Winter Getaway

It is time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie and since I am hosting the challenge, I thought it should be called IT'S TIME FOR A VACATION. It is time to get away from winter and go on a vacation somewhere - it could be a warm beach, an exotic locale with lots of sights to see or even in your own back yard so let's see a vintage or shabby chic project that depicts where you are going. 

If you are tired of all the brutal cold and snow that we have had in the eastern half of North America, then you too are ready for somewhere warm.  This mixed media canvas I have created is meant to depict what I might be seeing from a glass bottom boat in the Caribbean.  I might see the same thing if I was snorkeling but I don't do snorkeling.

I started by covering a thin canvas from the dollar store with Gesso.  Next I made a stencil on my Cameo that I will call pebbles and used some texture paste mixed with sand through it to cover the bottom portion of the canvas.

I used more texture paste with a Dylusions stencil to create the dots on the top portion - bubbles maybe?  I added some burlap to divide the sections and glued on some diamond leaf guard pieces.  Once the leaf guard was dry I decided I didn't like it and pulled it off but it left some neat glue impressions so I left those there.  I also added some cheesecloth for a little more texture or maybe flotsam and jetsam.  Then I covered the canvas with another coat of Gesso.

Next I covered the whole canvas with a coat of Peacock Pearl metallic paint by Deco Art and let it dry.  Then I sprayed the top portion with Blue Patina Perfect Pearl Mist and the bottom portion with Lindy's Buccaneer Bronze Mist.  I rubbed some Aquamarine Treasure Gold wax paste on the dots and some Renaissance Treasure Gold in a few places around the edge of the canvas.

The next step was to make the mermaid.  I got her body as a free template from The Enchanted Gallery, took her into my Cameo software, scaled her to the size I wanted and cut her from an old cracker box.  Next I painted the pieces with Buttermilk Americana acrylic paint and then inked the edges with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I drew her face by hand and since I am no artist, don't look closely.

To make her tail, I covered a piece of scrap card stock with foil tape and ran it though a circles embossing folder.  I took a pair of Fiskars scissors called wave and cut strips that I glued to the tail.  Then I covered the tail with a mixture of Meadow, Pool and Sailboat Blue Alcohol Ink blended with some Copper Mixative. 

Her hair is some doll hair I found in my stash and I dyed it with some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and then gave her a little piece of seaweed punched with a Martha Stewart punch from some copper card stock.  Finally I put her together and added a couple of shells for her bra.  By the way, if you were constantly underwater, you would be having as bad a hair day as she is :)

The next step was to organize all the embellishments.  I painted some venise lace with some Bronze metallic paint by Craftsmart.  The seaweed was made with crafter's clay and a mold and then painted with Crystal Green metallic paint by Deco Art but I thought it was too blue so I gave it a light coat of Avocado acrylic paint from Americana.  The starfish are hand shaped from crafter's clay and painted with the Bronze metallic paint.  The rest of the embellishments are beads from my stash, a filigree metal piece, a gear, a couple of buttons, some glass chunks, some cup sequins and lots of shells.

I am going to enter this project in the following challenges:

Altered Eclectics  - Anything Goes (must be mixed media or altered items)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Altered Art/Mixed Media
Opus Gluei - Need A Little Vacation?

The following products used in the creation of this project came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique where you will find lots of exciting new products: