A Mixed Media Project with Art-C Mini Pallets

Not too long ago I got a chance to work with The Groove Tool by Art-C (Momenta) for a blog hop with StencilGirl. That was tons of fun, so I was super flattered and excited when Art-C contacted me and asked me to do a project and a tutorial with more Art-C products. This time, they sent me some of their mini wood pallets and paints as well as some of their embellishment packs. I've always loved the crafts I've seen online using pallets, so I was super intrigued and excited by the idea of having mini craft pallets.

Without further ado, here's the project I created:

I have to say, this was so much fun for me to make... I got so caught up in playing that I literally couldn't stop! If you'd like to get a few mini pallets and try something similar at home, here's an overview of how I put this together.

First, I knew I wanted to stack my two of the pallets together, so I picked them out and put down a base color with the Art-C Chestnut gel stain. I just rubbed it in with a paper towel; I love how it brought out the texture in the wood. I used a Q-tip to make sure I could get into the tight areas.

I also added the stain to a wooden frame from an embellishment pack. Then I used some of the Art-C gold metallic paint to add a slightly distressed effect to the wood and a paper butterfly embellishment.

Following that, I went through and used some Art-C white chalk paint for another layer of light distressing. Then I took the same paint and some of their fun stick-on stencil packs to start putting down the background where I was going to build up my layers. I love letters and numbers as a design element, so I picked out some numbers and randomly placed them in a few areas of the background.

Next, I started building up my layers with papers and embellishments from the collage packs. I laid them out on the desk to audition, then once I had the ones I wanted I used the Art-C Chestnut gel stain and the gold paint and distressed the edges of each piece. I added in a strip of embroidered ribbon and a few jewels and laid it all out to see how it would look.

I decided it still needed a little something... this was my "a-ha!" moment of the project. I pulled out some Art-C mini glass bottles and sand packs. Then I grabbed the blue Art-C gel stain and stained my white sand blue (put a few drops in a cup, pour in the sand, and stir!) then let it dry a bit and funneled it into my bottles.

Once the sand was in, I put the corks firmly back into the bottles and used a hat pin to poke a hole in the center of each cork. Then I took two blue paper roses out of my stash and pushed the wire stems through the holes.

I used the Art-C gold metallic paint and blue gel stain to add some final distressing to the flower petals, the pallets, and a few other little touch-ups. Then I used some strong glue to adhere the bottles to the 3x5 pallet. I wrapped the gold ribbon around and glued that in place, then glued everything together and let it set overnight. And voila! A finished mixed media piece made with Art-C wooden craft pallets that will be perfect to hang on the wall.

Here are a few more details of the finished project:

If you'd like to get some of these pallets and paints / stains for yourself, they're currently sold at Michael's, or you can contact Art-C directly and they'll hook you up. I hope you enjoyed today's project! Make sure to visit and like Art-C Mixed Media Products on Facebook for more ideas and inspiration.