Dragon canvas

Good morning! Today I'm sharing a canvas made with Sculpey clay and lots of mixed media goodies. I was inspired to try using Sculpey clay after watching Gabrielle Pollacco's video for her octopus canvas. After pinning a number of clay dragons and a clay dragon tutorial on Pinterest (you can see my board here), I was ready to give it a try. I'm not much for trying something easy and then building up to what I want to do, so I jumped right in with both feet, and am pretty happy with the results.

I wanted the dragon to wrap around the canvas, so I started with an armature of aluminum foil (a scaffold to build his head/torso and tail/leg around) and built the dragon around that so that he would keep his shape. I moulded him around the shape of the canvas and the heart clasped in his hands, and baked the canvas and resin heart with the clay so that the sculpture would maintain its shape).

I brushed antique gold PearlEx powder on the clay before baking, then added the colouring to the scales and wings using Art Alchemy paints once it had cooled.

A couple closeups:

To create a deeper red for the heart, I mixed Artisan Powder into the Royal Red paint.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies Used:

- Sculpey clay

- Prima Artisan Powder: Parthenay, Vausseroux

- PearlEx: Antique Gold

- Prima Art Ingredients Mica Powder: Tangerine, Summer Sky

- Prima Art Alchemy Opal Magic: Violet-Green, Yellow-Blue

- Prima Art Alchemy Métallique: Royal Red, Silver Spoon, Light Patina

- Prima Relics and Artifacts: Chivalry

- Prima Vintage Vanity A4 Paper Pack

- Liquitex Ceramic Stucco, White Gesso

- Prima Stencils: Rock Wall, Roses

- Prima Louviere Chains

- Lindy's Stamp Gang Sprays: I'm Late I'm Late Slate, Gregarious Grey, 

Autumn Maple Crimson

- Prima Color Bloom Sprays: Berry Wine, Boysenberry, Tea Stain, Cobalt

Inka Gold: Graphite, Gold

- Blue Fern Studios: Mini Rings Panel, Jeweled Page Baubles

- Prima Flowers: Le Mia - White, Lifetime - Green

- Lindy's Stamp Gang: Midnight Copper

- Viva Pearl Pen - Copper

Prima June PPP

Hey Bloggers, what's up? Here in our corner of the world, the kids finished school and are on summer vacation as of yesterday, and their baseball season just wrappe up, which means that as a family we are about to go from our most frenetic time of the year into our most peaceful. I can't wait!

So far creatively, this month has been about coaches and teachers cards, but I have managed a little "just for fun" scrappy time to play along with Prima's June PPP. I was originally a little stumped by the palette; as you may be able to imagine, as the mom of 3 boys, pink isn't a staple in my scrapping stash. But hey, isn't that what paint (in all its various permutations) is for? Called in to help were Color Bloom sprays, Chalkboard Paints, and Art Alchemy paints.

Some closeups:

Here is the PPP for this month:

Prima Supplies Used:

Paper

French Riviera: Journees De Reves et Aventures

Timeless Memories: Spirited

Media

Gesso: White, Clear
Color Bloom Sprays: Cobalt & Summer Sky (mixed), Soft Teal, Dark Teal
Chalkboard Paint: Sea Breeze, Antique Pink
Modeling Paste
3D Gloss Gel
Art Alchemy Métallique Paint: Light Patina, Brass Hardware

Stamps and Stencils
12x12 Woodgrain stencil
Stitches Stamps: Lines, Circles

Flowers
Cameo Roses: Poppyfield

Embellishments
Bedtime Stories Say It In Crystals

Birthday card

Happy Monday! We had another busy weekend here, culminating in a birthday party for my nephew and stepmom last night.

Here is the card I made her. I absolutely love poppies, and the Bloom Girls poppy stamps have been sitting unused in my stash for way too long. 

I stamped the images on watercolor paper, and colored them in using a red and a black Gelato with a waterbrush, layering on the colors to add shading and highlights. The images were then fussy cut and layered with foam tape over a painted chipboard circle on Prima Royal Menagerie papers.

For the finishing touch, I edged the paper layers with gold leafing pen.

 

Thank you for stopping by today!

Products Used:

Prima:

Bloom Collection: Floral Stamp

Metallique Paint: Light Patina

Royal Menagerie paper: Penny For Your Thoughts

Waterbrush

Other:

 Faber-Castell Gelatos

Krylon Gold Leafing Pen

 

The Tin Man

Today I'm sharing a project I made just for me. It's one of those lightning-strike inspiration projects, the ones that once they are fixed in your head you worry you won't be able to bring to life the way you envision them. And it's one of those amazing times where everything came together perfectly, I completed the project in one sitting, and couldn't be happier with the results.

