Thursday, November 5, 2015

It's Ornamental


It is time for a new challenge at Anything But Cute and this time I am the hostess and am calling the theme It's Ornamental.


Since the holiday will be coming up pretty quickly, we want you to create a mixed media ornament for your Christmas tree or a Christmas decor item for your house or table.

About 4 years ago I decided it was time to hand over the tree with all the kid-friendly and kid-created ornaments to my Grandchildren and get a new tree that I could decorate in a more adult fashion - besides I was tired of stringing all the lights on it and wanted a pre-lit tree.  I really want it to be chock full of ornaments so I decided this was a perfect time to make more.  My tree is red and gold with touches of white.  For this challenge, I stuck with the red and gold.


This ornament started as a wooden tree cut by my husband on his laser cutter - I am loving his new toy.  I coated it with gesso and then covered everything with some Golden Light Molding Paste that I dabbed on so it would be bumpy.


Once the this was dry I added some other wooden shapes cut for me by my husband and some lace strips.  I have discovered that Liquitex Matte Super Heavy Gel makes a terrific adhesive for this sort of application.

Everything was then given a good coat of Deco Art Champagne Gold Metallic Acrylic paint and then dabbed lightly using a sea sponge and some Dark Scarlet Acrylic Paint from Deco Art and some Antique Gold Acrylic Paint from Folk Art.

Then I added lots of beads and gems from my stash.


I made a second ornament and this time after the Molding Paste was dry I added some chain, nut covers stolen from my husband's work shop, buttons, bead caps and wood shapes.  Then I painted everything with Dark Scarlet Acrylic Paint from Deco Art.  The next step was to add a bunch of gold beads from my stash.



To make the base of this tree since it didn't have a base in the raw form, I covered a Styrofoam ball with gold sequins and then used Xmas Red Stickles in the centre of each one.

I thought this one was a bit flat looking so I gave it a spritz of Tattered Angels Pearl Glimmer Mist.  I think I like the gold tree better but both will look good on my tree and fill more spaces so I am happy.

I hope all of you will create something for your holiday tree or home decor and share it with us.  You have until December 4th and that will be just in time for decorating.

I am going to enter the gold ornament in the following challenges:

City Crafter - Getting Ready for Christmas
Altered Eclectics - Anything Mixed Media or Altered (no cards or ATCs)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Mixed Media or Altered (no cards. scrap pages, ATCs)
Sparkles Forum Christmas Challenge - Christmas Decorations
Mixed Media World - Anything Goes on Wood
We Love to Create - Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes
Allsorts Challenge  - Christmas
Winter Wonderland - Anything Christmas Goes

19 comments:

  1. Wow Cec, not one, but two ornaments! Awesome!! It seems your hubby is a great source of products and inspiration for your work, that is really fabulous and yay you for using unconventional pieces to create such amazing works of art! I just love red and gold together for Christmas, so festive and so elegant!! The shimmer and metallic finishes really grab the eye and will look just stunning on your tree! Wonderful pieces Cec! hugs :)

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  2. Beautiful ornaments! I have to confess, I could not wait to see your ornament when I heard the challenge theme; I knew it was going to be really special! And I was not disappointed--these ornaments are so festive and will be a wonderful addition to your tree, which I hear is awesome! Can't go wrong with gold, red and white, which is exactly my color palette for my tree. Although the kids ornaments are still on mine:):) I'm so happy to hear your hubby has been providing you with plenty of "parts" for your art/crafts! You've got me really inspired to make everyone in my family a homemade ornament--we'll see how THAT goes! Hugs!

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  3. Gorgeous ornaments Cec!!! I love red and gold combo for Christmas! You decorated the wooden pieces so beautifully, with such great choice of embellishments! Love this!
    Hugs

    Samra
    Paper Talk with Samra

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  4. Absolutely beautiful ornaments, Cec! It's just wonderful that your husband made these wooden trees for you! I love the combination of gold and red and all those awesome embellishments you used to decorate these amazing pieces! Hugs! Branka x

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  5. Gorgeous ornaments and two to boot! How sweet of your DH to lend a helping hand in these wonderful shapes. Your gold and red color combo is fantabulous and such yummy layers! I would love to go through your stash as you always seem to have some amazeballs items! I bet your grown up Chrismtas tree is stunning! Wowzers Cec! Hugz to you muffin!

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  6. Wow Cec, both ornaments are gorgeous! I so envy you having a hubby with a laser cutter, the possibilities are endless... but I digress... these trees are fabulous, the base colours alone are wonderful but your beautiful embellishments really make them come to life. I hope you will share a picture of your decorated tree with us! Hugs, Anne xx

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  7. Gorgeous tree ornaments and the base made by your O.H. What a team.
    Yvonne xx

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  8. Two beautiful golden ornaments - what wonderful decoration and lovely shapes that your husband cut for you!

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  9. WOW Cec it looks amazing...love the beads and the gorgeous play of textures
    Cheers
    Dr Sonia

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  10. Amazing ornaments and what a cracking challenge theme Cec! I love the glitz and design of these and that they will have practical use for Christmas xx

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  11. Love the festive red and gold - what charming decorations these will make.
    Alison x

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  12. Fabulous tree ornaments - well done to you and your husband! Thank you for joining us at Sparkles Christmas Challenge.
    Kath - GD

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  13. Oh that's a fantastic work - I've never see something like this. I like the first one - it's really brilliant.

    Thanks for playing along with our Sparkles Christmas Challenge for November and good luck!

    Doris *GDT*

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  14. So very pretty! I need to get busy :) love the red and gold! Thanks for sharing with us at Rhedd's Creative Spirit this month! Nanette, DT

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  15. This is just the cutest Christmas tree ever and just perfect for our challenge over at
    Sparkles Christmas Challenge " Christmas Decorations” good luck and hope to see you again next time Dt Member Sandra H xx

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  16. Super tree decoration, thanks for sharing at Sparkles Christmas Monthly.

    Pat x

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  17. Beautiful ornament. Thank you for sharing with us at Altered Eclectics.

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  18. Such a pretty ornament. the before and after pics are beyond recognition!Thank you so much for sharing this with us at Rhedd's Creative Spirit this month. Good luck, Rupa(DT).

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I love to hear what you think about my work, so please leave me a comment.

Thanks!
Cec