Each day we have a post from a That’s Crafty! Design Team member and a Relics and Artifacts Ambassador and the blog posts will go live every day at 11.00am GMT and 6.00am EST.
We hope you will join in the collaboration each day, as there will be two very special prizes! One lucky winner will receive a Gift Certificate for £25 from That’s Crafty! and the other lucky winner will receive 3 sets of Relics and Artifacts Matte Resin Craft Blanks of their choice, from Relics and Artifacts!
Here’s what you have to do for a chance to win:
1. Visit both blogs each day and leave a comment.
2. Become a follower of the That’s Crafty! blog.
It’s that easy! The winners will be picked at random on Tuesday 2nd May 2017.
Day 5 of our collaboration and it's Fliss's turn today with an absolutely fantastic project.
I
hope you’re all enjoying everyone’s creations in our collaboration week with
the Relics & Artifacts Ambassadors. I was so excited when I found out about
it as it’s taken me out of my comfort zone and given me the chance to work with
some amazing craft blanks that I’ve always admired from afar but have never
been able to pluck up the courage to use, mainly because they’re so beautiful
in their natural state that it seems a shame to do anything to them.
I’ve
now taken the plunge and have used my favourite That’s Crafty! substrate
together with a Relic & Artifact blank in my favourite shape – I’m sure you
know how often butterflies feature in my artwork!
Ingredients:
Archival Ink – Fern Green, Potting Soil
Pebeo Studio Dyna Acrylics – Iridescent Blue Green, Green Yellow, Orange Yellow, Red
Blue
Prima Art Alchemy Acrylic Paints – Metallique - Green Olive, Black Berry, Steampunk
Copper
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics – Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Yellow Green Light, Pyrrole
Orange
PaperArtsy Infusions – Blackcurrant, Emerald Isle
Tim
Holtz Bigz Die – Tattered Leaves (I used this one as the leaves are quite large
to balance the butterfly)
Recipe:
The
first thing I did is to apply quite a thick layer of modelling paste to the
upright section of the MDF blank, making sure not to cover the feet and very
bottom as this makes slotting it into the base very difficult. I then used a
pointed tool to draw lines in the paste to resemble tree bark. I left it to dry
overnight.
For
my next layer, I painted the bark effect with the sienna paints, not worrying
too much about making it perfect as this is just my under layer.
I
then sprinkled on the Infusions and misted them with water, allowing the
colours to run down the surface. It may seem a strange combination of colours
for tree bark but it does work I promise!
The
next layer is the Alchemy Paints. I used all 3 shades lightly to the bark, then
misted with water and allowed the colours to run a bit. I carried on until I
was happy with the effect.
I
glued the finished panel into the base and then painted the base with the
Alchemy shades, just dabbing the paint on with a brush in a haphazard fashion.
I
die cut some leaves from mixed media paper and coloured them by adding shades
of green paint with a bit of copper to a plate, pressing the leaves in, then
misting the paint with water and dipping them in. As you’ll see, in some areas
there are raised areas of paint and I found that by drying them with a heat gun
the paint bubbled a bit adding some lovely texture.
Now
came the challenge of decorating my butterfly. I started off by painting with
matte orange and blue to give a good surface for my next layer, which was the
Pebeo orange, red and blue green. These paints are quite gloopy so I wanted a
good undercoat for them. Once they were dry, I stamped on the bubble wrap
design with green Archival ink and the double circle image with the Potting
Soil ink. I added some jewels in the body cavity.
I added some micro beads to the
leaves and tree bark and then assembled my mixed media panel using silicone
glue to stick on the leaves and the butterfly – as the butterfly is quite
heavy, you need a strong glue and I found the silicone type works as treat with
slightly more bulky items. I finished off with the text, stamped on mixed media
paper with the brown ink and cut the words apart before gluing them on.
