"Take Wing" Mixed Media Card

Today is a blustery,rainy and I mean rainy day. The poor dogs and I got soaked just walking a short ways after my umbrella turned inside out. A perfect day for experimenting.

I must confess I bought a jar of Earth Safe Moulding Gel which has been gathering dust. No that is not a misspelled word. Moulding is what it says on the jar. Anyway I tried it a couple of times but was disappointed with my results. Not one to give up I decided to give it another try. It was an interesting learning experience.

O.K. I know you want to see the card. You don't want to read all of my ramblings.

First off I took a frame in Studio and made my shaped card. O.K. my card is taking flight because I did not think to put a straight line across the bottom. The panel is the same frame and I sized it so I could just have it hang over the top a little bit but still fit in a standard envelope. The tag is just a miniature version.

I cut the butterflies a silhouette freebie, my lattice file which I have no idea where I got it,the panel and card shape from gray card stock I bought by mistake. The gray is growing on me. Anyway it was a mistake to cut the butterflies out of the card stock and I'll tell you why later. All part of the learning experience. If you are going to use ink from an ink pad or chalks no problem cutting stencils from card stock.

My first attempt I put the lattice over the front panel and rubbed Recollection Seafoam chalk ink over the stencil. I didn't think of the ink showing through for the butterflies. Then after removing the lattice I placed my butterfly negatives where I wanted them. I then added alcohol ink to the moulding gel and with just a little bit on a brush brushed it over the negatives. This is where the mistake came in. When I went to pull the negatives up they stuck and came up leaving chunks of the stencil card stock on my panel or tearing the card stock panel itself. Believe me it was not a pretty sight. Of course if you want to use a card stock stencil with moulding gel for the world's ugliest card be my guest.

For this panel I cut the butterflies out of thin plastic. I taped butterflies over the lattice and used my chalk ink. Alas the one butterfly shifted a little bit but I decided to go ahead and use the panel anyway. After all not all butterflies are alike. After removing my lattice and  butterfly shapes  I taped my plastic butterfly negative where the shape had been. I used a color pencil to draw in the antennae  I mixed moulding paste on my craft mat with a  drop of alcohol ink to color it. Then using a brush with just a little amount of the mixture I brushed it over the stencil. I did one butterfly at a time immediately removing the stencil.  I accidentally taking the negative off of the first one smudged the moulding gel but decided to go ahead and continue instead of throwing the panel away. I think it gives it sort of a water color look.

The tag I cut from paper I made a long time ago. Playing with shaved pastels in water. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado "Inspirational Lift" stamp set. I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink. LOL! The only black ink I own.

Don't tell anyone but the brad is covering up a little oppsie. Ummm....make sure you use fresh masking tape to hold the stencil down and that the stencil is clean if you are stenciling multiple images. The brad is Sparkle Burst I believe by Karen Foster. Actually I think it adds to the card. :-)

There you have it my play on a blustery,rainy day. One thing I noticed is as the moulding gel sat for a little while on my mat the color became more intense.  Which is why the last butterfly I did is darker. I think the moulding gel has redeemed itself and will find a way into other projects. The jar does say it can be used as a gel transfer medium so I may try that next.

Thanks for stopping by and do come back. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!