 Hi and welcome to my new mixed media Tuesday series. Every Tuesday I will be creating art journals, canvases, shadow boxes and other projects always using different mixed media techniques. For today I was planning to make a video using my molds and different ways that you can use them, however I am still expecting products through the mail which is super slow these days. So instead today I am going to make a really fun project using things that I had already in my stash, super old papers, stamps etc. and I am sure you will be able to recreate something similar with what you have already. So first of all for what I have in my mind I need to create a few envelopes. For that I am recycling this large envelope and I am going to cut it out with a die that I had for years that cuts out a little envelope. If you don't have such a die I am sure you can easily create your own envelopes or maybe you already have some smaller ones that you can use for the project. So as I am assembling the envelopes I am going to talk a little bit about what I hide in my mind. Now I have moved houses and I am in my new craft room for less than a year now and I am still trying to organize things and decorate everything and I wanted to create something for my world that has to do with card making. Card making was the first step when I started sharing my projects on my youtube channel and it has completely changed my life and my first ever art general project that I shared on my youtube channel was about card making and I wanted to somehow combine those two in one project for my wall. All the projects that I make really tell a story about me and this is one about being brave and following your dreams and doing exactly what I love. So anyway I am putting together the little envelopes, I even created more than the four ones that you see here, I am going to put them aside and I will use them later on. I am going for a square 8x8 project, there is something about square projects that I absolutely love so this is a mixed media paper that takes sprays, water and other mediums really nicely and I am going to start with a coffee archival ink and an all time favorite stamp that I have been using for ages, I think this is one by Penny Black, pretty sure it is discontinued but you probably all have a tech stamp somewhere in your stash. I am working with archival ink just because I am going to use sprays later on and I don't want the stamping to bleed, also I don't want to have the perfect impression of the stamp, this is why I am not using a stamping block but rather stamp everything with my hands without pressing all over the stamp, I just want to have an impression, imperfect impression of the text here and there. I am planning to have a lot of things going on in the foreground, that's why I don't care about adding too many things and too many elements on my background, I am going to keep that quite subtle, that's why I first spray it with water and then I am going to apply some pale blue in different areas, not covering up the whole thing. The spray that I am using happens to be speckled egg distressed spray but you can achieve similar look with just using your watercolors. I like to spray my paper first with water to make it nice and wet because when I go then with the spray paint it doesn't absorb instantly into the paper and I am able to move it somehow, you can see I can get some drippage if I like to and I can even move the colors, especially if you are using more than one color for your background, it's always nice to have a little bit of water before. Now I am going back to this stamp that I had for ages, probably more than 6 or 7 years ago, I got this one, I am pretty sure this is also discontinued, it's a stamp with 6 coffee stains that I absolutely love and I am going to stamp with my coffee archival ink all around, mainly staying at the edges. Then I looked through my stash and since I am going for a letter-themed look I found this by Darkroom Door and it has tons and tons of stamps that are perfect for letters and I am going to use some of them around to create a border, the idea is to have a darker border all around, which is something that I always like to do, I am stamping everything with black archival ink this time and I am not going to pay any attention on the stamps that I am using, I just want to have a stamped black border all around using all the stamps that I have here, now whatever I use I am going to try and find if they are still available and I am going to link them down below but I don't promise because today I just shopped my stash and I tried to find products that I had for years and I haven't used them. Once finished with the stamping I went with my blending tool all around and I created a vintage photo inked border, one of my favorite inks of all times and then I am going to ink up the edges with black archival ink and I am going to surprise you with my project today, I am not going to do any splashes at all or stenciling, I am just happy with how the background looks at the moment, nice and subtle, now I am going to bring in a super old paper pad, probably you have it in your stash already, it is I don't know, more than six years ago that I got this one and I am going to use this paper that has those blue and red lines all around to stick on top of my background and this way I created a lovely frame, of course if you don't have this pattern paper you can always do that or create something similar with your markers, now I'm going to bring in the envelopes that I prepared as the first step and I'm going to ink them up so that I can help them stand out a little bit against each other, I am planning to layer them one on top of the other so a little bit of inking and shading is a must here, again for that I did use my vintage photo Distress Ink and I like to add the same touch of color in pretty much all the elements on a project because this way you bring everything together now in my stash I also had this ephemera and I'm probably sure you have them too if you are a team holds fan for years I was able to pick up from those bugs a few stumps but of course you can make your own stumps just cut out little images from different pattern papers and you are good to go, again I ink those up as well, I am trying to find bits and pieces to make some of the envelopes stand out a little bit more to have some detail on them so that they are not just plain envelopes at the background and this is where I remember that I had this wax set so that I can make waxes, yes these are a really great touch especially on an Arginal project or a Mixmedia project where you want to have different textures so if you want to recreate something similar but you don't have this set you can always use your heat gun and with silicone you can create kind of a seal that you can then color it with your acrylic paints and you are good to go, however this set is lots of fun and I just used three of the little wax pieces in the spoon I am waiting for them to melt and then I'm going to pick one of the stumps for them that it is quite generic I don't want to have anything really showing there and I found this one that has a large flower so I'm thinking it is good to go and while I'm waiting for my wax to melt I'm going to wrap one of the other envelopes with some string for some of the envelopes you will be able to see the front for others the back and I don't want them to be similar I want to have different bits and pieces on them so that they look more interesting and this is where I'm getting ready to pour the wax but of course my camera was controlling so the most satisfying part of the video is lost but anyway I'm absolutely in love with it I love the texture and that vibe the old vintage vibe that it gives on the project I also like that it is imperfect and I was actually going for that I didn't place the stamp exactly at the center I think it looks better this way anyway I have all the envelopes pretty much ready to go and I'm ready to start assembling my project and just like always I am auditioning I'm trying to find how I'm going to place all these things together trying to find something that it is pleasing to the eye decide how I like things and then I'm going to commit and glue them down for that I'm using my nouveau deluxe glue but then a glue would work for this project just because I am planning to frame this project I don't mind about the dimension if you are trying to recreate something similar inside the pages of an art journal then you can stick the envelopes one on top of the other completely flat and a little bit of dimension could go inside an art journal like the wax stamp for example and definitely use a string that it isn't as bulky as the one that I used here for one of the letters one of the envelopes is open this is where I'm going to add inside flowers but you can add inside the envelope whatever you feel like it can have butterflies coming out of it it can have a letter coming out with your note on top or your thoughts just go for it and be creative I am going to add a few more ephemera that I found in that ephemera pack just to help them separate a little bit from each other because they are a tone on tone same color on top of another same color and they don't stand as much I went through my stash to find out dyes that cut out leaves and I used a bunch of them here I used different shades of green cardstock to cut them out and I also did ink them up a little bit with the vintage photo like I always do I am going to stick them coming out from the envelope and I'm always making sure that I have enough dimension after all this is going inside the shadow box I'm also going to use some dimensional paper flowers that I had for ages I got these in three different sizes I think from when from eBay ages ago and I have them in a drawer so I thought it would be the perfect project to use some of them today but of course you can die cut flowers and stick them there and especially if you are trying to recreate something similar inside a book in an art journal then you have to go completely flat so it would be better to just stamp flowers and cut them out or die cut them and finally to have a touch of cuteness on my project I decided to add some tiny little hearts that I cut I used a dark cardstock red cardstock that matches the color of the wax seal as well as the other red elements around the project I'm going to spread them out as if they are coming out of the envelope no splashes no highlighting with my white gel pen for today I just fell in love with the project just the way it is and I didn't want to touch it anymore of course I want to add the quote I always like to add quotes on my mixed media and art journal projects and for that I decided to go with be brave and trust your heart this is exactly what I did when I decided to change careers and follow this creative journey and I never looked back I think it's a perfect project for my craft room I am framing it now as you can see I'm not going to have a glass at the front because I don't like the glare although it does help with the dust I absolutely love the vintage vibe I love the border with the red and blue lines the wax seal which is such a fun element I love the dimension I think it is the perfect project with a meaning for my craft room here are some close-up photos where you can see more details of my project I hope that you had fun today that you got inspired don't forget to leave me a comment down below it really helps as well as like this video and share it with others if you had fun watching thank you all so much for joining me today and I'll see you all next time