An Asian Garden in Full Bloom! Mixed Media Book Box tutorial by Tracy Alden

Hello! Tracy here with a project showcasing wonderful supplies from Amazing Crafting Products and our  "Partners in Crafting,"  FrogDogStudio.com. When I received my Frog Dog Studio kit in the mail I was so excited, the kit had some many wonderful goodies and it had a East Asian flair to it! It got me thinking about my trip through Asia and I was inspired to create a hidden story book.

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The Frog Dog Studio April Mixed Media Kit includes:

(1) **Alumidust Powder - Red Plum; (1) StazOn Midi Ink pad - Claret; (1) StazOn Midi Ink pad - Blue Hawaii; (1) iZink Pigment Ink bottle - Gold; (1) Stampendous Mica Fragments Jar, Pearlized; (1) Dusty Attic Chipboard set - Birds; (1) Stampendous Mini Clipboard Canvas pack; (1) Set Canvas Mini's - Canvas Corp; (3) Sheets of Decopatch Tissue Paper; and (16) Tim Holtz Clear Fragments (random sizes/shapes). ** Alumidust is one of the many additives from the Alumilite Corporation. Valued at over $45.

The Frog Dog Studio  April Add-On Kit includes:

(1) Amazing Clear Cast Resin – 16 Fluid Oz Box; (1) Amazing Mold Putty – 2/3 lb Box; (25) 1 oz Measuring Cups; and (50) Wooden Stir Sticks. Valued at over $47.

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Additional Supplies:

• Alumilite Metallic Powder
• Soft bristle brush 
• Glu6 - Adhesive for Non-Porous surfaces
• White Craft Glue
• Liquitex Gloss Varnish
• Printed image
• Sharp Craft Scissors
• Embossing powder
• Embossing adhesive
• Heat Gun
• Hot Glue gun and glue sticks
• Cream colored acrylic paint
• StazOn Ink Pads Black and Brown
• Mulberry Paper
• Dried Moss
• Silk Flowers
• Cosmetic sponge
• Paper Maché Book shaped box
• 1 - 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" blank card
• Adhesive Foam Squares
• Cotton Swabs

I started by brushing on a coat of Cream colored acrylic paint on the inside and outside of the paper mache box. This acts as a primer and helps any papers placed on it visually "pop" more. 

To cover the outside of the box I used the classic decoupage technique of tearing up the mulberry paper and applying piece after piece with the white craft glue. I had wadded up and then flattened the mulberry paper ahead of time to create more texture. I was careful to overlap edges and go under the sides of the box to make sure no Cream paint was visible. I let the glue completely dry before going onto the next step. 

Taking the StazOn Brown, Black and Claret ink pads I rubbed them on the surface of the front and back cover of the book box. The textured decoupage edges and corners picked up the color wonderfully.

Next I put drops of the Gold iZink Pigment ink on the front and back of the book box using a cosmetic sponge to move and distribute the ink. I painted a thin coat of Liquitex Gloss Varnish as a sealer to the front and back of the now inked surface.

I carefully cut to size one sheet of the Decopatch Tissue Paper to fit the inside of the box. Using the white glue and a paint brush I carefully applied the tissue paper to the inside of the box.

Using a soft bristle brush I applied Liquitex Gloss Varnish

to the inside of the box to seal and protect the paper.

I applied embossing powder adhesive to the chipboard birds,

applied two coats of golden colored embossing powder and heat to set.

Next I covered the 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card with Gold iZink Pigment ink 

by blotting it on with a cosmetic sponge in layers.

I rubbed the black StazOn ink on the edges of the card stock to give it an aged look and glued it to the front cover of the book box. I then stamped a frame image on the upper portion of the card.

Using the techniques I discuss in my Button Molding post I created decorative elements by molding buttons and a snake pendant. Before pouring any Amazing Casting Resin into the molds, I used a soft bristle brush to dust the inside of a molds with Alumilite Metallic Powder. 

Once all of the pieces were demolded, I painted on some Liquitex Gloss Varnish and reapplied the metallic powders. I sealed them with more Liquitex Gloss Varnish to give it a nice shine.

I attached one of the chipboard birds and the resin pieces to the front of the card using the Glu6 Adhesive. I applied the flower embellishments with hot glue, careful to overlap the flowers and leaves to cover any visible glue.

I applied some Gold iZink Pigment ink to the embellishments

with a cotton swab to add highlights and a slight shimmer.

I printed out a image of a Buddhist statue I had taken and attached it to golden card stock. I placed foam squares on the back and put it inside the book box.

Once again I applied the flower embellishments with hot glue, careful to overlap the flowers and leaves to cover any visible glue to the inside of the box. I applied the chipboard bird with Glu6 Adhesive and covered the bottom portion of the box with dried moss, using hot glue to set in place. I applied some Gold iZink Pigment ink to the embellishments with a cotton swab to add more highlights.

While the flowers glued inside the box stick out a little,

the box can easily be placed closed on a mantel or table.

Once the box is open it acts an easel, displaying the peaceful scene. :)

What wonderful Mixed Media project

would you create with these supplies?

Visit my blog Art Resurrected for more craft tutorials!

Until next time, safe travels! ~ Tracy

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A Plain Jane Dressing Mirror Transformed into a Bird of Paradise... by Brenda Burfeind

Good day crafters – Brenda here from Creativity is a State of Mind and I am so excited to show you what I made today. We partnered up with Frog Dog Studios this month again and you can read all about the entire kit HERE. This month it was my turn. I know some of the other designers have showed you a few projects over the last couple of months. I was pretty excited when I got my package. I had no idea what to expect and this kit is definitely up my alley.

