COMPENDIUM OF CURIOSITIES III ~ FAUX TEA ROSES

Welcome blogging friends!

It's time for a new technique/product and challenge at 

Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge.  This week, turn to page 65 in your Compendium of Curiosities III book and check out Faux Tea Roses.  If you don't already have your copy of Tims' book, you can click HERE and be taken directly to his blog where you can order your very own autographed copy.

Made from Tim Holtz' Tattered Pinecone die cut, these little tea roses add so much dimension, femininity and softness to your vintage and shabby chic pieces. 

Here is my 5x7 canvas that I have created especially for this challenge. The beautiful maiden from Tim's Classics #5 Stamp Set was my inspiration for this piece.  When I saw the theme of this challenge, I immediately thought of a spring day, a beautiful maiden running through a meadow with a halo of tea roses and ribbon in her long flowing hair.  

I used the following supplies to create this canvas:

5x7 stretched canvas, Gesso, Matte Multi Medium, Kraft Core Nostalgics Collection (paper), Classics #5 and Urban Chic Stamp Sets, Specialty Stamping Paper, Jet Black Archival Ink, Picked Raspberry and Antique Linen Distress Paint, Gathered Twigs Distress Ink (distressing the canvas), Detailer Water Brush, Scattered Straw, Tattered Rose, Salty Ocean, Worn Lipstick Distress Inks (face), Stickles: Waterfall (eyes), Mercury Glass (eyelids, edging on roses), Stardust (lips), Sanding Block, Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks, Miscellaneous Scraps of Fabric, Doll Hair, White Tissue Paper, Paint Brush, Tim's Grid Blocks, Renaissance Treasure Gold Guilding Wax, Antique Bronze Filigree Corners from the Funkie Junkie Boutique

I began by painting the canvas with Gesso and letting it dry.  Then I added some color by mixing Picked Raspberry and Antique Linen Distress Paints with water and brushing them on.  

After I heat set them dry, I began adding some torn strips of cotton fabric that was given to me by a very sweet blogging friend known for the magic that she does with fabric in her art pieces, Andrea Ockey Parr. If you want some very cool inspiration, check out her blog. 

Anyway, I brushed on some Matte Multi Medium ... wonderful stuff that dries clear and can be used as a glue or a sealer.  In this case, I used it for both.  I brushed the canvas where I wanted my strips to go, arranged them and glued them in place.  Then I lightly brushed over the tops of them to lightly seal them.

Next I added a little more Gesso over the top to soften the colors of the painted background and also the fabric and make them sort of mesh into each other a little better.

I stamped the girl's face onto Specialty Stamping Paper using Jet Black Archival Ink and heat set it.  Then I colorized her face using my Tim Holtz Detailer Water Brush and several Distress Inks.  Scattered Straw and Tattered Rose when mixed make a very nice fleshy skin color.  Then I added just some Tattered Rose for her blushing cheeks.  I gave her blue eyes with Salty Ocean and pink lips with Worn Lipstick Distress Inks.  Finally I added a touch of Gathered Twigs on her eye lids and to create subtle shadows at the edges of her face.

When she was dry, I cut around her face, added some more Matte Multi Medium to my canvas and glued her in place.  I lightly brushed over her face to seal it.

She looked really weird with the top of her head and left side of her face so sharply cut off.  I decided to soften the look with long flowing ringlets of hair...doll hair that is.  I brushed Matte Multi Medium where I wanted to add the individual ringlets of hair then pressed the hair in place and let it dry.  I added more hair as needed.  

Now I could FINALLY get to the faux tea roses ... the reason for the whole challenge.  I created them out of some paper from Tim Holtz' Kraft-Core Nostalgics Collection paper.  These paper have a kraft base so that you can sand off part of the color of the paper to reveal the kraft core.  I used some mauve, teal and goldish papers for my faux tea roses.  Check out the exact technique for creating these in Compendium of Curiosities III.  I will share with you that I created more of some rose buds, or smaller roses by tearing the die cut in half as I was working with it.  That way, not all of your roses are the same size...which I think is very nice.  

Once my roses were ready, I hot glued little strands of the metallic gold ribbon in her hair and then placed (hot glued) the roses to create the look of a garland of halo of roses in her hair.  To highlight them even further, I lightly added Mercury Glass Stickles along the edges of the roses.  I also very lightly added some Mercury Glass Stickles to her eye lids, Waterfall Stickles her eyes and Stardust Stickles to her lips.

Next I added some beautiful antique bronze filigree corners that I recently purchased from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  This is such a fabulous store that has all sorts of out of the ordinary metal findings (which I love) and beautiful laces along with lots of other paper crafting products, including lots of Tim Holtz items.  Frilly and Funkie is also one of our very generous sponsors! I think these filigree corners add a lot of character to this piece.

I added a very sweet sentiment from Tim Holtz' Urban Chic Stamp Set.  I stamped it onto plain white tissue paper and then brushed Matte Multi Medium onto the canvas, where I wanted it to go.  Then I brushed more Matte Multi Medium over the sentiment to seal it in place. (Tear the edges of the tissue instead of cutting them when using this technique.  The torn edges seem to disappear into the background when gluing them in place where a cut edge remains more visible). Why did I pick this sentiment?  



Well, I love it's positive message and I think there are times when we all need to remember that no matter what life throws at us, we will survive and come out even stronger. 

Finally, to warm up the edges, I distressed them with Gathered Twigs again and added some Renaissance Treasure Gold Guilding Wax.  It gives a soft, subtle shimmer to the edges when the light hits the canvas just right.  It's very pretty and seems to blend the colors of the canvas and the fabric together even more.

I also added some shadowing around the girl's face and hair using a black Stabilo pencil and then blending it out using Tim's Detailer Water Brush.  You could achieve the same effect with a charcoal pencil, chalk or anything that you can manipulate with the water brush.

Now it is YOUR turn to create something wonderful using Tim's Faux Tea Rose technique.  Be sure to tell us what inspired your work and what Tim products you used in your piece.  Also be sure to link your project up to The Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge and include a link to our challenge in your blog post to be eligible for our wonderful prizes from  Tim Holtz himself and also our alternating sponsors Inspiration Emporium and The Funkie Junkie Boutique! 

This challenge's prizes are  ...

and ...

amazing prize packages full of grungey vintage goodness from Tim and Mario!!!  Talk about MOTIVATION to play along!

We have had such wonderful response to our challenges and the art that is being shared is nothing short of amazing!  Truly....your art really does show us how much you love and understand Tim's products in order to produce such beautiful work! 

Good luck! Enjoy your weekend!