Altered Heart for Easter...

Hello Again,

Well it's challenge time again over at That Craft Place Challenge Blog and this one had me a little flummoxed!  The theme is Easter or Spring.... but naughty Erin added the Spring after I had spent an age trying to come up with an Easter project as I don't make Easter cards!  But I'll get her back later and go back to telling you about my Easter make lol

So, Easter really does mean different things to different people, faiths and cultures and even between members of my family, so I decided to go with the more religious side as my OH and youngest daughter would love it and sometimes the rest of us forget that!

As I was way outside my comfort zone already, I decided to go for a mixed media make and really hang myself out there!  So here is my make incorporating The Cross on the hill...

Handmade twisted wire Cross, altered with paint and Pinflare Buff It

Front View

Side view to show the 3D effects

Here's the how's - but I thought I'd add my first ever blogland tutorial...

MATERIALS: Everything I used to make this can be purchased from the wonderful Lisa Horton at That Craft Place.  I will add the products used under each picture, so you know when I used them :D

MDF or greyboard heart base; coat with Gesso and then I used matt medium to make the paper mache hill (I used pages from an old book ripped up into approx 2x2 cm square'ish shapes).  You may notice my very expensive paint palette! hehe See I never throw if I can reuse...packaging makes a great palette!

I then added strips of spiders web material, for its texture (mine is only green so you could see it, it will be painted so it doesn't matter what colour you use) and I roughly cut a cloud shape from lace.  Both were stuck with the matt medium.

Now the fun bits....after putting another covering of Gesso to everything, I then painted the 'hill' in metallic green liquid acrylic paint 

Then I used a dry brush to swipe across the sky with blue acrylic paint.  The blue was toned down by adding a touch of brown acrylic to the paint as I wanted a 'moody' feel to the piece.  By dry brush I mean, add a little paint to a dry brush then on scrap paper swipe the brush to take off most of the paint, then when there is very little left swipe across your piece.

I then added red acrylic, toned down with brown acrylic to the whole piece.  Again, it was dry brushed so not to add too much and so it also picks up the texture of the materials.

Finally I added Pinflare Buff It in antique silver (use it the same as gilding wax) to parts of the sky and hill.  I just picked out bits that I wanted to highlight to show depth and texture.  Build this up to suit your design, a little at a time.

This pic of the finished piece shows the Buff It a little better, just touches that pic up the light.

The bubbles you can see where a happy accident!  I used a heat gun to dry layers as I am soooo impatient and the Gesso bubbled leaving this effect (because I'd heated it too long in one place lol), however, I love the effect it left!

And there you have it...

I really enjoyed this and my OH and daughter were totally delighted with it, and the mood the colours create so I am a happy crafter :D

Don't forget to hop over to the main blog to see what the rest of the uber talented DT have made to inspire you, you can get there HERE

Happy Crafting :D

Sandie xxx

Challenges:
Deep Ocean challenge - #100 Easter/Spring
Create and Inspire - #18 ag
Inspiration destination - 26 ag
Simply papercrafts - #1 ag
Creative Fingers - #73 ag
Scribble and scrap - #41 ag
613 Ave Create - #117 ag
Creatalicious challenge - #73 ag