Valentine Inspired My Heart Mixed Media Keepsake Book

Hello everyone and welcome to another Mix It Up Monday, Deb Riddell here today to share a Valentine inspired keepsake book with you. It was created with Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Art Tape and Transfer Foils and a couple of the new Deco Foil Transfer Sheet colours.

My Heart Mixed Media Keepsake Book

Therm O Web Supplies Used:

Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Art Tape 1.5″ x 8 yd
Rebekah Meier Designs Transfer Foil 6″ x 6″ (12 sheets per pack) • Antique Pearl (Satin)
Deco Foil™ Transfer Sheets • Wild Cherry
Deco Foil™ Transfer Sheets • Plum
Deco Foil™ PeelnStick Toner Sheets
Deco Foil™ Transfer Gel
iCraft Mixed Media Adhesive 2.1 fl oz
iCraft Purple Tape

Other supplies used:
Foil Laminator • 12 inch
Two 4″x 4″ flat artists canvases
140 lb. cold press watercolour paper
Distress Ink; Distress Archival Ink; Distress Embossing Powder; UTEE; Perfect Pearls; Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder; Platinum Stickles Glitter Glue – Ranger Ink
Heart stencil – Southern Ridge Trading Company
Rembrandt Words stencil – StencilGirl Products
Fresco Finish acrylic paint – PaperArtsy
Crinkle Ribbon – Advantus
Miscellaneous – white cardstock; heat tool, hole punch

My Heart Mixed Media Keepsake Book Instructions:

Select two 4″ x 4″ flat artists canvas for the covers of your keepsake book and tear a length of 140 lb. cold press watercolour paper slightly narrower than the height of your canvas covers. Accordion fold the watercolour paper 5 times to form the ‘pages’ of your book. The piece of watercolour paper I used was just a bit over 22 ” in length and folded about every 3 7/8″ but the exact size of yours will depend upon the dimensions of your canvas covers.

Smoosh some pink dye ink onto your craft mat, spritz it with water and drag the accordion folded watercolour paper through it. You aren’t going for full coverage, just add enough colour here and there to add some interest to the backgrounds of your pages. Repeat the process for both the front and the back of the watercolour paper.

Paint both of the 4″ x 4″ artists canvases on the front and edges with beige acrylic paint. Once dry, stencil some script onto the front of each canvas with Deco Foil Transfer Gel (this is the small Rembrandt Words stencil). Allow the Deco Foil Transfer Gel to dry clear (about an hour) and then heat small areas with your heat tool and burnish on Rebekah Meier Designs’ Mixed Media Transfer Foil in Antique Pearl. Repeat the process as necessary until all of the script stenciling is foiled.

Cover a piece of PeelnStick Toner Sheet with Wild Cherry Deco Foil and cut into a heart shape (this heart is about 3″ wide by 3 1/4″ tall). Cover the foiled heart with embossing ink and apply several layers of clear UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel). Once the heart is covered with a thick coat of UTEE, press a script stamp into the warm UTEE over a portion of the heart. Leave the stamp in place until the UTEE cools (so that your stamp doesn’t end up with melted UTEE in it!), remove the stamp and then gently crack the UTEE here and there if desired for a timeworn look.

You can see the script stamping and cracks in the picture above. I was so excited to discover you can emboss over the foil with such great results, the gorgeous colour is enhanced by the layers of embossing enamel, it’s lovely in real life.

Tear off a strip of Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Art Tape (about 5″ in length) and remove the backing strip from the adhesive side. Stick the tape onto the back of a heart stencil and then apply some Wild Cherry Deco Foil to the other side of the stencil, making sure that the silver side of the Deco Foilhas adheredd to the Art Tape through the stencil. Burnish the Deco Foil onto the Art Tape with an embossing tool or the end of a paintbrush and gently peel it off to reveal your foiled stenciled hearts (don’t throw that foil away, we’ll be using it again soon!).

Dust some mica powder onto the Art Tape to cover the rest of the adhesive and gently wipe it off with a slightly damp towel to remove it from the foiled hearts.

Tear off another length of Art Tape, remove the backing from the adhesive side and stick the Art Tape to the silver side of the Wild Cherry Deco Foil over the negative heart images. Burnish the foil with a soft towel to transfer the foil to the Art Tape and gently peel it off. Add more mica powder to this piece of foiled Art Tape to cover the rest of the adhesive as was done on the previous piece.

Tear off one more piece of Art Tape, remove the adhesive backing paper as before and adhere it to the back of the heart stencil. Pour some gold or platinum embossing powder over the stencil, patting it gently with your fingers to make sure it is adhered to the Art Tape and carefully peel the tape off the back of the stencil. Heat the embossing powder with a heat tool to melt it and then add more mica powder to the embossed Art Tape to cover the rest of the adhesive.

Tear each piece of foiled and embossed Art Tape in half lengthwise. Adhere the torn strips to a piece of white cardstock with iCraft Mixed Media Adhesive, overlapping the strips so that the torn edges are on top of the underlying piece and alternating the directions of the hearts. Let it dry thoroughly.

Once dry, cut a heart shape out of the cardstock (I used the same heart template as for the UTEE heart) and ink the edges of the heart and the torn edges of the Art Tape strips with a brown dye ink.

Adhere the Art Tape heart to your front cover and edge it with a line of Platinum Stickles Glitter glue. I spattered both the front and back covers with some diluted brown acrylic paint before adding the hearts but that step is totally optional. Edge the canvas with some brown permanent ink if desired.

Adhere the foiled UTEE heart to the back cover, edge it with brown permanent ink if desired and set both covers aside for the moment.

Stamp and embellish the inner pages of your accordion folded watercolour paper as desired (I used a selection of Valentine themed stamps and die cuts) and adhere the first and last pages of watercolour paper to the inside of the front and back covers.