Time by Gill Humphrey

As I write this post I am preparing to spend a considerable amount of time in the hospital I work in this weekend - my crafting time is so important to my overall sense of well being and I suspect it is also for many of you who will read this post. Time a word that means so many things; here it is used to signify times past, times present and hopefully time for better things to come. 

I started my project by selecting an MDF Upright Torn Page from the wonderful range of Upright MDF pieces that are sold by That's Crafty! and also a paper pack which would work for my concept  ~ Age of Technology by Craft O'Clock. I used elements from both the A4 pack and also the 12 x 12 pack. In addition I used lots of ephemera pieces from the xtras page that came with the Hochanda bundles recently.

I glued my MDF base together using That's Crafty! glue and then painted it with a redbrown shade of custom mixed chalk paint from my stash and then dry brushed over this some dark brown paint. 

Whilst the paint was drying I cut two pieces of paper from the 12 x 12 paper pack to fit my base piece leaving a 0.5cm border all round. I then randomly stamped the 13 Arts Blueprint Sketch Stamp using Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black. I added some stencilling on top of this using That's Crafty! Dinky Stencil Bubbly All Over  using the Black Soot Oxide Ink before dragging a little of the same ink around the edge of the papers. This piece was then adhered to my MDF piece. 

I cut a tag from the ephemera sheet located on the title page of the A4 pack of paper and then turned it over to get a stripped background. This was had stamping and stencilling added to it as above. The tag was then mounted on a piece of greyboard so that it sat proud of the base piece of card. 

To embellish my piece I fussy cut out lots of images from the extras cut apart page adding Ranger Glossy Accents to the clock faces, glasses and also some of the light bulbs. I added one of the clock faces to a metal fob watch and then layered the glasses on front of this. This was then adhered to the tag. The wings on my piece were made using plaster in a Prima mould and then coloured with the same paints as the MDF base before highlighting the texture with some Prima Finnabair Art Alchemy Metallic wax in old gold before gluing close to the fob watch as shown. I added the cut out hats using dimensional glue, tucking in some real feathers and also lots of metal cogs from my stash. 

Finally I chose the chipboard clock and the work timeless from the 13 Arts His and Hers Chipboard Set and carefully trimmed the word down to read time before adding it to my piece. 

As the MDF piece is two sided I decorated the back in a similar style adding in the chipboard words "the past and the future" and pointing hand from the 13 Arts Chipboard Rosalie Set.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my "how to" and hope that you stay safe at home but please remember that people will still get the everyday health issues and that the NHS has things in place to ensure that these are managed as well as they would be without the current healthcare crisis so please seek help if you are worried even if its not COVID related.