Things with Wings ........

Happy Wednesday ......

This week is flying by.  Touch wood, fingers crossed and all that ........ everything is going according to plan, but I probably shouldn't have said that.

It's time to launch another challenge over on the Happy Little Stampers Blog .... this time it's the turn of the Mixed Media Challenge.  We've got a great theme for you for April ..... it's all about ..... WINGS

Birds. butterflies, dragonflies, moths.  Angels or fairies or anything else you can come up with that's got wings.

Now I love butterflies and I do like to make home decor projects so ...... I've got a little altered frame for you, to hopefully inspire you to join in the fun.  Don't forget, there's prizes up for grabs .... but more about that later.

This frame has been lying around the old craft room for a while.  I found it in one of my tidying sessions ...... and it looked a whole lot different than it does now.

I took the whole thing to pieces, ripped out what was in there and started again! It's amazing what a sanding block and a coat of gesso can cover up!!

The frame itself  was decorated using texture paste through various stencils, and then the whole thing was given a couple of coats of black gesso

Once this was dry I then dry brushed over the top with a silver metallic paint, to bring out all the detail of the texture paste

I covered the backboard of the frame with some old book pages and then stamped the beautiful butterfly from Tim Holtz over the top.

A touch of colour was added using Distress Inks and a little water, being careful not to wet the book pages too much

A bit of dimension was needed so ...... I covered a piece of Clearly for Art Modelling Film with another book page and then stamped the butterfly onto it.  Coloured it using the Distress Inks again and then fussy cut around it.

If you've never used Clearly for Art before, it's a bit like a cross between thick acetate and shrink plastic .... only it doesn't shrink!  When you heat it you can mold and shape it whilst it's warm and then as it cools it will hold the shape.  The good thing is, if you don't like the result .... heat it again and re-shape it ..... cool or what!!

I added a little heat to my butterfly, just to raise the wings a little.

A simple saying finishes everything off nicely ......

To make the words stand out against the text of the book page, I painted over where I wanted to stamp with a little bit of watered down, white gesso, stamped the words over the top and then added just a touch of colour.

Well ..... there you have it ..... and it really was simple to make.  

Are you ready to enter the challenge, or would you like some more inspiration?  

Pop over to the Happy Little Stampers Blog .... there you'll find some fabulous projects from the rest of the Design Team, along with all the details of this months challenge.

As always the challenge is sponsored by the HLS store

And because April is HLS's birthday month the prizes are ......

a $30 gift certificate for the challenge winner (nice!)

and then

a $10 gift certificate for each of our favourites (yeah!)

Get those entries in .... you never know it could be you!

Happy Birthday Happy Little Stampers!!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.  

I'm off to grab a glass of something chilled, put my feet up and relax with Dr McDreamy.  Yes I'm watching Grey's Anatomy again!

Cheerio until next time

xx

Guest Designer at Country View Crafts Challenge Blog

Good morning! ...... and a very Happy Friday to you.

It's soon come around this week ...... because of the Bank Holiday I suppose! It should be a nice quiet weekend though .... it's hubby's turn to fly across to the UK.  He's going over for a guys get together ..... so it's bound to get messy!! Glad I'm not going.

Anyway, to get the weekend underway, I'm absolutely thrilled to be today's Guest Designer over on the Country View Crafts Challenge Blog.

This month's challenge theme is .....

 Simply Scenic

There's already been lots of fabulous inspiration for you through the month and today it's my turn.

Summer is on its way, so I'm told ..... and with that in mind my take on this month's challenge is .... a piece of home decor, with a pretty little summer meadow scene .....

This is so simple to do and the picture inside can be changed to suit the seasons throughout the year. Would make a lovely little gift too!
There's some fabulous shabby chic picture frames around, and not that expensive, it's what you put inside them that matters.

I cut a piece of white cardstock to fit the aperture then added some colour using Distress Inks ..... pretty shades of blue to create my summer sky ........

I spritzed the ink with a little water, let it sit for a while then removed the excess with paper towel removing some of the ink as well.

I then stamped the flowers across the bottom using a black Archival ink.  This particular image is from IndigoBlu ..... Wild Flowers and is one of my favourites.  Depending on how you colour the flowers they could be anything ..... buttercups, poppies you name it!

I decided NOT to add colour this time ........ instead I took more of the background colour away ...... using a paintbrush and some clean water I painted over each of the flowers, dabbed with a piece of kitchen roll and removed the ink ......

I stamped some butterflies above the flowers, once directly onto the scene and then again onto pieces of previously inked card from my scrap box ...... leftovers really from previous projects (I never throw anything away!)

I then fussy cut these and attached them over the top of the ones on my summer scene (cuts out the need to cut around the really fiddly bits like the antennae)  

I took one of the sentiments from a set of JOFY stamps (JOFY 09) and stamped it across the top ...... perfect fit (phew!)

and to finish off I used some watered down Picket Fence Distress Paint splattered over the scene using a paint brush.

I also added a touch of White Fire Treasure Gold to the ornate bit at the top of the frame ...... gives it more of an aged look I think.

I hope you like it ......... you've still got time to enter the challenge  so why not give it go.

Thanks for popping by ...... it's been a pleasure to be GD on the Country View Crafts Challenge Blog. It just so happens that Country View Crafts is my favourite online craft store ..... fab products, great prices and it's FREE  P&P (UK that is)

Have a great weekend ...... it's my turn to host our crafty get together tomorrow ..... 6 stamping mad ladies around the table (hubby's glad he's away!)  You never know we might just get something finished this week ..... there's always a first time!

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx