It’s day two of mixed media week, and let’s turn to Victoria Calvin to inspire us to use mixed media techniques on a bigger scale: a layout background! Take a look at how you can add lovely layers of different mediums to create one fantastic page design! 

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Hello friends! It’s Victoria and I am back with a mixed media layout featuring the stunning Color Study Collection by Vicki Boutin and American Crafts! This collection makes it super easy to create awesome mixed media layouts with lots of depth and rich color. 

Supplies | American Crafts + Vicki Boutin Color Study collection: Project Pad, Paper Pad, Sticker Book, Embellishments, Acrylic Stamps, Bubble Stencils, Chipboard Stickers, Puffy Stickers, Gold Foil Chipboard Thickers; Other: Tim Holtz Distress Ink – Blue Ribbon (Ranger)

I am a big fan of mixed media layouts, however, I prefer to design layouts that have a subtle hint of mixed media that can be incorporated throughout a layout. For this project, I used the Vicki Boutin Color Study Bubble Stencil along with distress inks to create a simple ink blended background. 

To begin, I marked the position of my photo using a pencil to ensure that I apply the ink blended detail so that it can be seen on the layout and not covered up by the photo. Next, I positioned the stencil to the top right of the layout and applied Distress Ink using a blender brush directly on the stencil. I repeated this step on the left side of the photo and again at the bottom right, creating a visual triangle of the same design. 

Next, using stamps from the Color Study Collection, Distress Ink, and Versafine Onyx Black Ink, I added stamped details to the ink blended areas. Stamping is a great way to add additional layers to an ink blended background. 

After creating the background, I completed the layout by positioning layered clusters around the photo using die cuts and stickers from the Color Study Collection. I made a third cluster at the bottom right corner of the layout to complete the visual triangle. Lastly, puffy and gold foiled chipboard stars were added to complete the composition. 

There are tons of mixed media techniques to explore and creating a simple mixed media ink-blended background is a great way to get started. I hope you are inspired to give this technique a try! 

Thanks for stopping by!

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