GDT for Creative Artiste Mixed Media Nov Challenge – Autumn Teapot

**THERE WILL BE TWO POSTS FROM ME TODAY. THIS IS THE FIRST POST OF TWO**

Hello friends and happy November! The weather has finally decided to give us a bit of a cool down and it feels more like that Autumn Season right now. We’ve been waiting on some rain as it’s been dry and then the wind blew in some cool with it too! I always like to give Autumn it’s “due justice” as it never seems to have a spotlight as much I think it should.

I’m very excited to share a mixed media project I made for a guest design spot (that I had won a top spot from a previous challenge). I was asked to join this month as a guest designer for the Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge Blog!

The theme for these monthly challenges is always “Anything Goes Mixed Media“. So be sure to check out the wonderful inspiration from the team and share your mixed media project over there! I look forward to seeing your inspiring makes!

I’m always excited when I have an “excuse or reason” to get out all of my mixed media things and play around to make something! I thought since it was November, it would be a great time to pull out the Autumn media:

I made this fun center/accent piece for Autumn and pulled out the cool Finnebair rusty metal teapot from my shelf to finally decorate on! It actually looks pretty cool by itself, but I had to add some other details to it that I thought would make it my own.

For the base: The only thing that was missing for me was a “handle” for my teapot and I went through my husbands things and found an old metal coat hook that I had him screw onto the side. I also had some extra pieces laying around from the molds I made with resin, so I attached those along the frame opening with 3D matte gel. I wanted to also add some texture to my teapot and that’s where I added some crackle paste in various areas…all of these things had to dry for quite some time. It didn’t look pretty at that point as those pieces were white. LOL The “hurry up and wait” had begun.

After the long drying time: I started by covering the entire thing with two layers of black gesso so that all of those white areas were completely covered up. I pulled out some acrylic paints in Raw Umber, Burnt Orange and very light touch of Marigold. I started with the darkest color first and did not use a brush to apply the layers. Instead, I used a sponge after each layer was dry. I very lightly and sparingly used the yellow. I even went back in with the Burnt Orange and Raw Umber to get the look I was wanting.

After all of the painting, I used more of the 3D matte gel and wrapped some jute/rope around the top handle.

Going to the right side of the teapot, you can see where I’ve added all of that crackle paste and the painting that I’ve done over it. The only thing missing at this point was the “highlights” to make it look like a found rusty metal teapot. Since it was Autumn themed, I pulled out the Finnebair Vintage Gold Wax and rubbed over the raised areas with my finger. You can see the look it gives over the paste and decorative molds around the frame and even the raised “dots” along the top of the teapot.

Moving over to the left side of the teapot, you can see where I’ve screwed in the metal hook to the side of the teapot. I just incorporated the silver screws with the design by adding paint. I told my husband that I thought it looked cool to turn the coat hook up-side-down as it looked more like a handle.

And now if we take a closer look to the inside of the teapot frame, you will see an Autumn scene in there. The back of the teapot comes out so you can decorate how you’d like. I know it’s a bit hard to see in the photo, but I found some leafy background paper to attach over the metal backing and I also splattered some gold paint over it.

For the bottom of the teapot, I attached some woodland moss mixture with 3D matte gel and also used it to attach the gold splattered gourds, eucalyptus, a wood slice, a cardboard squirrel, sticks and some acorns. I also went around the outside areas to attach some Fall leaves and more acorns. The only thing I didn’t have in my stash were the acorns and sticks. My husband said that he could get them for free…and of course he went to our local park and picked them up! LOL So those are the only “real” things on my teapot.

I had thought about maybe adding some fairy lights inside at the top so the inside would be more visible, but not sure if I would like that or not…what do you think?

And in case you might want to know, the measurement of the teapot are 12″ across (including the added metal coat hook), 8″ tall and about 3.5″ in depth. I currently have it sitting in my cabinet at home.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my mixed media teapot! I would love to see your mixed media project as well if you play along with us this month at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog!

Thanks so much for stopping in! Stay tuned as I will have another post coming up in a couple of hours!

Challenges: (if this project doesn’t fit with your challenge, just delete.)

Ally’s Angels – #87 Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create – October Anything Goes with optional: lots of leaves (Fall/Spring)
Dragonfly Dreams – October Anything but a Card
Krafty Chicks – #740 Anything Goes
Classic Design – #10-2024 Anything Goes with optional twist: Anything but a card
The Creative Crafters – #81 Anything Goes

Choose to be Grateful for Crafty Chefs

Hello friends! I hope that you’re having a wonderful week so far! The weekend is here, but it sure has been a beautiful couple of days this week with sunny and warm days so hubby and I were able to go out to walk around a bit before the snow starts hitting us!

Something that is great to go out in nature to see are the critters with the birds and the silly squirrels…we have them EVERYWHERE! They’re busy gathering and burying their food for wintertime around here. My thoughts turned to the Simon Says Stamp “Big Thanks Autumn” November card kit (sold out, but not papers) as I love all things Fall/Autumn and this card kit with those beautiful papers spoke to me and I wanted to create with it to make my project for this month’s Crafty Chef’s Group recipe from our lovely friend Meg’s recipe:

There were some blue colored A2 card bases already cut and scored inside the kit, so I used one for my side folding card base here and then layered a dark brown cardstock piece from the kit as well as a piece of copper mirrored cardstock which was then layered over a piece of the decorative papers (I mentioned above) in the kit, which is also where the critter, mushrooms and leaves images came from on this card.

