French Court Garden Canvas-Frilly and Funkie-'You're My Inspiration'

Welcome, crafty friends and visitors! Have you heard that I'm one of the newest DT members on the Frilly and Funkie talented Design Team?  Dreams do come true! I am so honored and thrilled to pieces! I'm even more excited, because my good friend Autumn of SewPaperPaint is the other newest member of the team!

Yes! It's official! So let's get down to business!

Today I'm sharing my first creation for Frilly and Funkie as a Funkie girl for the current challenge 'You're My Inspiration'. Nancy is hosting the challenge and this is what she says:

"Find any type of image or photo that inspires you and create a vintage or shabby chic project based on that image or photo (you don't need to actually use it in your project). Please post the image on your blog along with your project, and tell us what it is you love about it."

I saw  this beautiful garden in my May issue of Southern Living and couldn't stop staring at it, thinking of ways I could achieve this French Quarter/Charleston garden vibe in my own yard. Since I don't have brick walls or much shade in my garden, I thought at least I could re-create this beautiful garden on canvas. (Sorry for the poor photo; I took it awhile ago for the inspiration, and have since recycled the magazine.)

Photo heavy post--my apologies!

I chose an old canvas from my stash, coated sides with black and front with white gesso. I laid the gesso on thick on the front to give a textured base for my foliage. I scraped Wendy Vecchi Crackle texture paste and Ranger Grit paste through several Tim Holtz layering and mini stencils on the sides and front to create the look of foliage, a roof and brick. Yes, the perspective and scale is a little off, but that's me taking creative license!

Are you dizzy yet?

I scraped Prima Limestone Stone Effect paste on for the 'walls' of the house. I love the subtle texture this paste gives!  When dry, I colored my scene with a variety of Distress stains, paints, Oxides, and inks.  I embossed with a tiny bit of Emerald Creek Burnt Copper Leaves Alure powder on the roof lines and smeared on some Viva Rusty Paper. I didn't like the shine of the  embossing powder, so I went over it with Distress crayon.

I did some background stamping using the 'birch' of Tim's Birch and Pine stamp set and Olive Archival ink. Lastly, I splattered with white acrylic paint and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide.

The 'shutters' are Kaisercraft Flourish Borders inked with Emboss it Dabber and heat embossed with Emerald Creek Oil Rubbed Bronze Alure powder for the ironwork and painted with Prima Art Alchemy Metallique Light Patina paint and Black Soot stain on the louvers. I made a gate using a Spellbinders die, and colored it with the Light Patina paint and heat embossed with a sprinkle of Emerald Creek Burnt Copper Leaves.

I love the moss covered pottery in the magazine photo! I have a few mossy pieces in my own garden--the mossier the better! I used Prima's Baroque 6 mold and paper clay, using just part of one of the recesses and shaped into 'pots' while still pliable. I brushed on Limestone Stone Effect paste to give it a nice texture and painted with Rusty Paper and Distress paints-Rusty Hinge, Ground Espresso, and Peeled Paint.

To fill my pots with pretty foliage, I die cut Tim's Wildflowers #2 Thinlits (just the top of one of the 'weeds') and colored them with stains. The stenciled and pasted flourish design fills in for more foliage, and I smeared over it with Distress Crayons in Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo. I dyed a trio of tiny flowers from my stash with Distress Oxides to represent the plumbago in the inspiration photo.

My garden quote is Tim's Clippings stickers, adhered to chipboard and smeared with Distress Crazing Medium and Vintage Photo crayon. All dimensional elements were adhered with Ranger Collage Medium. I swiped the edges with Vintage Photo Distress crayon to finish my canvas. At the last minute I realized my pots needed some shadows, so I mixed up a batch of Collage Medium with Prima's Mini Art Stones and smeared this under the pots. When dry, I highlighted with Distress crayon. Now I'm done, and I can go play in the garden.

I hope you'll be inspired to join our challenge for a chance to win a generous $25 shopping spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. Please hop over to Frilly and Funkie to see how the rest of my Frilly and Funkie team mates have been inspired by a photo.

I'm sharing with these challenges:

Mixed Media World-MMW#26: Anything Mixed Media Goes

We Love to Create-Challenge #12- Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes

Creative Artiste- Challenge #27-"Anything Mixed Media Goes"

Simon Says Stamp- Monday Challenge-Touchy Feely

Mixed Media Monthly-Challenge #37 "A Year of Choices" I chose challenge #32-"Put a Stencil on It"

Thank you for your visit and lovely comments! I read and appreciate each and every one!

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily

The following supplies were used and available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique: (If something happens to be out of stock, click on the 'back in stock' button, and you will be notified when it's back in the shop!)

Wendy Vecchi Crackle Texture Paste	Distress Grit Paste	Prima Marketing Vintage Art Décor Mould - Baroque 6 (March Pre-order)	Prima Art Alchemy Acrylic Paint - Metallique Light Patina (March Pre-order)	Art Extravagance - Stone Effect Pastes 3pcs 100ml (February Pre-order)
(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Reinker - Peeled Paint	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Reinker - Vintage Photo	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Reinker - Wilted Violet	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Fired Brick	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Broken China
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayon - Peeled Paint	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayon - Vintage Photo	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte TDAK47933 (February Pre-Order)	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Crazing TDAK47957 (February Pre-Order)	Tim Holtz Distress Spatter Brush
Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Paint	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Rusty Hinge	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Peeled Paint	Ranger Tim Holtz Mini Distress Ink Pad - Pumice Stone	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Mowed Lawn
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Weathered Wood	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Stormy Sky	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Black Soot	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Peeled Paint	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Bundled Sage
Ranger Tim Holtz Fossilized Amber Distress Stain	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer	Emerald Creek Alure Powders - Burnt Copper Leaves	Emerald Creek Alure Powders - Oil Rubbed Bronze	Viva Decor Rusty Paper
KAISERCRAFT Flourishes - Borders	Ranger Adirondack Emboss It Dabber	(February Pre-order) Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 7PK - Wildflowers #2 by Tim Holtz	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Speckles	(APRIL pre-order) Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Mini Layering Stencils - Set 28
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Mini Layering Stencils - Set 10 THMST010 (March Pre-Order)	Prima Art Ingredients - Mini Art Stones (March Pre-Order)