The Love Birds...

Hello friends...

Today I'm sharing another of my Creativation 2020 makes created for Tim Holtz's Sizzix booth and this project features dies from the Chapter 1 (shipping now) and 2 release which are shipping soon and combining them with an older Alphanumeric Die, Label! Don’t forget that if you missed Tim’s Facebook Live showing this amazing release and all the fabulous projects that were made, then you can catch up with it here and you can also take a closer look at the booth, HERE!

I fell in love with these Feathered Friends as soon as I saw them, they are just such a beautiful shape, and I love the fact that they're facing one another and looking at each other. So with all this I'm mind, I decided to create a home decor project using my favourite shape of a circle and make an embroidery hoop.

To begin with I began with the hoop which I primed with a coat of gesso before drying it and adding Grit Paste to random areas of the hoop.

After allowing the paste to dry, I usually leave it overnight, I started to apply my paint layers ~ a base coat of Ground Espresso, followed by dry brushing the surface with Antiqued Bronze, Black Soot and Walnut Stain making sure that each layer of paint is thoroughly dry before adding the next one. I then applied Matte Collage Medium to the hoop to seal the painted surface, dried it and then used the Peeled Paint Distress Crayon over the top of the grit paste surface to accentuate the gnarly, crusty finish of the hoop.

Now that the hoop is finished, I moved onto the background which is created by applying a base coat of Antique Linen to the canvas card. I then cut the card into a circle that will fit behind the embroidery hoop once finished.

To add all the layers, I started by attaching torn pieces of tissue tape and applying them to the central area of the circular card. I then scraped some gesso over the taped area and once again heat dried the paint before stamping some script over the top using the stamp from the Toadstools set. To add just a hint of colour, I then took the Pumice Stone, Tumbled Glass and Weathered Wood Crayons and applied them to the taped area, blending out the colour with a damp fingertip.

To add texture to the background, first I applied some Crackle Paste, and allowed that to dry and crackle before then applying Grit Paste through the Dot Gradient Layering Stencil and once again you will need to allow for the paste to dry. To accentuate the paste and the crackles, I used the Pumice Stone Distress Crayon and applied the crayon over the top before using a water brush to create a wash over the pasted areas and allow the colour to sink into the cracks.

I attached the background to the back of the hoop with Matte Collage Medium and then added a layer of kraft card to make sure the back would look nice if it was turned around.

Now for my feathered love birds, sitting on their branch gazing at one another...

...and for this adorable couple, I used Distress Inks and Oxide Inks to colour my die cut layers of watercolour card. If there were any areas that I felt needed more colour or shading, I just applied the ink directly to my craft sheet, picking it up with a water brush and adding the colour directly to the die cut pieces. The first bird was coloured using a colour palette of brown, orange, yellow and a touch of blue on their little underbelly.

The second bird was coloured with blues, brown, oranges and yellow.

Once the birds were painted, I then used foam pads to layer them, creating dimension and added white highlights around the eyes and little dots of white and black pen to the body.

The 'branch' that the birds are sitting on is actually from the Media Marks die set, which I thought was perfect for this and I cut this three times from a piece of kraft card and layered each die cut over the top of one another to create one branch. After inking around the edges with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink, I added some gold foil highlights using Ranger Ink Foil Sheets and then attached the branch to my background, adding the birds so that they sit on top.

I then added some die cut leaves and flowers, all cut using the Funky Florals 3 die set and coloured the flowers yellow and the leaves green, adding Tonic Ebony Nuvo Crystal Drops to the centres of each little flower.

As a little extra touch, I added a Remnant Rub number just beneath the branch.

To create the hearts I used the Falling Hearts die set and cut card that I coloured with Candied Apple Distress Paint. I then attached the hearts directly to the background using Matte Collage Medium and placing them around the birds.

Once the medium was dry, I used a black charcoal pencil to add shading around each heart, blending and softening the intensity with my fingertip.

We're nearly there and all that's left is to die cut the wording that sits around the edge. For this I used the Alphanumeric Label Die to die cut black card, that has a self adhesive backing and once the letters were cut, I just attached them to my background.

As a finishing touch, I added a bow to the top so that you can hang the hoop and hand dyed some crinkle ribbon with Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap Distress Spray Stains before attaching it to my hoop, adding a piece of twine to secure it into place.

...and that completes this project, which I hope you love and have enjoyed reading about all the details of how this project came together.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today and I'll be back asap with another project from my Creativation 2020 adventure!

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Feathered Friends, Falling Hearts, Alphanumeric Label, Media Marks, Funky Floral 3
Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Gradient Dot Layering Stencil, Toadstools Stamp Set
Distress Paint: Ground Espresso, Walnut Stain, Black Soot, Antiqued Bronze, Candied Apple
Distress Spray Stains: Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap
Distress Crayons: Walnut Stain, Tumbled Glass, Weathered Wood
Distress Inks: Various Colours

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Crackle Paste, Grit Paste, White Pen, Tonic Nuvo Crystal Drops

Surfaces: Metallic Kraft Stash, Mixed Media Heavystock, Kraft Card, Canvas Cardstock from my own stash

Vintage Gold Alchemy Wax

Glass Media Mat

Heat Gun

Big Shot

Embroidery Hoop, Ranger Ink Transfer Foil Sheets Vintage and Tim Holtz Tissue Tape from my own stash