Altered Dress Form | Little Birdie Crafts

#kerriegurney #littlebirdiecrafts

Hi Everyone, Kerrie here wishing you all the very best in these uncertain times, as I write this I hope you are all safe and healthy.
While we are living our lives in limbo trying to stay safe I am again thankful to have my craft to keep me busy and distracted from the news.
Today I have upcyled a dress form that I have had stashed away in a box for years waiting to the right time to do something with it and I have to say I am pretty happy with it.
It has gone from drab to fab thanks to Little Birdie and their fabulous collections of mixed media mediums and all their gorgeous handmade flowers.

Here is a quick tutorial for you all on how you to can create something like this using something you have laying around your home

Step one was to cover the whole dress form with a good coating of Gesso

I then painted the dress form with Snow Chalk Paint

I then painted on a good thick coat of Crackle Medium and left it to dry over night

I then painted on Pink Ballet Chalk Paint and then working quickly swiped on Bubble Gum Chalk Paint giving a graduated look to the paint instead of a solid colour.

You do need to do this quickly as the Crackle Paint starts crackling quickly and you don't want to loose your crackle effect 

I again left it over night to dry

I then tore a piece of patterned cardstock from the Celebrate Life collection, I cut the bottom following the pennant swags and then I sprayed the pice with water quite liberally and then gave it a scrunch and pleated it  leaving it to to dry overnight

I created some leaves using Rose Blush Sculpture Paste leaving to dry overnight

I spritzed these chipboard berries with Hot Pink Color Splash,  I tapped off some of the colour with paper towel so the colour wasn't as vivid  and left to dry overnight with all my other pieces 

With everything dry and ready I grabbed all my packets of flowers, Lace Ribbon, Chipboard, Sculpture Leaves, Sisal Fibre and glued everything on using Heavy Gel Medium.
Gel Medium is great for attaching embellishments onto things as it gives you time to move things around if you aren't happy and once dry everything is glued firmly in place.

I also used Heavy Gel Medium applied randomly over my flowers, chipboard, Sculpture Paste Leaves  using a skewer and then sprinkled with Raspberry Lips Shimmer Modge Podge and Silver Micro Beads

To finish off i applied Silver Glitz Metallic Wax to add a bit of pop to  the details on the fress form

Here are some close up photos of my completed Dress Form

Check the crackle, I absolutely love Little Birdie's Crackle Medium you seriously cannot much it up

Little Birdie Products Used
Gesso, White
Heavy Gel Medium
Crackle Medium
Sculpture Paste, Rose Blush
 Chalk Paste, Snow
 Chalk Paint, Pink Ballet
Chalk Paint, Bubble Gum
Shimmer Hodge Podge, Strawberry Lips
Metal Micro Beads, Iced Slate
Metallic Wax, Silver Glitz
Handmade Flowers, Eva Celebrate
Handmade Flowers, Amica Celebrate
Handmade Flowers, Deborah Celebrate
Handmade Flowers, Gianna Celebrate
Chipboard, Tassel Berry
Cardstock Pack, Celebrate Life

Thanks for stopping by I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial,

please if you don't already follow Little Birdie Crafts on Facebook, Instagram and of course their Blog 

along with the Little Birdie Crafts Cafe Facebook Group 

 for fabulous tutorials from all the Design Team

You can purchase all Little Birdie Crafts products from your local crafting store or online HERE

 Happy Creating 

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Altered Dress Form | Little Birdie Crafts

Mixed Media Upcycled Violin | Little Birdie Crafts

#kerriegurney #littlebirdiecrafts

Hi Everyone Kerrie back with another mixed media project for Little Birdie Crafts Blog 

This project is an upcycle of my daughters violin which she hasn't used for many years. I had upcycled as a decor piece to have on display in her bedroom as a reminder of her playing days but as she is now all grown up and has updated her room, it no longer had a place in there and as I am a bit of a hoarder I have had it stashed away to revamp one day and that day has come.

See below for my tutorial

First up after removing all the old embellishments I painted the whole Violin with White Gesso

Next i created some flourish embellishments using Sculpture Paste in a Silicone Mold, I leave these over night to dry.
TIP;  create them ahead of time so that you have some on hand for when needed.

I then added some texture using Stencil and Mixed Media Paste

when everything was dry I used Gel Medium to adhere all my handmade burlap and paper flowers, sisal fibre and flourish embellishments to the Violin
I love the texture that the Burlap flowers and Sisal Fibre bring to a project.

I then painted over everything with White Gesso and then added some more texture by adding Glass Bead Gel Medium randomly around my flowers

Then it was time to add some colour, I used Color Splash Sprays to colour. Starting with Paprika

I then added a splash of Gold Rush Color Splash Spray

Next Ocean Mist Color Splash Spray

I then added some Lemon Zing Color Splash Spray

and lastly a spritz of my own mix, Ocean Mist with Lemon Zing and Mica Powder for a little shine
TIP; Dry the colours off before adding the next colour using a heat tool this helps the colours from getting muddy.

It is so much fun to create your own Color Spray colours, you never know exactly what you are going to get but it is fun seeing what colours you can create and also helps when you don't have the colour you need for your project.

I added a swipe of Sailing Sky Chalk Paint to add some highlights to my flowers and the edge of the Violin
Don't you just love how rich this is looking

I added more layers of all the Color Splash Spray colours until I reached the depth of colour I wanted continuing to dry off between layers of colour.

I swiped on some Gel Medium randomly and added a sprinkling of Gold Micro Beads to add more texture to my piece.

To finish off I used my finger to rub on Rich Gold Metallic Wax onto the texture paste to enhance to pattern and to the Flourishes and also to the edges of the Violin

When I applied the Gesso I did it quite messily and you can now see how that also adds texture to the base of the Violin.

I left the embossed strips of cardstock I had on the Violin when I upcycled it last time as I knew they would add fabulous texture to my finished piece.

Here are some close ups of the finished Violin, I just so happy with the end result, I  love how all the colours and the textures.

 the Little Birdie Crafts Mixed Media Mediums I have used along with Burlap and Papers Flowers

If you would like to see what the violin looked like before this upcycle click here

 Thanks for stopping by I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial,

please if you don't already follow Little Birdie Crafts on Facebook, Instagram and of course their Blog 

along with the Little Birdie Crafts Cafe Facebook Group 

 for fabulous tutorials from all the Design Team

 Happy Creating 

Kerrie

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Mixed Media Upcycled Violin | Little Birdie Crafts

Dream Mixed Media Burlap Canvas | Little Birdie Crafts

#kerriegurney #littlebirdiecrafts 

Hi Everyone Kerrie back with another mixed media project for Little Birdie Crafts

I had so much fun creating this 8"x 8" mixed media burlap canvas, I love all the textures  and layers I created on this canvas and seriously you cannot muck it up as you can just gesso over it all and start again if you don't like how your colours come out, see below for my tutorial and step by step photos

I started off by giving the whole burlap canvas a random coating of Gesso 

I didn't wait a perfect coverage as I wanted a rustic look

Next I randomly applied Crackle Paste using Chevron stencil, again nothing was done perfectly

next using gel medium I cut three paper straws in half and adhered them, the Succulents  and a chipboard scroll border to my canvas

I  heat set the gel medium and then painted over everything with Gesso, I also added some paper flowers, mixed media stones, sisal fibre and leaves that I created using the Sculpture Paste (I had these already made up and in my stash, see my post here to see how to create your own you can use Sculpture Paste in all your silicone molds) I dried everything off with my heat tool

Next I coloured my canvas using a combination of  Gold Rush Ocean Mist and Lemon Zing Color Splash sprays. I started with Gold Rush, next adding Ocean Mist then Lemon Zing and then another spray of Gold Rush. I added some splatters,  I then dried it all using my heat tool

I then dry brushed Gesso over my cluster and then resprayed my canvas giving more depth to my colour. I am so in love with the Gold Rush spray the colour is gorgeous

A closer look at how the crackle paste dries, how gorgeous is all that texture

look at the colours on the chipboard

I finished off my piece with a sprinkling of Metal Microbeads applying using Gel Medium and a small paintbrush

Thanks for stopping by I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial,

please if you don't already follow Little Birdie Crafts on Facebook, Instagram and of course their Blog 

along with the Little Birdie Crafts Cafe Facebook Group 

 for fabulous tutorials from all the Design Team

 Happy Creating 

Kerrie

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Dream Mixed Media Burlap Canvas | Little Birdie Crafts