Anything but Cute Challenge # 12--Earth Day

Hello, friends!  Today marks the first day of our new challenge over at Anything But Cute where the theme is "Earth Day" chosen by the one and only, very talented Samra of Paper Talk With Samra.  Before I give you the details of the challenge I'd like to show you how I was inspired by Samra's mood board. I never made a project where the vision I had turns into reality, but this one did! I'm excited to show you my fantasy tree stump!

Here's what Samra has to say about her challenge theme: Create a mixed media project inspired by this mood board and the beauty of our planet. Please tell us what inspired you. Entries for this challenge can be echo friendly, or even recycled/upcycled items; or depiction of the sea, mountain, river, forest, flowery meadow…let’s celebrate our planet!

I was inspired by the gorgeous blue tones of the butterfly, the mushroom, and those beautiful flowers. Those pastures reminded me of  a bed of soft moss, and I got a sense of nature tinged with fantasy from her mood board. Samra's words about being eco-friendly prompted me to use a few recylced items.

My tree stump started off as a lowly piece of pantry-staple waste.  Actually, I had to pour the breadcrumbs into another container, so I could use this cardboard canister. It was the perfect size for what I had in mind.  If you wish to see the ugly details of how this transformed, I've taken at few photos of the process, and you can scroll down to see them.

Let's start our tour of my rotted tree stump at the top where we find a butterfly sniffing out a couple of fantasy blossoms.  The butterfly (Rubber Stampede) was stamped on vellum with Staz-On ink and colored with Perfect Pearls powders, then fussy cut. 

I love how the sun shines through his delicate wings.

A little knot in the stump.  Looks intriguing!

               

The tiny blossoms are Tim Holtz Tiny Tattered Florals on card sprayed with Mermaid Lagoon Distress spray.  This is my first time using this die set and the spray. Love them both!

A trio of tiny fantasy mushrooms spring up from a root. These are hand made from paper clay and colored with Mermaid Lagoon and Mowed Lawn  Distress inks. You'll notice moss around the bottom of the roots.  That was a fun part of making this and grounds the roots.

An aerial shot looking down into the hollow of the stump...I wonder what lives in there?  Want to stick your head in there and find out?

Wait for it!

 No, it's not a chipmunk!  It's a little squirrel!  I made this in honor of Pamellia's lovely Dianna, who sadly did not make it to see the spring.  I can't tell you how that upset me, and I was inspired to make a little shrine for her. Pamellia, I hope you like it, and you will forgive my "cute" little girl. She is sculpted from paper clay and painted with various paints and markers to high light her eyes. She's shy at first , but then comes out a little to check out her new home and surroundings.

Now for the technicals... I cut my cardboard canister down to size and added a ring of cardboard to support the top. Here's the rough cut, and the ring is glued and drying. This was about a month ago--  this was a slow process project.  I later realized I wanted it to be a tree which died from natural causes and not one that was chopped down,  so I added back some cardboard to make  the top uneven, as if the tree had fallen. I can not bear to see trees chopped down.

The inside is smoothed with paper and modpodge  (I used the kraft wrap from an order from Frilly and Funkie torn into pieces).  This serves two purposes--it adds stability and makes it able to be painted, since the cardboard is wax coated. Next, but not shown, because I thought I took a photo but obviously didn't, I added tons of aluminum foil (recycled thanks to Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn) to shape the roots and to add texture to the sides (just on the outer surface). This was attached with hot glue, and done with much patience and a few burnt fingers.

Next, I added masking tape over the foil, wrinkling it a little, so there is more "bark" texture.  I followed this with more waste kraft paper, wrinkling as I went for yet more bark texture. This also added stability to the roots, which, while just foil, were quite wobbly.

Then it gets really ugly as I wipe on random swatches of crackle texture paste. And then, as if by magic, paint layers are added until I was happy with the color.  And believe me this took awhile, because I'm not easy to please. I used browns, greys, sand color, greens and black acrylic paints in many brands.  I also added texture paint in brown, but went over it in green to simulate moss and algae.

At this point, I took it outside to be sure my colors were fitting to nature.I kept hearing from my family, "it's too dark", "it doesn't look like bark", "it's too light", "too brown", "not enough brown"!

Finally, I added three types of craft moss. I went as far as drying some moss from my garden, but I live in fear of bugs, so back out into the yard it went. You may spot some hot glue spider webs--these were left intentionally.

Here's another look at my tree stump home for my little squirrel. Yes, one of my flowers got knocked  off during the photo shoot--you are observant!.  I hope you are also inspired to join in Samra's Earth Day challenge this month! Samra will be choosing a winner and her favorite, and the team will each choose a favorite.

I added this picture with a quarter, so you can get an idea of the scale.

I would like to enter this into the following inspiring challenges:

Country View April Challenge- Spring

Creative Artiste Challenge 13

Emerald Creek Dares Easter Parade I associate the colors in my mushrooms, my flowers and moss to those seen around Easter time

Southern Ridge Trading Co. Anything Spring

Die Cut Divas-Project associated with April I chose spring!  Die cut: Tiny Tattered Florals by Sizzix

Mixed Media Mojo April Fun Recycle-Use Metal you can't see my metal--it's the foil I used around the outside to make my roots and bark.  Sorry, I didn't get a shot of that. Recycled bread crumb cannister, aluminum foil, and  kraft wrapping paper from my craft order.

A Vintage Journey #40 Spring is in the Air I hope I made mine pastel-y enough!  I thought my flowers, mushrooms and butterfly might fit the bill.

Craft For the Craic April's Anything But a Card

Rhedd's Creative Spiirt April Anything Goes Mixed Media or Altered Art It's been a long time since I've played along here, but I saw Rupa is hosting, and I knew she would appreciate my entry!

Thank you for suffering through my extremely long post today.  I appreciate your visits and all your lovely comments!  I read and appreciate each and every one of them!

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily
UPDATE:
Yippeee! So honored!
Winner!


Diva's choice!