A Vintage Journey - Spring Is In The Air

Welcome to a new challenge with A Vintage Journey. This month our challenge is "Spring is in the air" hosted by Sandy.

This is what Sandy had to say about her challenge:

"Leave those winter blues behind.  Make anything that says SPRING using pastel colors. It is your choice, a card, canvas, 3D or a tag, etc. but remember it should be in one of the vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journaling; industrial or steampunk styles that we favour".

Whenever I think of Spring my mind always turns to my garden; fresh new growth, new shoots, frogs, birds and of course the Spring sunshine. With this in mind I was inspired to use a bird in some way in my artwork and Tim Holtz Bird Silhouette fitted the bill perfectly.

I began with a piece of corrugated card measuring 6" square which I coated with Gesso. I love working with corrugated card; one it is recycled from packaging and adds a fabulous natural touch and feel to any design.

I knew I wanted a random painted backdrop so I opted to use my Distress Paints beginning with Picked Raspberry, which I added to a non-stick craft sheet, spirtzed with water and then mopped up the paint with my card and then dried with a heat tool and then repeated the same process with the remainder of the paint.

My second layer of colour is Squeezed Lemonade, again added to a non-stick craft sheet and mopped up with the corrugated card, drying each layer in between applications.

Third layer is Broken China Distress Paint. I love how all the colours blend beautifully together.

Now it is time to add more detail to the background. I began with Tim Holtz Stripes Layering Stencil; applying Broken China Distress Ink directly to the stencil.

Spritz the stencil lightly with water.

Place the inked Layering Stencil onto the painted background and dab with a piece of kitchen towel.

The stencilling is subtle but it does add a further layer of interest to the design.

Apply Picked Raspberry Distress Paint to a lid and then stamp the lid onto the background and dry with a heat tool.

Continue adding painted circles to the background using Picked Raspberry and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Paints and then dry with a heat tool.

Die cut the Bird Silhouette from scap card; save the die cut bird for another sample and place the aperture/stencil onto the decorated backdrop. Draw around the aperture with a Stabilo All pencil.

 Paint around the bird with Dusty Concord and Seedless Preserves Distress Paint, blending the colours with a finger. Applying each colour a litle at a time and taking some time to blend as you move around the focal image.

Add touches of Broken China Distress Paint to the background, again blending with a finger and then dry all the layers with a heat tool.

Tear some of the top layer of the card to expose some of the corrugated card for added texture and interest.

Smudge the edges of the bird using a waterbrush. The Stabilo All pencil smudges nicely with water and highlights the bird further against the background. Apply Black Soot Distress Crayon to the edges of the card.

Smudge the Distress Crayon with a finger to blend.

Add further highlights to the design with a Sharpie Pen.

I love how from this picture you can see all the layers of paint and markings added to the background.

Splatters of white Sharpie Pen add further highlights and lift the design further.

I added a ChitChat sticker 'spring is in the air', perfect for this months challenge.

I added scratchy paint lines to ground my bird using an old credit/store card and Black Soot Distress Paint. I also drew around the edges of my design with the Sharpie pen.

Our sponsor this month is Country View Crafts who are offering a £20 Gift Voucher to the randomly drawn winner. I hope you will create a little of your own Spring sunshine this month and join in our challenge!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x