@erinmcrafts: Birds at Twilight…

Hi all! Been super busy lately and crafting has had to take a bit of a back seat 😑 BUT I did have a chance to play with these cutie silhouette birds! SO. Fun.

Let me take you through a bit of my process…

The Background…

Started with a wooden square panel base

Prepped my surface with white gesso

Covered with typeset collage paper, messy to get some texture, sealed with collage medium

Added a wash of Picket Fence paint

Here’s my first watery pass—Wild Honey, Crackling Campfire, Seedless Preserves, Black Soot—then I didn’t like it, wiped most of it off, and IMMEDIATELY ordered Villianous Potion 😬

And here’s where I landed with my blend AFTER the Villianous Potion…

so worth the wait! 😈

Added washi tape around the edges for extra texture (from an older TH collection) and painted over with Black Soot

For my twinkling stars at the top, I used a paper towel mask then splattered on some Gilded wax

Added Black Soot archival ink to the raised collage paper texture along the edges

Added Labeled remnant rubs to the edges

When I was happy with the coverage/placement, I sealed with collage medium

I wanted a nice thick top coat… so covered with clear embossing ink, then clear embossing powder and heat set

The Birds…

Cut out 6 different Silhouette birds, 3 pieces each, and drew on my own details

Then began cutting out the details:

1. the full bird

2. cut off the beak, legs/feet + tail feather

3. Top-most wing detail (Saved the tail feather + feet)

I glued my layers with collage medium (I’m messy with this but I love the extra texture it creates!), then painted with Black Soot

Lightly rubbed on Gilded wax highlights on the edges

Was on a mission to work in more of this gorgeous gold! 🤔

So I cut the birds out of clear, heat-resistant acetate pieces,

added gilded wax to the edges and heat set

To give my birds some extra dimension…

I found some mounting dots in my stash, glued 3 high + painted with black soot

The Sentiment…

Cut TOGETHER using the Bold font and Life Is Better with the Label set

Cut 3 letters each and glued together, then coated with Gilded Foundry wax

I used a couple thicker coats to get this smoother finish…

here’s a look at 1 coat on the E vs 2 coats on the G…

suuuuuper obsessed with this stuff 💥 ya’ll, these letters literally ‘clinked’ together!!

I cut one more set of letters for my shadow, painted with black soot

Painted 8 small hardware heads with Black Soot,

then added Gilded wax to 4 + heat set

Decided to add a Black Soot wash over my Gold bold letters…

yesss to this ✨

Glued my hardware heads and gold letters to the acetate,

then added more gilded to the edges

The Finishing Touches…

The wires… cut two pieces of twine and painted with Black Soot

(later added a third strand)

The lock… from the Locks and Keys Adornments Ideaology set,

distressed with with Gilded wax and Black Soot paint

The ‘day or night’ banner + clip…

Hand cut a little paper banner, coated with Gilded wax + a remnant rub from the Eccentric pack… For the Tiny Clip, I added Black Soot paint + Gilded wax highlights