New Barnes & Noble Mixed Media Kit: LOVE Card

Hello, everyone! Margie Higuchi here as a member of the Faber-Castell® Design Memory Craft® Guest Design Team for Fall/Winter 2015! I am excited to share with you all the fun of creating with Faber-Castell® Design Memory Craft® products :)

With the holidays just around the corner, I am thrilled to share this Mixed Media kit that makes an easy jump start on your holiday shopping! It includes everything needed to create a variety of projects from home decor, scrapbook pages, cards to art journals. The best part? It's available at your local Barnes & Noble store.

The 23 piece kit include: Five Faber-Castell® Design Memory Craft® Gelatos® Colors (Snow Cone, Raspberry, Metallic Melon, Watermelon and Margarita Mix), 10 Mixed Media Stencils, Texture Luxe™ Pearl, Palette Knife, Stipple Brush, Dot Dabber, Drip Dropper, Misting Bottles and Techniques Booklet.

For those who are just starting this wonderful world of mixed media, this kit is perfect! I used only a piece of thick cardstock to create a card full of fun and easy techniques. Let me show you how!

Take a 4¼ x 5½" white cardstock panel and color three vertical stripes (Top to Bottom: Design Memory Craft® Gelatos® in Metallic Melon, Watermelon and Raspberry). Lightly mist the panel with water and spread the color to cover. If you want deeper color, just add more until you get your desired look. Tip: after spreading each color, wipe your finger with a paper towel for a cleaner look (unless you are going for that look).

To stencil, I like to protect the chipboard stencils to reuse them longer by coating them with Glaze on both sides before using them. To tint the Texture Luxe™ Pearl, I shaved about ⅛" of Snow Cone Gelatos® with my palette knife into a container and mist water into it to melt the color. Then I mixed in about 2 teaspoons of Texture Luxe™ Pearl to tint the medium to "Mix & Match" my color combination for the card.

I used the Butterfly Stencil (after applying the Glaze for protection) and placed it in the middle of the colored card panel. Then taking a little bit of the tinted Texture Luxe™ to the BACK of the palette knife, spread it across one of the butterfly shapes. Repeat until covered and slowly lift UP the stencil.

To clean the stencil, I placed half of a paper towel behind the stencil and wiped the other half on top. With a baby wipe, I clean off the residue. The back side usually doesn't have as much so I wipe with the baby wipe. Set aside to dry.

Here is the outcome but notice that some areas have Texture Luxe™ on it so how to get rid of it? Simply wipe off the area with a small piece of clean paper towel. If it leaves discoloration, just add Gelatos® color and blend with water. If you want a more defined line of the butterfly, gently push the tinted Texture Luxe™ towards the shape - again if it leaves discoloration, add Gelatos® color with water and apply with small watercolor brush. Set that aside to dry.

For the background, I wanted dot designs so I shaved about ⅛" of Snow Cone Gelatos® with my palette knife into a container and mist water into it to melt the color. Then applied the Dot Dabber into the color and add color to the background. Repeat with the Margarita Mix Gelatos®.

For the sentiment, I cut the word "Love" out of the same white cardstock and colored it with Margarita Mix Gelatos® and water. Then applied adhesive on the back and centered it under the butterfly shape.

Adhere the embellished card panel on top of an A2 (4¼ x 5½") card base and color the edges with Raspberry Gelatos® for the finishing touch.

I also wanted to share my art journal applying the exact steps that I did for the card. You can use these steps in any kind of projects from card to scrapbook pages to mixed media projects. So many creative options using this kit.

MargieHiguchi 600WM B&NKit LoveCardandArtJournal

Supplies List:
Faber-Castell® Design Memory Craft®: Mixed Media Kit - Tropical (Faber-Castell® Design Memory Craft® Gelatos® Colors in Snow Cone, Raspberry, Watermelon, Margarita Mix & Metallic Melon, 10 Mixed Media Stencils, Texture Luxe™ Pearl, Palette Knife, Stipple Brush, Dot Dabber, Drip Dropper, Misting Bottles and Techniques Booklet), Glaze, Watercolor Brush and Mini Journal Boards
Die: Spellbinders® Paper Arts (SCD-026 All You); Adhesives: Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L® (Adhesive Sheet - 4 x 6" and E-Z Squares®); Others: White Cardstock, Paper Towel, Baby Wipes, Plastic Containers and Mister Spray

So I hope this inspires you to either try it out yourself or give a gift to that crafty friend of yours!

Thanks for hanging out with me this far! LOL!!
Margie Higuchi

Margie enjoys different types and styles of paper crafting from creating scrapbook pages to making cards to dabbling in mix media. She considers herself lucky to have been a product designer for a line of chipboard products, a design team member on many craft manufacturer and scrapbook retailer teams, written articles and published artwork in several online and print magazines in the U.S. and overseas as well as on TV.

Margie's “go-to” product is Design Memory Craft® Gelatos®! She uses them in her cards, pages and mixed media projects. They mix and match with many things from water to whipped spackle…The sky’s the limit!

Residing in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago with her husband and their two college-bound boys, they put up with her crazy schedules and endless craft supplies! Visit her blog at SCRAPS of (my) Life.