Mixed Media Altered Box Tutorial

Altered Box

           Are you surprised seeing the blog post heading..? Yes I joined the mixed media bandwagon too ! This altered box is a mixture of materials and media ...there is foam, cardboard , metal, handmade resin,plastic,cloth and of course paper!
           I am very new to mixed media so this tutorial is just a step by step of what I did to alter the box shown below!

Altered Box

      Painted the box with a mixture of  Gesso + a little white glue [ this tip is from Rupa who is an extremely talented mixed media artist...Thank you so much Rupa!] so as to help hold all the materials and media I was going to layer on it

Whipped Spackle

Experimented with a special type of texture medium called Whipped Spackle which looks like whipping cream and is creamy and light weight just like whipping cream!

Whipped Spackle

            I used a plastic knife[ have to invest in an artist palette knife!] to apply Whipped Spackle through a plastic stencil onto my  box

Heat Embossing

      Whipped Spackle dries pretty fast and when it was dry I dabbed the Versamark Watermark stamp-pad over it and poured  Ranger Gold embossing powder over it and heat embossed it

Heat Embossing

            If I didnt want the golden specks of embossing all over my box I could have used the  Antistatic pad shown below to dust over the areas I didnt want the powder to stick to...but in retrospect I am glad I didnt bother using it as I quite like the golden specks texturing my box!

Embossing Buddy

       As I said I am very much new to mixed media...I later found that Texture Paste is not very amenable to embossing as it bubbles up and Whipped Spackle behaves the same way-- if you heat it more it does bubble but I quite loved the effect of heat embossing Whipped Spackle!

Whipped Spackle

Sponged Tattered Rose, Peeled paint and Mustard seeds distress ink  on 3 areas of the box - The textured areas resisted the colors and remained golden so it made the contrast more lovely ! [I do urge you to use the proper  blenders made for distress inks...I somehow work better with the make up sponges you see below!]

Distress inks

          I stamped and heat embossed a few flourishes on the box but didnt quite like how they looked so hid them partially with a 3 D lacy heart!

         Die-cut 2 Spellbinders Lace Hearts and inked one in the same distress inks I used to ink the box and also ran a line of embossing watermark ink with the embossing pen on the rim of the heart and heat embossed it golden!

Spellbinders Lace heart

 Layered 2 hearts atop each other with thin foam tape.

Heat Embossing

Didn't want to use a glue gun with the inevitable "glue string" on the delicate ballerina golden charm so used the tacky Tombow mono liquid glue to adhere it to the die cut hearts

Metal Charm

There are some products one just loves...one of these is Wink of Stella [ also seen here : Accordion Card Flower tutorial ]

Wink of stella

Brushed on the Wink of Stella over the die cut heart and I think you can see the beautiful subtle shimmer in the photo!

Wink of Stella

       Mixed Media work is all about playing with your media and having fun .  I mixed Golden Gelatos into Whipped Spackle and used  it on a stencil to create the textured design you see on the side of the box !

Gelatos

         I admit it didnt look quite as pretty as I thought it would and I think uncolored Whipped Spackle looked more beautiful ! But I left it as such as it matched the muted colors of my project!

Whipped Spackle

Used my finger to smear some Gesso on the Whipped Spackle stenciled design on my box lid and lightly sponged it with Tattered Rose Distress ink.

Handmade Resin Embelishment

The Oval Resin embellishment layered on a Tattered Lace rose die-cut  was made at home! [More Handmade Resin here : Hadmade Resin Fairy]

Handmade Resin Embellishment

        Sharing another fun element of the box...the golden fan like rays you see emanating from the foam rose was made by using Whipped Spackle through an easy  homemade Stencil!

Martha Stewart Punch Stencilling

You dont have to own a lot of stencils to have fun stencilling!

Whipped Spackle

I used this punched out design  and applied Whipped Spackle through it to create the  fan design !

Martha Stewart Daisy Fan Punch out

Here is the Martha Stewart Deep Edge border punch used to create my "Stencil " !

Martha Stewart Daisy Fan Deep Edge

What I especially liked about the whipped spackle was you can lay it on as thick or as thin as you want and it held its shape beautifully after drying. I could even lay my box flat face down without squashing the textured design! You can also add different other  media to it to color it or even emboss over it.

Altered Box

I hope I didnt bore you with too many details and my maiden mixed media project is passable! Do tell me your mixed media experience...do you think its super fun or are you too scared to even try it like I have been !

Altered Box

          It was fun trying out something new and I have to especially thank Shalini Mittal [ of Crafters Corner for trusting me enough with mixed media products for my DT post],and my blogger pals the super talented Rupa [ for always being so helpful and generous in sharing her vast crafty knowledge] and the mixed media whiz Jaya for giving me so much information about mixed media products!
Supplies : Crafters Corner :
Mixed Media Supplies :Whipped Spackle, Stencils, Gelatos,  Distress Inks, Versamark Stamp Pad, Ranger Heat embossing Gun, Embossing Powder,
Martha Stewart Border Punch, Pollen, Paper Flowers, Charms,
Dies : Spellbinders lace heart, Heartfelt creations Classic Leaf ,Tatterd Lace rose
Adhesives : Foam Tape, Tombow Mono liquid Glue,