Mushrooms, Trees & Leaves By Helen Pigott

Hello Everyone!
 I was delighted to be asked to be a Guest Blogger for September & October.
I hope you find my projects inspiring!

What I did:

I started by making up my shrine, I used a general purpose wet glue. While the shrine was drying I painted & stencilled  the calico. 

After painting and stencilling the shrine I put my background into place. I used an off cut of card to wrap my calico around to save the ATCs that come in the kit to decorate.

Using an Archival ink pad I stamped my mushroom images on the calico.

I found Fresco paints perfect for colouring in my mushrooms, after cutting out I stuck them in place on the background.

Before moving on to the greyboard pieces, I stuck the face of the shrine to the body ready for the fairies and mushrooms which I then painted before adding Glossy Accents.

Once everything was stuck in place I added the mineral powders and micro beads and put aside to dry.

Using a mix of Gilding flake colours I covered the greyboard wings and set them aside, these can take a while to dry. I then stamped and mounted one of Lynne's affirmations which I added to the wings using sticky pads.

Once the wings were dry I stuck them in place to finish off my shrine!

Along with the art shrine kit come 3 ATCs. I have to admit I do love making these, they are a perfect size for practising different techniques and they are fun to make. 

For my first one I covered it in calico and stencilled the background using the That's Crafty! dinky stencils, these are perfectly sized and the ratio is appropriate for small works of art. 

The mushroom is an acetate image ( I used the packaging acetate as I cannot throw anything away!) I painted on the reverse side using Fresco paints.

My second ATC also has a calico background (there seems to be a bit of a pattern here!), this time I used Infusions to give a different look and feel. I stamped and coloured one of Melina's leaves before highlighting with Glossy Accents.

My third and final ATC I painted using the new Twilight paint by PaperArtsy (no calico this time!). I added Magic! powder to the Metallic Silver Fluid Acrylic by DecoArt to make it a bit thicker and then stencilled the tree. It is a really simple card but I think very effective.

I folded up some black card in a zigzag and used the tree ATC as the front of a mini book, I used some card painted the same colour for the back. 

What I used:

That's Crafty! Surfaces MDF Art Shrine

That's Crafty! Doodled Shrooms Stamp Set

That's Crafty! Doodled Butterflies & Leaves Stamp Set

That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set - Lynne's Affirmations - Set 1

That's Crafty! Surfaces Bits & Pieces Greyboard Sheet - Fairies & Wings

That's Crafty! Surfaces Mixed Media Paper/Card Kit

That's Crafty! Dinky Stencil - Cobblestones

That's Crafty! Dinky Stencil - Herringbone Background

That's Crafty! Dinky Stencil - Circles Background

That's Crafty Mini Stencil - Tree

Craftynotions Gilding Flakes

Prima Finnabair Art Ingredients Mini Art Stones

Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents

Ranger Black Cardstock

13Arts MAGIC! Powder

PaperArtsy Infusions

That's Crafty! Multi Surface Paint - Black

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Paint - Twilight

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Paint - Mulled Wine

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Paint

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Paint - Metallic Silver
Prima Art Ingredients Micro Beads 

Ranger Archival Ink Pad - Black   
Pentart Mineral Powder 

Well that's all from me today, I hope you have enjoyed looking at my projects and taken some inspiration for them.

I will be on the That's Crafty! Challenge Blog on Wednesday. I look forward to seeing all your fab entries.

Bye bye for now