'Home Sweet Home' Mixed Media with Gold Alcohol Splash

Hello there, I am Pooja Sharma

I am extremely excited but a little nervous because this is my first guest designer post in Itsy Bitsy's blog. Today I am here to share my project and experience with Itsy Bitsy's recently launch product Little Birdie 'Gold Alcohol Splash' color sprays.

Before I begin with my creation, I want to share few things about these colors

1. These are alcohol inks and they dry very fast

2. They are different from water based colour sprays and color splash

3. These colours can be blended with Sponge Blenders and diluted with Alcohol Blending Solution ( both products are available at Itsy Bitsy)

4. Use turpentine oil not water if, you are using them with brush and try to wash any excess colours quickly

5. These colors have a particular gloss like solvent based colours

6. They add a shine to projects due to the 'Gold' effect with each spray

7. Always shake the bottle before use so that all the settled shimmer mixes well

8. Always keep the bottles covered after use

9. You can use Sponge Blenders for blending two colors or to create special effects in the background

10.If you are using these colours directly on card stock, instantly use blending solution for lightning or giving special effects The blending solution also comes in a spray bottle. This blending solution is specially formulated for blending alcohol inks just as we use water spray for water based colours.

When I was starting to work with these colors, first I wanted to know how they look on both black and white base so I applied white and black gesso on a corrugated sheet and used these colors on both bases....just have a look

Believe me they are glossy and beautiful, You can see the shine on black

Now here is my creation which I made with hues from the range of Little Birdie Gold Alcohol Splash and other Itsy Bitsy craft supplies

This is how my finished project looked

Now let's look at the step by step process, how I made it.

1. I have taken a ply wood piece of 9" X 9.5" and covered it with canvas sheet. You can use a ready made canvas board or any shadow box also available at Itsy Bitsy. After that I applied gesso on the surface.

2. I used a window frame chipboard from Itsy Bitsy's new arrival list. After I decided where to place it, I drew an outline of the frame on my canvas

3. The outline helped me to use stencils on the remaining part on the canvas

4. Then I cut corrgrated sheets in 3 different sizes first one 2", second 1.5" and the last one 1". I pasted them all one by one on top of the canvas with a little slant to make the roof with help of the glue gun

5. I cut 2 thermocol pieces with both same sizes. length 9.5" and width almost 3/4". These were used on the right and left side to make pillars. I cut another piece of 3" and pasted it at the bottom.

6. I made stairs with corrugated sheets by cutting and pasting them like stairs

7. I cut a lone strip from corrugated sheet to cover the bottom thermocol. After that I applied a layer of gesso and stenciled on the pillar, stairs and the bottom strip

8. I then pasted all parts in place except the window frame

9. Now I started using colors. I have used three shades of Gold Alcohol Splash here - Midnight Blue, Citron Breeze and Marigold. I sprayed midnight blue then the other colours. Blended the colors using blending solution and sponge blender.

10. I have used Wild Rose Gold Alcohol Splash and Marigold for my flowers. I sprayed both the colours on non sticky sheet and took impression of the colors on a white cardstock. Thereafter, I cut them in desired shape and gave them an embossed look with help of a ball tool.

11. Applied white gesso on the window frame and used Marigold Gold Alcohol Splash on the border and pasted it in it's place

12. Pasted all the flowers on top

13. Added some more embellishments like cycle chipboard, mirror, clock, frame chipboard . To colour the cycle and frame, I have used gesso first and then painted it with Wild Rose and Marigold, black acrylic paint and golden embossing powder

14. I have applied little gesso with dry brush to highlight the stone effect

15. At last made a little bird with air dry clay and put it on top. Added a stamped 'Home sweet home' sentiment to give my project a complete look.

I hope u like my work.

I am simply in love with the hues of Gold Alcohol Splash!!

I want to share one more thing about blending the colours and creating a background with these inks. You can spray little ink on a Sponge blender and then spray some Blending solution and them dab on the desired surface to get dark and light shades or to even mix two colours.

When you apply these colours on paper, you can see how I have used this technique in my layered shaker card

As you can see in the above picture, I have used three colors along with the blender one by one. After that I have used some stamps and stencils for my background