Buddha Inspiring Message and Greek Goddess

I was able to finish the Buddha Inspiring Message frame and the Greek Goddess wall art today. It felt good to finish these pieces because they had been in the "work in progress" stage for quite a while now. I've added some pictures of these two Mixed Media pieces below. I hope you enjoy them.

Thank you for stopping by!

Nicie

Sacred Heart, Hope & Believe

Hello Everyone! The weather this past weekend was just beautiful! We left the house to run some errands with a sweater! If you live in the Midwest, you can relate. Usually, February brings snow, snow and more snow.

OK, enough of the weather, time to move on to the project at hand. When I started to create this 9" x 3"canvas, the only idea I had in mind was to have some sort of medieval look to it. I started by covering it in black gesso, then painted it in various hues of blues & greens. Wanting more texture, I added tissue paper then more paints in blues, greens and gold until I was happy with the result. I wanted the sacred heart to be the focal point of the piece so I painted it in reds then added the small glass seed beads for a dramatic look. The keyhole on the heart and the decorative molding at the top and bottom are clay embellishments created from Iron Orchid Design molds.

I wanted to add words that would enhance the beauty of the heart and chose "hope" and "believe". They are stamped on white tissue paper, not adding any color to them purposely so they wouldn't get lost in the background.

I am submitting this canvas to the following challenges:

• The Artistic Stamper Creative Team February Challenge - Love Hearts  
• Vintage Journey February Challenge - Words That Are Special  
• Crafty Creations Challenges - #335 Anything Goes 
• That's Crafty Challenges - I Heart You 

I hope you like my project. Thank you for stopping by!

Nicie

Aphrodite, Cupid and Wings

Hello everyone! This has been a fun and frustrating project at the same time because the background colors changed frequently. It started with a blue background, then it became teal, then finally a blue-green metallic color. I added crackle, then blue & gold mist sprays. The second background is a TCW stencil that was added with modeling paste, painted and gold Inka Gold was used to highlight the words. The edges looked a bit plain but didn't want to add something that would take away from the stenciled background, so I decided to add a piece of black stock and distressed the edges.

The image is a painting of Aphrodite and Cupid. I wanted to accentuate the little wings so I added a second set of wings, then added Glossy Accents and glitter stickles. The wings at the top are painted with the same metallic paint as the first background and also has stickles. There is a circle in between the wings so I attached a faux gem to it. The top wings and the yellow "lace" are clay embellishments.

I am adding this project to the following challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Spread Your Wings  
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes 
• Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #32 - Put a Stencil on It  
• The Artisticst Stamper Creative Team Challenge January 2017 - Anything Goes   
• A Vintage Journey January 2017 - Going Round in Circles   

Thank you for stopping by - have a wonderful day!

Nicie

 

Blue, Silver, Pearls = Art Deco

I don't know why it is that when I see the combination of blues, silvers, gold and pearls the first thing that pops into my mind is the Art Deco period. Those specific colors make me think of old Hollywood, parties, beautiful elegant hotels and condos, ladies with their big fur coats and silky party dresses and champagne just flowing everywhere.

When I saw the Frilly and Funkie Blogspot January 2017 - Winter Hues challenge I immediately thought what better project than an Art Deco piece and my muse just started with all kinds of ideas.

This is an 8" x 6" canvas panel that I had started in a class I took late last year. It was painted with gesso and the decorative background had been added with modeling paste. When I saw it on my "future project pile" I knew it was perfect for this challenge. The first layer of paint was a metallic blue, then a light layer of silver paint was added randomly. After they were dry, I added blue Inka Gold metallic rub to highlight the raised areas. The beautiful silver decorations on the sides and the blue medallion on the bottom are clay embellishments. The image of the elegant lady is a vintage photo that was painted with water colors, added the pearl necklace, earring and some stickles on the coat's swirls. I envisioned this coat to be an expensive velvet, fur trimmed coat used to go to an elegant party on a cold winter night.

I'm also submitting this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes. 

I hope you like it as much as I loved creating it! Thank you for stopping by.

Nicie

 

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - Put a Stencil on It and HLS Mixed Media Challenge - Layers

As I was browsing the Internet for some inspiration, I came across a lot of wonderful blogs that offer monthly challenges. I'm so happy I found so many blogs but I'm going to have to remember to pace myself because I haven't created anything for a while.

This project is being submitted to  The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge with their Challenge #32 - Put a Stencil on It.

I was so excited when I read that this month's sponsor is Stencil Girl Products. They are one of my favorite companies for limited edition and unique stencils!

The 5" x 7" canvas panel was created with several layers of inks, acrylic paints, glitter mists, Inka Gold, Golden Glass Bead Gel, clay and of course, two different stencils. The circle image on the right hand side is one of the Stencil Girl stencils and has been added with white acrylic paint then a with a layer of Inka Gold in purple. The stencil at the bottom is from The Crafter's Workshop and was added with modeling paste. The top decoration and the moon are clay embellishments and Golden Glass Bead Gel was added for texture. In order to accentuate the beads, I added a bit of white paint, then another layer of Inka Gold in gold color.

The second blog I'm adding my projects to is Happy Little Stampers.com. They offer four different challenges every month but I'm only participating in the Mixed Media - Layers.

 

Thank you for stopping by!

Nicie

Clay Embellishments for Future Projects

Hello Everyone!

I love the projects that I have been creating lately but waiting for them to dry is so hard! In order to keep myself busy and not be tempted to start working on these pieces, I remembered I had some clay embellishments and decided to decorate them for future projects. It's much easier working on air clay because the gesso & acrylic paint dry fairly fast. After the paint dried, I added Inka Gold Metallics to help bring out some of the dimensions in each piece.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and thank you for stopping by!

Nicie