WOYWW #777

Happy 'What's on Your desk Wednesday!'  WOYWW

This is my first contribution to the blog, that I came across the other day, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I craft at my kitchen table - its a good space with plenty of natural light and I just bring down what I need to craft with, which is normally in a draw or box that I can just stick on the table or floor. My mess is kept at the end of the table which is big enough....sometimes ha ha.

So, I decided to make a gothic arch for an ethereal Spring challenge on Gecko Galz this month. I die cut my arch from card to make a substrate and then  gave it a coat of gesso.

With a small pallet knife, I scrapped  some sand texture paste across my arch. Then  I mixed a little acrylic paint and kept dabbing until my arch started looking a bit aged and rusty, drying in between the layers.

I then dry brushed with some grey acrylic paint - well gesso mixed with some black acrylic to dull it down a little. 

Next it got a spritz of frozen  toffee pretty pearl spray and then I edged the arch with rose gold wax. I was quite happy with how it turned out and told myself that i could leave it alone now!I 

I want a transparent background on my arch, so I think I will find some rice paper in my draw to stick on the back of my arch.

I had made a batch of my cogs up a while ago. They were die cut from soup carton packaging and then I'd added some sand mixed into my acrylic paint. They were finally edged in copper wax.

I have a fairy image which will be my focal piece for my project and I'll then start adding all my embellishments.

I'm quite a slow crafter and some projects can take me a while to finish but hopefully I will crack on to finish this little one off.

Where I sit is also perfect for me to look into my garden, the other place I prefer to spend my time. It's small and wildlife friendly and a lot easier for me to tend to these days - a haven for me.

We've got some robins nesting in our bird box again this year so hopefully we'll see them fledge in May, which is a lovely sight.

Have a great day,  whatever you have planned for yourself 

Gothic Arch - Butterfly Entomology

 My first gothic arch for a group swap with the theme of "wings".  I used TIm Holtz distress oxide inks for the background and Crafty Notions fusible film and angelina fibres to make the butterflies for my Butterfly entomology gothic arch.

 

I used a piece of kraft card measuring  6  x  4 inches, shaped into an arch.

Tim Holtz distress oxides in:- wild honey, twisted citron, antique linen and lucky clover.

I gradually layered up my colours until I got the mottled background that I was looking for.

I decided to use a combination of the following stamps to background stamp my card:- 

Visible Image music on, world off  (ink splat)  & mesh-ellaneous  (distressed mesh)

wooden block red rubber border stamp

wooden block red rubber stitched square stamp

I found some info on butterflies which I printed onto cream paper and aged the torn edges with a little Tim Holtz vintage photo distress ink.  This will make my centre topper for the arch. I also used some button (slightly translucent) washi tape and some gift wrap twine.

I used the stitched square block to stamp onto parchment paper using memento ink. These will form the plaques the butterflies will sit on.

Now the base for my entomology gothic arch has been put together, adding 4 enamel embellishments, all that's missing is the butterflies.

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To make the butterflies I used some red rubber butterfly stamps (I think these were by Crafty Individuals), Crafty Notions fusible film in crystal aurora, angelina fibres in raspberry sparkle and a piece of baking parchment.

First I inked my stamp with jet black stazon ink and placed a layer of the fusible film onto the stamp.  Be careful not to move the film around and smudge the inked stamp.

Add some fusible fibres and and place another layer of the film on top. Alternatively, make a sandwich of the film and fibres first and then place it on your inked stamp.

Place your folded baking  parchment on top and using a warm iron ( I have a small iron I use just for crafting) press down for 5 seconds, lift an repeat, rather than running the iron along the stamp as you don't want to smudge your embedded image.  This process is a bit of trial and error to gauge what works for you, so have a bit of a play first before creating your project.

I kept checking to see how well my butterfly film and fibres were fusing together whilst using the iron. As I wanted a more translucent look on the butterfly wings I only used a a small amount of the fibres, spreading them out between the film.

I cut my butterflies out and layered them up, using a little pinflair glue gel to stick them together in the centre.  When the light hits them you get all the colours of the rainbow in an iridescent glow.

I used some pinflair glue gel to stick my butterflies onto my gothic arch.  Im really happy with the outcome.

Adding this project to the That's Crafty - Spring into action challenge

Also the Mix It Up - ATG with a twist - create your own background

And  Creative Artiste - ATG Mixed Media

Happy Crafting