Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Anything But Cute Mixed Media Challenge #4 - Making Magic

Hello crafty friends!

It's time for our fourth challenge at Anything But Cute. The super talented and very prolific artist Georgie is our hostess this time, and she would like you to make some magic--our theme this time being "Making Magic". I'll give details about the challenge, but first here is my version of Making Magic--an altered wall plaque.


Most of us are drawn to the magic of fairy tales and fantasy.  The colors are often hypnotic, and your mind is free to explore outside the limits of reality. For this challenge, Georgie would like you to create a magical mixed media project strongly inspired by the mood board. Be inspired by the theme, the colors, the textures or all three.  Let's bring a little magic back!


I started with white, thin cardboard waste packaging to make my background.  I added Distress paints in shaded Lilac, Cracked Pistachio and Black Soot, spritzed them to blend, and left to dry.  When completely dry, I added  Tarnished Brass Distress paint, spritzed lightly with water, dried somewhat with my heat gun.  I pressed my paper towel over the entire thing, and quickly removed it to get the texture.  I dried again with my heat gun and blended on Archival ink in aqua. I lightly sprinkled with Frantage and heated from underneath.  Lastly, I splattered with Dylusions Black Marble ink spray .



I die cut some flowers (Tim Holtz Tattered Florals and Tattered Flower Garland) and painted them with black gesso.  When dry, I swiped on some gold Perfect Pearls powder and spritzed them with Perfect Pearls spray in gold.  The two larger ones were also embossed with  Tim Holtz' Mesh Texture Fade, and then wiped with a gold metallic rub to highlight the raised areas. A few smaller ones embossed and highlighted the same way using a dots folder. Two were encrusted with some chunky glitter and added at the end..




Next, I mixed up some Ranger transparent texture paste with Lumiere paint in Metallic Olive and spread this on randomly and squished my flowers into it.  Before drying, I added Frantage embossing powder, and then dried with my heat gun to get some bubbling. I added a few sequins and flicked on more Dylusions Black Marble ink spray.

My butterflies are cut from Tim Holtz Layered Butterfly die; I cut three and gave them each a coat of black gesso. I used Golden Iridescent Gold and Metallic Olive acrylic paint to paint them. I dry brushed two and one I covered fairly heavily with the metallic paints. I put the gold butterfly through my failing Big Kick with Tim's texture fade, and then swiped transparent texture paste on with a credit card, added glitter, mica flakes and micro beads.  I did have to give this a coat of Multi Matte Medium in the end, because stuff started flaking off and that took the glam down a notch, I'm afraid. I added a few large pearls and some smaller black ones painted with Silver and White Mixatives alcohol ink for the body.




When I was through, I really thought my panel looked a little blah, so I dug this old painted wooden plaque out of my stash.


 I gave it a coat of black gesso and edged in Tarnished Brass Distress paint, but still not what my panel needed.  I tried to do the same technique I did on the panel on the plaque, but it didn't work real well. It started to peel off the gesso, back to the original painting and the Cracked Pistachio turned blue.  To save it, I dabbed on some Cracked Pistachio and Tarnished Brass Distress paints,and used a texture tool to drag the color out.  Then I heated the daylights out of the paint and sprinkled on some Frantage and heated to melt. Lastly, I flicked on Dylusions spray in Black Marble. The photo below shows it with the paint still wet.


Next, an oops shot.  You can see the bare spots where even the black gesso came off.


Rescued!


I added the finished panel to the plaque, adhering with Perfect Paper Adhesive.  I tied it in to the plaque by adding some black and transparent texture pastes, Frantage embossing powder, micro beads and the glittered flowers.






I would like to enter this into the following inspirational challenges:
Our Creative Corner Summer Challenge "Mexico Moods" I was inspired by the black door background and the texture of the door and the surrounding structure.

Here's one last  wacky shot of the finished piece. I hope you enjoyed the post and the process.  I know I did!  It was so much fun to make some magic!  I hope you will find some time to make some magic of your own and enter the Making Magic challenge at Anything But Cute--you have lot's of time! The challenge runs 'til September 4th. Hugs and Blessings!


Sara Emily

36 comments:

  1. This is a true magic in action!!! Sara you transformed the old worn out box into an art piece art gallery worthy!! I love the splashes of gold and that wonderful butterfly! How fun is this?!? Fantastic job my dear!!!

    Samra
    Paper Talk with Samra

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  2. HOLY WOWSERS Sara!! I've been here for so long just oohing and aahing at your gorgeous transformation of that old box!! A paper towel for texture? WHAT!!! Your creativity knows no bounds my friend!! I love the colours you pulled from the mood board, the black and gold with hints of the greens, just stunning! And all your metallics, how wonderfully magical and glamorous! This is truly a fantastical piece and I am blown away by your endless talent!! big hugs :)

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  3. My goodness, Sara, you outdid yourself again with this fantastic transformation of an old box! I am totally blown away! You used all the fabulous colours from our mood board and created a magic! Wooow, what an amazing layered butterfly with such a perfect texture! I am impressed, my dear friend!
    Huge hugs! Branka xxx

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  4. BEAUTIFUL piece of art! Well done! Thanks so much for playing in our ‘SUMMERTIME FUN’ challenge at Dies R Us! Please come back again soon!

