Your mixed media base can be any flat surface; many people use either blank canvases or pieces of flat wood. You could also use a journal or notebook to make a personalized jacket for your journal. Your base material can be any size or shape that you want – just be sure it has a flat surface. You have many options here for what to use: old paper from your printer with text on it, sheet music, pages from the phone book, newspaper pages, thin magazine pages, children’s book pages, and patterned tissue paper are just a few.  Start a collection by going through old books and newspapers and pulling out pages you may want to use in the future. If you have a space for working on art, create a space for your paper collection and organize it according to type. Select pages of thin paper you’d like to use, and some inexpensive acrylic paint of any color. Water down your paint by squeezing about 2 tablespoons (30 mL) of paint into a cup, adding that same amount in water, and mixing it. Begin painting your pages of paper with thick stripes, circles, squares, or any pattern of shapes that you’d like.  Allow your first layer, and each subsequent layer, to dry for 15 minutes before adding another layer with a different paint color and different shapes. Continue adding colors and shapes until you get a look that you like. If your paint is too thick and seems to be covering the text or images from your paper, thin it down more by adding more water to it. You want to be able to see the text and images from the paper through the paint. Instead of using thin pages and painting them, take some thick glossy magazine pages, such as National Geographic, that have images on them. Take a citrus-based household degreaser and spray the pages until the colors start to run and blend together.  The more degreaser you spray on the pages, the more the colors will run and the more abstract the image will appear. If you want to keep a bit of the image coherent, just spray the page once or twice and allow that to dry before spraying any more. Cover your work area with a drop cloth to avoid getting degreaser on any surfaces you don’t want sprayed. Allow your pages to dry for 15-20 minutes. Plan out how you want your background to look and start cutting or ripping pieces of background paper. Squeeze some decoupage into a cup, and using a small craft paintbrush, brush some decoupage onto your canvas. Lay down a piece of background paper onto the decoupage, then brush the top of the paper with decoupage.   Cover the edges of the paper with a coating of decoupage to seal them to the canvas. You can fill your entire canvas with pieces of background paper and overlap them at certain points, or leave empty spaces on your canvas to fill in later with paint or other materials. Allow your canvas to dry overnight when you have finished applying your background pieces and you like how it looks. If you left any spaces of canvas open between your background pages, or you’d like to cover some of them up, you can do so with any color paint. Acrylic paint will leave you with a slick, shiny appearance, while gesso, or acrylic mixed with gesso, will dry matte and have more texture and thickness to it. Try covering some of your background in strips of ripped masking tape, then applying a layer of paint with a brush. Your original background will peek through when you rip off the tape. Choose a rubber stamp such as a flower or the Eifel Tower and stamp the image across your canvas, either in a couple of rows across the whole canvas or in 1 corner. The repetitive design up against your background will create another visually pleasing layer. Use dark ink on light background areas, or white ink on dark background areas, to make the stamps stand out. A way to add some texture to your collage is to paint an area of it heavily with acrylic paint. Allow the area of thick paint to dry overnight, then hold a heat gun up to the surface very close but not quite touching it. Lift the gun away immediately and place it back down in a different spot to add more bubbles.  The heat from the gun will add bumps and bubbles to the paint. You can allow bubbles to break open for a unique look. Work quickly to make sure you don’t apply too much heat and ruin the base of your collage. To achieve this effect on your entire collage, you would need to use clay board as your base instead of canvas or wood. Holding the heat gun up to thinner painted areas on canvas or wood could damage your entire collage. Another way to add texture is by drawing shapes onto your collage with hot glue. Simply heat up a glue gun and draw spirals, tree branches, or any shapes you want onto your collage. Allow the glue to dry for half an hour, then paint over it and the area surrounding it with any color gesso paint.  Try wiping the gesso with a paper towel before it’s dry to create a smeared, textured look that allows your background papers to show through. Allow every layer to dry before adding a new one on top of it. Use any collection of old jewelry or trim to add a top layer to your collage. You’ll want to make sure you’re done with your painting layers before starting this step so that you don’t cover your items in paint – unless you want your items painted.  Try choosing an image from your background or a shape that has come out as a focal point, and attach beads around that as a border. Use an antique brooch or other piece of metal jewelry to create your collage’s focal point. Experiment with dried flowers to attach to your collage. These work best when they are already flattened during the drying process. To finalize your collage and make sure all your layers are secure, brush a thin layer of decoupage over the finished design. Allow this layer to dry for a few hours and you’re ready to display your piece!

Summary: Choose a base material. Collect thin paper with text or images to use in your background. Add color and texture to your paper with watered-down paint. Make your background with thick pages and degreaser for an abstract look. Adhere your background papers to your canvas with decoupage. Fill in empty spaces with acrylic or gesso paint. Create a pattern with rubber stamps. Hold a heat gun near a heavily painted area to create bubbles. Add different texture with hot glue and gesso. Attach ribbon, beads, or metalwork to your canvas with hot glue. Cover your finished collage with decoupage to make it shine.


If you're using the computer, click the "..." button in the upper-right corner, select "Apps", and then click the "App Store" tab. This will load a list of the most popular apps on the store. If you're using the iTunes program on your computer, click the "Top Free Apps" link on the right side of the window. You may have to scroll down to find it. These are all of the most popular free apps available. If an app offers the ability to purchase this for real money, it will say "In-App Purchases" underneath the Get button. The "Top Free" chart is the only place that consolidates free apps on the App Store, but there are thousands of free apps available in every category of the store.  If you don't have one, you can tap or click "Create Apple ID" to create one for free without a credit card. Once you tap "Get" and sign in with an Apple ID, the item will begin downloading to whatever device you're currently using.

Summary: Open the App Store app on your iOS device, or open the App Store in iTunes on your computer. Tap "Top Charts" at the bottom of the screen. Scroll through the "Top Free" chart. Browse through the various categories. Tap or click the "Get" button to begin downloading a free app. Sign in with your Apple ID if prompted. Wait for your app to download.


To connect the pocket, pin it onto the front of the body piece so that the pocket is centered. Make sure that the body piece is turned right side out and the right side of the pocket is facing out as well. Pin along the flat edges of the pocket and leave the curved edges unpinned. Then, attach the pocket to the front of the body piece by sewing along the pinned edges.  Make sure that you only sew the pocket to the top layer of fabric. You can skip this if you do not wish to have a pocket.
Summary: Pin and sew the pocket onto the front of the body piece.