Sunday 22 March 2015

Mixed Media Clock

Today hubby was out all day and our girls were happy chilling out so I took the opportunity to indulge myself with a full on crafty day releasing my inner child and splashing the paint and glue around, and boy did it feel good!

The other day I spied this rather dated clock in a local charity shop window and decided that for the bargain sum of two quid it should probably come home with me to see if I could give it a new lease of life and make it something much more worthy of wall space.


Projects like this always scare me as I never know where to start. I spend hours watching mixed media artists show off their amazing skills on the internet and they always make it look so easy and empower me to think 'I can do that', but then the moment comes when I find myself staring at my unstarted project terrified to take that first step and today was no exception. After much 'umming and aaahing' and flicking through papers I gave myself a reality check and a good talking to and reminded myself it's an uber cheap clock that someone else has thrown out so worst case scenario is I have a play, slap some paint and glue on it and if it fails put it in the bin myself and put the £2 expense down as the cost of some valuable learning. Put it like that and there was no stopping me! 

A friend has asked me to do little tutorial on how I achieved the finished result so here goes! I didn't take many pics of the process but will explain it as best I can!

The all important ingredients!

I knew I wanted to use some Finnabair stamps that I bought recently, and wanted to give the clock a suitable grungy style to work with them, so I chose a dark paper from my stash, cut it to size and stuck it to the clock. I added modelling paste to two corners and arranged my embellishments. I used some hessian, a mix of metal and fabric flowers, a metal and some wooden butterflies ( with book paper stuck to them) and some chipboard cogs, which I painted copper with acrylic paint before adhering to the clock. 


Once I had all the embellishments stuck where I wanted them, and added a last minute bit of paper tape to a few areas for added interest I very lightly dry brushed some white gesso on the whole thing and when that was dry I repeated the process on some areas with Americana DECOR chalk paint.

Once that was done it was time to add some colour so I randomly sprayed some Dylusions ( Melted Chocolate, Funky Fuschia,  Lemon Zest and Vibrant Turquoise) until I was happy with the results. 

Excuse my toes!



With this done it was time to add the main image. I stamped her onto a book page using Archival Ink, cute her out, painted her wings with Twinkling H2O's and added a tough of antique linen distress ink to tone the brightness of the paper down a little. I used matt medium to put her in place and outlines with black and white chalk pastels. I also stamped some of the bubble and butterfly stamps from the set randomly directly onto the clock, stamped a sentiment on book paper and distressed and added that too. I painted the butterflies with Twinkling H20's.


I added some shine to the embellishments and textured areas using Buff It paste and Creative Expressions Gilding wax. The pearls I added to the metal embellishments looked too stark in white so I coloured with Alcohol inks.


To add a bit more 'bling' I swiped Versamark on some areas,sprinkled Stampendous Aged Gold Embossing Enamel on and heat embossed. I also added stickles to the wooden butterflies and popped a gem in their centres.



And that was pretty much it. A little more faffing with wax and- TA DAH!!



I really hope you've enjoyed stopping by and reading my little post and if you've been struggling to get going on a project then with any luck this has inspired you to jump right in and make a start. If you do you may just surprise yourself like I did!

xx

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:


10 comments:

  1. Well it sure doesn't look like a cheap clock now! You jabe transformed it into a piece of art. Thanks for sharing how you created this, it must have taken hours but worth all the care. Thanks for joining us at ink

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    1. Thank you so much Sandie. It did take a few hours but it was so nice to be able to indulge myself and take my time doing something other than domestic stuff on a Sunday afternoon ;) Glad you like it! x

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  2. This is gorgeous Lynda - those colours are delicious and I love the elements on here. Thank you for entering the Crafty Calendar (Add some Metal) Challenge this month, lots of luck.

    Hugs to you Sue Pxxx DT

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  3. Gorgeous! Don't you just love those Twinkling H2O's? I know I do! Super project and I do love seeing the before and after! Thanks for playing along with us at Left of Center Creative Challenges this week!

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  4. Beautiful! Love the colors and thanks for the tutorial :) So glad you shared with us at LOC this week.

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  5. Oh wow!! What a project. I like how you showed the different steps of your process. Your use of color and technique is great and I love the empowering feel. Thanks for playing with us at Inkspirational! You totally nailed She Art!
    - Shauna

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