Tropical Mix Dies – Kenny's Cards

Distressed Mixed Media card using die cut leaves from Altenew's Tropical Mix set.

Shabby Chic Mixed Media Cards

Welcome! I had the idea for a messy mixed media card with fall-color die cut leaves on a brick embossed background. I have to say, this was a really fun creative journey.

The first card is for my friend Paul who thinks I am a mixed media artist and is always encouraging me to do more art. I especially like how the blue panel shows through the leaves on the birthday card.

Using metallic shimmer ink sprays on mixed media cards.

My process:

Using Altenew’s Tropical Leaf Mix Dies and Essential Sentiment Strips, I die cut three leaves and two sentiments from kraft card stock.
On my craft mat, I made three puddles of ink: Orange Cream Metallic Shimmer Ink Spray + Water, Warm Sunshine Metallic Shimmer Spray + water and Infusions Frankly Scarlet Colored Stain. I then dabbed portions of each die cut into each puddle of ink. I did this 2 or 3 times until I was happy with the colors.
Using a panel of Neenah 110 cardstock, I dabbed some Espresso Ink onto my craft mat, spritzed with a bit of water and then dabbed in my cardstock. I did the same thing with a panel of kraft paper.
On the Neenah panel, I repeated the process with Ocean Waves Metallic Shimmer Ink Spray plus water.
Using Altenew’s Brick Wall 3D Embossing Folder, I embossed the kraft panel.
I painted on some distressing to the brick wall panels using the left over yellow, orange and red inks. You can see I used more red on the birthday card and I really like how that panel turned out.
Next, I added lots of spatters using the left over red, orange and yellow ink. I also added white (Pure White Ink Spray) and black (Jet Black Ink Spray).
After the splatters dried, I distressed the edges with more Espresso Ink and a finger dauber.
I made a brown top folding A2 card base and then assembled my card. I glued the brick panel directly to the card base but used Instant Dimension Foam Tape to adhere the blue panel to the bricks. I glued the leaves at a jaunty angle and added a small bow.