Bee is For Box

Recently I was browsing the aisles at a local discount store looking for treasures. I happened upon a small box in a color I can only euphemistically call Pepto Bismol Pink.  A phrase on the top of it said 'Beautiful'.  No wonder this unwanted orphan was on the death row of aisles, The Clearance Aisle, aka the 75-90% Off Aisle.  For $1.39, I decided to take it home.

Now what? 

It sat there. Staring at me. 'I'm already beautiful. See, it says so," it taunted.

So I painted it green.  

Yikes, that didn't help matters.   I planned on using this little box as storage for words/sentiments I had in my stash, and I needed some inspiration. 

Design Teams to the rescue! I decided to search some blogs for inspiration and two of those caught my eye. Anything But Cute's current challenge was 'Birds and the Bees' and Simon Says Stamp had a wonderful Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge going on. The Tic-Tac-Toe was such a clever idea, I knew I wanted to play along, and I thought 'Bees' would be a fun theme.

For the Simon Says Stamp Challenge, I chose the top row: Sequins, Gold, Stamp

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I covered the green I had carelessly applied to the box with white gesso and Prima's Modeling paste through an old stencil I had on hand.  Prima's Art Alchemy Steampunk Copper and DecoArt's Champagne Gold came next as a base layer followed by Lindy's Bayou Boogie Gold and Clam Bake Beige sprays. 

While my base was drying, I made my bees out of Polymer clay; baked them, painted them and glued them to wing nuts for wings.  I'm a bit afraid of bees (read, terrified), so making them 'winged nuts' was a psychological bandaid to my illogical (or so I'm told) fear. I also made flowers from scrapbook paper, foil and netting using Tim Holtz 'Tattered Florals' die and a Sizzix Big Kick machine.    I painted the paper and foil flower layers with the same paints and sprays used on the box plus Lindy's Burnt Umber; smaller florals and greenery were created by painting blooms from my stash.

Since this project will be a storage box for words and sentiments, I decided to make my bees 'spelling bees' by stamping and embossing letters on the box.  I used the Stampabilities Typewriter Background Stamp, Ranger's Clear Distress Ink and gold ZING! embossing powder. Continuing in the 'spelling' theme, some of the flowers have a petal layer cut from text.

I adhered the components, including a honeycomb I cut out of cardstock and painted with Prima's Art Alchemy Steampunk Copper. The wood frame is painted with DecoArt's Champagne Gold.  Gold sequins (honey drops) are scattered here and there on the arrangement.  

And one last thing: A honey pot!

Products used:

Prima: White Gesso, Modeling Paste, Art Alchemy Steampunk Copper acrylic paint; DecoArt: Champagne Gold acrylic paint; Lindy's Stamp Gang: Bayou Boogie Gold Starburst spray, Clam Bake Beige Starburst spray, Burnt Umber Moon Shadow Mist; Ranger: Clear Distress Embossing Ink, Perfect Pearls Perfect Gold, Glossy Accents; Tim Holtz: Idea-ology Tiny Vials, Tattered Florals Die, Diamond Plate and Riveted Metal embossing folders

I also used a Sizzix machine, Fimo polymer clay, ZING! embossing powder, Stampablities Typewriter Background Stamp, stencil, DCWV paper, netting, gold sequins, aluminum foil and wing nuts.  

Some Kind of Wonderful

I am underserved by my community.  Don't get me wrong, it is a wonderful place to live.  But, darn it, my art supply options are scarce! It's truly an injustice.

The good news is, a present came for me in the mail!  Isn't that exciting?  Inside was some new, utterly gorgeous Prima paints and products!!  I have no idea who sent them to me!

Okay, it was me.  That's right, I bought these lovelies for myself.  What can I say, I'm a very giving person ;)

I have been wanting to add to my meager Prima stash, which had consisted of ArtBasics Modeling paste, 3D Gloss Gel, a couple of bottles of Color Bloom Spray and a jar of ArtAlchemy paint.  All of which I love; the modeling paste and gel are my 'go-tos' when I start creating a canvas.

I had recently sampled my solo jar of the ArtAlchemy paint on my last project and I was transported to a wonderful, creamy paradise.  This stuff is...well it's wonderful.  So I've used the word wonderful repeatedly, haven't I?  I might as well call my next canvas Some Kind of Wonderful! 

After applying gesso to my canvas, I used stencils and modeling paste for texture.  I absolutely adore texture and can't imagine not incorporating it in all that I create.  Laying down my background colors was the next step.  I am a diligent stalker of the Prima blog and saw the beautiful (wonderful) peachy/baby blue mood board they had displayed for their June challenge and decided to play along.

My new jars of ArtAlchemy included Opal Magic Rose Gold and Opal Magic Pink Blue which I used along with Color Bloom sprays in Cobalt, Tea Stain and Frost.  The Prima flowers I had ordered were more pink than peach and more turquoise than pale blue, but they tinted beautifully. I adhered them with 3D Gloss Gel.

And then there is Finnabair's Art Stones.  I'm in love!  They add such a fabulous dimension and are lightweight on the project. (But if anyone knows how to pick up these little rascals when they spill on your craft mat, let me know.  The ones I tried to capture, just kept scurrying away on a frenzied flight of static.)  

I always seem to want to repurpose an item in my creations, and again, I chose a zipper. The humble zipper...Isn't it just a marvel of human engineering?   I also tore strips out of an old music book and embossed the edges for a vintage feel.  In addition to repurposing, I try to add an embellishment that I've made.  In this canvas, it's the blue fan in the lower left corner.  I wrapped a beaded fishline in peach colored beads around the base of the fan to incorporate both colors of the challenge and finished it with a tiny floss tassel.

Metallic thread, a Prima Vintage Ephemera image and the word 'Wonderful' finished my shabby chic project.