It all started with a funnel. A little, insignificant, and doubtless cheaply made funnel that came with the flask I altered earlier this year (that project can be found here). Loath to see anything go to waste, I put it aside to use on another project. For whatever reason, it lingered in my mind. It was a challenging piece to use on many projects, but one day inspiration struck me - it looked like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz's hat. I bought one of the positionable wooden mannequins from the art store, and lo and behold, the "hat" fit.

I satrted by adding a couple details, his buttons and the seam at the front, with black gesso, then painted everything with Silver Spoon Metallique paint. Because the joints are flexible and the mannequin is positionable, I let the paint dry before flexing the joints in the opposite direction and adding a coat of paint there, as well. I added a coat of paint to the funnel as well so that it melded nicely with the rest of the mannequin. I then dabbed on Rust Paste, starting with the brown and then adding red on top. In addition to seams and joints, I wiped the paste on randomly for a more weathered look. To add shading and to contribute to the overall feeling of neglect, I used some of the Vausseroux (black) Artisan Powder. Along the seams and joints I applied it with a fine wet paintbrush, and then smeared it and dabbed some off to achieve the look I was after. I then brushed some on dry with my finger to bring out details.

I was at a bit of a loss regarding what to do with the plain wooden base, as it didn't really fit with my rusted Tin Man, so I slept on it, and the answer came to me - of course it should be part of the yellow brick road! I crafted my bricks using Molding Paste and a palette knife and left them to air dry before applying Yellow Mustard Color Bloom Spray and Gold Rust Paste to the bricks. I finished it off by tracing the mortar lines with a wet paint brush and La Chapeliere Artisan Powder.

I'm so happy with the way this project turned out. What do you think? I have visions of doing the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, maybe even Dorothy and the Wicked Witch, though I think those would be more of a challenge.

Thank you so much for checking in today!

Supplies:

Prima

Black Gesso

Modeling Paste

Metallique Paint: Silver Spoon

Rust Paste: Red Rust, Brown Rust, Gold Rust

Artisan Powder: Vausseroux, La Chapeliere

Color Bloom Spray: Yellow Mustard
3D Gloss Gel

Other

Mannequin

Small metal funnel

Crafter's clay

Julie Nutting May Challenge - Wooden Dolls

Hello Bloggers! It was a long weekend here this weekend, and we spent it doing hard yard work, so when last night came I was itching to get a little scrapping in. While looking through my Pinterest board of this month's challenges, I decided to play along with the Julie Nutting Facebook Group challenge for May, which is to use her mini dolls or wooden dolls on a project.

In both stamp and mini doll form, I love Shay's grace. I started off by colouring the doll's skin using a wet paintbrush and watercolour pencils, and her dress with Metallique paint.

I selected one of the Journaling Cards from the Time Traveler's Memories collection, and wanted to make sure my wooden doll stood out. One of the butterflies from the birds wooden icons in a box set coated in Stickles made a beautiful, glittery set of wings, and the Love ink bottle from the Sationer's Desk collection made the perfect pedestal. I finished her off with a harp from the Princess collection Metal clips, and some of my very first Prima flowers, these adorable little blooms that came in a glass bottle. 

Here is the challenge for May:

Prima Supplies

Julie Nutting Mini Doll

Wooden Icons In A Box: Birds, Stationer's Desk

Time Traveler's Memories 3x4 Journaling Cards

Metallique Royal Red, Brass Hardware

Julie Nutting Watercolor Pencils: Hair and Skin Tones

Prima Botanical Mix: English Garden

Princess: Metal Clips

More Than Words May Challenge - Moments and Clocks

I had a lot of fun playing around with the More Than Words challenge this month, partly because it was a great chance to try out my new Prima Rust Paste set. You know when you have one of those scrappy products that you just can't wait to start playing with? Rust Paste was it for me.

The theme for the challenge this month is "Moment", and to use clocks on your layout, so I started with the Roman Clock Face - Large from Blue Fern Studios, and primed it with white gesso before adding some Light Patina Metallique paint here and there. Once dried, I started adding the various colours of rust paste. Just look at all that glorious texture! As a finishing touch I added some green and purple paint, then touched everything up with the Gold Rust Paste.

Blue Fern Studios' Serendipity collection's beautiful vintage feel was a nice complement to the rusty clock, but even after I'd tucked in some corrugated cardboard and torn the edges of my paper layers, I was having trouble getting a unified feel between the grunginess of the clock face and the soft feeling of the paper. Rust paste to the rescue! Using a stiff-bristled paintbrush, I applied the two darker colours of rust around the edges of the paper using a pouncing motion. I love the outcome - the layers feel very integrated to me now.

