A Gardening We Will Go!

The first Monday of the month Artistic Outpost will be having a Product Focus and for March it is Flowers and Gardening, which stamps in that category will be on sale at 20% off through March 7th, so check the AO blog for all the details! This is also the start of the new March challenge, so "Show Us Your AO Art" for a chance to win $15 in a store voucher! For additional DT inspiration please visit Gerrie, Tracy (who will 3-6), and Lisa.

I thought it would be nice to alter an old hand held bulb planter, which was a total rust bucket. Washed, sanded, primed, gessoed and then painted on a light buttermilk color.

Next step was to apply DecoArt one step crackle quite think and I let that dry and did a wash of brown paint and then wiped off the excess. Once sealed the magic of the Flower Market began.

All images were stamped on tissue paper using Black Archival and then heat set. On the reverse side, I colored the images using Sharpie markers.

I then applied gel medium to the bulb planter and carefully laid down the cut images and gently patted these down with my fingers. After the Flower Marker images were dry, I again applied gel medium over the tops to seal down.

With the exception of cutting delicate tissue paper, this was really an easy and fun project. The difficult part will be finding a place in the yard to place it!

Thank you for taking the time to visit today and I hope you have a wonderful start to March.

30 Years!

Sorry I have been a little MIA, but sometimes we all need to just take a little break!  Well I am back and wanting to share an "Anniversary Tag" I made for my darling hubby.  We are coming up on 30 years and it is so hard to believe.  We were talking about that the other day and how time really does fly.   My tag to my hubby is joining Lisa's Bloggers Challenge. "Cut it Out,"  Simon Says Stamp and Show, "Metal-ology"  and Inspiration Journal, "L.O.V.E."

I first started by stamping the sentiment and clear embossing, which was then inked over with various Distress colors.  I was looking for a splattered look and tried something a little different thinning some Distress stains (including a metallic) with water and then flicking with a toothbrush and then taking my fingernail to give a light spray. 

When I was happy with that, I did some random stamping of the time piece with Coffee Archival.  At that point, I ironed away all the clear embossing.  The March calendar page was stamped and clear embossed.   I added some vintage watch bits along the way, but check out that tiny hand with the red!  How cool is that?  Oh our big day is the 5th!

Next we have the metal wings, which I used some Vintaj Patinas and Distress Metallic stains.  The heart was cut from corrugated cardboard, crackled and inked with Distress Stains.  All other TH metals were colored using alcohol inks and paint.  I was happy to find a "30" game piece! 

As always, I am thrilled when you stop by for a visit and take the time to comment!  I hope you all are well and enjoying the week! 

Inks:  Distress, Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass, Barn Door, Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany, Archival, Sepia, VersaMark
Stains:  Metallics, Antique Bronze, Tarnished Brass, Brushed Pewter, Barn Door, Faded Jeans, Broken China, Wild Honey (for heart)