Hi there, if you are a regular visitor to the TLP Blog, you might remember the Monday Mash-up Series from last year, where we looked at strategies to step outside the ‘one kit only’ scrapping box to increase your confidence in mixing and matching and ability to stretch your stash. (And if you didn’t see any of them, you are forgiven LOL and the good news is you can still access them). Anyway, with all those lessons up our sleeves, this year I’m introducing the SOSN Stash Mash!Every Wednesday when TLP Designers put a selection of goodies on sale at half price (here’s a link to this week’s specials category), I’m reminded of some specific treasures I have in my stash and feel inspired to pull them out from the depths of my harddrive again. And I know now that I can find a few kits among that day’s selection that will work perfectly together to tell my stories and support and enhance my … [Read more...]
Beginners Mixed Media: Mesmerizing Marble!
After over a year now of both digital mixed media experimentation here on the blog and looking at home renovation inspiration images and samples for tiles and benchtops in real life, today I'm bringing in the marbled look to my digi layout. (Inspiration is everywhere, right?!). Marbling is a fun technique to create your own paper and paper -based elements in paper crafting.I remember making 'marbled prints' for art when I was in school, using a container full of water with some oily drops of coloured dye or ink floating on the surface, mix with a toothpick to create a swirled pattern and then lay some thick plain white paper over the top to absorb the marble magic, and voila! (You can also apparently use shaving cream, milk or other substances to hold your coloured pigments of varying kinds (Google has lots of how-to links) and the marbled effect is fun surprise every time).In … [Read more...]
Beginners Mixed Media: Emboss like a boss!
Hi there, if you've been following along on my beginning mixed media 'journey', (yeah I know, everything is a journey these days, I really don't mean to make this sound like an arduous reality show), anyway I've looked at a few ways to add (the illusion of) texture to my digital papers, I've played with (digital) textured paint and torn paper layers. Today I'm playing along with the May Random Challenge with Kayla that involves butterflies and I'm going to make a mixed media page and use embossing to create some texture and subtle interest.Embossing in real world scrapping means a shape or text has a raised profile and feels 'bumpy' and the same look can be recreated in digiscrapping by adding bevelling and changing the light and shadowing. In the real world, there are a few ways to emboss an image but one way involves a piece of plastic or metal with a raised image or design on the … [Read more...]
Beginners Mixed Media: Realism with Distorted Shadows and Edges
Hi there. Today in Mixed Media Beginners, I'm going to literally be throwing shade. There's no disrespect or ridicule here, just a comparison and explanation to why sometimes I add hand shadowing directly on to papers or elements, or tweak shadows below my layers and how my mixed media use influences that. It's also kind of a Scrapping Secret post - this is one way to level up your pages, so it's a two-for-one post really, which is to say it's a long one so grab a cuppa and buckle up!______________________________________________________________________________________ Here's a bit of background or nostalgia that will make me sound really old but gives today's post some context: I still remember my first digi pages (cough, cough, like 17 years ago) and the quick progression I made from not even knowing drop shadows existed and therefore not applying even a default shadow … [Read more...]
Beginners Mixed Media: Stash Essentials – Bargains from the Retiring Products Sale
For about a year now, I've been actively trying mixed media techniques and products on the blog here, and venturing outside the box of my traditional scrapping style. With the Retiring Products Sale on until the end of March 2023, I wanted to highlight a few bargain mixed media products that are being clearanced to make way for more goodies in the store that would be great investments if you are starting out and looking to build or add to your digital mixed media stash.Basic Brushes and Gesso / Impasto Paint - I started out Beginngers Mixed Media with just a template and some 'nothing fancy', fairly dense, linear brush strokes (that post and layout are here), and gesso has become one of my fave ways to add some dimension or a pop of 'non-colour' especially on dark backgrounds, like here. Watercolour style paint generally is pretty thin in real life so digi watercolour often has a … [Read more...]
Scrapping Secrets: Using Photo Masks
Hi there! This series spills some of the secrets and highlights some theory, problems and solutions behind the amazing scrapbook pages you see in the gallery. Sometimes scrapbooking involves problem solving just as much as creativity and you may find these secrets help you with your own pages, especially if you feel like you are at a roadblock. Nobody’s perfect, some of us just know a few more tricks and soon you will too! ______________________________________________________________________________________________This month in Mixed Media Beginners, I featured photo masks as a way of giving your photo an artsy look and today I'm back with some tips and tricks from myself and other team members and TLP designers for using them on your pages. If you missed it or just want an overview of how to use masks and the different kinds already available in the TLP store, make sure to … [Read more...]