The Checker Bits chipboard was heat embossed using Aged Ivory Embossing Enamel, then I used a finger to brush on some of the Gold Rust Paste to help integrate it into the layout.

Given that the challenge was to use clocks, plural, I dug through my stash for some extra timepieces. The pocket watch below is one of the Vintage Trinket Clocks mounted with a clock face metal clip from the Cartographer collection.

Nestled into my cluster is one of the resin clocks, coloured with Artisan Powders, Color Bloom Sprays and Rust Paste.

For the "Moment" portion of the challenge, I selected a phrase from the Serendipity Calling Cards paper that sums up the picture I used perfectly. We'd invested in family photographs, and I had all sorts of grand plans for beautiful, composed family shots. And we got those, but also some great candids, and those shots are some of my favourites, because when I look at them I can feel the love, goofiness and playfulness that is our family dynamic. I definitely hadn't planned on this shot, with Elliot hanging off my head while I try to stop Brennan from sliding off my other hip, but I love the picture of this moment.

Thank you to More Than Words for a great challenge as always! There is still plenty of time to play along before the end of the month - click on the image below to be redirected to their blog.

Thank you for stopping by!

Products Used:

Prima

Media:

Métallique Paint: Light Patina

Opal Magic Paint: Violet Green

Rust Paste

Artisan Powder: La Chapeliere, Parthenay

Color Bloom: Gold Foil, Soft Teal, Deep Teal

Chalk Edger: Dark Rust
3D Gel Medium

Flowers:

Tales of You and Me (586263)

Leaves (578411)

Archivist (580490) (580865)

Archivist Chronicle Butterflies (580445)

Embellishments:

Shabby Chic Treasures - Clocks (892081)
Vintage Trinkets - Clocks

Cartography Metal Clips (572976)

Timeless Memories Say It In Crystals (579401)

Louviers Chains
Glass Beads: Butter

Blue Fern Studios

Serendipity Collection: Imagination, Calling Cards, Chronicle

Sanctuary Collection: Botanical Garden

Chipboard: Roman Clock Set Large, Checker Bits

Other

Silks Paint: Mallard Green

Stampendous: Aged Ivory Embossing Enamel

Altered Bird Cage

Hello fellow crafters! How was your weekend? We seem to have skipped right over spring here and straight into summer, and have been enjoying July-ish temperatures. And that means it's time to start enjoying our deck and yard for the summer, with BBQs with friends, lightsabre and waterballoon fights and long evenings.

And on that note, I have a great little home decor project to brighten up my patio. I always have my eye out for items to alter, and picked up a plain white decorative birdcage that needed some sprucing up. And I'm so happy with how it turned out.

I started by covering everything with a coat of white gesso, then added white crackle paint liberally. Once this was dry, I set to work with my sprays, and added some additional touches of crackle paint after the fact (to prevent the spray reactivating and colorizing this second layer of crackle, I sprayed everything with a sealant first).

The picture below allows you to see all the layers of colour and texture.

I wanted the interior of my cage to look like a secret water garden. I started with a piece of paper from the Timeless Memories collection cut to fit. I used a rock stencil to trace the rockery pattern, and coloured in the negative areas left by the stamp with a plain pencil. To create the pond in the middle I used a sunburst stencil and modeling paste, and followed it with sprays, then created a stream into the pond and out the other side using glass beads.

Microbeads and glass beads create a dripping faucet, while I used Flower Soft for moss. The circular lamp from the Wall Lamp made a perfect well cover.

There are fairies frolicking in my garden!

These Prima resin fairies add such a touch of whimsy. They were coloured using a thick, opaque water-based paint.

I love Prima vines, and I used several different ones on this project, cutting some of them apart and mixing and matching the blooms.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Prima Supplies Used:

Media:

- Gesso: White

- Crackle Paste: White

- Modeling Paste: Light

- Color Bloom Sprays: Soft Teal, Summer Sky, Tea Stain

Paper

- Timeless Memories: Freedom

Flowers:

- Winthrop Vines: Topaz, Pearl, Tourmaline

- Button Vine: Songbird

- Cradle Robin

Embellishments:

- Glass Beads: Cobalt Blue

- Micro Beads: Splash

- Shabby Chic Treasures: Antique Garden Sink

- Resin Icons in a Box: Fairies

Stencils:

- 6x6 Pebble Stone

- Bloom Collection: 6x12 Circles