    Darlene (DRU Blog Leader)
    DIES R US CHALLENGE BLOG
    DAR’S CRAFTY CREATIONS

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  5. Great work and truly a wonderful effort. Greetings!

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  6. An amazing piece of art Sara - fabulous textures and colours and ooooh that wonderful layered butterfly. Certainly magical ! Jennie x

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  7. So beautiful Sara, I love the stunning butterfly and the magical background you created! Those drops of tarnished brass are just mouthwateringly beautiful against the colours you have chosen! And I love that you shared your oops moment too!! Thank you so much for doing the most magical job with the mood board - lots a hugs, Georgie xx

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  8. Hi Sara - what a beautiful beautiful project, its magical!! Lovely! so many different techniques. Cxx

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  9. Your butterfly is magical on its own and then there is that gorgeous background! This is so, so beautiful Sara - great step by steps too! Anne x

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  10. What a mixed media beauty, Sara! Lots of awesome texture and all the gold is so pretty! Very pretty butterfly and flowers...well done! Thanks so much for joining us at Dies R Us for the Summertime Fun Challenge! Please come back soon!

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  11. beautiful details..thanks for sharing at Pile It On

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  12. What a beauty - so many layers of creativity in this project!! Thanks so much for joining us this week at the Pile it On challenge, Elizabeth (DT)

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  13. I love your sense of humor and how you roll with the punches dear Sara! You made me giggle about the black gesso. This is a stunning transformation from blah to BAM! Your butterfly is lusciously layered and superbly designed. Wowzers! The gold, oh the gold! Made me dro a bit. Lol. Love the way you have created the background as well. So many fantabulous awesome sauce things to look at! Hugz to you muffin! ~Niki

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  14. Wow! What a stunning project Sara! All the shimmery gold detail looks amazing! So artistic and creative!

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  15. Incredible Sara , so much detail and texture and all that wonderful gold, magical indeed !

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  16. Wow!! Very beautiful. Love the colours and textures. Thank you for joining us at Altered Eclectics this month. Hope to see you back here again soon. Judy DT

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  17. So stunning Sara Emily... Love your colours and shimmer and texture, so ethereal. Love it. Nikki xx

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  18. Just beautiful! Love all the textures and the sparkle and shine! Thanks for joining us at Dies R Us!

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  19. Beautiful project Sara, the colours you've created are stunning ! Thanks for joining us at Frilly and Funkie. Sue C x

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  20. What an amazing project, so beautiful.
    Julie x

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  21. Such an incredible transformation! I love that you kept working with the painted wood panel to get it to work - it's amazing! I love the rich colors and textures in this piece. Just totally outstanding. Thanks so much for joining us at the Frilly and Funkie challenge!

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  22. Wow, wow, wow, you never fail to amaze me with your creativity. Crazy and magical! Hugs Jan x

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  23. Hi again, too amazed to say thank you for joining the summer challenge at Our Creative Corner on my comment!! Hugs Zjan x

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  24. Wow, Sara Emily! That mixed media background really is magical! I love the combination of paint, Frantage and embossing powders. Truly wonderful! Your layered butterfly is gorgeous, too! I'm always afraid of using black...but it is rich and mystical here instead of heavy. Great job!

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  25. Oh Wow, wie phantastisch, klasse diese goldefekte der tolle Schmetterling da hast du ein traumhaftes Stück gewerkelt, danke dir für die Teilnahme bei der Traumfabrik, liebe grüsse Bettina

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    1. Alright, my German (?) is a little rusty, but this sounds like a sweet comment--thank you!

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  26. I absolutely LOVE your magical rescue!! I am all about the rescue and the magic that proceeds!!
    Sara, You rocked that butterfly! I am sure there are a few fairies in the garden thinking - wow- what a fab ride!! Beautiful ,my friend!! xoxo

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  27. Very beautiful! The butterfly looks very nice.
    Thanks for joining us at the Dream Factory Challenge.
    Greetings Andrea

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  28. Sara, I loved seeing your entire process (even the 'oops'). You've really got a lot of depth and texture going on. Beautiful! And sparkly! :) I always enjoy seeing what comes out of your studio. Once again, magical!

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  29. This is superb. I like all the detail in it. Thank you for entering the ASOI challenge this month

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  30. Wow! Incredible talent. This piece ended to perfect, despite (or perhaps because of) the opps moments appoint the way! Thank you for joining us for the challenge over on the That Craft Place Challenge Blog..
    xxSAMxx TCP Design Team.
    ❤My Blog❤
    ❤That Craft Place Challenge Blog❤
    ❤That Craft Place on Facebook❤

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  31. Fabulously glamorous gilded butterfly - just love the magic you've created here!
    Thanks so much for playing along at Country View Challenges.
    Alison xx

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  32. Firstly thank you so much for stopping by my blog and for your fantastic, uplifting and positive comments, truly grateful. Your project is just Wow. So much detail, so much attention to detail, great techniques, sparkle and so creative. Love how you did your florals, the use of the paper towel, the frontage and the gorgeous butterflies. Thank you for explaining how you did it with so much detail for newbies like me to learn from. Thank you so much for your inspiration and spreading the Magic! xx

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  33. Fabulous!! And great step-outs as well. Love how all of your textures. colors and layers come together - magical indeed! xx Lynn

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  34. Stunning! Love that background and thank you for sharing the photos of how you created it. Beautiful!

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