Fragile Glass ATC for SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges' Mid Month Reminder

Hi, servus and thanks so much for stopping by again! At the moment posts on my blog seem to almost collide (while at other times there's no post for at least a whole week) due to several DT projects and posting dates being only a day apart.

This is my latest steampunk ATC for our May challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges and as you may have already noticed I love doing ATCs at the moment - especially steampunk themed ones (like this one HERE or these HERE).

Being on the DecoArt Mixed Media design team, I have recently received a surprise parcel containing the new DecoArt pouring medium to experiment with (see this post HERE). One of the results from the experimenting session was this background paper that I created by simply pulling a monoprint from the messy sheet that I used to cover up my work desk while pouring the paints onto whatever I managed to lay hands on.

As I had some Calico Craft Parts ATC wood blanks on my table (stored in my new and much loved Calico Craft Parts container HERE) I played around with some of the frames, looking for a beautiful image section, and thought this particular one was a perfect match...

I used DecoArt matte Decou-Page to glue the ATC's back panel behind the chosen section (I used my desk lamp and held the paper up against the light to see where I was placing the panel). Once the glue had dried I cut off the excess paper and sealed the edges and top with more Decou-Page.

The ATC frame was painted using DecoArt media fluid acrylics Yellow Iron Oxide, English Red Oxide and Yellow Oxide. I mixed the paints wet on wet on the frame and also added some sprinkles to the background. The background was toned in with a wash of Yellow Oxide.

Then I mixed some white DecoArt media Crackle Paste with English Red Oxide and Yellow Iron Oxide and scraped that onto the frame and background.

Once the crackling process was finished I toned everything down with a wash of Raw Umber.

As I didn't want to cover up the beautiful background, I decided to use rub ons (this one is from a Tim Holtz rub on set). The tiny bottle was wrapped with rusty wire and glued in place with matte Decou-Page.

A watered down mix of Carbon Black and Raw Umber DecoArt media Antiquing Creams helped tone down and age the whole design even more. I especially worked that mix into the spaces and crevices from the ATC frame and crackled areas.

Once all was dry I added touches of DecoArt "Gold Rush" Metallic Lustre with my fingertip to highlight the textural areas from the scraped on Crackle Paste.

Done!

A Steampunk Message in a Bottle ATC!

Some close ups:

I hope you like it and I would love to see you join in our challenge! There's still time until the end of the month to play along! Maybe you will make our Top5 or even win one of our two give-aways! Don't miss the chance! 

HERE's the link to our challenge blog (or simply click on the badge to get taken to the actual challenge). And you will love what my teamies have created for your inspiration! 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx