More birds!

Are you sick of all of my bird projects yet?  Well, I'm sorry.  But I'm just getting started!  I wanted nothing more than to sleep in today because I have a big day tomorrow (Sunday) and during the week I'm up pretty early.  But of course I was wide awake at 5:30am thinking of all of the projects I wanted to work on today because I declared it Craft Day.  So what did I make?  More bird projects!  In fact, I made two pieces of wall art and one table top piece that sits on a miniature easel.  

Project Number I:  Journey on the Wings of Faith!

 This is a 6"x6" in canvas.  I basically cut 1" squares and then glued them onto the canvas.  I then covered all of the squares with Mod Podge just to give it a good seal and keep the paper from tearing.  While that was drying I drew several ravens and cut them out to use as stencils.  I placed the stencil on the canvas and outlined it with black paint and then filled it with black paint.  I allowed it to dry and then took a wet paper towel and rubbed different parts of the bird to make it semi-transparent.

My last step was adding the words using stamps, paint, and alphabet stencils.  The words "wings of faith" are from the new art journaling set by Maya Road.  Didn't I say you needed that set of stamps?  :)  The heart was made with polymer clay.  This canvas sold the minute I posted it.  

Project Number II:  Hands are for shaking, not tying. 

This is a 6"x6" canvas.  I basically repeated the process with all of these pieces.  I did a lot more stamping on this one.  These words are from the song "Fell on Black Days" by Soundgarden.  This is probably one of my favorite lines ever.  The actual words are "So don't you lock up something that you wanted to see fly.  Hands are sharking, no, not tying."  Isn't that powerful?  Sometimes it's difficult to let someone go.  But if you truly love them, you want to see them soar, you want them to succeed.  And maybe they can't succeed with you...so why hold on?  Why tie their hands?  And why tie your own hands?  

I love this one so much I almost don't want to let it go.  But if it will inspire someone other than myself, then I want to see it fly!  

Project Number III:  Journey on the Wings of Faith! 

Here is another piece with the same message.  However, this is not canvas!  This is actually a 4.5" x 4.5" piece of wood.  This one will be sold with this cute little black easel so that it can be displayed on a table top , window sill, etc.  

This piece is .25" wide.  It's slender and small but still packs a punch of emotion and good feeling.  This project and project no. 2 will be available in my Etsy shop in the coming days.  Stay tuned!

I hope you enjoyed my projects.  I am really enjoying this surge of creativity!  Tomorrow I will get to explore my visual art --I haven't picked up my camera since December so I hope I'm not too rusty.  I will be working on an artistic shoot for Valentine's Day.  More details to come.  Until next time...peace, love, and wishing this day had more hours.  

Don't Stop Believing

I made this canvas for a coworker who inspired me yesterday.  First of all, she also likes birds.  Secondly, she is going through a tough time.  Her husband has undergone a stem cell procedure as he has very aggressive cancer.  She has remained hopeful and has kept a smile on her face from the beginning.  I have to truly admire that.  “Belief is a beautiful armor; it makes for the heaviest swords…”

I first Mod Podged the white 8x10 canvas.  Then I applied tissue by 7gypsies.  I let it dry a bit and then applied Mod Podge over the tissue to seal it.  While that dried I embossed the word “Believe” on paper.  I cut the letters in strips to make them fit in the frame and also shortened the word to “Belief”.  Since the word was embossed, it was easy to convert one of the E’s to an F.  Other minor details include:

• Stamp scrolls by Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous on the bird.
• Outline the bird with a pen – I used a white gel pen.
• Apply gold pain to chipboard crown – I used Maya Road Chipboard.
• Dab black acrylic paint onto photo frame. 

 

Once the canvas dried I dabbed black acrylic paint to the edges and then smeared it around with my finger tips.

 

I adhered the key to the photo frame with a glue gun and also adhered the flowers (these are by Prima) to the frame with hot glue.

 

My last step was adhering the scrapbook paper with the word belief onto the canvas with glue and then I hot glued the frame over it so that the frame was glued directly onto the canvas.

Pretty simple, but very fab!

Fearless

Each Design Team Member was given a few items and asked to create something that defines their "style".  I decided to incorporate vintage elements because as you know by now, it's my thing.  My theme is Fearless.  I think even when I am fearful; I have to show the world that deep within myself I can muster up courage to propel myself forward.  When the going gets tough, I may cower down for a second but before you know it I am back up on my two feet and kicking some serious ass.  :)  So this is a tribute to my style and my attitude.

A little bit about this piece...I love old books.  Not so much to read them but I love to incorporate them into my work.  So I pulled the cover off of an old geography book from the early 1900's to use as a base for my work.

I purchased this little frame for a dollar at Michael's a while back.  I love vintage looking frames.  I just peeled off the back side and adhered it to the book cover with hot glue.  The paper inside of the frame is from the new kraft paper line by Tim Holtz.  The stamp is also Tim's --it reads "What if your FEARS and DREAMS exist in the same place, would you still go there?  The dangling chandelier piece (can't be seen below but can be seen above) is brand new from Maya Road.

The chipboard scroll is by Maya Road.  Like any other chipboard it is sold bare.  I dabbed "Vintage Photo" distress ink by Ranger/Tim Holtz.  Then I outlined the scroll using a black pen.  The cream colored calendar sheer is by Maya Road and it's one of the elements that was sent to me by the store.  The word "FEARLESS" was made with stickers by October Afternoon.  The black bird is a stamp by Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous.  I first stamped the bird on the sheer using "Staz-On" in black.  Then I stamped the same image on kraft paper.  I cut the image out and positioned a pop-dot behind it and then adhered it over the samped image.  I did not bother to cut the legs out of the image on the kraft paper --that's too much detailed work.  That's why I first stamped it on the sheer.  Make sense?  The photo is on a mat that I made using Kraft paper as well.   

For those of you that have never worked with chipboard, it looks like this:

You can dress it up in so many ways...with paint, paper, mists, inks, etc.  What I did with the chipboard flower shown here is 1) Inked it up with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, 2) I stamped over it, and 3) I embossed it with clear Ultra Thick Embossing powder (UTE).  Doing that will make your embellishment look like a neat epoxy sticker.  :)  As far as the flower on top of the chipboard - I think it's probably by Prima.  Again, I dabbed Vintage Photo Distress Ink then I filled the center with Glossy Accents and then dropped the mini ---hmmm, whatever those are in the center.

As far as the little goodies here...well, the calendar, license plates, and numbers are by Tim Holtz.  The buttons are chipboard and those are by Graphic 45.  The trinket star is by Maya Road.  And the flowers are by Prima.  Notice that I used the same technique on the smaller chipboard flower that I used on the larger chipboard flower (distress ink, stamp, and emboss with UTE).  A little bit about the significance of some of these items.  First of all I was born on Wednesday, January 26 1977 (hence the two 7's).  The word "Yes!" is the answer to the question in the frame.  The Texas plate is self explanatory, I'm a Texas Girl!  Texas born, Texas Raised, Texas Proud, Texas till I die!  The Tennessee plate is a testament to so much of who I am today.  I moved to TN years ago --away from my family to a place I had never been, where I knew no one but my ex-husband.  Was I scared?  Yes.  But I did it anyway with all of the confidence that I had in me.  I endured two years of hell away from my family being married to an abusive man but as I walked away from TN, I was braver than I had ever been. 

Thanks for looking, my friends.