I am entering this into the Prima PPP June Challenge:

Prima PPP June Challenge

Imagine the Inky Depths

“In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans.”

— Kahlil Gibran

I've never been to the ocean, isn't that sad?  I've flown over the Gulf of Mexico, but that doesn't count.  Someday I will see the ocean and all is beautiful vastness, but for now, I can only imagine.

Oh my, I had a lot of messy fun making this one.  I dragged out all my old polymer clay from when I made clay beads.  That stuff is incredible, all the clay was still useable!  I made shells, an old bottle, sea grass, a sand dollar, and other underwater lifeforms. Then, the mermaid.  I thought I wouldn't be able to sculpt her, but thanks to an online tutorial by the talented Gabrielle Pollacco, I was able to create my sea princess.

A couple of side notes here, I sent the bottom (no pun intended) left photo to my daughter with the text 'your old barbie found work as a hand model.  I've censored her bottom for privacy reasons.'  She texted back, "You think you're funny, don't you?'  Gee, why can't she just say, you are so funny, Mom!'  Whatever... The last picture was from a garage raid - Gutter Guard - I thought it would make a good fisherman's net.  Ssshhh - secrets now - Mr. Me will never miss it. Oh, and in keeping with my kitchen table art studio, you will see in the upper left photo some tools of my trade: a well loved cookie sheet, parchment paper and a garlic press.

After waiting for gesso and modeling paste to dry, I was ready for my background color. I wanted a mix of sand and sun at the top so I sprayed on Shimmerz Tuscan Sun, Color Bloom Tea Stain and Lindy's Clam Bake Beige. For the inky blue at the bottom of the ocean, I used Ranger's Dylusions London Blue,  Marble Black and After Midnight.  The mid-water is Prima's Color Bloom Glistening Waves and Cobalt Blue.

Embellish and glue followed by embellish and glue followed by color and highlight.  Note to self: glue some on before background color!  Okay, so that took forever!

I had set aside my sweet, little sand dollar which I glued to my altered thrift-store paint brush.  My glue gun came out of hiding to make the messy brush drips.  I wanted the brush and drips to indicate a 'being of the universe' washing her brush in the ocean depths.  I tinted the drips and highlighted the items in the ocean  with Finnabair's ArtAlchemy Rich Turquoise by Prima.

The upper half of the canvas includes found objects as I had run out out of the clay embellishments I had sculpted.  I didn't want the fisherman's net to include any 'secrets' of the sea, but I did give him a pearl for his trouble.

Since messy is my specialty and I give my imagination full rein, I would love to play along in the June challenge, Imagine & Get Messy. It was fun imagining the treasures and secrets in the ocean and dripping paint and ink on (and off) my canvas, Imagine The Inky Depths.

I would like to enter my Imagine The Inky Depths mixed media canvas to the Mixed Media Place May Challenge-Be a Light Moodboard.

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Sidenote:  While I was sculpting the mermaid, I had a flash from "The Way Back Machine" and remembered my daughter's 4th Birthday Party.  Disney's Little Mermaid was very popular at the time so we had an '"Under the Sea" Party.  I 'tried' my hand at cake decorating and fashioned a mermaid cake.  My daughter's birthday is in the month of August and the temperature was, of course, at it's hottest.  The frosting was melting as fast as I could apply it.  But, my reason for this old memory is this:  I had taken (temporarily) the legs off the barbie doll I was using as my mermaid model so I could just insert her upper torso into the cake...

The gasps of little girls were heard for blocks as I, bad mom, removed legless Barbie from the cake before serving.  Hope those little party-goers have recovered from that traumatic sight!

Good times, good times :)

A Birthday and A Wedding - A Story of Two Bards

Birthday Bard

No, that's not a typo.  A 'bard' is what I call a canvas board/greeting card. 

Yes, as a student of Shakespeare in college, I do know the true definition of bard  (a poet or storyteller).  But what can I say, I make up random words and/or definitions.  Take my word for it, or ... don't ;)

This is my third attempt at mixed media, and I was anxious to take a crack at crackle paste. My base of the 'bard' is crackle paste and modeling paste through a brick stencil.  Next up:  a glue frenzy with flowers and beads, lace and various other findings followed by acrylic paint and ink.  I distress-inked and embossed a line of musical notes off-canvas and added that next.  Highlighting was done with metallic pigments and sparkle spray. 

Threads in the Magic Garden

I would like to share a creation I made for my friend Leesa.   Leesa excels at random acts of kindness and I wanted to thank her for a special gift she made for me.  Since she also is a beautiful quilter, I decide to do a mixed media piece that had a quilting/sewing theme.  This is the result: Threads in the Magic Garden.

After my black gesso background had dried, I used stencils and modeling paste for texture. I just had to rip a side off of a piece of cardboard (which I had stitched around with yarn) and add it to the canvas along with a zipper, 'recycling' the inspiration from my first mixed media piece A R T.  I should add a side note about the zippers I've been using.  They were orange.  I mean really orange from a really, really orange down, puffy vest.  Yikes!  I wore that many years ago.  Why? I cant answer that and prefer not to dwell on it!  

Next, I began adhering my embellishments: paper flowers that I had cut out of cardstock , thread, beads, gears, a bobbin, snaps, tiny scissors, etc.  I embossed the butterflies and the word Magic and set those aside.

Acrylic paint and ink was applied next in garden greens and shades of blue and purple.  I rubbed a tarnished gold pigment on the metal embellishments and the center of the flowers. Any guesses on what I made the flower centers from?  Heads of Q-Tips!

The spool of thread, the embossed butterflies and the word Magic were added next.  And my final touch was running string around the gears and through the sewing needle.  One butterfly is 'sewing' and the other, snipping the threads.  See?  It's magic!