun in the picture because I wasn't quite sure which cloud I wanted it to be behind but you can see where I ended up putting it in the photo below.) I then adhered all the pieces onto my panel using multi matte medium.

IMPORTANT:  In order for the next step to work correctly, you need to brush the entire panel with Ranger Multi Matte Medium or another medium gel or glue so the Faber Castell Pitt Pens will move. This way you will be able to shade and blend the colors into your art piece. If you forget to do this important step, your Pitt Pens will create harsh lines and you will not be able to blend the colors into your panel.

When everything is completely dry, I outline the clouds with a Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush Pen in the same color scheme as my paper and blend the ink around the clouds with my finger tip.

I continue to add color and shading with more Pitt pens.

I follow the lines of the rolling hills to add depth and interest. I also shade various areas of the house with coordinating Pitt pens.

I'm now ready to outline all my shapes with a Stabilo black pencil. This will really pull everything out to the eye but I make sure to soften the lines using my finger tip to blend so the lines aren't so defined.

I stamp some birds in the sky using an older Paper Artsy stamp set, but you could use Penny Black's Spread Cheer stamp set. To stabilize the indigo ink of the Pitt pens and pencil, I rub the entire panel with Distress Glaze. This will seal everything and I won't have to worry about any of the inks or the pencil marks moving.

I wanted to add some flowers to my project and knew they would have to be tiny. I used the My Favorite Things Spring Garden die set which had flowers and stems that were the perfect size. To give the flowers dimension, I "cupped" them with a stylus.

Next, I added my flowers by adhering the stems with multi matte medium and then glued the "cupped" flowers onto the stems with a little dab of the same medium. I wanted the flowers to have a center so I squeezed a tiny drop of multi matte medium from their smallest bottle with a precision tip lid. The precision tip is what allows me to get these perfect little pearls of glue in the center of the flowers. I then added some Prima Black Micro Beads. I also added some beads to the rolling hills and inked the edges with Jet Black Archival Ink. I then added my sentiment which is from the Paper Artsy ELB22 stamp set.

Here again is my final creation:

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I put together my "Every Day Is A Blessing" mixed media panel and that you join us this week for a chance to win a $50 gift voucher to Simon Says Stamp. I can't wait to see what you create!

For more inspiration, tips and tricks for all types of papercraft creations, follow Simon Says Stamp on:

          

You can find all the following supplies I used to create this project at Simon Says Stamp:

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