In your kit you would receive this:

The Frog Dog Studio April Mixed Media Kit includes:

(1) **Alumidust Powder - Red Plum; (1) StazOn Midi Ink pad - Claret; (1) StazOn Midi Ink pad - Blue Hawaii; (1) iZink Pigment Ink bottle - Gold; (1) Stampendous Mica Fragments Jar, Pearlized; (1) Dusty Attic Chipboard set - Birds; (1) Stampendous Mini Clipboard Canvas pack; (1) Set Canvas Mini's - Canvas Corp; (3) Sheets of Decopatch Tissue Paper; and (16) Tim Holtz Clear Fragments (random sizes/shapes). ** Alumidust is one of the many additives from the Alumilite Corporation. Valued at over $45.

And of course you would want to purchase the add-on kit! 

The Frog Dog Studio  April Add-On Kit includes:

(1) Amazing Clear Cast Resin – 16 Fluid Oz Box; (1) Amazing Mold Putty – 2/3 lb Box; (25) 1 oz Measuring Cups; and (50) Wooden Stir Sticks. Valued at over $47.

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I love getting new fun things to play with and I absolutely LOVE this paper. It's so thin almost like a glazed tissue paper, almost transparent and the colors are beautiful. When I was growing up in Germany we had this sort of paper for gift wrapping. I totally forgot all about it until I held this paper in my hands. Oh the memories holding that paper just brought back.

So now I had to figure out what to make. I knew I was going to mold that Bird of Paradise using my Amazing Mold Putty, but what was I going to do with her? Yes, you can mold chipboard.

You can find directions for proper mixing here by typing "how to make a mold" in the search bar on the top of the page or you can watch a video by CLICKING HERE.

It only takes about 10 minutes for the Amazing Mold Putty to cure.

Look how lovely she came out.

Then I prepared my Amazing Casting Resin. This product is incredible as it has no odor and sets up within minutes. Just make sure you mix equal parts of "A" and "B" and stir until it isn't cloudy anymore. Don't over stir as it does set up within minutes.

Whenever I make a mold, I try to fill all the voided spaces with other doodads. In this month's kit you will receive some acrylic tags in various sizes, so I created a duplicate of those also. When I mix my resin, I tend to make more than I need, so therefore I fill other molds to have on hand for future projects.

Once I've poured my mold, I actually take a paper towel and kinda run around the edges of the item to avoid extra resin around the edges. This picture shows what the resin does shortly after pouring. You can see how the resin is starting to set up in the small circular tag.

Almost completely set up, still a bit of clear milky

color in the corners of the Bird of Paradise.

When completely cured, pieces are hard as a rock – though the resin is a bit pliable for a short time. This gives you time to bend to shape and trim with scissors if needed.

Now when I demold things, I start from the outer edges. The Amazing Mold Putty mold is flexible and therefore you can bend your items out instead of just trying to pull them up. In demolding it this way you avoid pulling those fine or thin areas, like these feathers, off.

There your have a resin duplicate of the chipboard

Bird of Paradise – ready for more durable usage. 

I used my exacto knife to clean a bit around the edges and this process from molding to pouring to cured to cleaning up edges took all about 15 minutes.

Now I had recently made a trip to my Dollar Store after getting my Frog Dog Studio kit, when I found this awesome mirror set. Immediately I had an idea of how I could use some of the pieces from this kit to embellish this up. I thought the color scheme was identical too.

I took the existing packaging and traced as close to the mirror as possible with a pencil.

 

Then I cut it out with a pair of scissors and laid that transparency directly onto the gorgeous paper to find the exact area that I wanted to use. I left the price tag on so you can judge where I had laid the transparency down.

Maybe you can see the edge here a bit better?

Then cut that out a bit larger than the original

to fit my handheld mirror perfectly.

Now if you look at the mirror and the paper, you will see that it was not a perfect color fit. The paper has more green and the mirror is more steel blue. I wasn't sure how I was going to fix this, but where there is a will there is always a way!

I used Mod Podge to cover the backside of the mirror,

going in one direction first and then crossways again.

Once I laid the paper onto the mirror, I burnished the edge

a little with my thumbnail to give it that extra seam.

See how nice that laid down? You can even see a little bit of the pattern from the handheld mirror. Once it was completely dry I just trimmed around the edges with my scissors and my mirror was ready for embellishing.

Now while that was drying I went back to my Bird of Paradise to finish her off. I used the Claret Stazon ink that came with my kit and directly pounced it onto my bird. So, remember me showing you that the color wasn't a perfect fit with the paper and the mirror.

Therefore I also added some of the Blue Hawaii Stazon, mixed in a bit of the Lt. Green Alumidust (can be purchased also from Frog Dog Studio) and golded the bird with the Pigment Izink (gold) all which came in my kit. I think she turned out gorgeous.

I had 3 silk leaves in my over flowing stash of silk flowers and 

knew these would work perfectly to embellish my mirror.

I sponged the Claret Stazon directly onto the leaves also. Even though this technique worked, it didn't give it enough color. I pulled out my Deep Red Alumidust that came with the kit and mixed it up with some of Alene's PaperGlaze and painted the middle of those leaves. I wasn't really being careful since no leaf is exact in coloring anyway (and I can't even paint by numbers).

Hot gluing the embellishments onto the 

mirror gave it that perfect finishing touch.

I do believe my Bird of Paradise completed this 

mirror perfectly in color balance.

Wouldn't this make a beautiful gift

for someone's dressing table?

I hope you've liked my one example of this beautiful kit from Frog Dog Studio. Since I only used a couple of pieces from this kit I decided to dedicate the entire week to Frog Dog Studio over at my blog starting tomorrow. I hope you will join me all week at Creativity is a State of Mind. ~ Brenda 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

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