Card Using Prima and Frank Garcia's French Riviera

Prima and Frank Garcia's French Riviera Collection 

I love the earthy elegance of Prima's French Riviera Collection by Frank Garcia.  That's what makes the collection so versatile.  

I whipped up a quick card featuring some of my favorite products as focal points.  I grabbed the fun Prima IOD mould clock shape, the Prima IOD clay and Frank's amazing Artisan Powders.   The richness of the Artisan Powders accents the warmth of the paper.  

 The clock centerpiece was created using  Prima Iron Orchid - Vintage Art Decor  Moulds - Baroque  6 and Prima's IOD paper clay.  It's an interesting and fun product that requires no baking.  I prefer to let my clay shapes dry overnight before I add any finishing treatments. 

Once the clay mould dried, I mixed the Artisan Powers with a bit of water and painted the clock with the powders.  Then I misted with the Prima Color Bloom mist in Antique Gold to give a golden sheen.  

The darling  metal marine ship wheel is from Flying Unicorns  Metal Adornment collections - Sea Merchant.   A perfect sweet little topper. 

Another fun element on the card is the  2Crafty "Element Set 2" chipboard I selected to go under the clay clock mould.  The chipboard pieces are divine for cards.  I used two of them together here and topped with a clay moulded clock.  These were inked with Distress ink in Walnut Ink, and then misted with Prima's Antique Gold Color Bloom Mist.   They have a gorgeous golden sheen in real life.  

2Crafty "Element Set 2" pa0037 

The last few finishing elements are the flowers and a brad from the French Riviera collection.  

Did you know that Frank has a great Facebook group featuring his amazing products?  You'll find such breathtaking inspiration from folks all over the world who are enjoying Frank's collections.  Come take a peek and see what the group has to offer.  


You can find a variety of the newest products by Frank and Prima at the Flying Unicorn store, right here.  

Thanks for stopping here to look.  

Products
584405 Prima Frank Garcia French Riviera collection  6x6 paper pad
583866 Prima Frank Garcia French Riviera collection  - Brads
586201 Prima Frank Garcia French Riviera collection  - Flowers - Plages du Prado
991197 Prima Frank Garcia  Artisan Powder - Parthenay
992120 Prima Frank Garcia  Artisan Powder - Vausseroux (Black)
814823 Prima Iron Orchid - Vintage Art Decor  Moulds - Baroque  6
814991  Prima Iron Orchid Paper Clay
573843 Prima Color Bloom Mist  Antique Gold
Gingham Ribbon
Flying Unicorn Metal Adornment - Sea Merchant
2Crafty chipboard "Element Set 2" pa0037 
pre-folded Kraft card base

Escape Kitty the Pirate - Flying Unicorn

Escape Kitty on the High Seas

May Your Passion Your Art - May Kit from the Flying Unicorns

The May kit from the Flying Unicorns had the wonderful French Riviera collection by Prima and Frank Garcia.  Escape Kitty felt like riding the open seas and CAT-ching a wave as the Dread Pirate Kitty.  

I made a pirate's chest a few weeks ago and Kitty loves it.  She'd love it better filled with catnip and mouse toys but I didn't give her that option.  

The back page is from Authentique which also came in the kit and is the perfect color for the layout.  

The clusters have Prima flowers from the french Riviera collection all gussied up with Prima Color Bloom Mist in Cobalt and Antique Gold ( which cam in April's Kit).  

 You can find this layout in my ETSY shop along with other items in my ETSY shop .  This is what it looks like with no photo.  Now imagine YOUR photo here instead - a cool seaside photo, a vintage photo from your favorite service person...or perhaps you have a pirate in your household like I have in mine ( lucky  me).    

Well why imagine it?  Why not send my your high quality photo and I'll pop it in and customize the photo to match perfectly.  Maybe you prefer the photo in sepia, black and white  or softer tones - well I can do that.

I'll even send you a preview of the finished piece before i mail it out for your approval.    

Find it in my ETSY shop right here.

 You can find this layout and other items in the ETSY shop.   

Time is precious.  I value the time you spent here.  Thanks so much for stopping.  I value your feedback. 

If you missed out on the kit ( it does sell out monthly and quite quickly too!) - then consider our  "never fail" option of pre-ordering on the 20th of every month.  

Products Used:

Flying Unicorns May Kit for the Month - Your Passion Your Art
Prima French Riviera by Frank Garcia Brads 583866

Prima French Riviera by Frank Garcia - Deep Blue Sea 586188

Prima French Riviera by Frank Garcia - Plages Du 586201
Authentique Explore Collection Sticker Sheet 12x12

Authentique Explore Collection -Explore Four 12x12 sheet
Prima French Riviera Collection by Frank Garcia  Juste Toi 990794
Flying Unicorns Metal Adornments - Sea Merchant Collection
Prima Color Bloom in Cobalt and Antique Gold
Hemp Cording
Floral Berries

Seaside Card

I have such a passion for the ocean and anything that reminds me of an ocean get-away.   

Since I cannot go to the ocean, I decided to bring the ocean to me - along with it's peaceful, calming quality.  All the peace and tranquility of the beach without the sand in my shoes and without seagulls trying to snag my snacks.  

I made this card using the  May kit from the Flying Unicorns. It was packed with Prima's wonderful French Riviera collection created by Frank Garcia. The kit also included some sweet little metal charms with a nautical theme as well as the decorative brads from the French Riviera collection and the hemp twine.   Perfect for those finishing touches. 

I added a few embellishments of my own:  the sand dollar, the trim that looks like coral and  punched pine branches. The punched pine branches represent my version of seaweed. 

In the image below, you can see the dimension of the card.  It has a little dimension but is not super chunky.  

I really enjoy making cards that have a general purpose and can be used for any occasion.  This is also gender neutral so it works for sending cheer to anyone.    

Time is precious.  I value the time you spent here.  Thanks so much for stopping.

If you missed out on the Flying Unicorn kit for May,  ( it does sell out monthly and quite quickly too!) then consider the  "never fail" option of pre-ordering on the 20th of every month.  

Products Used:

Flying Unicorns May Kit for the Month - Your Passion Your Art

Prima French Riviera by Frank Garcia Brads 583866

Tim Holtz Distress Ink- Vintage Photo

12x12 French Riviera-Juste Toi 990794

Prima French Riveria - 6x6 Paper Pack - 584405

Flying Unicorn Metal Adornments - Sea  Merchant collection
Hemp twine
chipboard sand dollar
McGill - branch punch

Flying unicorns Layout May with 2Crafty

Hello. 
I'm here to share a piece I made using the Flying Unicorn May "Your Passion Your Art" kit , brimming with Prima, Authentique and amazing embellishments. 

The kit this month featured Prima papers - the French Riviera collection by Frank Garcia. 

I added the following chipboard pieces from 2Crafty for a little extra texture :  "Formal Flourish 1", "Cheryl's Floral Frame Set",  "Chicken Wire - Medium". You can find a fun assortment of 2Crafty Chipboard right here as well as all the chipboard selection here at the Flying Unicorn .  This is an image of what the pieces look like in their natural state:

The kit came with wonderful coordinating embellishments that make the finishing touches just perfect.  

I painted all the chipboard pieces with cream colored acrylic paint.  Next,  I coated the  "Formal Flourish 1" and  "Cheryl's Floral Frame Set" with Vintage Ivory embossing powder.  This has tiny flecks of gold in it for a cool effect and bits of vintage elegance.  

The  "Chicken Wire" chipboard was left just painted. 

You can see in these images that the chipboard just blends nicely with the flowers and vines. 

 You can find this layout in my ETSY shop along with other items in my ETSY shop .  This is what it looks like with no photo.  Now imagine YOUR photo here instead.  Well why imagine it?  Why not send my your high quality photo and I'll pop it in and customize the photo to match perfectly.  Maybe you prefer the photo in sepia o softer tones - well I can do that.  

Find it in my ETSY shop right here.

 You can find this layout and other items in the ETSY shop.   

You can find a fun assortment of 2Crafty Chipboard right here  as well as many other wonderful chipboard pieces here  at the Flying Unicorn.

Thanks for stopping by and following the creativity .  

If you missed out on the kit ( it does sell out monthly and quite quickly too!) - then consider our  "never fail" option of pre-ordering on the 20th of every month.  

Visit our NEW Store!

Are you visiting the Tallahassee area soon?

Stop in and say hello!

Plan a day trip! Crops -Classes-Fun

926 North Monroe St

Tallahassee, Florida

Tel: 850.270.6366 Toll Free 800.231.7119

Products and Links:

Flying Unicorns May Kit for the Month - Your Passion Your Art

See the French Riviera collection here

Prima French Riviera by Frank Garcia - Juste Toi 990794
2Crafty Selection Here and all chipboard here
2Crafty Formal Flourish 1 - pa 0031
2Crafty - Cheryl's Floral Frame Set 120082
2Crafty - Chicken Wire Medium m00481

Prima Bubbles Stencil 960445

Prima Heavy Gesso - White

Card Using Frank Garcia/Prima French Riviera

May Your Passion Your Art - May Kit from the Flying Unicorns

It's finally here...the May kit from the Flying Unicorns.  If you missed out on the kit ( it does sell out monthly and quite quickly too!) - then consider our  "never fail" option of pre-ordering on the 20th of every month.  

The wonderful amazing jammed packed kit.  Filled with Prima products, Prima's French Riviera Collection by Frank Garcia, and a heaping big box of coordinating embellishments. I love when my favorite kit is filled with wonderful papers from Frank Garcia. 

The coordinating embellishments from the Frank Garcia's French Riviera collection are spectacular so I created this soft vintage feeling card focused around the Prima French Riviera Chipboard that came in the kit. .  No special occasion.  Maybe even framed.  

The kit contained a sheet of Prima's Paintables that coordinated with the French Riviera collection.  The paintables paper is really think and lush-perfect for watercolors. 

I colored mine with Prima's Confections -Tropical, the new watercolors in a metal pan.  You can use any fun watercolor paint you want on the paintables- it all creates a gorgeous effect on the paintables paper.   I just like the vibrant colors of the Tropicals set of Confections. They are top quality and richly pigmented.  They may me tiny in size but they are robust in color and will last so much longer than other watercolors in plastic trays. 

I didn't want the final results of the card to be too vibrant, so I rubbed it down with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo to be more in line with the sweet chipboard piece I used from the French Riviera collection that came in the kit. 

The photo below shows the card in progress.  I sort of changed my mind in midstream as to how to finish embellishing the card.  You all know how that goes, right?  

I had some darling dies from Joy Craft - the sweet little scallop shell and starfish.  I cut them, and gently inked them.  

I topped the card with a gorgeous decorative Prima  French Riviera Brad.  

Time is precious.  I value the time you spent here.  Thanks so much for stopping.  I value your feedback. 

If you missed out on the kit ( it does sell out monthly and quite quickly too!) - then consider our  "never fail" option of pre-ordering on the 20th of every month.  

Products Used:

Flying Unicorns May Kit for the Month - Your Passion Your Art
Prima French Riviera by Frank Garcia Chipboard 990909

Prima French Riviera by Frank Garcia 6x6 Paintable 584177

Prima French Riviera by Frank Garcia Brads 583866

Prima Confection Watercolors - Tropicals 584269

Wink of Stella - Clear Pen

Joy Crafts Dies - Under the Sea 6002-0329

Tim Holtz Distress Ink- Vintage Photo

Cheesecloth
Wink of Stella - Paint Pen

Spellbinders Die - Nestabilites Gold Labels Four Etched Dies

Altered Seahorse with Flying Unicorn and Prima/Frank Garcia

MAY Your Passion Your Art - May Kit from the Flying Unicorns

It's finally here...the May kit from the Flying Unicorns.  

***********If you missed out on the kit ( it does sell out monthly and quite quickly too!) - then consider our  "never fail" option of pre-ordering on the 20th of every month.  ***************

The wonderful amazing jammed packed kit.  Filled with Prima products, Prima's French Riviera Collection by Frank Garcia, and a heaping big box of embellishments. I love when my favorite kit is filled with wonderful papers from Frank Garcia. 

This month featured the coolest Off the Page piece I've seen is a while.  It's a large  paper mache Seahorse from Bare Naked Crafts.  

Below is the transformation from unfinished to framed.  Once I was done with it, I decided it needed more of a showcase type base,  so I bought a frame and took the glass out.  

I took the glass out of the frame and instead lined the photo mat with Prima paper from the French Riviera collection by Frank Garcia.  The paper is from the kit as well.  

I used the leftover paper pieces from the sheet and cut tiny sections of paper to use in the spine of the seahorse.  I glued each piece down with Prima's soft matte gel medium.  This gel medium is perfect for the paper mache project.  

WARNING:  It's really important to read the instructions that come with this paper mache piece.  

The instructions say not to saturate with a lot of moisture....that means limited misting, water colors, paints and spritzing.  This particular style of paper mache will indeed warp and rip with a lot of moisture.  

I stuck with products with low moisture - Tim Holtz Distress Ink and Prima's Soft Matte Gel Medium.

My finishing touches on the piece were  Prima Memory Hardware Pearls by Frank Garcia as well as Prima's Glass Beads and MicroBeads.   The larger gold and burgundy pearl beads are the Memory Hardware pearls.  I love them.

I adhered them also by using "gobs" of Prima's Soft Matte Gel Medium as glue.
OK gonna get technical here for a moment..... Do this by globbing dabs of gel medium into the seahorse using my finger ( or a paint brush if you prefer) - then dropping the pearl , glass beads or microballs into place.    Let air dry.  Works like a champ BUT you need to "gob" the gel on.  No worries because it does dry clear.

This is what it looked like before being set onto the frame. 

Time is precious.  I value the time you spent here.  Thanks so much for stopping.  I value your feedback. 

If you missed out on the kit ( it does sell out monthly and quite quickly too!) - then consider our  "never fail" option of pre-ordering on the 20th of every month.  





Products Used:
Flying Unicorns May Kit for the Month - Your Passion Your Art
Bare Naked Crafts - Paper Mache Seahorse
990787 P rima12x12 French Riviera-Journees De Rives et Aventures 990787
990381 Prima Memory Hardware - Pearls 
961428 Prima Soft Matte Gel Medium
962579 Prima Micro Beads - Copper 
963934 Art Ingredients Glass Bead Set 963934
584269 Prima Confection Watercolor Pan - Tropicals
Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Vintage Photo

DIY Faux Wood Photo Frame - With Prima, Frank Garcia and the Flying Unicorns

DIY Faux Wood Photo Frame -  Flying Unicorns and Prima's French Riviera by Frank Garcia

I'd like to share my Off The Page project for the Flying Unicorns March kit.  I'd also like to share my process further on down the page.  I've been in a sharing mood lately.  I feel that sometimes projects look complex and confusing - but when broken down, they just become one big "ahhhhhaaaa" moment. 

I love anything beachy, sea shorey, sandy and oceany - yeah I know those are not words but the real word for that is way to fancy.   Thalassophile   - means preference, fondness of the sea.  I prefer my words better.  At least I can pronounce my made up words.

I hope that someday I can fulfill my dream of living by the ocean along with my husband and cats, but till then, I'll keep making beachy, sea shorey, sandy and  oceany things. 

Prima's French Riviera, designed by Frank Garcia, made my job so easy.  It's gorgeous, warm, and peaceful looking -with that sandy weather worn feel. That's exactly the look I wanted to achieve with my Darice photo frame.  

Here is a close up of the faux wood frame.  If you scroll down, I'll share how I made it. 

This photo frame by Darice was included in the March, Your Passion Your Art from the Flying Unicorns.  The frame is not flat.  It has rounded sides.  The trick to the frame is to work with the rounded frame sides and create something that is durable.  For this reason I do not use hot glue.  Hot glue simply does not stand the test of time.  And by that, I even mean a year.  It starts breaking down and your beautiful embellishments could fall apart.  Well, that just isn't good. 

Think about getting a bottle of good strong glue that dries clear.  There are many brands.  My favorite is Beacon's 3-in-1.  It's clear, fast, durable and adheres darn near anything TO anything. 

Step 1.  I started with this sheet of Prima French Riviera paper Journees De Reves et Aventures 990787.  I cut 4 strips from the paper for each of my sides..  These 4 pieces look weather worn and sand beaten.   

Step 2. I used Prima's Soft Matte Gel Medium to adhere the paper to the frame.  Brush the gel medium directly onto the paper mache frame, and some on the strip of paper.  Place the strip onto the frame and brush a coat of gel medium over it making sure there are no air pockets, ripples and bubbles.  You can use a brayer as well to flatten out and remove bubbles.  

After all the sides are covered in gel medium, let dry.  The gel medium will seal the paper and make it durable, as well as protect the frame from fingerprints, stains and messes. 

Step 3. This is where my beloved Beacon's 3-in-1 glue comes into play and is important.  I am adhering thick jute to the sides of the frame.  I really would like my jute to grab and hold for me.  I have no patience for wrestling with trims, jute and cording to make them stay on projects.  They get one chance to behave for me or they get the boot. 

Step 4. I want to add some blue and sea glass colors to the projects so I decided to make my own perfectly colored embellishment.  I misted a small piece of cheesecloth and heat dried it with my heat gun.  The heat really stiffens up the cheesecloth.  I used Prima's Color Blooms in Glistening Waves and Summer Sky. 

Step 5.   Adhere little snips of the cheesecloth to the frame. 

Step 6.  Cut some images from the French Riviera paper.  Adhere to the project.  If I am placing an image onto the frame, then I will use the gel medium. Slather some gel medium onto the frame, some gel onto the image, then cover it with gel medium to smooth out.   The next few photos show the embellishments. 

I added some cardboard to the back of this to make it more dimensional.  The shell came back from Florida in my suitcase.    

This starfish image was adhered using gel medium.  

Step 7. Last step before all the final embellishments are added.  I  painted some watered-down white acrylic paint here and there onto the frame, embellishments, and jute.  

The final embellishments can be anything - shells, flowers, floral berries, sea glass, die cuts, drift wood...whatever you desire.   I added flowers from the French Riviera collection and floral berries. 

See how easy it is to bring the peaceful ocean to you?  Grab your collection here while it lasts.  


OTP - Supplies
(grab the  French Riviera collection here)
Flying Unicorns- Your Passion Your Art Kit for March
Prima Color Bloom Mists - Summer Sky 573867
Prima Color Bloom Mists - Glistening Waves 573942
Prima Art Basics Finnabair - Soft Matte Gel 961428
Prima French Riviera Collection - paper  990756
Prima French Riviera Collection -paperJournees De Reves et Aventures 990787
Prima French Riviera Collection Flowers
Cheesecloth
Darice 5x7 Paper Mache Photo Frame 2839-12
White acrylic paint
Seashell from my stash
Floral berries from stash