Throwback Thursday!

Hello!
Welcome to our regular Throwback Thursday series of tutorials, sharing some wonderful creations from past issues of Craft Stamper Magazine.
This week... we return to the November 2014 issue, and a stunning project by Elizabeth Borer.
Would you believe the inspiration for this piece came from a tin of cat food?!

 Elizabeth says..

"Another cat was added to our household, a very fussy lady who only eats one particular type of cat food. This comes in little round tins, and I found myself staring at them on more than one occasion wondering what I could do with them! The shape of these tins is very pleasing, like a small bowl, and the metal is sturdy but still malleable. The more I looked the more I thought of flowers"

 

Stamps Elizabeth used…

Lavinia Stamps: Zen Toadstool; Zen Thistle

Other materials…

Cat food tins (you will need two per flower)

Ranger Archival Ink Pad: Jet Black

Paper Mache Birdhouse

PaperArtsy Stencils: 001 (ELB); 006 (ELB)

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paints

Tim Holtz Alterations On The Edge Dies: Scallops; Scrollwork

Patterned paper

Book pages

Stamping card

Treasure Gold: Classic Gold

Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium Matte

Tissue paper

Craft metal 

Grey board

Embossing folder

Variety of metal findings and embellishments

Pinflair glue

Step By Step instructions:

Step One: Paint the tins with a mix of Snowflake and Sage plus some Bora Bora. Apply two coats, allow the first to dry before applying the second. Cut down the sides of the tins to separate them into five petals.

 

Step Two: Stamp the Zen Toadstools in black ink onto tissue paper and dry with a heat gun. Roughly cut or tear the tops of the toadstools out and adhere with matte medium to the inside of the tins as shown. Paint another coat of matt medium over the tissue. Once dry, cut around the toadstools and down into the base to create petals.

Step Three: Bend and manipulate the petals to form the flowers. It helps to bend the base of the petal in towards the centre of the flower and then out again to get the right shape. Curve the edges of the petals to give some more shape.

Step Four; Make washes of colour by mixing Pumpkin Soup, Hyde Park and South Pacific paints with a little water and paint randomly onto the flowers. Finish by rubbing a little Treasure Gold onto the edges of the petals. 

To Create the Birdhouse base:

Step One: Cover the four sides of the birdhouse with paper and paint the inside. Mix Sage and Snowflake to make a pale green and apply randomly over the paper to create opaque areas that cover the design. Stencil some dots randomly using the same colour.

Step Two: Using  the Ferns stencil, add Snowflake-painted ferns randomly over the house. Repeat on alll sides of the house.

Step Three: Using the same colours as for the flowers apply washes randomly all over the house to cover the paint and paper. Start with Pumpkin Soup and then use the other two colours. The colours will blend as they are translucent.

Step Four: Create a base by sticking four squares of grey board together and painting or covering with paper. Use the Scallops edge die to cut a strip of craft metal, paint it with a mix of Bora Bora and South Pacific and rub on some Treasure Gold. Adhere around the base. Stamp Zen Thistles randomly over the house.

Step Five: Cut four triangles of craft metal to cover the sides of the roof and dry-emboss each. Paint with the turquoise colour from Step 3 and then wash the same colours as for the flowers over the embossed metal. Dry-brush some Treasure Gold over the raised areas and adhere to the roof.

       

Step Six: Die-cut some book pages with the scrollwork die and wash colours from the palette over the paper. Dry-brush with more Treasure Gold. Adhere around the top of the house.

Step Seven: Take two more tins, cut out the centres then cut ‘teeth‘ as shown in the photo. Paint with the turquoise mix and wash over Hyde Park and South Pacific. Dry-brush with Treasure Gold. Adhere the frames with glue and by bending the ‘teeth’ over the window aperture.

Step Eight: Stamp toadstools onto stamping card and colour with washes from the palette. Cut out and adhere to the house with pinflair glue. Paint any embellishments with colours from the palette and add Treasure Gold before adhering to the house. Adhere the house to the base, then secure the flowers as shown with pinflair glue.

The finished house...

WOW! How amazing is that... we love it! The flowers are just stunning.

So... any of you tempted to raid the cat food aisle in the shops even though you don't own a cat? Just me then? :)    
Thank you so much for the inspiration Elizabeth... we'll be back next Thursday with some more!