Create a Mixed Media Peony Card with the Vintage Heirloom Collection

Beautiful florals, aged textures, touches of gold and stunning dimension come together in this Vintage Heirloom mixed media card. Using the Cosmic Shimmer Sculpted Peonies Silicone Mould as the striking focal point, co-ordinating stamps and stencils, and our unique Gilded to Grunge Frames & Flourishes.

The result is a richly textured card with a wonderfully aged feel, combining stamping, stencilling, heat embossing, inking and a hand-painted dimensional peony. Better still, the techniques are easy to adapt with your own choice of colours, so no two creations need ever look the same.

Step 1 – Create the Sculpted Peony
Begin with the Cosmic Shimmer Sculpted Peonies Silicone Mould and air dry paper clay.Work the clay in your hands until smooth, then apply the tiniest amount of vegetable shortening to the mould to help with release. Press the clay firmly into the large peony design, making sure it reaches all the fine details around the petals, stems and leaves.
Remove any excess clay from the back and smooth the surface as much as possible. Gently ease the clay away from the edges of the mould before carefully releasing the complete design.
Place the peony on kitchen paper to dry. Because the centre is quite deep, allow around six to eight hours as a minimum, preferably leaving it overnight. Turn it occasionally as it dries to help air reach both sides.

Step 2 – Make your own mixed media background
Sheena creates her background papers using diluted water-based inks – an easy way to make a collection of unique papers ready for mixed media projects.
Add approximately 4mm of glycerin to the bottom of a small spray bottle, then almost fill it with water. Add around 10–15 drops of water-based ink and shake well. The glycerin helps slow the drying time, giving you more opportunity to move and blend the colour.Make several sprays in different shades, keeping them fairly diluted for soft background colour.
Spritz the inks over white cardstock, then use a kitchen sponge to gently blend areas together. Don't overwork the wet card – uneven areas, splashes and marks all add to the distressed effect.Leave the background to dry completely before trimming it to size.

Step 3 – Add the Faded Flourish
Place the Cosmic Shimmer Faded Flourish Mixed Media Stencil over the background and lightly blend ink through sections of the design. Sheena begins with a pale green and builds up the colour where needed.
Rather than covering the whole background uniformly, turn and reposition the stencil, allowing some flourishes to disappear beyond the edges of the card. The aim is to create subtle texture that feels as though it is part of the background rather than sitting on top of it.

Step 4 – Build up the vintage stamping
Take the Cosmic Shimmer Past & Postal DL Stamp Set and add sections of script across the background.Sheena mixes green and brown tones and removes a little ink before stamping to soften the impression. Stamp some sections partially or unevenly – the broken, faded areas contribute to the aged look.
Use the distressed corner and edge stamps from the set to frame the cardstock. Start with a lighter shade further into the design, then add a darker colour closer to the outer edges to create the appearance of naturally blended, distressed corners.

Step 5 – Create foliage around the focal point
Remove your chosen frame from the Cosmic Shimmer Gilded to Grunge Frames & Flourishes and position it temporarily on the card. Lightly mark the central area in pencil so you know which sections will eventually be covered.
Using the Cosmic Shimmer Finishing Touch DL Stamp Set, stamp trailing foliage so that it appears to grow out from behind the frame. Vary the direction and placement rather than creating a perfectly symmetrical design.
Use diluted water-based ink and a fine paintbrush to add colour to some of the leaves and flourishes, leaving variations in tone for a more natural effect.

Step 6 –Add touches of gold embossing
Once the painted areas are dry, prepare the background with an anti-static bag.
Ink selected sections of the foliage stamp with embossing ink and stamp just a few accents around the design. Cover with Cosmic Shimmer Gold Embossing Powder, tap away the excess and heat set.
Sheena recommends allowing your heat tool to reach temperature first, then moving away as soon as the powder melts. This helps retain the raised, glossy finish of the embossing powder.
You only need a few touches – the gold is there to catch the eye rather than cover the background.

Step 7 – Make the sentiment
Stamp the banner from the Cosmic Shimmer Finishing Touch DL Stamp Set onto a separate piece of cardstock and emboss the detail in gold.
Stamp With Gratitude into the banner using black ink, then cut around the design. Add a little green ink around the edges to help it blend with the rest of the cards.

Step 8 – Transform the Gilded to Grunge frame
One of the key features of Cosmic Shimmer Gilded to Grunge Frames & Flourishes is that the printed pieces can be inked and altered while the foiled detail remains visible.
Blend green ink around the outside and inside edges of the ornate frame, keeping some areas lighter to create variation and dimension.
For the oval centre, Sheena goes much darker, combining deep green and brown tones in deliberately uneven patches. This gives the centre an aged, distressed appearance and creates strong contrast for the peony.The foil resists the ink, so those metallic details continue to shine through even after adding plenty of colour.
Adhere the dark oval behind the frame and position the completed frame over your stamped background.

Step 9 – Paint your Sculpted Peony
Now bring the dried clay peony to life with water-based colour.
Begin with the leaves, applying a light green wash before introducing a deeper green into the recessed areas. Sheena tones down bright greens with a tiny amount of pink or red to create a more natural shade.
Once the darker colour has been added, use a clean, damp brush to gently draw some of it away from the raised areas, revealing the lighter colour beneath. Add touches of brown and pink around the stems and deepest shadows.For the flower, mix a soft pink-peach shade and dilute it well. Start lightly – it's much easier to build up colour than remove too much.
Add slightly deeper colour towards selected outer petals and into the deepest recesses to create definition, while keeping the inner petals paler. A tiny touch of brown can be introduced into the darkest shadows for additional depth.Finish the centre with diluted Mustard Yellow, softened with a small amount of brown for a more muted shade.Allow the peony to dry.

Step 10 – Bring back the sculpted detail
For an extra finishing touch, lightly rub a baby wipe over some of the raised areas of the dry peony.
This gently lifts a little colour from the highest points, bringing the moulded detail back into focus and creating natural-looking highlights.Be particularly gentle over the pink petals – you only want to reveal the texture, not take them back to white.

Step 11 – Assemble the card
Mount your completed mixed media panel onto a card blank using a strong adhesive, holding it flat while the glue takes hold.
Adhere the finished Gilded to Grunge frame and position the painted Sculpted Peony in its centre.
Finally, gently shape the With Gratitude banner rather than attaching it completely flat. Crease it slightly at either end and secure those points to the card, adding 3D foam pads through the centre if required to maintain the curved shape.

Make it your own
This project really shows what the Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Heirloom Mixed Media Collection is all about – combining sculpted florals, vintage-inspired stamping, gilded elements and mixed media techniques to create something completely individual.
Try changing the pink peony for lilac, purple or cream, experiment with warmer brown backgrounds or give the Gilded to Grunge frame an entirely different aged finish. The same products can take on a completely different character simply by changing your inks and colouring.
And Sheena has another lovely idea for the Sculpted Peony: instead of permanently attaching it to the card, add a small magnetic sheet to the back and temporarily fix it in place. The recipient can then remove the flower and keep it as a decorative fridge magnet long after the card has been displayed.

Discover the Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Heirloom Collection and start creating your own dimensional mixed media cards.