An easy, cheap or dare we  say FREE and easy way to dive into mixed media is by using newspaper and magazine articles to create a dry decoupage. Dry decoupage? Yes, if you have any type Xyron, it works great with torn and ripped pieces from a magazine and/or paper – using both gives you different colors of paper to apply to your cardstock. However, if you do not have any Xyron machine, you can use a tape runner, scor-tape, etc. We liked the look of the varied colors from the combination of magazine and newspaper, so we did a couple of layers so the background didn’t look flat. Then, we used a geometric stencil, Ranger Texture Paste, and an artist spatula set to smooth out the paste on top of the stencil. A knife or spoon from the kitchen will work – just keep whatever you use out of the kitchen afterwards! 🙂 We added a frame, a bit of silver mirror cardstock, “Happy Birthday” peel offs, a black Sharpie, and Nuvo Drops, all from LovefromLizi (except for the Sharpie). On the inside we use silver peels offs from LovefromLizi to maintain the classic black, white, and silver scheme for anything deco!

We’re beginning to explore mixed media more and thought this was a good staring point as you may have everything needed to achieve this look, or close to it, depending on your personal taste. The stencil can be any shape, of course, we just always try to do at least 1 male card a month. Love from Lizi’s had 300 GSM paper this month, so we did use that & it worked beautifully but you could use watercolor cardstock or anything with heft. Stay tuned this week: Getting more from you inks and everyday materials, Shabby Chic cards for the ladies and another card for the gents! It’s going to jam packed with creative ways to get more out your supplies with beautiful results. We’ll be posting throughout the week on Facebook, twitter, and Instagram. The video below takes you step-by-step with instructions. Stay crafty my friends! P.S. If you’d like to add color and shine to a project like this, check out our Nuvo Mousse video.