Seahorse Mixed Media Canvas with Diecuts

It's time for a fabulous new challenge at Frilly and Funkie.  Our hostess Kathy has chosen the theme In the Good Old Summertime.  She says, "It's time for those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.  Whether you vacation at the beach, in the mountains, or enjoy a relaxing "Staycation" in your own back yard, your challenge is to create a vintage or shabby chic project that shows what you love best about summer.  Use summer colors in your project, and be sure to tell us in your post what you love about summer, and how you've represented that in your project."

For my project I had to really stretch my supplies, as I have very little sea themed items in my stash, other than the fantastic new Prima St. Tropez Washed Metal Charms I'm using for an upcoming project.  I found this gold plated seahorse at a thrift shop for a couple of bucks a few years ago and decided to build an entire project around him.  I raided my die cut stash for anything remotely beachy and came up with this rough layout.  The "coral" comes from two different greenery sets.  The plants are from the Wildflowers set.  I cut everything from thin chipboard.  I cut two of the Ornate Oval dies and glued them together so that my focal point would be a bit sturdier.  I threw in a couple of buttons too.

To make my fish net, I lined up the pattern from the honeycomb die from the Mixed Media Thinlets set.  I carefully cut around the design when it was all punched out.

I had some MDF packaging from a piece of furniture that was very long and skinny.  I had saved it for ages and decided to try and cut it down to size.  I actually put it in my paper cutter, which helped me cut a straight line a little less than halfway through the thickness of the material.  I used scissors to finish cutting through, then sanded the edges really well.  (Alternatively you could use chipboard.)  Next, I gessoed everything, every single die cut, my seahorse and my MDF panel.  I took some shoe packaging tissue and adhered to my base with gel medium.  I tore several extra layers and adhered them to the center diagonally to built up thickness there.

I dried the tissue layers with a hair dryer so it didn't buckle with my heat gun.  Then I mixed both sizes of Art Stones with gel medium and brushed on, mostly around the center where I was building up height.

I glued everything back in place with Beacon 3-1 then proceeded to spray with a variety of Lindy's Stamp Gang and Prima Color Bloom sprays.

I really wanted to add more depth and color to my project, so I went back in with Prima Art Extravagance pastes.  These worked beautifully over the sprays and added wonderful texture to the dies and charms.  For the brass, I watered it down and used my finger to apply it with a very light touch, spraying with water and dabbing as necessary. Adding this color really brought everything together.

Below my seahorse I added some basket filler, which I also gessoed and sprayed.  I added some small Wild Orchid Crafts flowers to help frame him.

I was so pleased to achieve so much dimension with merely using dies and a few embellishments.  The honeycomb is one of my favorite details.

For a final touch I did some gesso dry brush to bring out a little contrast.  I gave some good splashes of gesso too.  I added some tiny chunky glitter I have had in my stash for ages with gel medium and brushed on randomly here and there.  I embossed a Prima sentiment onto vellum and tucked it and a loopy bow on on either side.  I hope you like it and are inspired to play along for a chance to win a $25 GC to the Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Thanks for visiting today!

Shop the Funkie Junkie Boutique for these and other fine supplies.

Prima Art Basics - Heavy Gesso - White 17 fl. oz. (March Pre-Order)	(February Pre-order) Prima Art Extravagance - Patina Effect Paste Set 3pcs 50ml	Prima Marketing Color Bloom 2 Fir Needles	Prima Marketing Color Bloom 2 Brimstone Wings
Lindy′s Stamp Gang Tres Chic Spray Set	Prima Marketing Cling Stamp St. Tropez	Ranger Embossing Powder - Gold - Super Fine Detail	Prima Marketing Sea Washed Metals St. Tropez
Sizzix® Thinlits™ Die Set 4PK - Mixed Media by Tim Holtz®	Sizzix Holiday Greens Die Leaves	Sizzix Holiday Greens Die Leaves	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Wildflowers by Tim Holtz 661190 (February Pre-Order)
Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations Ornate Frame Bigz Die	Wild Orchid Crafts Mixed Brown Cherry Blossoms	Prima Soft Matte Gel	Prima Art Ingredients - Mini Art Stones (March Pre-Order)
Prima Art Ingredients - Art Stones (March Pre-Order)

I'm also sharing with:

Scrapki-Wyzwaniowo: Beauty

Mixed Media World: Anything Mixed Media Goes
Mixed Media Place: Moodboard

Altered Eclectics: Anything Mixed Media Goes
Eclectic Ellapu: Seaside or Summer Colors
Dies R Us: Layers