The leafy background paper was cut from a MFT Wonky Stitched Rectangle Die and then I took a strip of the copper mirrored cardstock across the bottom third of the layered pieces and also added some twine wrapped around the bottom of the layers before popping them up with craft foam over the card base. I die cut a branch from a die in my stash and then fussy cut the images out from the papers included in the kit which were glued or popped up with foam squares over the panel. I sponged some Tea Stain Distress Ink around the edges of these pieces before attaching.

Lastly, I’ve taken one of the sentiments from the sentiment strips sheet included in the kit and ran it through my laminator with a piece of copper Deco Foil. (I think that is a cool way to add a little extra something to those sentiments.) I made a banner out of it, sponged it with some of the ink I used for the images and popped it up over the leafy background piece with foam tape.

Here’s a closer look at the critters I’ve cut out and how I’ve arranged and popped some of them up to create my scene. There was also a very pretty SSS Autumn Sequins Mix included in the kit, and I took some of those and added it to the layout and then filled the centers with some gold Stickles glue.

For the Crafty Chef’s recipe that was given, here’s what I MUST use:

Mirror cardstock
3 layers or more
ribbon (I hope my twine counts!)
image of garden visitors (birds, hedgehogs, etc)

CAN do items:

Sparkle/Glitter (I used sequins and Stickles)
pearls/gems (I did not use) *passed onto next chef.
dry embossing (I did not use)

There is a new recipe given for each month and no pressure to follow along or even when you want to follow along and play…which is great and I’m happy to be able to use up some of the goodies from my stash (NEW AND OLD) and just have fun with it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my creation today as well and I will be seeing you all again soon! Thanks so much for stopping in today friend, as I’m very grateful for you!

Challenges:

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – Anything Goes + animal(s)
Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal(s)
Creatalicious – #199 Anything Goes optional Autumn/Thanksgiving
The Paper Girls – #212 Thankful/Grateful
The Divas That Cut Paper – Thanks or Thanksgiving
A Bit More Time to Craft – #128 Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – #146 Anything Goes
QKR Stampede – #408 Anything Goes

It’s Autumn at Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends! Thank you for joining me! I hope you’re all having a wonderful week so far! It’s a tad bit warmer than what I’d like to see it be in September for sure, so I’m hoping it cools down soon!

Today starts a new challenge this week for Cute Card Thursday. This week we’d like to see your “Autumn” creations. We look forward to seeing what you create for it!

Here’s what I’ve made using one of our sponsor’s images:

Vicki-CCT599-ADU

This little squirrel is so sweet and I love how the tail on him was designed! This is called “Bushy Tail” from All Dressed Up. They’re sponsoring the challenge this week, so please be sure to play along for a chance to win!

I’ve dug out some papers from my Autumn stash of papers and picked some out that I thought would go with this image. I layered a strip over a 5″ square piece of dark gray cardstock that I embossed with a leaf embossing folder that I was finally able to use! I sponged a bit of white ink over the raised areas.

I also took some score tape and ran it down the center of the card and added some glitter over it and burnished it in. The image panel was popped up over the card with foam tape. I added some twine around each corner of the image panel along with a bow that I’ve placed a pearl in the center.

Here’s a closer look at the squirrel image that I’ve colored in with Copic markers. I wanted to keep the squirrel looking a bit softer, so I’ve used some lighter colors.

During the fall is a good time to view all of the squirrels running around our yard trying to burry their nuts. We seem to find them in silly places sometimes as they save them for later! LOL!

I die cut the image with a scalloped square die and sponged around the edges with some Pumice Stone Distress Ink and layered it over a piece of the dark gray and then layered it again over a piece of kraft cardstock.

Vicki-CCT599-ADU-flat

Thanks so much for stopping by and I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges:

All Dressed Up Challenge – Anything Goes + ADU image #96
Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
Allsorts – Autumn
Crafty Friends – Autumn Colors
Creative Moments – Anything Goes with optional Fall Colors
Sunday Stamps – SSC213 “Autumn Whisper” colors

It’s a Mouth-Full!

Hello friends! I’m back with you again to share another fun image from the Whimsy Stamps September Digital Release!

Vicki-NutsAboutYou-Sept4

This guy is so stinkin’ CUTE and I really had fun coloring this one! 🙂 I thought this was a great image to use any time of the year really and a cute idea for also a “new home” themed card. I have used the So Nuts About Home Digital Stamp.

After coloring the image, I went around the edges with some distress ink using my ink foam blending tool. Mounted that onto a black layer and popped it up over the card design with some craft foam. I die cut a leaf from kraft cardstock and used some more distress inks with the ink foam blending tool to give it a bit of color. I then added some sparkle with some Ranger Vintage Platinum glitter and a clear shimmer brush pen. I curled the edges a bit and attached it over the image panel in the corner.

For the background of my card, I have used the new Autumn Beauty digital papers released this month. You can see a bit peeking out, but it really doesn’t do justice to the papers…they’re really gorgeous! I’ve layered them onto a piece of glitter cardstock that was cut along the edge with a scallop border die and then I lined it all up along the right side of my card base. I’ve added a piece of burlap ribbon and a button with a twine bow on the lower portion of the card before adding my image panel to it.