Approach with caution

Hello everyone,

and happy Wednesday yet again ! Doesn't time fly?

Over on the Stampotique Designers' Challenge blog, the lovely Valerie is hosting and she chose the following theme : "what's old is new again" and this is what she had to say about it :

 "Re-purpose, re-use, recycle, and alter - words that are music to my ears! Is there something destined for the trash heap that you can give a new art-filled life? Or perhaps you're tired of that old wall hanging - can you give it a make-over? My challenge for you this week is to take something old and make it new again!"

So, I have made something a little different and I have a step-by-step for you ! 

A little while ago I saw this, what I believe is a bird's nesting box, the type breeders use, in a 2nd hand shop and I saw the potential ! 

I started with stamping this lovely bird and colouring it with my trusty Copic Markers. I made sure to use a little blue here and there because crows have that, don't they; that lovely blue sheen. 

I also stamped this fruitbat. He is thinking of bananas but I decided to use him without his beloved bananas and he was also coloured with Copic Markers. 

I collected these sticks (don't ask, lol. I am forever collecting things). These come from a lovely walk somewhere in the South Downs in the UK.

Anyway, next I painted the bird box, first gesso, then Art Anthology Sorbet paint in blue and Crackle paint by DecoArt Media over the top. Once it had all dried I rubbed the crackles with Antiquing creme, also by DecoArt. Once that had dried I rubbed most of it off again; it left this lovely finish.

Here is a close up. Doesn't that look yummy ! 

Here is another close up.... 

Next I did some stamping on the box, sorry forgot to take photos but you get the drift.... I used Archival Inks for this. 

I cut out the bird and the bat, added them to the box, created a backdrop with pattern paper and thought that it was finished....

Here is a close up of the bat. He is so cute ! 

And one of the crow... 

He is perched on one of the twigs I found in the UK..

And then, as an afterthought, I thought it needed something on the roof, so I used the rest of the twigs, some twine and an MDF Fleur de Lis for this. The fleur the lis was heat embossed with a turquoise embossing powder to get it to match the rest of the paint I used. 

A sideways glance ! 

And another one ! 

I hope you like my little cage and its contents... 

I have used the following stamps:

Fruit bat

Raven + Chick

Approach with caution 

Upholstered 

We would love it if you played along with us and created something new with something old. You could win one of the two $30 vouchers at the end of the month. It is not allowed to use digi's and you can only enter once for each challenge. Apart from that, just have fun ! 

Thank you so much for stopping by !