Thursday, March 20, 2014

The Caged Bird Sings


Greetings, and Happy Friday to one and all!  Today's post is a mixed-media canvas celebrating Spring and the Weekly Challenge at Classy Cards N' Such blog.  
The topic this week is "Flutterbys" celebrating birds or butterflies, or both!  

I started with my Bird Sanctuary die set from Spellbinders SB-S5-033, also available in the Classy Cards N' Such Online shop.  I have had this die set for quite awhile, but haven't had the chance to try it out yet. After cutting it all out with my Cuttlebug machine, I started arranging pieces to fit my 8" X 8" canvas.  I dug through some of my "scraps" of die cut images I keep from when I try out my dies, and found a frame from the Romantic Rectangles Spellbinders die. So after smearing out some of my favorite colors of Golden Acrylic paints on my canvas, I stamped my Music All Over Background Stamp from Impression Obsession, on the canvas in brown Memento ink. I then attached my rectangular frame in the top left corner with a little adhesive and two turquoise brads. I then adhered a strip of the Spring Market printed paper from Websters Pages to the rectangle with foam tape to give a little more dimension.

I then started attaching my Bird Sanctuary die-cuts on top of the frame.  There was a beautiful bird cage, some greenery leaves, two small birds - one with dimensional wings, and a decorative greenery border.  I also added a 3-D Mini Daisy from Sizzix and Susan Tierney-Cockburn, left on my desk from the "Flower Garden Challenge" a few weeks ago. A decorative button topped off the bird cage after attaching the leaves and bird.  After my "arrangement" was complete, the lyrics from a poem by Maya Angelou kept repeating over and over in my mind; "I know why the Caged Bird Sings."

After adding the phrase, I still needed something decorative in the top right, and bottom left corners of the canvas.  I dug out one of my Prima Stencils and applied a little molding paste to the corners. I let everything dry overnight, and when dry, I colored the molding paste with Dark Bark chalk ink to antique it just a bit and tone down the "whiteness".

I hope you enjoy my canvas as much as I enjoyed making it. I love all types of winged creatures, from butterflies and birds to dragonflies, ladybugs, and bee's.  I guess that is another reason I enjoy Spring so much. It is an awakening of sorts, a new beginning of life, both in plants and creatures, after the cold bleakness of winter.

5 comments:

  1. Beautiful Mindy...love the birdcage and the birds..and the sentiment...well done!!! Thank you for joining us at CCNS for our "flutterbys" challenge this week!!!
    Diane DT

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  2. What a beautiful mixed media project! Love the birds and the birdcage and the different uses of your stencil in the background! Thanks for playing in our challenge at Classy Cards 'n Such!

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  3. What a beautiful mixed media project!, to copy Holly's comment. This has so much depth and dimension! Your colors look very nice together. I love spring too!
    Joan

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  4. Great project! Every detail compliments each other. Thanks for entering your card to the Classy Cards 'n Such challenge!

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  5. Great canvas! I love how you have put your canvas together. Thank you for joining us in the Classy Cards 'n Such challenge.

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