Three **Flamingo Scraps** - with Mixed Media Layout Tutorial

My son Brandon is 3, and 3 is hard.  Not sure why they call it the terrible twos, three is worse.  I saw it in my oldest son the same way.  There are such cute moments, but then Brandon can be such a peanut (his nickname).  The picture was taken at a Chuck E Cheese photo booth, I thought it was just too cool to not do something with it. The chaos of his life so far as being three a lot has changed, he got a new sister and his daddy is in Afghanistan.  That is a lot for a little guy to deal with, or should I say mommy has to deal with, hehe.  I created this layout to remind me of how chaotic his life (and our whole family) is at age three.

I used all the wonderful supplies given to us in the April Flamingo 4 stash including the packaging.  We got a box of Pink Paislee Chipboard, Metal clip, Month cards, and Prima sequin gems.

Here you can see them in their final form up close.  I used the monthly cards and cut out letters to create the new words of his name and of his life.  I used the box, string, and alpha chipboard (in 2 ways) for background, texture, and for the word three.  The sequin gems were used for texture and the metal clip was used as an addition to the words to describe my son.

 Head on over to Flamingo Scraps to see the other cool projects create for the April Flamingo 4.

Below is a tutorial of how I took these items and converted them with Gesso and spray mist into the layout you see above.

Mixed Media Layout Tutorial

1) Supplies Gesso, Glue (i used Martha Stewart Craft glue), spray mists, and random items like chipboard, metals, papers, buttons, string, fibers, and other findings.

2) Create the backbone for you layout.  I lay may papers down first and glue down what I can with my regular glue glider (I use an ATC glue gun).  Ink the edge of you papers for a better effect when done.

3) Glue down your objects.  If there is a part of your layout that you do not want to have gesso and mist on it then do not glue it down yet or cover it with sticky notes.  I covered me picture with sticky notes so it would not get covered with the gesso and mists.  I also added some extra glue over the cluster on the left for added effect.  Let this dry completely, it will probably take over night to do this.

4) Cover your items in gesso.  You can cover up some of the papers, strings, metals, what ever you like.  if it does not get a coat of gesso then the mists will not be as bright.  Yuo can put a thick or a light a layer of gesso as you wish.  This is where playing by making a few ATCs can be helpful.  Let this dry completely, it can also take 4-5 hours to dry.  Do not use a heat gun to dry, it will bubble your glue and gesso and warp your paper.

5) Pick out a color and spray it.  Do it at random, have fun with it.  You can spray more than one color at a time, but they will blend.  If you want distinct different colors you have to wait for each to dry independently before you apply the next mist.

6) Keep spraying with you different colors or shades until you have the look you want.  Play with it, have fun and get messy.   Use you finger to rub the mist in.  Spray lots of layers for a deeper effect.

7) When your mist is dry add in the papers, pictures, or other embellishments that you did not want to get misted.  I added the little number 3 paper squares you see in the this picture, they would have been covered and unable to read if I did it at the beginning.  At this point pull off the sticky notes covering anything up, it is dry and you are safe to pull them off now.

8) Enjoy you complete project!!

Supplies used
Papers - Glitz
Chipboard - Pink Pasilee (includes the box and string the chipboard was in)
Mists - Clearsnap and Tattered Angles, Faber Castell (gelatos)
Metal clip -
Sequin gems - Prima
Glue - Martha Stewart
Pen- Copic
Monthly papers -

Enjoy!!

Erin Reed