Mixed Media Fun with the Leaf Circle Stencil

Hey everybody! It's Maria here today and I am really happy to be here to share a mixed media card that I had so much fun making. I started out wanting to focus on the beautiful new Leaf Circle Stencil (so great for Autumn cards, right?) and when I saw how magical it looked in gold I decided to go with more of a nature/woodland theme. I know this card looks like a lot but it's actually easy to make so let me walk you through it step-by-step.

BACKGROUND:

1. Cut a piece of Luxe Watercolor Cardstock to 4.25" x 5.5"
2. Spray the background with Liquid Watercolor sprays of your choice (I added Liquid Watercolor and water to a spray bottle to create my own sprays). I used Leaf, Jungle Mist, Indigo and ArtPrint Brown. Allow to dry.
3. Spray the same watercolor colors onto your work surface and smoosh your dried background into the color. This will add unpredictable visual texture and some extra color to your background. Allow to dry.
4. Place your Leaf Circle Stencil over your background piece. I secured mine from the back with washi tape so that it would stay in place. Use your palette knife to spread Gold Hero Wax through the stencil. Don't worry about perfection – partial stenciling will add character to your background.
5. Remove the stencil (put it in water so it will be easy to wash later) and immediately sprinkle some Sand Embossing Powder over the wet wax (a couple of pinches should do the trick). Make sure not to completely cover the wax so that you can still see the gold.
6. Heat the embossing powder and wax to set them. This will melt the Sand Embossing Powder and it will also bubble the wax for extra texture.
7. Splatter the background with White Glimmer Metallic Ink for extra magic.

FOCAL POINT:

1. Stamp the text stamp from the Sending Love Mail stamp set in Granite ink onto vellum. Cut this piece to 2.5" x 3.5" and set it aside.
2. Use the Mushrooms and Ferns Fancy Dies to die cut mushrooms and ferns from Luxe Watercolor Cardstock. I left the ferns white.
3. Using Liquid Watercolor sprays, spray the tops of the mushrooms Orange and the stems ArtPrint Brown.
4. I used Pale Tomato ink (ink-blending) and Copic markers to add a little bit of extra color and shading to my my mushrooms.
5. Stamp the sentiment from Zen Messages in Aquamarine pigment ink, heat emboss it in clear and cut it into a strip.

ASSEMBLE:

1. Add your background to a card base. I used Precision Glue to do this.
2. Adhere your sentiment strip to the vellum piece then layer the ferns and mushrooms on top using either foam adhesive or glue dots to create dimension.
3. Add foam adhesive to the vellum making sure to hide it behind the sentiment, ferns and mushrooms. Attach the focal point to the background.
4. The final step is to splatter the focal point with White Glimmer Metallic Ink. I covered my sentiment with a piece of washi tape to protect it. 

Now you've got a finished card with tons of color and eye-catching texture! I hope some of you might have fun recreating this card or using some of the techniques I've shared today. If you do, we'd love to see what you've made! Please tag Hero Arts (#heroarts) when you share on social media.

I hope you all have an awesome day today, but if your day is feeling hard, try to just let that shitake go!

Crafty hugs,

Click on products to shop:

SA213 Leaf Circle Stencil | Hero Arts [ HA ] DI931 Mushroom and Ferns Fancy Dies... [ HA ] CM446 Zen Messages | Hero Arts [ HA ] CM508 Sending Love Mail | Hero Arts [ HA ] PD120 Liquid Watercolor Leaf | Hero Arts [ HA ] PD126 Liquid Watercolor Jungle Mist |... [ HA ] PD114 Liquid Watercolor Indigo | Hero... [ HA ] PD124 Liquid Watercolor Orange | Hero... [ HA ] PD117 Liquid Watercolor ArtPrint... [ HA ] HT215 Hero Tools Palette Knife | Hero... [ HA ] NK452 Gold Hero Wax | Hero Arts [ HA ] PW125 Sand Embossing Powder | Hero Arts [ HA ] PW104 Clear Embossing Powder | Hero Arts [ HA ] GM104 Rose Gold and White Glimmer... [ HA ] AF761 Granite Core Ink | Hero Arts [ HA ] AF621 Pale Tomato Core Ink | Hero Arts [ HA ] AF454 Hero Hues Aquamarine Pigment... [ HA ] PS781 Luxe White Watercolor Paper |... [ HA ] GW102 Precision Glue XL | Hero Arts [ HA ]