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Thursday, July 4, 2013

Life is Pretty

Hello and Happy 4th of July!

Today is going to be busy so I wanted to get this up and posted before the cooking starts.  Both of my grown kids will be coming over this afternoon which always makes me happy.

I haven't been posting for a few days as I've been working on altered art projects, one of which I'm highlighting today.  I call this one "Life is Pretty."  Because it is.

I won't bore you with the details, but things have been rough for the past few months and I've done some serious soul searching and decided that life IS pretty, by golly, and I just needed to get with the program.

There are a lot of techniques and media used here, including painting with acrylics, stamping with Copics (the little checkerboards in the background), stenciling with molding paste, decoupage, lace (some new, some vintage), mica, shimmer/glitter (of course!) and plenty of die cuts, punches and embellishments.  The color scheme comes from the challenge currently going on at a brand new challenge blog, A Mixed Media Color Challenge.

 

The rose is handmade with the application of chalk inks, distress inks and glitter.  The rest of the flowers have all been "dressed up" with acrylic paints and/or white Perfect Pearls.  I almost never use purchased flowers straight out of the package because they always seem to need a little extra oomph.  Embellish the embellishments is my motto.


The girl is a digital image printed and distressed around the edges.  What edges?  Edges are made for covering up, don't you think?

The bird coming through the birdcage was an accident that happened during the placement process.  I liked the look and left it that way.  The eye is a tiny pearl painted with a black Copic marker.


The sentiment tag was grungeboard that I colored with various shimmer paints, then distressed around the edges.  There's a bit of doodling here along with a couple of tiny brads.

The bow at the top (how did I forget to take a close up of that?) was made with three kinds of hand-dyed seam binding, some scrunchy and some smooth (thanks to Rebecca Deeprose's blog post here for that bit of inspiration), from which I hung a handmade charm from a bit of an old earring.

And that, lovely readers, is today's project.  Thank you for joining me and I wish you a lovely day full of fun 4th of July festivities if you're American, and crafty goodness if you're not.

Happy crafting!


Challenges entered:

A Mixed Media Color Challenge #2
Oozak #17 - Anything Goes w/a Girly Theme
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything Goes
Pile It On #26 - Bling
RRR #75 - Anything But a Card + Ribbon




17 comments:

MackieMade Paper Creations said...

My goodness! This is beautiful!!! I see lots of love in this project!

Shea said...

Thank you so much!

Desire Fourie said...

Absolutely gorgeous. Love the beautiful flower sprays and the birdie in the cage.
Hugs Desíre {Doing Life}

Sue Lelli said...

Shea, LOVE how PRETTY this is! Your hand made rose is Stunning and I love how you dressed up all of the other flowers! Great title, FAB image! THX for playing with us at A Mixed Media Color Challenge!

Decosse's Dynamite Doodles said...

My God Shea, this is absolutely stunning. I am SOOOOOOOO SORRY that I haven't been by for a visit and still haven't written you back. Things are out of control on this end and I am also sorry to hear that these past few months have been rough ones. I hope to catch up with you real soon. Right now I'm just making note of the wins of yours for June that I don't have yet in my list for my 'congratulatory considerations' post that I am hoping to have out later this evening.

Even though I haven't been around please know that I think of you daily, wondering how you have been and what new and cool creations are in the works.

Much love to you!

Lisa

Mona Pendleton said...

Wowza Shea! Such a gorgeous work of art overflowing with so many beautiful blossoms! Love the lace peeking through and fancy bow! Thanks so much for joining along with A Mixed Media Color Challenge!

Kristi said...

~~~~~~~WOW~~~~~~~~This is a masterpiece,Shea! Gorgeous,gorgeous,gorgeous! I hope you hang this on the wall and enjoy it everyday! Hope your Fourth was awesome:it's always great to see the kids!!

Maureen Merritt said...

Shea, this is amazing! There are so many beautiful details, a true feast for the eye!

Maria said...

My oh my!!! Shea, this is a true treasure!!! Where do I begin? It is just stunning! Love the cluster of flowers, image, bird and bird cage, and wonderful ribbon with bling! Great job...it's a winner!!!

stampingbowd said...

Wow!!!! Look at all the fabulous embellishment!!!! Gorgeous!

Donna Ellis said...

wow! WOW! Shea, this is beyond "gorgeous" and into the realm of being magical. I am in love. First of all, may I ask which bird cage die cut that is? and which bird die cut? Love happy mistakes like that because the bird creates much more dimension with the cage this way - breaking free, just as you are by deciding Life IS Beautiful, after all. Some times I need to remind myself because I get a little discouraged with my body behaving the way it does. But then I see how some of the "issues" are really not all that important, or that some of the things I'm discouraged about are not going to change anyway, so may as well learn to embrace the hardship as a friend. I wish my roses would look like yours - they are amazing. So I am content to be somewhat jealous and covet them from the internet LOL in fact, this card is pinned so I may gaze upon it as often as I like LOL Your color combination is very soft and pretty . I especially like that several shades were used in your flower creations. They look like the "spice of life" or the "color of a garden in our souls". So pretty! hugs, de

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

Oh my word! This is FABULOUS!!!! I love every bit! So much to see! The flowers, the bird, the flourishes, the stamping, the ribbons, and the color scheme...all wonderful! Thank you for sharing your wonderful work with us here at Simon Says Stamp & Show!

Amanda R said...

I love the comment to "embellish the embellishments", this is gorgeous and I am glad you are feeling better. Thanks for playing along with us at Oozak!

gracescraps@gmail.com said...

Wow!! This is simply stunning!! I love your mix of handcrafted and dressed up bought flowers, and that dangle from your ribbon blow is just gorgeous! Thanks for joining our Anything but a Card with Ribbon Challenge at Really Reasonable Ribbon!! ~ Blessings, Tracey
http://gracescraps.blogspot.com/

Vicki Dutcher said...

WTG on your WIN of Top 3! Beautiful job with this creation!! YAY for you :)

Heather said...

GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GORGEOUS!! Shea...this is GORGEOUS!! I LOVE all the techniques you used!! OMG...so many fun things to try!! Thanks for the link...I will check out the mixed media!! I have been wanting to do more of that myself! What a GORGEOUS Shabby Chic Mixed Media piece!! Life is pretty for sure!!
Thank you for joining us at Really Reasonable Ribbon too!!
Hugs
Heather

Samantha Casey said...

i love all the embellishments! Amazing job! Thanks for joining us for the Oozak Challenge!

-Samantha