Crafty Boots GDT - Remembrance

Hello Everyone!

Today I am here as a Guest Designer for the wonderful challenge blog Crafty Boots. When the lovely and talented Dionne contacted me and asked me to be a Guest Designer, I was honoured. When she told me the theme is REMEMBRANCE, I just knew I wanted to do something special for my Mom.

When I was five years old, the farmhouse we lived in burnt to the ground and we lost everything. My Mom always tells me, of all the things they lost in the fire, the loss she felt the most were the photographs of me as a child. There were no digital cameras back then, no Facebook pages, no cell phone cameras and no internet cloud to retrieve photos from. Every single photo she had of me was lost that day.

I have collected some copies of photos from extended family and put together in this frame, so my Mom will have something to remember my childhood. I hope you like my make!

I really wish I had taken a shot of this frame before I started working on it, it was horrible! It was shiny, it was red, orange and brown and it had the worst retro geometric pattern...ICK...straight out of the 70's!!

First I sanded the shine off so my products would stick. I used Mod Podge and wrinkled tissue paper to make the base texture. I used two different Prima stencils and some home made texture paste to add some flowers and flourishes. When that dried, I applied a layer of Rock Candy Crackle paint in various areas. Then the fun part began!

Tim Holtz stains Gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain, Tim Holtz sprays Antique Linen and Vintage Photo, DecoArt Paints Burnt Umber, Cinnamon Brown, White Wash, Bright Yellow, Flesh. All I can really tell you is that I added some of this and some of that until I liked what I was looking at. Lots and lots of dabbing, rubbing and spraying!

Lastly, I used a Rubbernecker crackle stamp to add some darker cracks in the areas that I missed with the crackle paint.

Guess what??? I got a new flower die set! WOOHOO! The peach flower here was made from my new Joy Crafts flower die and coloured with Tim Holtz Dried Marigold. The two smaller flowers are also from two other Joy Crafts flower die sets and they were coloured with Hero Arts Soft Blossom and Tim Holtz Wild Honey. The leaves are from La La Land.

The butterfly is an exclusive Frantic Stamper die. I covered it with clear crackle paint and then coloured it with distress paints and rubbed Gathered Twigs into the cracks to accent them and it looked fantastic, BUT...it was so flimsy from the workout, I was afraid it would be too fragile, so I added a layer of UTEE. Unfortunately, the UTEE masked the wonderful texture I had achieved. Sad face!! Lesson learned, next time I will add the UTEE to the back of the butterfly so it doesn't affect the appearance.

Some of my Mom's favourite accents...pearls and butterflies!

I am entering my frame into the following wonderful challenges:

- Artist Trading Post - Stencil Mania (stamps used - crackle stamp for texture and a sentiment stamp set)

- The ABC Challenge - X is for Xtra Special

- Allsorts Challenge Blog - Week #285 - Anything But A Card
- The Crazy Challenge - #184 - Your Favorite Technique
( I love the tissue paper technique, it's a great way to add texture while covering up existing patterns)
- Fussy and Fancy - Challenge #127 - Pairs or Two of a Kind
( I have 2 peach flowers, 2 pink flowers, 2 yellow flowers, 2 decorative pins, 2 wired bead sprays and 2 butterflies)

- Country View Challenges - November - Bugs, Bees and Butterflies

- Altered Eclectics - November Challenge - Anything Goes
- Eclectic Ellapu - November Purple Team - Leaves and Foliage

That's it for today. Thank you for stopping in and for all the amazing comments. I read and appreciate every single one! If you have any questions, please let me know.