Molossi Mood Board Challenge

My snarky sister Lee recently joined the Molossi DT, and they're hosting a Mood Board challenge - and as soon as I saw it I knew I would have to play along. I've already created two projects, and I can see me giving it another crack before the deadline of May 31. There are so many inspiring details!

 

This will be a picture-heavy post :) I created a mixed-media journal for my friend Denyse. We were talking a few weeks ago about them, and so I decided to surprise her with one! First I'll show you the completed project, and then tell you a bit about how I was inspired by the mood board.

There are so many supplies that I'm sure I'm going to miss some.

Supplies: spiral-bound journal; digital stamp (fairy with raven) from Sweet Pea Stamps; Spectrum Noir and Bic markers; Distress Crackle Paint in Antique Linen & Broken China; Memory Box sunburst stencil & leaf die; Tim Holtz bubble stencil; Dreamweaver Embossing Paste; flourish & bird stamps from PTI; Barn Door & Antique Linen distress ink; Versamark; Black detail, Clear detail, and Carnelian opalescent embossing powders from Stampendous; Dylusions purple spray; May Arts twine; Making Memories leaves; Jolee's daisies; Fancy Pants chipboard; Studio Calico butterfly veneer; ribbon, sheer fabric, buttons, beads & wire from stash

A special thanks to Glenda for the Making Memories leaves & that fabulous 'remember' veneer piece! 

I chose this particular fairy & raven image because Dee LOVES ravens, and she's really liked the other things I've created with the fairies & mermaids from ching chou kuik. Alrighty, so here's how I did it: first I painted some extra-thick card stock with the Broken China crackle paint, and the big chipboard piece with Antique Linen. Once they were dry, I applied embossing paste to them - the chipboard piece has the Sunburst and plain white paste. I used the Memory Box leaf die to make my own paper stencil for the purple leaves. I mixed wayyyyy too much Dylusions spray into the paste, and so the leaves didn't come out as sharply as I'd hoped - the paste still gave it texture, but the ink bled out around the stencil part itself. Never fear, unintended results are just an opportunity for embellishment, right?

I used the Carnelian embossing powder on the flourishes because on white it gives a nice orange-ish red colour - on blue it comes out more coppery. I then stamped the same flourish around the edges of the page with Barn Door distress ink, which is more muted - you can see in the right-hand corner where the truer red shows up. I just used a tissue to wipe the excess ink off the embossed areas. I then stamped & embossed the bird. At this point I hadn't added the white bubbles yet! The flourishes & crackle paint were inspired by the third picture, which seems to be of a door with some ornate detailing. My colour choices were also inspired by the board - purple was definitely necessary because it's Dee's favourite colour. There's a smidge of purple in the beautiful heart bubble in the first picture :)

To highlight the single word (I was going to use Thickers to say "daydream" like the photo, and then found this perfect veneer in the goodies Glenda sent me!) I swiped it across the Barn Door inkpad, and then embossed it with 3 layers of clear embossing powder. 

I just couldn't get the detail that I wanted on the raven - it's hard to colour something iridescent black after all :) I used gray & navy markers, and then painted it with Sapphire glimmer mist - which completely obscured all the feather details in the illustration. White Sharpie pen and a dampened finger to smudge it helped - and then I found that perfect little feather! I highlighted the eye & beak with a Sakura Black Glaze pen. 

The flowers were originally a sort of tan colour, and had doo-dads in the centres that I didn't really care for. I pulled those off, and dyed them with water & some reinkers....and after that, gave them a healthy spritz of Dylusions. The sheer fabrics were frayed & then zapped with the heat gun to melt them. The red feather I found in the bottom of a drawer when I was getting out a new bottle of Tombow glue. Score!

Once I was finished embellishing, seriously, the very last step (I do not recommend this, lol) I decided I needed to cover up a bit of the purple leaves. Trying to get a stencil to lay flat on an essentially finished piece? Not so much. It still provided the bit of extra "something" I was going for!

Here's a shot that gives you an idea of the dimension - the fabric & flowers really pop! 

To decorate the binding, I used plain jewelry wire & a variety of beads. I don't have any special pliers or anything for using the wire - I just looped it around a coil, twisted it several times, and then used large beads to cover up the twists. Every few inches of beads I would wrap it around another coil, looping back & forth to anchor it & give it a random pattern. I find it easier to work with shorter pieces of wire, so there are 6 altogether. To anchor the ends, I twisted it back on itself & then tucked it into the already-strung beads to hide the end. The wire lets the beads move on the binding so that you can still use the journal functionally. 

I had so much fun making this - my fingernails are still purple ;) and the best part? Dee LOVED it! Thanks for the inspiration, Molossi!

xoxo,

Jessi