Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Shopping our Stash #148 - Happy Earth Day!


I am SO EXCITED to show you what I've made for the new Shopping our Stash challenge! In honour of Earth Day, we'd like to see you recycle or up-cycle something in your project. Use product packaging, die-cut embellishments from a cardboard box, find something around the house & repurpose it...you get the idea. 

So my crazy train of thought went like so. I was colouring this mermaid for the current Sweet Pea Stampers challenge, and I needed a place for it to dry after adding all the glitter & paint. I'd recently cleaned out my "market box" where I keep my paper bags, change, etc, and taken out this frame that I used to use on my table. Some of the gems had fallen off, the rolled paper flowers were crushed & dirtied, and I just didn't like it anymore. For lack of a better place to put it, I'd laid it down on top of my CD stack - and when I put the mermaid there to dry, I thought 'hey, why don't I put the mermaid in the frame?' (And yes, I realize that my craft area is a disaster zone. But then I wouldn't get cool ideas like this!)

Here's the back of the frame (I got too excited & started altering before taking a picture - I used the old insert as  the backing for the new piece of altered art!)


It was just a plain wooden frame, painted with gold acrylic paint. The rhinestone swirls were already adhered (although missing a few, which was easy to fix).  The rest:



This is going to hang on the wall above my desk, once I stop shoving it into people's faces and saying OMG LOOK I MADE THIS!

Because those swirls were already adhered and I wanted to keep them, I knew a complete repainting wasn't feasible. I used Broken China Distress Crackle paint (which had separated, giving some really neat colour variations) in dabs, and then sanded it lightly. After that had dried, I used Tumbled Glass distress Stickles and a paintbrush to lightly coat the entire frame. 



I broke out a lot of fun stuff - you can just make out the embossing paste bubbles, which I heat-embossed with Shabby Blue Frantage EP. The mermaid is coloured with Spectrum & Bic markers, and her tail was painted in with a mixture of liquid pearls & stickles. After painting, I sprinkled Martha Stewart crystal glitter all over for EXTRA SPARKLY! There's some sheer fabric that I frayed & treated with the heat gun, a corsage pin with a big gorgeous glass bead, the last bits of some May Arts ribbons, odds & ends of crystal swirls, and I beaded the ends of the wires that I used to attach the ribbon. I've also stamped some Hero Arts starfish & tucked them in. 

The three flowers on the frame were made by slip-stitching along the edge of seam binding & pulling the ends so that they gathered into a circle. Laura has a great tutorial on this technique here

I think you'll be amazed at the range of things the Stash gals came up with for this challenge -  come & play along with us until next Monday, April 28th!  Make sure you hop on by & leave the rest of my teamies some love!


xoxo,
Jessi

25 comments:

Leslie Hanna said...

Whoa, Nelly!!! NICE job on the frame!! And if our work spaces were clean, where, oh where, would all our inspiration come from? Those neat people just don't get it, do they?

Barbara Godden said...

Wowzers what a fabulous job. absolutely lboe, love love it. Awesome job.

walchowDesign said...

WOWZY! This sure knocked me off! OMG! She is so pretty and love all the glitters and details, Jessi!

fairyrocks said...

This is just so gorgeous. I am partial to fairies. Just perfect. Love that you reused the frame too. Keep smiling and creating.

lauren bergold said...

what a MAKEOVER!!! va-va-va-VOOM missus! this is stunningly FAB! <3

~Tammy~ said...

Keep shoving....you should be proud! Holy cow girl it's gorgeous! Look at you with all the glitz! Love it!

jimlynn said...

WHOA!!!!! Jessi, this is jaw dropping beautiful! GORGEOUS!!!
Lynn

lostinpaper said...

Looks like you had a blast, what a fabulous result Jessi!

Dana said...

Holy Cow!! This is GORGEOUS!!! I love the colors, the bling, the mermaid!! Just amazing!!

Princess Judy Palmer said...

Wow! So fancy and sparkly! I can see why you are shoving this in people's faces. It worth having a look at and definitely something to be proud of!

Lindsey said...

Wow, wow, wow -- this is so gorgeous, Jessi! You totally keep shoving it in people's faces. (She says from a couple of provinces away...)

Chris Dring said...

OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG! Jessi, this is way beyond amazing! I would so be shoving this in peoples faces and saying "Look, I made this!" too!

Donna said...

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaa this is ALL kinds of awesome lady!! I would totally shove that in people's faces and say "Look what I made"
Love the colours, the distressing, the mermaid...just awesome {{possum}}

Greta said...

My jaw is still on the floor, Jessi! You've really outdone yourself this time--Fab-U-Lus!

Lee aka Violent Kittie said...

Your mermaid is so gorgeous. I love the colors and all the bling!

Hazel said...

Thanks for sharing your beautiful creation for the Sweet Pea Stampers 'mermaids' challenge - hope to see you again soon, Hazel, DT x

Melissa Craig said...

Daaaa-ng! This is stunning!

Granmargaret said...

Lovely work. Thank you for joining the challenge at Sweet Pea Stampers

Unknown said...

Wow, this is a stunning project. I love this. Thank you so much for sharing at Sweet Pea Stampers. We wish you good luck and we hope to see you again. Sylvia, DT-member

Blossom Cards said...

love what you have done thanks for sharing with Sweet pea stampers this week
Rachel dt

Colleen Dietrich said...

Wow, Little Mermaid come to life! This is a fabulous scene, and I don't blame you for shoving it into people's faces. ;)

Emily Keaton said...

Wow, Jessi, this creation is AMAZING!! I love all the special touches you included, and the color palette is gorgeous. So cool!!!

Debbie said...

Beautiful!! Awesome recycle!!

stampqueen said...

What a beautiful piece of art - Thanks for joining us this week at Sweet Pea Stampers and hope to see you next challenge too!!!

Sue Jones said...

Hi Jessie please can you contact me ASAP with your full name, so i can get your voucher to you for winning

soo.jay@virgin.net