Dragonfly Beauty Mixed Media Panel with Deb Riddell

Hello and thank you for stopping by.  It’s Deb here today and I am thrilled to be sharing with you some of Southern Ridge Trading Company’s newest releases!  I made a mixed media panel using Southern Ridge’s new Zen Dragonfly and Zen Dragonfly stencil along with their lovely Wild Flower Bouquet.

The design team will all be using the new Zen Dragonfly releases in one or more of their creations this month so hope you will be able to stop by again for lots of dragonfly inspiration!  I’ve a few step outs on how I created my mixed media panel so read on for the how to.

I started out with a piece of 110 lb white cardstock and stamped it randomly with Distress Ground Espresso Archival ink and a fine script stamp from my stash.  I then inked up the back of the Zen Dragonfly stencil with Faded Jeans Distress Oxide, spritzed it with water and placed the inked stencil down onto the cardstock to make a stencil monoprint.

I decided after I’d made the monoprint that I wanted my mixed media panel longer, so I stamped and inked up another piece of white cardstock. I adhered the second piece of cardstock along with the monoprint to a piece of Dapper scrapbook paper and added a piece of blue and brown grosgrain ribbon to disguise the break in between the two pieces of cardstock.

Painting of the Zen Dragonfly chipboard piece came next, I used DecoArt Media Titanium White on the wings (the detail on this dragonfly is amazing!) and then added washes of Green Gold and Yellow Green Light to the head and body, drying in between.  Next I stippled on some Cobalt Teal Hue and Cobalt Turquoise Hue along with a bit more Green Gold until I was happy with the colours.

DecoArt Media Interference Gold came next over the entire dragonfly, I’ve tried to show you the effect in the picture above but it’s so hard to capture on camera.  The colour of the Interference Gold changes dependant upon the colour layered beneath it and the angle it is viewed at, it’s magical!

And then I inked the dragonfly’s wings with a clear Ranger embossing pen and embossed them with Emerald Creek Craft Supplies Iridescent Shimmer embossing powder.  Again, it’s so hard to see in the picture but the shimmer is fabulous in real life.

The Wild Flower Bouquet was stained with Ground Espresso Distress stain and then sealed with matte Americana Varnish.

A piece of corrugated cardboard packaging was cut about ⅜” larger on all sides than the prepared monoprinted background and the top of the cardboard torn back in places to reveal the corrugations.  White gesso was fingerpainted on here and there and then the cardboard was spritzed with Walnut Ink spray.  The cardboard was backed with another piece of Dapper scrapbook paper and a Small Easel die cut added for displaying it.

I neglected to take any in progress pictures but I stamped the sentiment from Tim Holtz’s Perspective stamp set onto a piece of Distress Mixed Media Heavystock that I coloured with Stormy Sky and Faded Jeans Distress ink.  The sentiment was die cut with the Sizzix Ornate Label #4 die and mounted onto a piece of die cut black fun foam for dimension.

And then the panel was assembled, the monoprinted background was centered on the prepared corrugated cardboard and the Wild Flower Bouquet was adhered to the left of the monoprinted background.

The Zen Dragonfly chipboard piece was positioned so that it was slightly offset from the monoprinted Zen Dragonfly stenciled underneath it, adhering it overtop of the Wild Flower Bouquet and adding some wee pieces of black fun foam underneath the opposite wing to support it.

The sentiment was added to the bottom left of the panel as was shown in the process picture above and the panel was complete.  There really is beauty in simplicity!  Here’s another closeup of the Interference Gold paint and the Iridescent Shimmer embossing powder on the dragonfly, wish I could capture how lovely it looks.

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing how my Dragonfly Beauty mixed media panel came together and the you’ve been inspired to create your own Zen Dragonfly project.

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Zen Dragonfly

- Wild Flower Bouquet

- Zen Dragonfly Stencil

Other Supplies Used:

- Tim Holtz for Ranger Ink: Distress Oxide, Distress Ink, Distress Stain, Distress Mixed Media Archival Ink and Distress Mixed Media Heavystock

- Tim Holtz for Sizzix: Small Easel die, Label and Ornate #4 die

- Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous: Perspective stamp set

- Tim Holtz/Advantus: Dapper Paper Stock

- DecoArt: Media Line Fluid Acrylic paint, Matte Varnish and Gesso

- Emerald Creek Craft Supplies: Iridescent Shimmer Embossing Powder

- Miscellaneous: Grosgrain Ribbon, Corrugated Cardboard, 110 lb White Cardstock, Script Stamp, Black Fun Foam, Walnut Ink Spray, Double Sided Tape and Wet Adhesive

Thanks again for stopping by today and be sure to pop by regularly this month to see what else the design team creates with the Zen Dragonfly, I can’t wait to see it myself!  Happy creating everyone,

Deb xo