OH SO SWEET VINTAGE CANVAS WITH FROSTED FILM

Happy 4th of July to all of my American friends! 

I hope you all have a safe holiday spent with family and friends.

The Curiosity Crew is out with another challenge from Tim Holtz' fabulous Compendium of Curiosities III Book. If you have been following along with our

Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge, you know this is number 32 of 34 challenges.  My goodness ... time is FLYING!

We've had so much fun sharing Tim's techniques and products with you and putting our own spin on each challenge.  And the entries we've been receiving are really amazing!  So much thought and time has gone into your creations and I speak the truth when I say that often we REALLY have a difficult time picking a Curiosity Crew Winner.  THANK EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU for your participation and for your uplifting comments!

Let's continue to ramp it up this challenge with something really original and creative!!

Turn to page 59 in your Compendium of Curiosities III books and check out Frosted Film.  This is more of a product challenge than a technique challenge but if you follow along in Tim's book, you will see that he didn't just slap the Frosted Film on something and call it "done".  There is a bit of technique to it...even if you use a different substrate than Tim did with the Frosted Film.  That's all I'm saying about that ...  

I have to admit that this challenge didn't finish out anywhere near the way I started.  I'll show you photos at the end of this post as to how I started out and what I created using the Frosted Film.  I like them but somewhere between the daisies and starting to work on the canvas, I switched gears and went from whimsical to vintage.  I love the end results and I'll use the Frosted Film daisies on something else.

Here is my finished 5"x7" Burlap Tim Holtz Canvas.

I began by cutting some scrap Tim Holtz Wallflower cardstock into squares and rectangles and added them to the canvas using DecoArt's wonderful Media Matte Medium.  I heat set them to dry. 

Next I brushed on a light coat of White Gesso, heat set that and added a layer of Scattered Straw Distress Paint (heat set to dry). 

To add more color, I randomly added some Abandoned Coral followed by Cracked Pistachio Distress Paints.  Heat set to dry. 

To add more texture and dimension, I used some really dependable DecoArt Media Modeling Paste through Tim Holtz' Brick Stencil.  I gently heat set the Modeling Paste and allowed it to finish drying naturally.  That only took about 30 minutes.

To give the bricks more dimension, I lightly brushed some Adirondak Terra Cotta Paint (mixed with a tiny bit of water) over them and blotted off the excess paint. After heat setting them, I used DecoArt's Media Titanium White Media Acrylic Paint to dry brush over the bricks.  It is amazing how much detail and dimension you can achieve by dry brushing!  Next I lightly did a little more dry brushing on some of the bricks and randomly around the edges of the canvas with DecoArt Media Media Burnt Umber Acrylic Paint.  Finally I swiped a little Picket Fence Distress Paint over some of the open areas and partially wiped it with a baby wipe.  Setting it to the side, I began working with Tim's Frosted Film.

I die cut Tim's Window and Window Box with Grungeboard.  I also die cut one of Tim's Pediments for the top of the window.  I die cut one window, two window boxes and three Pediments.  I glued the window boxes and Pediments together with Glossy Accents.

I swiped Antique Linen Distress Paint over all of the window surfaces and then I painted all of the surfaces with a mixture of  Mermaid Lagoon and Picket Fence Distress Paints (using a brush to get into all of the corners and cracks). After gently heat setting the window, I brushed on a layer of DecoArt's Crackle Medium and let it air dry. When that was complete, I added a light layer of DecoArt's Lace Chalk Paint and watched the crackling begin!  Like magic, the cracks appeared, giving my window that farmhouse aged look. I heat set the window and then began adding subtle color with Distress Inks.  Mermaid Lagoon provided the blue tones I was wanting to recapture on top of the predominantly soft white window while I wanted the Pediment and window box to be more blue. I distressed the edges with a bit of Vintage Photo followed by Gathered Twigs Distress Ink along the edges.  Acrylic paints and Distress Inks work so well together! Don't be afraid to combine them on your art pieces! 

  

Next I die cut a beautiful little delicate vine and flowers called "Lavish Branch" from Memory Box.  I used a fairly deep green cardstock and then lightened it by lightly swiping my Picket Fence Distress Paint over it and completely covering the little flowers with white paint.  Using Mustard Seed and Abandoned Coral Distress Paint, I painted the little flowers and later added tiny pearls to the centers using Glossy Accents.

I found a sweet little vintage girl in my folders of vintage children photos and sized her to fit my window, positioning her so that her sweet little face would not be covered up with the window panes. I placed the Frosted Film over her and added Tattered Flowers and a touch of Gathered Twigs at the edge of the photograph to the film then using 1/4" Scor Tape (double sided tape), I glued the "window" in place behind the die cut window.

I cut the vines apart and glued them in place on my window box using Glossy Accents.  Then I added some more dimensional roses that I had in my stash.

Finally I added some pop dots to make the window box stand out and glued the window box in place at the bottom of the window.  Then I glued the Pediment in place at the top of the window.

I stamped "be kind of heart" a wonderful sentiment from Wendy Vecchi's My Kind of Art stamp set onto a piece of a muslin type frayed ribbon. I colored in the letters using my Broken China fine point side on the Distress Marker.  The ribbon is glued in place using 1/2" Scor Tape.

Originally I was going to place the window in the center of the canvas but I started fooling around with a layout and came up with the idea to add a piece of vintage lace. I loved the lace on the right side of the canvas. So I moved the window to the side. Next I found my sweet little vintage buttons, a heart charm and the two filigree corners.  I sewed the buttons and heart charm onto the lace before I glued it in place. 

Speaking of the beautiful little heart charm and the filagree corners ... I bought these from our sponsor for this challenge ... The Funkie Junkie Boutique!  Linda Coughlin is the owner and her store has tons a very cool little embellishments, laces and those "different" things that make your art projects so much more personalized.  She's also got a big FOURTH OF JULY SALE going on right now so be sure to check her out!

I glued the lace in place using three strips of 1/8" Scor Tape and then glued the filigree corners in place using Glossy Accents.  I LOVE the way it gives such a soft, shabby chic vintage feeling to the canvas. 

Finally, I glued one of Tim's heart charms onto a filigree butterfly, added some thin wire antenna and glued it in place on the upper left of the window.  The perfect finishing touch!

Here is a close up of the detail and the dimension of this sweet crackled window. If you look really closely, you can see the clear frosty film that represents the window panes. I love the softness of the "glass" panes and how sweet this window and window box turned out.

Now ... I will quickly show you how this Frosted Film Project started out ...

Using Matte Medium, I glued some of Tim's Terminology Tissue Wrap onto a piece of heavy white cardstock.  Once that was dry, I sprayed Dyan Reaveley's Lemon Zest and a bit of Pure Sunshine Dylusions sprays over the Tissue Wrap and heat set it. 

Next I added the Frosted Film over the sprayed Tissue Wrap and die cut the daises from Tim's Tattered Florals die cut.  

Using a text stamp, I stamped on the back side of the daisies that had also be sprayed with the Dylusions sprays.  I gathered three daisies together with a long fastener and curled the petals using the small end of a paint brush handle.  I DISCOVERED THAT WHEN I HEAT SET THE FROSTED FILM, IT ALSO BEGAN TO CURL! 

Next I had some little Paper Clay faces that I had molded and dried.  So, I painted three of the faces and used them as the centers of the daisies.  

Then I added Black Diamond Stickles to the edges of the petals.  Looking back, I probably should have done the Stickles on each of the daisies while they were flat and before I gathered them together.  Live and learn, I guess.  Anyway ... I was going to use these daisies underneath my die cut window but once I began working on the canvas and the window, the daisies just weren't going to work anymore ... too large, too bright and too whimsical.  But, as I said earlier, I will use them on something else.

For this challenge, I really loved the way this canvas turned out and it will definitely have a place on my studio wall.

Now it's your turn to turn to pull out the Frosted Film and make something wonderful for our challenge.  There are only three challenges left (including this one)!  

Linda Coughlin of THE FUNKIE JUNKIE BOUTIQUE has graciously donated a $25.00 gift certificate throughout our entire Compendium of Curiosities III Challenges along with the wonderful people at Inspiration Emporium.  THANK YOU LINDA!

And Tim and Mario have also so generously donated tons of Tim's products to be given away to one of our winners each challenge as well.  So, there are two opportunities each challenge for you to win a wonderful prize!  And you also get to share your art with all of the other wonderful artists who join us and not only share their work but support each other with wonderful comments!

I hope you'll join us!

Good luck!