Awake

Hello, everyone!  I'm so happy to have you join me today.  I so appreciate your visits and the visits of those of you who are new to my blog!

Well, we're still waiting for Spring here in the Mid-Atlantic so I decided to just create it in my studio!  Last week, after another bout of sub-freezing temperatures I worked on this wall hanging to lift my spirits. 

 

 

It started with a piece of cardstock from Prima.  I've loved this paper since I found it and so decided to use it as the basis for an early spring project.  The new Tim stamp set, Bird Feather, has become a new favorite of mine!  I love the nest stamp and the feather.  So, I started by stamping the nest and water coloring it lightly.  Then I used the feather stamp in various places.  The bird and branch die seemed like perfect choice to add and I cut both out of kraft core paper and sanded them lightly.  Using the printers' block letters from TH, I painted and distressed the letters for "awake" using Bundled Sage and Tea Dye Distress Paints.  I then inked the edges with Vintage Photo DI. 

 

Once everything was in place I dry brushed white gesso over it to meld the different elements and sprayed it with Biscotti Perfect Pearls mist to give it the effect of an early spring morning.  I attached it to a sheet of corrugated cardboard which I had painted with gesso.  The wire hanger finishes it off.

 

 

Here are some details.  Excuse the poor photos but the weather hasn't been cooperating in the sunlight department lately!

 

 

 

 

 

So there you have it.  Another attempt at coaxing Spring to arrive soon!  Thank you for joining me today.  I really love having you stop by and your lovely comments are so greatly appreciated.  Have a wonderful day!



 

 





A Spring Tussy-Mussy

 

 

Hello everyone!  I'm so happy to have you visiting today.  It's another gloomy cold early spring day here.  This has been the winter that doesn't want to go away.  I'm so anxious to get out in the garden and have some nice warm sunshine to work under.  Eventually that will happen but I'm so impatient for it to happen now!  My impatience manifested itself in this spring tussy-mussy that I spent a few days late this past week making.  Using Authentique's spring paper line and a die I hadn't used before I sat in my studio and worked on spring!!

 

 



 

 

 

Part of the reason I decided to rush spring along was the newest challenge over at the 

the Frilly and Funkie blog.   It's called Neglected Dies and this cone die has been neglected!!  I love cones and when Sizzix brought out this Brenda Walton die,  Faceted Cone, I bought it.  I was going to use it for Christmas cones.  Never happened.  Then I was going to make Valentine cones but those didn't happen either.  Long story short the die sat on the shelf with the other dies and never was used.  Enter the Frilly and Funkie challenge.  I was determined to use that die!  So, everything came together, my desire to use the die, rush spring and the challenge.  And, it worked out just fine!  I really like the die and perhaps now I'll think about using it more often. 

 

I love Authentique's new spring papers and so I decided to use them for the cone.  After I put the cone together and glued on the bottom contrasting paper  I covered a wooden bead with glue and rolled it in Victorian Velvet Distress Glitter  then glued it to the bottom of the cone.   I used a filigree piece that Linda Coughlin generously included in an order (thanks, Linda!) with a Kaisercraft resin flower glued to the center to decorate the front of the cone.  Using the Tattered Florals die and the Garden Greens die, I cut flowers and greenery to fill the cone.  The rose was rolled around a tooth pick and the other flowers had small holes punched in the centers with tooth picks glued into them.  I used a small piece of dry floral foam and inserted the tooth picks into it.  Then I glued 30 gauge Artistic wire to the backs of the leaves so they could be shaped to drape over the edge of the cone and the leaves could be shaped to look more natural.  I attached tooth picks to the bottoms of the those pieces and added them to the foam.  It was easier to make an arrangement with the foam in hand rather than in the cone.  After everything was in place I glued the foam inside the cone.  Once the glue had dried I shaped the wired greenery so it would look natural.   A narrow pink gingham ribbon run though the holes in the top of the cone provided a hanger.  Spring has sprung!!! In paper at least!

 

Here are some details.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you like my little touch of spring!   I hung it in my kitchen window so I could enjoy it while outside my window things are looking a little bleak.    I'm going to enter this in the challenge over at the Frilly and Funkie blog.   Check out all the fantastic entries over there. 

 

Thank you so much for visiting today.  I hope you have a wonderful Sunday and a great week.