Southern Ridge Trading Company: Embrace Life Shelf Plaque with Sand McTier

Love this time of year when bees, butterflies and dragonflies are everywhere, don’t you?

It usually means the weather is getting warmer and flowers are blooming!

I hope you’ll enjoy creating this simple yet colourful design as much as I did! It doesn’t show up well in the photograph, but the background colours are metallic and so is the dragonfly! They shimmer and shine, and as I pass this little plaque on the shelf, the light dances all over the metallics, bringing it to life!

https://nebula.wsimg.com/obj/RUYyRUY5OUE4RTc2NEJEQ0NGQ0M6MGQ5YjFkMDgxMDlmMzMyOGM3OWM3NDk4ZGViY2RiN2U6Ojo6OjA=

https://nebula.wsimg.com/obj/RUYyRUY5OUE4RTc2NEJEQ0NGQ0M6NjIyOTkwMjhmODFmMjhjYTU3ZGIwOTVjMWNlZThmYjY6Ojo6OjA=

Prepping the Pieces:

Stand:

Using a 3/4" wash brush, paint the Medium Canvas Stand with DecoArt’s All Purpose Sealer and let completely dry.
Once dried, give it a light sanding. Then paint on a smooth layer of DecoArt Media Gesso and let completely dry. Once dried, give it another light sanding, removing any dust.

Dragonfly:

Load a damp #12 flat brush with Metallic Lustre Lavish Green and tap it on here and there. Rinse the brush and mix with some Metallic Lustre Purple. Tap the colour on here and there. Finish with a little Metallic Lustre White Frost, highlighting in a couple of places.
Once dried, varnish with DecoArt Media Soft-Touch Varnish.

Stand:

Lay the Dragonfly Fantasy stencil in place. Load one of the stencil brushes with Extreme Sheen Aquamarine, wiping most of it off on a paper towel. Using a soft circular motion, stencil over the beautiful Rebecca Baer stencil, mostly along the top half of the surface.
Load the other stencil brush with Extreme Sheen Amethyst, wiping most of it off on a paper towel. Repeat the circular motion over the stencil from the middle, down and on the stand as well. Add some of the purple up into the dragonfly’s wings.
Blend where it meets the Aquamarine. You might need to add more of the Aquamarine and then more Amethyst to get them to blend nicely. Let dry.
Load the IPC Large Oval Foam Sponge with Carbon Black, blotting any excess off on a paper towel. Run the brush along the inside edge of the surface to give it a framed in look.
Wipe the Amethyst stencil brush off on a paper towel and then load with Carbon Black, wiping most of it off onto a paper towel.
Lay the word stencil in place and, using a soft circular motion, go over the words. Load the liner brush with Carbon Black and attach the letters so that it doesn’t look like you’ve used a stencil.
Load the #12 flat brush with water and dip into Extreme Sheen Amethyst; splatter colour in a few places on the plaque. Rinse and repeat with Titanium White.
Let everything dry and then varnish with DecoArt Media Soft-Touch Varnish.