Marion Smith Designs: Boy Birthday Card by Tonya Gibbs

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Boy Birthday Card by Tonya Gibbs

Hi everyone, I hope you are having a great week. My favorite part of Marion's designs are all the little tiny elements that you can fussy cut and cluster together. Today's project was inspired by the layout I made for yesterday's post.

I used a few of the same techniques, but this time, I took elements from Marion's Nirvana collection, and the Texture stamps from Marion's latest release to create the mixed media background boy card.

Here is how I did the background for this card.

I started with a piece of cardstock, and spread modeling paste or gesso using your favorite stencil. Allow it to dry completely.

Using a Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft Pitt Artist Pen - carefully rub some of the ink onto the stenciled area. Try to avoid direct contact with the cardstock. Do a small section then go to next step.

Using your finger rub the Pitt Pen Ink to blend, allow some of the ink to spill over the cardstock.

Archival ink was used around the edges to further distress the background.

I used a green Pitt Artist Pen directly on my stamps then stamped it onto my background paper. These pens are temporary blendable ink on a prepped surface as seen on the hexagons. However, when used on a non-prepped surface they offer a permanent ink solution.

Pick a brown watercolor shimmer mist (I used Gossamer Gold by Lindy's Stamp Gang), and spray onto a non-porous surface. I used recycled packaging for my pallet.

Use a circular item and stamp the bottom into the ink, then apply it to your project.

The grungy effects give this background and instant masculine feel. All I have to do now is build out my layers. In addition to Marion's ephemera, I've also included a chipboard #2, sentiment, twine, and puzzle pieces.