Spring in a Drawer

Hello, crafty friends!  I have a spring do here for you today.  Not a canvas, not a journal page, not a card...I  don't know what you would call it.  I found this little drawer in a beat up old desk left at the curb for the trash collector.  The desk looked interesting, but it was far too big for my car, so I took the one tiny drawer that was in it.

I have a little story to go with my artwork today.  Spring has sprung here in my little corner of the world, and I'm pining away for my old gardening job.  I was let go last summer when I had foot surgery, and I think that was the saddest moment in my life so far.  The gardens where I worked are lovely.  They are privately owned and sit on the waterway.  One of my jobs was to feed the swans, the koi fish, and the birds.  I also tended the perennial garden, but there were some not so glamorous parts of my job, too.  Every spring I had to get the rust from the well water and mildew off the what seemed like endless miles of white brick wall. (I have a secret product if you have the same problem with rust.) The worst of it was by the fountain in a little courtyard, where it stays damp. There is a window near that fountain that looks just like mine. So my project today is inspired by the bittersweet loss of the best job I ever had and the beautiful gardens I worked in.  I took it outside to my own garden to photograph.

I started my project just this morning, so although I'm pleased with the outcome, there are several things I had to "cheat" on. One of these is my crackle.  No time to wait for the "good" medium to dry, so I had to do some crackle stamping (Prima) on my corrugate background (box from our new toaster). The cracks and dark stamped bricks (Prima) were heat embossed using Chic Camo Embossing Powder mixed with embossing puffs. Distress inks, stains, crayons, DecoArt media paints, bead gel, and cinnamon and coffee were used to make my background on a piece of corrugate board painted with gesso. For details on how I made my faux rust, please visit my post Rusted Porcelain.

The focal piece is watercolor paper onto which I stenciled bricks using a homemade stencil, texture paste and Easter Parade embossing powder.  When the paste dried, I heat embossed the powder. I used Distress crayons and stains to paint the "wall".

Although it's very blurry I added this shot to show the tiny bit of shimmer I was able to pick up with the camera.  The Easter Parade powder has bits of glitter in it, and it really sparkles in real life.  Love this stuff!

The window frame is chipboard I picked up at a yard sale.  It is painted with Ground Expresso Distress paint, and I used DecoArt Weathered Wood for the fine cracks. Titanium white show off the cracks.  The panel behind the frame is vintage book paper, and I threw a dozen or so products at it until I was happy with look. I do know I used my new Distress Crazing Collage Medium, but it didn't have much of an effect.  I must do some research to find out how this stuff works.

My lace bit is vintage, and I gave it a hint of color with Distress crayons and stains and cut it out to look like a flowering vine.

The flowers are Nicole Wright's awesome design Fallen Blossom.  I was wanting to debut them on another project, but I couldn't resist using just a few of the blooms here!  The are stamped on vintage book paper colored with Wilted Violet Distress spray stain and fussy cut. I centered them with my Recollections white pen. The die cut foliage is by Tattered Lace. The teensy butterflies are brads from Emerald Creek, which is where I picked up my embossing powders and Nicole's beautiful stamps. I colored them with Silks Acrylic glaze.

That's all for today...getting into one of my favorite challenges just under the deadline!

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

Emerald Creek Dares Ring in Spring!

A Vintage Journey Contents of Travel Bag Metal butterflies.

Altered Eclectics March

Mixed Media World MMW#12 Vintage

Mixed Media Place March Dream On Inspired by the butterfly, the arched branch, the mauve/blues, the glitter.

Happy Little Stampers March Challenge Water I used lots of water to blend my colors, and I could here the water of the fountain, which is the place that inspired my work.

Creative Carte Blanche #2 Triple Trouble I had to laugh when I read three things that don't go together...to me, the go very well together.  My metal are the butterflies. The flowering vine is cut from a lace trim.

Word Art Wednesday Challenges Weeks #222-223 Anything Goes
My Sheri Crafts Challenge # 177 Spring Fever

The Artistic Stamper Creative Challenge March 2016 Springtime (2nd entry) Stamps: Nicole Wright, Prima

Thank you so much for dropping in today and for your lovely comments!  I read and appreciate each and every one.  Please let me know if you have any questions...I didn't go into much detail on my process this time.

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily