Anything But Cute Mixed Media Challenges - #3 Summer Romance

Hello Everybody!

First a huge thank you to everyone who entered our Make it Masculine challenge last month. I was just so blown away by the amazing projects you all made! Such a wonderful variety of creations and each one of them was incredible!! Be sure to join us next Tuesday when all the winners are announced!

It's time for a new challenge and this month the wonderful and super talented Samra is the hostess and she has chosen the theme SUMMER ROMANCE. Lots more details in a minute, but first here is my make.

For this challenge, Samra would love to see projects with a romantic theme a beach/sea theme or both, BUT they must be strongly inspired by the colours of the mood board. For this challenge you MUST display our graphics badge in your post along with our blog name and challenge link.

I built the frame out of dowel pieces and covered them with DecoArt crackle paste for texture. A few spritzes of distress ink spray Scattered Straw and Gathered Twigs for colour. It is hard to tell in most of the shots, but the top layer of dowels is slightly offset from the bottom layer, creating a more angled effect. I used some twine to tie them together, I was thinking of a raft for this part.

The fence is made from busted up popsicle sticks and attached with some wire that I coated with Vintage Photo distress embossing powder to make it look rusted. Some crackle paint and Gathered Twigs to age the wood pieces. The sign says "beach", it's sort of hard to read.

All of the shells and starfish are real, the sand dollars that I ordered, although I it was too late for my monochromatic anniversary card, so I put them to good use here instead! haha! The wooden piece is a memento from a vacation I took many moons ago, it's a nice reminder for me since this frame will sit on my shelf in the craft room.

HOW DID I DO THAT??

- for the sand, I used a brown piece of card stock which I crumpled up and then painted random spots with Tan DecoArt Crafter's Acrylics paint. I covered it with Golden Crackle Paste (a very unique product, unlike any other paste I have tried).

- after the paste dried, which I left overnight, I spayed it with Gathered Twigs distress stain. Light in some areas and darker in others to create a more natural look.

- for the water, I crumpled up a bunch of strips of white card stock and glued them onto a piece of a pizza box and added in some cheesecloth between the layers. I made a mixture of Re-Harvested Pete Plastic, Thick Gesso from Liquitex and some Clear Gloss Gel. I layered this through my papers.

- some dribbles of Ecoline #522 in the low areas for a darker tone in the waves.

- I spritzed some Tumbled Glass on the higher areas and then a light shower of a white wash in a spray bottle to mute the colours a bit. Lastly I brushed with Mod Podge and sprinkled with some clear chunky glass glitter for some nice shimmery waves. Voilà!!

Here are a couple close ups of the waves. I hope you will zoom in and have a look at how much fun these are! The birds are stamped with an Inkadinkado set and I coloured them with Inktense pencils.

I am entering my beach frame into the following wonderful challenges:

- That Craft Place Ltd. - Anything Goes Mixed Media

- Rubber Dance Art Stamps - July Colour Challenge
- Stamps and Stencils - July Challenge - Happy Holidays

    

- Beyond Grey Challenges - July #70 - Dimensional Project

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.