Love is the Key

Good morning, my lovely lookers!  By the time I'm finished this post it will be afternoon, if not evening!

 I have one more entry to link up to  Linda Ledbetter's Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge  using Tim Holtz' Rock Candy Distress Glitter technique from page 55 of his book  A Compendium of Curiosities Vol. 3.  If you don't have your copy yet, you still can pick up this valuable tool here, and Tim will even autograph it!  In Linda's challenges, she asks that you work out of your own copy of the book, so make sure to get yours, so you can join in...there's still a couple more hours for this one, but there's always the next wonderful, inspiring challenge.  Tim's book is worth it's weight in gold for education and inspiration, even if you don't care to link up.  But be sure to visit Linda and the Crew for some awesome artwork!  She is awarding a pile of Tim's goodies donated by Tim and Mario to the Curiosity Crew's choice and one lucky winner will receive a generous $50!!!! shopping spree to Inspiration Emporium compliments of Joy and her family.

 

I'm really not a slacker...this is actually the first project I started for Linda's challenge,  when it was first announced, but it was exceedingly difficult to put together.  There is a little bit of a story behind this little art piece.  I wanted to make a Valentine for my 16 year old son...not the easiest thing to do even on a good day.  But the dilemma I was having is that my son is going through a rough patch right now.  Not just the ordinary 16 year old boy thing, either, but being 16 complicates things. Quite frankly, I felt anything I made for him might set him off, and I just wasn't feeling it.  So I did what my heart told me and it always comes back to Love is the Key. I will love my son no matter what kind of (excuse me)...crap he throws me. And I truly believe if I love him hard enough I will get my loving son back. Anyone have a tissue?

So my little birdie is locked in this rusty old cage, with a rusted lock that holds him in shadows and darkness. But there is his loved one holding the shiny new key  that can open his cage and set him free to enjoy the beauty that surrounds him. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  (More tissues, please!)

I should be brief, but I have to expound on a few points. First, this started as a card, but wanted something more important, and thought I'd put it on a canvas or in a frame, but didn't have an appropriate sized one in the stash.  No time for shopping this week, uh uh! So I made a "canvas" out of a notepad back, cut and scored for the size I needed.

The focal panel begins with water color paper and Distress stains to color, then the RCDG technique was done using Tim's Wildflower image. Notice the cool drips  and drops I was able to achieve with the stains in the background.  The bird in branch is also a Tim image (I made him a bluebird to symbolize happiness), which I inked with 2 different Distress inks and stamped on tissue paper, as I needed the bird to be facing the opposite way of the stamp image.  I love this method of using my stamps to get a little more out of them.  I colored in the  bluebird's breast and wing with Distress marker and water pen after adhering and drying the tissue transfer . You'll see this same thing done on my "Things I Love" post which was where I was experimenting with the technique for this.

The flecks of white are Picket Fence Distress paint I flicked with my basting brush. The blue specks are done with my marker spritzer and Distress markers.

For my caged bird, I used the RCDG technique on parts of him--see, even though the bird is locked up in the dark cage, he still has youth and vibrancy, symbolized by the sparkle.

I used Tim's caged bird die to make 2 cages.  The background one is actually a used coffee filter (I've been saving them to make crafty things with, and my son thinks I'm nuts to do so, so I added this as a sort of tongue-in-cheek thing.) I added glue and folded it in half to get a little sturdier paper.  The outermost cage is cut from grunge paper and painted with Distress paints. I wanted to add some ribbon somewhere so I could add this to Annie's Tic Tac Toe challenge at  A Vintage Journey, but my son's not a frilly bow sort of guy.  I threaded some stained crinkle ribbon through the holes and knotted it at one end.

Now it was time to decorate the "canvas".  I gave it a coat of gesso and glued down Tim's tissue wrap, trimmed and folded over the edges, just as a real canvas.  I wiped on some Distress paints with my fingers and spritzed with water to blend. When dry, I employed the RCDG method once again using the same images to tie the water color panel into the background.

I adhered the focal panel to the background using Glue and Seal, and used white and some tinted (added Distress stain and mixed before applying) Crackle texture paste through my new Tim Holtz Flourish stencil which I won in one of his random draws.  Love it, and if you can only buy one new craft thing,  may I suggest it be this! When dry, I rubbed in some paints and stain to accentuate the cracks.

I also stenciled with crackle texture paste around the sides.

I adhered the trimmed background cage, popped up my birdie with a couple of layers of foam tape adhesive and struggled with adhering the outer cage into 3D.  I think my Wonder tape isn't so wonderful anymore. And my eyes at 2 am weren't cooperating in getting that protective layer off!  But I persevered  and was able to achieve my goal.

Now for some Idea-ology and metal embellishments.  I used alcohol inks and Distress Powder to give the arrow, brad, lock and chain all their rusty look and just alcohol inks to age the key a little.  I wanted that to remain shiny to symbolize a new life outside the cage. I attached the key with a little stained string.

I chose some of Tim's Chit Chat stickers for the sentiment and glued them on and gave them a coat of Glue and Seal.  Then outlined with Distress marker. This is a technique Tim used on his January tag, and I fell in love with it!

For Annie's Tic Tac Toe  challenge, I used Ribbon/twine, die cuts and stain.  A few other things, too, but the right hand vertical column is the only one I was able to complete.


I'm so happy you visited with me today, and I really appreciate all your sweet comments. I think I have one or two more posts before Valentine's Day if my day will slow down a little. Hugs!

Sara Emily

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

A Vintage Journey "It's Time to Play Tic Tac Toe" Ribbon, die cuts and stains used to complete one vertical line on the grid.

Studio L3 Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge #21 Rock Candy Distress Glitter

Inspiration Journal "Love is in the Air"

Country View Challenges "Drips and Drops" See my back ground.

Artist Trading Post Exchange "Love is in the Air"

The Artistic Stamper February's Creative Challenge "Love"

Craft Hoarders Anonymous February Challenge "How Do i Love Thee?"