eTeam Picks Challenge ~ Flowers

Having been sick all last week, I'm a little late to the eTeam Picks party over at eclectic Paperie but not too late...the challenge is still in full swing. It's Sherry's turn to choose a theme and she picked Flowers...pun intended :) If you have ever seen any of Sherry's makes, you know that she is masterful at both creating with flowers and creating them from scratch. My friend, Paulette, is like that, too. She has the most beautiful way of combining flowers and incorporating them into her art. Me....not so much unless it's in my flowerbeds outside. That's why I decided to put my own spin on this challenge which is something that is both encouraged and  applauded at eP.

I started with this Make It Crafty digital stamp of Steampunk metallic flowers which I've had for ages but had never coloured. The colour was applied with Prismacolor pencils and then the image was fussy cut and set aside.

An 8 x 10" canvas would become the garden background for these funky flowers. The entire canvas was covered with Copper, Silver, and Gold paint dabbers in a loose and random fashion. I wasn't going for solid coverage but wanted all three colours on all four quadrants so that they would peek through when I applied the next step.

Using the TCW Mini Gears stencil, black gesso was pounced with a brush over the metallics. The stencil was rotated and allowed to go off the edges of the canvas for a more natural and pleasing look. The same process was done using The Crafter's Workshop Mini Fence Frame stencil to fill in some of the gaps between gears and change up the texture. More black gesso was applied to the bottom of the canvas below the stencilled areas.

In order to ground (no pun intended this time) the flowers and the entire canvas, a length of  metal tape used on heating ducts was embossed using a Sizzix embossing folder. I used Tim Holtz's trick of cutting the folder at the seam to allow the tape to be fed through continuously and avoid piecing shorter lengths. It worked like a charm. Once the tape was applied to the canvas bottom, watered down black acrylic paint was brushed over it for full coverage. I allowed it to dry to the touch and then used a baby wipe to remove most of the black. This left shadows where the plates apear to overlap  as well as next to the rivets and in any creases on the tape. I was going for grunginess and dimension.

A length of cheesecloth was sprayed with Dylusions Melted Chocolate spray ink and then Tattered Leather Glimmer Mist. Once dry, the cheesecloth was loosely twisted and applied over the seam where the tape met the canvas. The image was popped up on foam tape and adhered to the canvas over the cheesecloth and tape. To complete the project, large metal gears were adhered with Glossy Accents over the stencilled gears in three places (rule of threes). These are very subtle because the background is busy but they do add lovely texture, dimension, and an element of surprise when you notice them.

That's it for my response to Sherry's eTeam Picks challenge at eclectic Paperie this fortnight. Be sure to pop over to the eP blog to see Sherry's gorgeous canvas and to check out the links to the rest of the DT's amazing creations. There's still time for you to play along. We'd love to see what you create...always such a great source of inspiration for us. Thanks for joining me today... a treat to have you visit. If you are interested in more info about the products I used on this canvas, click on the links below to be magically transported to the eclectic Paperie shop.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Claudine Hellmuth Studio - Black Gesso	Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber - Metallic Silver	Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber - Metallic Copper	TCW 6x6 Template - Mini Gears	TCW 6x6 Template - Mini Fence Frame
Dylusions Ink Spray - Melted Chocolate	Inkssesentials - Glossy Accents 2 oz.