Faded Splendour - Fall Trio

 Hi, servus and thanks for stopping by! 

It's been such a long time that I have been taking a break from crafting and I am just slowly getting back into the saddle - with two studios in which there is always one or the other medium, stamp, cutting die or paper pad missing because it is in the other place...but I found that this forces me to improvise more and also use stuff I have been hoarding on forgotten shelves for ages - so it is a bit challenging but also a good thing ;)

I also found I am enjoying the freedom to pick and use whichever media and products I want to use with a single project (instead of having and/or trying to do an single-manufacturer-design-team-project). 

So here it is - a little trio inspired by autumn which is already in the air these days and which is still my favourite time of the year (even though it also is the most challenging when it comes to health issues I've learned). 

I have already shared this project on the Calico Craft Parts blog (where you can find the list of craft parts I have used alongside the Sizzix "Funky Insects" dies set from Tim Holtz) - simply click HERE to get to their blog to find out about the many cool substrates and add-ons from Calico Craft Parts' wide range of MDF parts. There are also some infos on and pictures of the finished project that I am not sharing in this post...

I really LOVE the Funky Insects dies (which is no surprise as I really LOVE insects in general ;)! 

I want my displayed insects understood as "found beauties" that were already dead and lying on the ground, having been found during a walk in a lovely late autumnal forest (instead of insects having been hunted down and put to death to display them in all their shiny glory). Their wings may be crinkled and the colours already fading a bit, but there is this special beauty in decay and the fact that the splendour is still there and visible is maybe the best proof of their timeless beauty...

I had a pack of self made small background papers - all done using Tim's Distress and Distress Oxide Inks - 

...and I used some of these to die cut the insects' parts from. I used Tim's Sidekick and fixed it to my Travel Glass Media Mat - two of my favourite products  (I found a "lefty" glass mat on a sale and use it upside down to have the white area to the right) to work with. 

I crumpled the wings and then highlighted the crinkles with gathered twigs Distress Ink. I also used one of the small Detail Blending Tools to blend the edges of all the tiny die cut pieces. 

Using my large Sizzix Big Shot I die cut three of Tim's Décor Frames and primed these with DecoArt Raw Umber Student Acrylic paint. Once that had dried I scraped on some white DecoArt media Crackle Paint here and there and let that dry naturally. 

In the meantime I added DecoArt Triple Thick (using a detail brush) to the insects' legs, eyes and feelers for more dimension and a bit of gloss. 

Once the crackle paint had dried I smudged some walnut stain Distress Crayon with my fingertip across the crackled areas to tone down the bright white and highlight the cracks. 

I also added some antique linen Distress Glaze on top and Fran-tage Aged Copper embossing enamel in some of the untreated spots on the frames. 

For a bit of bling I sprinkled diluted DecoArt Vintage Brass Extreme Sheen acrylic paint on the finished and glued together insects, using a splatter brush. 

Time to pick some MDF panels from my Calico Craft Parts stash! I decided to go for a slightly different centre piece - so I used a beer mat and two ATC blanks. 

I also used two label holders and the Faded Splendour Word Element. 

The ATC blanks and the beer mat got covered with DecoArt Découpage paper using DecoArt matte Decou-Page.

Then the edges were blended using dark brown archival stamping ink, before I fixed the frames, label holders and insects into place using thick black sticky foam pads for additional depth.   

I also like to use the sticky foam pads' excess and cut that to size - that is especially helpful when you don't need a circle shaped pad but a thin square one...

The little signs with the Fig. numbers were stamped in black archival ink using Tim's Classics #12 stamp set and then toned down using Antique Linen Distress Stain. 

Voilá!

The finished trio.

I hope you feel inspired and like it as much as I do! 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx