serendipity technique

The great thing about the Serendipity Technique is that ‘anything goes’. It was apparently developed by Robin Pagliasotti, of Ma Vinci's Reliquary fame. Basically you create a collage sheet and cut it up into squares (or other shapes) and arrange the shapes in patterns to decorate cards, etc. Here are step-by-step instructions (but feel free to do your own thing at any stage):

You need:

lightweight cardstock

cardstock for the card you want to decorate

lightweight papers (scraps are good for this)

other things to collage with (fabric, rub-ons, etc)

stamp images of all sizes along a theme

inks, preferably dye ink, in 2-3 colours, plus black

glaze pens, gel pens or glitter glue (optional)

embossing powders and ink or Versamark Ink (optional)

pencil

craft knife and cutting mat, scissors

or punches with shapes about 1” wide

I used the squares I made using this technique to make this pattern. I added mirror squares and flower ribbon to add a little interest to the card.

Here I used triangular shapes to make the pattern which I layered onto card and mulberry paper.

Here I used a piece of glossy card decorated using the polished stone technique with collaged paper and shoe themed stamping on top.

This is a design for an Easter Card I used at a local school with some of the younger children. I kept it really simple, just stamping and colouring the images with no extra collage. The children loved doing this.

Method:

The first step is to choose the background cardstock. You can choose any size (A5 is a good size to start with) and whatever colour will coordinate with the theme and inks you have chosen. You can use direct-to-paper methods and other background techniques to decorate the cardstock too.
Use your scraps of papers (or tear chosen papers into small pieces of around 1” wide) and stick them randomly over your base cardstock. You can add sheer fabric and other materials at this stage too. Make sure they are stuck down well with no loose corners or edges.
Stamp your chosen images randomly in the gaps. Start with the larger stamps and use the small ones to fill in any gaps. Use embossing powders if you like but I don’t at this stage. I like to fill my pages so everywhere has some design or detail but you may like to leave some spaces. Don’t worry about the balance of the sheet as you are going to cut it up into small pieces! You can add details with gel pens at this stage too, but save the glaze pens for later.
If you have used any pigment inks or any ink is still wet where it has been stamped over different materials then use clear embossing powder, tip it over the whole sheet and tap off the excess. Use your heat gun to melt the powder.
Now use your glaze pens (optional) to go over any images you want to enhance, or add your own text or squiggles. Wait for it to dry – doesn’t take long.
Now it is time to cut or punch your shapes. I use squares most of the time as it makes a lovely mosaic pattern easily. You can also cut rectangles (best keeping one side twice the length of the other side) or even triangles. Turn your cardstock over so you are looking at the back of your collage.
If using punches (like a 1" square) then punch out the shapes, lining up the edge of the card with the cutting edge of the punch. Move along the card until you have cut it all into squares.

You can make the squares (or other shapes) whatever size you like but it is best if you keep them at least 2cm (or 1”) wide. Use your ruler to mark the edge of the card at regular intervals (say 1”). Do the same at the opposite side and join up the lines. Now turn the card through 90° and do the same again (keeping the size of the spaces the same). You should now have a grid shape on the back. You may have some strips that are not quite the right width – just cut these as one strip and keep to decorate the edge of cards. Now cut alone the lines using whatever you prefer – if using scissors cut very carefully along the lines.

Now turn your squares over. Some will look a little bare – that is fine. Some will really look good. Use a couple of the really good ones as the focus of your card. Choose a few bare looking one and a few ones that look nice too. Arrange them on your card (or anything else you are decorating) in a rectangular or square pattern, leaving around 1/8” between each one, swapping them and turning them until you are happy with the arrangement.

After sticking the squares to the cardstock, now is the time to add glitter glue or other embellishments if you want. Only add tiny amounts wherever you feel it is needed, perhaps on some of the bare squares, but don’t overdo it or you will detract from the really good squares (I have a tendency to do this if I am not careful – I don’t know when to stop!).