Summer Romance

It is time for a new challenge at Anything But Cute Mixed Media Challenge and Samra is our hostess this time.  She is calling the challenge Summer Romance and would love to see projects with a romantic theme, a beach/sea theme or both, BUT they must be strongly inspired by the colors of the mood board. For this challenge you MUST display our graphics badge in your post along with our blog name and challenge link.

I decided to go for the romantic theme and created a Tussie Mussie in the colours from the mood board.  A Tussie Mussie would have been carried by brides in Victorian times but in this case I gave it a modern and shabby twist.

I started by making a cone from paintable wallpaper and gave it a coat of Robin's Egg Blue acrylic paint by Folk Art.  Once dry I very carefully painted all the raised areas with Folk Art Ice Blue Metallic Paint.  Then I mixed some Blue Hawaiian Blue from the Lindy's Magicals Drink Me Silly set with water and painted the ridges of all the raised areas (just click on the photo to get a closer view).  I punched small holes on either side at the top and added a length of organza ribbon that I picked up for a song at a bead supply store.

Next I made some fabric flowers from a variety of materials from my sewing closet - blue shimmer organza (from a 25 cent table cloth that I bought at a fabric warehouse in Fancy Gap, Virginia), white organza, white tulle, lace trim, lace fabric and sheer drapery fabric.  I added a pearl to the centre of the blue flower and a pearl button to the centre of the lace trim flower.

I embossed some white card stock with an Elizabeth Crafts feather embossing folder and then fussy cut the largest feathers.  They were lightly inked with Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and then I mixed some Snow White LA Colors eye shadow from the dollar store with Gum Arabic and painted it on each feather to give it some shimmer.

I added a row of lace around the top and then inserted a styrofoam ball that I carved into an egg shape so that it would fit down inside with only a small dome on the top.  All the flowers and feathers were added to the styrofoam with small straight pins.

Next I took a metal lock and key and coated it with Liquitex Clear Gesso to give it some tooth and then added Tim Holtz Picket Fence Distress Crackle.  Once the lock and key were dry I knotted them onto another length of organza ribbon.  This was layered with some Hug Snug seam binding dyed with Tumbled Glass and Broken China DI, a strip of lace, a couple strips of the blue organza and a couple lengths of the drapery fabric and the whole lot was added to one side.

Finally I painted a bead cap with white acrylic paint, inserted a stick pin from my stash to which I added some other beads and glued it into the bottom.

I hope you follow the mood board to create something that reminds you of summer romance and then share it with us at Anything But Cute.