Mix-Ability #137 It’s a Grand Ole Flag

Whooo Hooooo It’s a great day at Westside Paper Creations!!!  Global Design Team announced the winners of there  first ever Challenge…And guess who was among the winners…You guessed it…I am beyond excited and thrilled that the Ultra Talented Global Design Team pick my creation as one of there favorites!!!  I’m really honored to be recognized by this group.  Thank You so much Global Design Project Team Members :>.  Make sure to check out the other winners  of the Global Design Project Challenge.  If you would like to see my creation check out this post.  If you have not check out the Global Design Project be sure to do so.  And be sure to check out all the entry’s of those playing along.  There are some pretty amazing artist out there.

One of my favorite challenges to participate in is the Mix-Ability challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers.  It has helped me to think out of my box of norm paper, ink, and stamps.  This week’s challenge is hosted by Lydia of Understand Blue.  The challenge opened on 9/11 and because of this she wanted to honer the day by presenting a challenge using starts, stripes, and the colors (red, white, and blue)  In addition to this as with all Mix-Ability challenges you have to use two different mediums.  I chose to use watercolor and ink.

Stampin’ Up! has a really cool stamp set called Calling All Heroes that would have been perfect for what I wanted to create. Only problem, I don’t have that stamp set.

Is that not a awesome set or what!!!!

So how do you build buildings?  Well, I used the stamp set Build a Birthday.  

The sentiment was pulled from the stamp set Remarkable You

I used a water-coloring technique that I found somewhere on the internet years ago.  I’m really not sure where it came from. But what you do is add layers of watercolor washes to the paper and then add salt over the layer.  The salt reacts with the watercolor to absorbed the paint.  It only makes sense that…. The longer you leave the salt the more paint will be absorbed.  I have not really checked it out to much.  I am impatient and normally use a heat gun to stop the process where I want it…  This is so much fun watching the paint and seeing how each color reacts to the salt.   You should really try this sometime for fun!  It’s a great little project and makes very unique backgrounds.  

Here are the details:

• The card base is Real Red card stock cut at 5 1/2 inches and scored at 4 1/4 inches
• The layers are Night of Navy (5 3/8 by 4 1/8) and Multi-Media Paper 180 lb (5 1/4 by 4)
• On the Multi-Media paper layer wash a blue watercolor onto the paper.  Then add salt and watch the magic happen.  I used  a heat gun to dry this layer.  Then wash a second darker blue over the paper and again add salt.  Allow to dry .  I used a heat gun to speed this up.  After the paper is dry rake off the salt.  You will have “stars” for your sky.
• The building are the stamps from Build A Birthday.  on a separate sheet of Multi-Media paper wash red watercolor over the image to create a background.  This should be a light red wash.  After the wash has dried stamp the images from Build A Birthday using Real Red and Cajun Craze ink
• The one tall building was a afterthought.  The buildings were not layering correctly and needed a little something else.  So I took a scrap piece of Multi-Media paper and washed layers of red watercolor and salt over the strip.  using the same technique as the background.
• Then I added strips of the Multi-Media paper to the bottom of the buildings to give a scene of depth. Also, some buildings are glued down and some are popped up!!
• Before adding the last strip stamp the sentiment from Remarkable You.

Today’s Supply list.  Remember you will also need Mixed-Media paper 180 Lb, watercolors, and salt.

Real Red Classic Stampin’ Pad – 126949

Price: $6.50

Night Of Navy Classic Stampin’ Pad – 126970

Price: $6.50

Clear Block I – 118488

Price: $12.00

Build A Birthday Photopolymer Stamp Set – 138646

Price: $16.00

Remarkable You Wood-Mount Stamp Set – 139891

Price: $45.00

Real Red 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock – 102482

Price: $7.00

Night Of Navy 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock – 100867

Price: $7.00

Multipurpose Liquid Glue – 110755

Price: $4.00

Stampin’ Dimensionals – 104430

Price: $4.00

Cajun Craze Classic Stampin’ Pad – 126965

Price: $6.50

Heat Tool (Us & Can) – 129053

Price: $30.00

Supply List

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Thank You for stopping by Westside Paper Creations. I hope you have a very blessed and wonderful Sunday.  Make sure you take time to hop over to Lydia at Understand Blue to check out her inspiration for the Mix-Ability Challenge.  And pay along!!!  See you back here soon.