Get Messy With Anything But A Card Challenge # 22

For the next fortnight at Anything But A Card, we're asking you to Get Messy! Woohoo! I don't need any excuse to get the messy stuff out and have a good play. This time, strangely, I decided just to use paint and crackle medium which are probably my favourite two things at the moment. Only two ingredients but what a great mess I was still able to make.

My team mates are also showing you some inspiration today so please go and leave them a little comment or two. The second team will be up a week from now so it would be great if you could show them some support too.

As long as you stick to the theme of getting messy, you can make anything you like except a card. So, come on, you know you want to get even messier than usual! Let's see paints, modelling paste, crackle medium/paste, inks, pastels, crayons, gelli plates, stencils, masks, mica sprays and powders and all the other things I haven't mentioned!

I used lots of DecoArt Traditions paints and one of their crackle mediums to make my wall plaque for this challenge, along with a fewAndy Skinner Timeworn Techniques of course!

I photographed the final piece against all kinds of backgrounds but nothing seemed to look right! I settled for this one on the lawn in the end even though it's not perfect. Why is it that close up shots are no trouble but taking a shot of something more than two feet away causes all kinds of problems? Think I need to check out the other button on the camera which I haven't tried yet!

The wonderful driftwood was found when we walked along Aldeburgh beach in Suffolk - no need to do anything to it because it's beautiful just as it is. The wonderful key is one of a bag full given to me by my sister Sandie which she rescued and I am so grateful to her for such a wonderful gift. I didn't even have to rust it myself either - how cool is that?!! The rusty wire wrapped around the key was bought ready rusted   and I just love it. The heart was die cut then given an Andy Skinner treatment and ended up looking like weathered paint. All the layers of paint used on the heart were shades from the DecoArt Traditions range. Some archival ink was added to the edge of the heart to frame it.

The wings were die cut then embossed before being 'rusted' with a Timeworn technique and DecoArt Traditions paints. Coiled rusty wire was placed either side of the heart too.

The 'crest' at the top of my plaque started life as a die cut and was then embossed and finally rusted in the same way as the wings. The little flowers were punched from card which was first coloured with water soluble crayons then crackled. The centres of all the flowers were made by painting clear gems with raw umber Americana paint (by DecoArt).

I think these punched flowers look like cracked china when viewed in close up. Problem is, I want to make them all the time . . . . . . . .

For the base of the plaque, a piece of thick card was given aTimeworn treatment and made to look like aged ivory (I hope!!) followed by yet more crackle. Both were achieved using DecoArt Traditions paints and crackle medium as before. Once dry, an oval was cut from the centre, a stamped and inked layer was placed under the aperture and the oval shape was raised from the background using foam pads.

I'm really pleased with how the embossed areas turned out. Before applying the crackle medium, they were dry brushed with warm white Traditions paint leaving the flat areas darker and more aged.  You can see here how the oval with the heart stands proud from the background.

I would like to investigate the possibilities of using other colours for the peeled paint effect but these blue shades go so well with the colours used in the piece - it's hard to break the habit! Thank you for visiting me - it really makes a difference that you do. Off you go now and get messy - it would be lovely to see lots of you enter a piece for this challenge at Anything But A Card!!