Sunflowers Seed 2 with Tracy Moreau

Late summer brings us  those big beautiful sunny faced flowers , as a reminder that fall is not far away.  this lovely Gear Clock Wood Piece , just called out for a Rusty distressed metal effect, and some lovely country colours to keep it “on Trend” with the Farm House/Country Look.  It’s an easy one to create and could as easily be done using decoupage paper, dinner napkins or a printed label. If you are Not artistically inclined. The RUSTY finish is an easy to do effect and works well with all kinds of things.

Heres how it’s done!

First  you have to choose your surface.. this one is wonderful.. ( would make an awesome card!)

I base coated it first with Lamp Black to give me a nice uniform surface to work on. Then I began layer colour over top of the black, starting with a Gold metallic. This is just dry brushed on and leaves a fair amount of the black showing through.

Once the gold is completely dry, I dry brushed again.. this time using Burnt Sienna, I let it dry well then dry brushes once more using Quinacridone Gold. I then layered these colour two more times alternating them.

The final dry brush is a small amount of the Lamp Black, paying a bit more attention to the corners and edges, top and bottom.

You can continue to layer until you like what you see.. I prefer it to be a little lighter.

I taped off the top and bottom of the panel and then applied a base coat of Country Red.

Once it was dry I traced my own design using white graphite. I shaded around the design and the lettering with a float of thinned Lamp Black. ( this just lots the design off the background a little.

Once everything was dry. I based coated the Flower and The Lettering with Summer Squash. (this is a NEW DecoArt Colour) the leaves with Antique Green, and the centre with Asphaltum.

The Flowers are shaded with floats of thinned Scarlet and the leaves with Plantation Pine. The leaves are highlighted with floats of Margarita and the flowers with Thinned Warm White.  

The lettering is shaded with a float of thinned Scarlet along the bottom of each letter. And a highlight is added in a thin line on the left side of each letter. Once all those are complete, A few scribbly details are added around the leaves, dip dots to texture the centre of the flower and a few fine scrolls for vines and stems are added  as filler. Once Sparingly spattered with first white and then a touch of Black, it is ready to hang and enjoy!!

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Gear Clock Wood Canvas

- Med. Gears

Other Supplies Used:

- DecoArt Americana: Lamp Black, Asphaltum, Country Red, Summer Squash, Warm White, Margarita, Antique Green, Scarlet, Burnt Sienna & Gold Matte Mettalic and DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic: Quinacridone Gold

- Dynasty Brushes: Faux Squirrel 1/4 Angled Shader, 1/2 Angled Shader, #2 Rigger, 3/4 Fat Wash, 3/4 Oval Encaustic and Black Gold 10/ Liner

Designed By Tracy Moreau

Zen Dragonfly Box with Sandy McTier

Hi Y’all!! I was super duper excited when I saw the new Southern Ridge Trading Company Zen Dragonfly items and couldn’t wait to create with them!! Of course I had a thousand and one ideas running through my head and initially planned to paint water lilies for my dragonfly (which I started but didn’t finish), then I saw this picture that INSPIRED my dragonfly creation! As I was scrolling through pictures on my computer, I found this gorgeous Art Deco Compact (pictured below) that was a silver brushed metal with a gold dragonfly on top, and it led to this catch-all box that I’m in love with.

The box is a 5” paper mache box from Hobby Lobby.

To give it that brushed metal look, it needed to have some texture. I used one of my all time favorite stencils. This stencil is actually from the M2 (as in ‘M squared’) line of stencils that Tracy Moreau and I have created. This particular stencil, M2-3, lends itself to the “Art Deco” feel. I used a palette knife to apply the DecoArt Media Black Modeling Paste to box, doing so in stages so that the sides, etc. had time to dry before moving on to the next area.

I didn’t paint the box first, but you certainly could with black paint. I chose to wait for the modeling paste to dry and then painted it with a very thin application of Lamp Black. Next, I loaded a sponge dauber with the black paint, pounced off the excess and painted the dragonfly.

Once the box dried, I brushed some of the Extreme Sheen Silver over the entire box and lid and then wiped back some of the excess paint with a paper towel. It was super shiny, and I loved the look, so I snapped a picture so you could see what it looked like. I even brushed on some Extreme Sheen Aquamarine to see how that would look, which you can see in the picture. However, I wanted a more subtle look to the metal shine, so decided to antique it with DecoArt Media Carbon Black Antiquing Cream. I brushed that all over the box and then wiped back the excess paint with a paper towel, repeating that step on the lid as well. While that was drying I painted the dragonfly with the Extreme Sheen Gold. I found it easier to load a sponge dauber with the paint and lightly pounce over the dragonfly to keep the intricate cutouts paint free.

To finish off the look, I loaded a 1” stencil brush with White Frost Metallic Lustre, working it into the bristles and then dry brushed the lustre on the box and the dragonfly. This added that perfect brushed metal look to the piece. You can buff to the desired shine with a soft cloth. Finally, I glued the dragonfly to box using E6000 glue.

I hope this inspires you to create it!! I think it would be cool to make some 4” coasters to match, using the M2 stencil and paint (without a raised texture) and then add the dragonfly using the new Southern Ridge Trading Company Zen Dragonfly Stencil.

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

ZenDragonfly 

Other Supplies Used:

Surface: 5” Paper Mache Box (Available from Hobby Lobby)

- M2 Stencil – M2-3 (Available from www.SandyMcTierDesigns.com)

- DecoArt Americana Acrylics: Lamp Black

- DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics: Carbon Black Antiquing Cream

- DecoArt Media Metallic Lustre: White Frost

- DecoArt Media Black Modeling Paste

- DecoArt Extreme Sheen: Silver and Gold (Aquamarine – optional)

- Dynasty Brushes: 1” Faux Sable and 1” Stencil Brush (Available from TheBrushGuys.com – use promo code: sandymc for an additional discount)

- Other supplies: Palette Knife & E6000

Website: www.sandymctierdesigns.com 

 FB: www.Facebook.com/SandyMcTierDesigns

©2018 Zen Dragonfly Box, Sandy McTier Designs ~ all rights reserved

Y’all have a GREAT day; Happy Creating!! Sandy