Here Comes Summer! by Fliss Goodwin

Hi there, this might be a bit of wishful thinking on my part as the sunny weather of last week has now turned out more March than June as it’s currently blowing a gale down here on the South coast! If it’s like that where you are, hopefully my little mixed media art panel will cheer you up and get you thinking of days to come.

Ingredients:

That’s Crafty! Surfaces MDF 8x8 Panel

That’s Crafty! Clear Stamp Set – Marina by Donna Gray

That’s Crafty! Dinky Stencil – Fossil

DecoArt Media Modeling Paste – White

DecoArt Media Texture Sand Paste – White

White Gesso

Acrylic Paints – Blues, Greens, Pinks, Browns

Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink

Water Mister

Gelli Printed Papers – mine were made in patriotic shades of red, white and blue stripes but you could paint the beach huts after stamping them if you prefer

Recipe:

I actually rather like the plain surface of the MDF blanks as they’re a lot like my favourite kraft card so I decided not to cover it all up! I added pools of white gesso together with blue and green acrylic paints on a plate and misted on a little water. I then added washes of colour to the MDF panel, leaving the very edges uncovered and making the top half blue and the bottom sea green. I then dry brushed on some gesso to add more texture to the background.

I then used the stencil – which looks so much like seashells – with the texture paste to add a pattern around the 2 bottom corners of the panel. When the paste was dry, I brushed texture sand on top for some lovely sandy texture.

Once the pattern was completely dry, I coloured my shells by dotting on pink and brown paint to look like the colour of real seashells. I think this is my new favourite stencil!

I stamped my huts on my red, white and blue paper, 5 being a perfect fit for the panel I chose. I cut these out and added a bit of doodled detail with a fine black pen. I glued these on with foam tape for added dimension. As you’ll see, my huts are not sporting the jaunty fish topper apart from the end one. This is because I thought all 5 with toppers would be too much but if you don’t then go for it!

I next stamped a couple of small fish directly on the panel – as you’ll see, it’s really easy to twist the clear stamp a little on the block so it looks as if the fish are leaping out of the water. I stamped them a second time on my Gelli print paper and cut out just the bodies which I glued over the top of those on the panel – it saves tricky cutting out that way. I also stamped a starfish for the left hand corner.

I finished off my panel by stamping the waves text at the top with black ink, bending the stamp on the block into an arch shape before stamping it.

We have a new challenge today over at That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog so do check it out to see how you can win a great prize.

Have a great weekend and see you next time for some exciting happenings!

Fliss x