It's the Little Things That Make Life Big

Hi everyone! Melissa here with a design team page for the amazing Shimmerz Paints. I love these paints, they're so easy to use, and the colors are so rich!I've used a photo from free google, by Stella de Libero.

    

 I put the layers under the photo together,including taping water color paper under the image to make it stronger. Below that is a mat of watercolor paper, and at the bottom is corrugated cardboard. I tore off most the paper from the surface of the cardboard, and painted it with gesso. While it was wet I poured on UTEE,(Ultra Thick Embossing Paper)and heated it until it was just melted. I put two layers of cardboard between each of the layers to add dimension. 

I applied texture paste with a stencil and a credit card on the watercolor paper background. I poured on Ultra Thick Embossing Powder (UTEE) onto the paste, and heated it with a heat gun. Don't use Hobby Lobby brand texture paste, it takes way too long to dry,even with a heat gun. Liquitex works a lot better.

I picked out Reneabouquets Beautiful Board,arranged it around the page, took it off, and prepped it with gesso. I painted it with Pixie Dust Shimmerz, put a layer of silver mica powder on, then a thick coat of Clear Rock Candy Crackle.Later I decided I wanted to change it to green, so I painted it with Green Olive Shimmerz,which is my favorite shade of Shimmerz Paints green, and Penny 4 Your Thoughts Inklingz,(a discontinued color.) I rubbed on a some gold mica powder. A lot of the textural elements are from Reneabouquets. 

I drew out the colors of the photo to the watercolor mat and cardboard.

 To add visual interest I added micro beads, seed beads, glass glitter,glass beads, pearls, Swarovski crystals, rhinestones,sequins, shells, pressed flowers and leaves,tulle,lace,metal from Reneabouquets,Tim Holtz, and Vintaj, pieces of floral picks,flowers from Prima and Reneabouquets, and bling and metal from my stash. The gorgeous butterfly is from Reneabouquets.

I painted the background with Dear John Letter Inklingz, Green Olive, and First Blush Inklingz,(a discontinued color),gold mica powder and water, and Penny 4 Your Thoughts.

The pink on the mat and cardboard is Hot Stuff Inklingz. The gold is Amsterdam ink, the darker color is Penny 4 Your Thoughts. I used the Penny color all around the page to outline the embellies, and rubbed on gold mica powder too, to sort of tie everything together.

Thank you so much for looking, and have a great week!