A Shabby Little Birdhouse - Something New / Craft Room Challenge DT

Hi, another fortnight has 'flown' by (excuse the pun :-)) and another challenge is upon us over at the Craft Room Challenge.  Your Bingo creations were amazing, I love to see how everyone interprets our challenges so differently.  This fortnight the lovely Debi is our hostess and she has chosen a theme of:

Something New

This is what Debi has to say:

For my theme I got thinking..... and  if you're anything like me, you either have a heap of new stash still waiting to be used, or your Pinterest Boards are full of techniques that you want to try but just haven't got round to it yet lol.  So I thought lets have a challenge that might get us using some new stash or a new technique.

Well, Debi is right - I have loads of new stuff I've not yet used, particularly alterables, so out came a brand new birdhouse which came in a little stash my other half bought me for Christmas.  I thought I may as well try a new technique/product while I was at it - Grunge Paste - I seem to have a bit of a fear of texture pastes, lol, but after seeing one of Alison's fantastic creations over at Words and Pictures I thought it was time to have a go, so thank you for the inspiration Alison :-)

I've undercoated the birdhouse with Gesso all over - the Grunge Paste has been sitting on my desk begging to be used, but being avoided all the time, so out it came - I put it all over the roof with a palette knife like buttercream frosting.  

Once dry I used chalk paints - a little cream sponged over brown - all over, and touched up the roof with some Treasure Gold in White Fire, then did a bit of stamping with an IndigoBlu stamp right around the base.  

I applied Deco Art Crackle all over the house and waited again.....then gave it a good sand down taking some of it back off for a more distressed feel.  I highlighted the crackle a little with some Walnut Stain DI.

Some TH word stickers, a bit of bark from the garden which was cleaned and inked then given the White fire treatment (couldn't find my twigs), a donut charm debossed with 'Happiness', and a couple of Tando birds painted and crackled.

A quote and stamp from Oxford Impressions' 'Birds' Nest' was used on the back, and vintage style lace trim and ribbon around the base to finish - not forgetting even more Treasure Gold White Fire on all the corners & edges.

I'm really happy with the shabby result I got on this - even though the roof does remind me a bit of a chocolate cake!

Our very kind sponsor this fornight is:

who sells a fantastic range of rubber stamps and other crafty stuff - click on the logo to visit their online store.

The rest of the Design team have made fantastic creations to inspire you for this challenge, as well as our Guest Designer this fortnight, the very talented Von from Messy Me.  

I'd like to enter my little birdhouse in the following challenges:-

Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes
Country View Crafts - Quotations and Sayings
Vintage Stamping Challenge - Wings and Things
Stamping Sensations - Wings and Things and a Touch of Vintage
Our Creative Corner - Words, Words, Words

Thank you for dropping by, I appreciate your visit and your comments.

Enjoy your week :-)

Maria xxxxx

Timeless

Hi, I hope you're all well.  Just a short post, I'd like to share with you another mdf wall hanging, it's part of a set of three which I made to go together - the other two I will share with you another day.  I've used rubber stamps from Oxford Impressions Dressforms & Corsetry plate:

The mdf has been undercoated in Gesso then painted using cream and tan chalk paints.  Some background stamping has been done with stamps from the same set and also a SU script stamp, then some sanding, and yet more painting, and more sanding.

The image has been stamped with Archival Ink and coloured with SU Watercolour Crayons, and one of Tims words added underneath the image.  I've tried to keep it quite simple with clean lines, but with a bit of a shabby/vintage feel to it as well.

Some lace and trim have been added to finish, along with a button from my local market.

Enjoy your week, and thanks for dropping by.

Maria xxxxx

"Bingo" Wall Plaque/Hanging - Craft-Room Challenge DT

Hi, wherever has the sun gone?  Sadly, the rain has returned over the last few days here.  Another fortnight has gone by, and it's time for a new theme at the Craft-Room Challenge.  This fortnight, it's Mervi's turn to host the challenge and she would like to see us playing:

Bingo

As tempted as I was to use brown, lace and pearls, I decided to go with blue, rubber stamping and butterflies - I don't use either blue or butterflies very often so I though it would be a bit of a change for me.  Having very recently acquired some left over mdf from the builders in work, who very kindly cut it into very neat, useable pieces for me :-), I decided to make a wall plaque/hanging:

An undercoat of white gesso, blue and cream chalk emulsion and a good few pieces of sandpaper created the shabby base.  I'm really pleased how this turned out.

I used stamps from TH/Stampers Anonymous (the smaller size Papillon - the butterflies were masked for the background stamp) and Stampin' Up for the sentiment and foliage on the corners.  All stamping was done in black archival ink and the sentiment was embossed in white.  I've used a TH word stick, a paper flower and some chain to embellish, and used a dark metallic rub on wax just along the edge.

The butterflies were very lightly coloured with Stampin' Up watercolour crayons in colours from the Regals collection (I love these crayons).

Our very kind sponsor this week is

who is offering the winner a Hollyhock stencil, a pot of Stencil Dimensions Glossy White Paste, and a paste spreader.

Please drop by the challenge as the rest of the Design Team have made stunning creations for your inspiration, including our Guest Designer this month, the lovely Von of Messy Me - if you would like to join us as a Guest Designer, please add GDT after your name and our lovely Mervi will be in touch with you soon.

I'd like to share my wall hanging with Stamping Sensations in their August challenge, as their theme is Winged Things And A Touch Of Vintage, and also Tok Bobok challenge, whose theme is Vintage.

Thank you for your visit, as always, and enjoy your week.

Maria xxxxx