Hi everyone!
This is Karen and I am excited to be here with another Mixed Media project!
This month, I knew I wanted to use the beautiful papers and embellishments from the Fancy That! line but I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. Sometimes, this is the hardest part of any project for me: getting started. I feel like I can stare at the page for hours arranging and rearranging different starting points and never committing to anything. So this month, I challenged myself to just gluing things down and then having to learn to go with what I'd already committed to on the page.
The first thing I did was pick three papers I loved that I thought went with my photo. I ripped them up to different sizes, layered them and then stuck my photo on top. I did minimal rearranging and just glued it down:
I already wasn't sure I liked it but I decided to quiet down the voice in my head and move forward anyway. I glued a few more pieces on the opposing page and added a layer below and above the photo on the right.
I'm still not sure I like any of it. But we're moving on without overthinking it.
I then decide to repeat the flowery paper on the right with some punched hearts on the left. The idea comes up and I just go with it. I also like the arrow because it draws your eye towards the page and the hearts.
I decide it's time to add some shiny stuff. I add gold embellishments and shiny sequins in lots of places on both pages. I also decide the right page is much darker than the left so I add a bit of black to both sides. (I also decide i don't like the full circle on the top right, i cut its top off.)
I like it a bit more now. It's also quite shiny which makes me happy.
I decide it's time for paint. Because paint is my happy place, I always add it with my fingers. I add some pink, red, and gold so I can repeat the colors in the papers I used.
And finally to bring back the black, I trace around the page, the hearts and some other elements to give them a black border so they pop out more.
it's very shiny and i am finally happy with it.
I don't believe there's a true path when creating mixed media. You have to just go with your own flow and when you think you're done, you're done. I could always do more and I could also have stopped a few steps ago. I just sort of go until I feel I am getting near the feeling of "too much" and then I stop. To be honest, I don't think the results are much better when I overthink the process and not having the anxiety the whole time is a huge bonus.
Thank you for letting me share and I hope you'll join me in creating your own lovely Mixed Media pages this month!
