Catrina's time to shine!

Hey everybody where did the month go? OMG it's almost gone!!! Well I think it's time we dust ourselves this beautiful lady and bring her back out to celebrate All Hollows Eve and Dia de Los Muertos they are both pretty close to each other and Miss Catrina is our perfect Bloom Girl to helps us set the mood!

You know when you have an idea buzzing in your brain and you find what you're looking for? Well today I set up to find just that! Here's my finding and subsequent transformation!

I thought it would be the perfect size for my stamp but it was a tad smaller, no reason to stop!

I took my glass out and armed with StazOn I stamped my girl.

Next step in creating a faux stained glass effect was to trace the image using Pebeo Cerner Relief

Once traced leave it to dry. Of course I couldn't just sit and wait right!

I decided she would pop more if I painted the lantern black!

Looking perfect

Now to color it in I tried using a paint brush but the result was undesirable. I had a streak mark, not what I was going for!!! Then I remembered the needle applicators for Dina Wakleys acrylic paints and that was the perfect thing. It was like flooding a cookie with icing in between my " solder lines"! I've posted a video on my Twitter feed @paperboutiquesb that can show you how I did it. It's also on the FB page of the Bloom Girls

You can find another short video on faux soldering on my Instagram feed @milagroscrivera

For the lantern sides I had a little helper who got all excited when coming from school to find this project and begged me to help!

She's so intense, and yes you can totally engage your kids in helping you with this type of projects, and don't mind my mess, creative mind at work!

Time to enjoy my creation at home!

Here's the palette of colors I used just in case you are inspired to give it a go

Happy haunting my friends!!!

Milagros

Free, a mechanicals dream

Hi Bloom fans!!! It's Milagros today continuing the showcasing of Jamie's awesome birds stamp. I will be using the smallest guy for my project    You see a while ago I found this metal birdcage and saved it for a project, and totally forgot all about it.  As I was looking on my craft room I saw it on my shelves and asked myself what if?   Well the smallest bird fit perfectly, but I was determined to set him free!

And also I wanted to explore different avenues rather than go with the expected watercolors , another what if on my brain!

So here's my process

Carefully cut your bird after stamping 

Use Black gesso to alter Jamie's floral embellishments 

Give a coat of white crackle texture paste to the birds chest 

Lay it on thick for nice crackles and leave aside to dry 

It's a good moment to add some microbeads while it's wet

I was looking at my jar of mica flakes 

thinking another what if... So I gave my bird a metallic silver paint coat and 

over it I took my sharp tweezers and picked and adhered each piece of flakes to simulate feathers. I used the frosted color. For the head I painted the crown in gold leaf and the cheeks in 3D Gloss gel to hand apply more mica flakes

For the eyes I used 3d Gloss Gel with a fine brush and then I filled it with bronze microbeads 

Can you tell the cracks are beggining to appear?

I think the shimmering result of the hand applied mica flakes make it look stunning!

He's now free to wander...

Thanks for stopping by I hope you have enjoyed my mechanical bird and inspired you in trying your own!

Milagros