Special Friendship – Ankarika Craft – Dusty Attic – Australian owned and operated Laser Cutting business

Hi there! Just see what I came up with this time! I admit that the expectations I got for this project strongly influenced what came out in the end result. This is what it is like when work is commissioned. I was supposed to keep the project forresty, close to nature and at the same time refer to separation, travel and friendship. Fortunately, I was able to decide on the colors myself, and therefore I was happy to use the moodboard from the current challenge on the Dusty Attic blog. I like such coincidences.

What about you? Maybe you too will take up this challenge? All you have to do is add your work to the comments section of the Dusty FANattics Facebook group for a chance to win one of two amazing prizes of $50 (AUD) on purchases from their store. I can’t wait to see your work on the Dusty FANAttics group.

The basis for this project is the forest-floral sheet No. 5B from my “Breeze of Dreams” collection, which you can find at Margaret Paper Design store. I know it’s a bit unfair that I already have them and I’m cutting them but you can’t yet.. I promise that it’s a matter of a few days and the sale of the first two collections will start. And the third one is already getting a shape, I wonder if you’ll guess in what colors the next one will be.. 🙂 The sheet is trimmed with beige thread three times and painted with black gesso on the bottom. I tore it bravely as seen in the photo and rolled the edges into a roll. From the bottom there is a canvas frame and a sheet of cardboard, both painted with black gesso, then with acrylic paints in two shades of turquoise. I decided to use the dot stencil on a large area of the paper as well as in the spaces between the rolled edges. with crackle paste from Ranger. After drying, I tinted partially with mists in the colors of lettuce and stream, also from Ranger and then Vintage Antiquing paste from Stamperia. This paste is my latest discovery! From now on, it is irreplaceable and even indispensable for vintage projects. Any old & vintage stains on the design are the result of this wonderful paste.

All the composition and ideas kept popping up, but … one theme was for sure: the zippers. I don’t really understand my decision, but when I was browsing my drawers, I just noticed them and I already knew that they would be the most important here. After the black gesso had dried, I painted it in a lighter shade of turquoise, then rubbed the blue lagoon wax quite strongly to create abrasions all the way to the black gesso. Finally, I applied a minimal amount of vintage paste. The effect pleased me very much, because from a distance they are quite bright and eye-catching, but up close, they have a wonderful vintage style.There are trees cut with Sizzix dies between the rolled edges, I textured them with the 3D embossing folder from Sizzix and highlighted them with the aforementioned paste. I put deers on them and gave one of them a butterfly. Deers are available in a set together with the roe-deers. All chipboards visible in the work was first carefully secured with gesso: white or black. Only then I colored them with the media. Here it is, again, the aforementioned vintage paste and on the edges I used very light blue lagoon wax.

The main workplace is occupied by a photo of the couple. It is placed on two layers of beige paper forming a frame, which I torn at the edges, stained it a bit and stuck it with cardboard for a 3D effect. Between these beige layers, as well as on the bottom, I have inserted torn pieces of corrugated cardboard. I really love to use it in my work, sometimes I just forget that I have it.. And soon I will get a decent supply of it, because a DT package is coming to me and with it a lot of new patterns! The aforementioned cardboard is darkened with vintage paste, but also colored with turquoise paints. Above the photo are pieces of film tape designed by Tim Holtz. A turquoise sisal sticks out from underneath the photo on all sides. Above the photo I have posted some inscriptions referring to the circumstances of this gift: “all packed and ready to go” and two others. Below the photo is the phrase which is the culmination of the friendship “Special Friendship”. I used seafoam white embossing powder and vintage paste here.

Now a few words about flowers and what is around them. I made all the yellow ones myself from a dies, there are three different sizes of flowers with stamens and a few roses – all made vintage style. I arranged them on leaves cut from the die, but I also used two different sets of chippy ones, at the end of the text you can check the links. After drying the gesso, I tinted it with the mists mentioned at the beginning, colored some of them with turquoise finnabair paste, made innervation with the Faber Castel marker and highlighted the edges with the white Gelly Roll marker. I filled empty spaces with tiny white Tim Holtz’s flowers and a few springs. I put torn gauze under the flowers to enrich the composition, and at the top, among the flowers, there is a birdhouse hidden. On the right is an old road sign, cut from extra sheets to the same collection, indicating important stops in the couple’s life. There is an iron fence just below the mark and two birds above the mark.

At the end I sprinkled the entire work with small turquoise and green balls as well as green-colored mini pebbles. They are in the nooks and crannies, among the flowers, around the photo, along the zippers – there are a lot of them there. On the paper leaves you can see 3D pearls imitating dew drops. For gluing, I used Magik glue, hot glue and heavy body gel. I think I have mentioned everything, but if you have any questions, feel free to comment below. I’ll answer for sure! And if you want to see how I’m arranging this flower composition – you’re welcome to visit me on IG profile – I saved live stream there in IGTV tab.

Products used here: