Earth Day at Anything But Cute

Hello Friends

Over at Anything But Cute the talented Samra (Paper Talk with Samra) is our hostess this
month and she has chosen the theme of Earth Day!  We have a fantastic Guest Designer

today too, please do hop over for a look if you can.

I used the beautiful Tim Holtz seahorse dies to create an underwater scene.

Samra says:  Create a mixed media project inspired by this mood board and the
beauty of our planet.  Please tell us what inspired you.  Entries for this challenge can
be eco friendly, or even re-cycled or up-cycled items; or depictions of the sea, mountains,
rivers, forests or flowery meadows .... let's celebrate our planet!!

I  just love Samra's challenge theme, I was really inspired by the gorgeous colours in

the mood board.  It was perfect for me as I absolutely adore seahorses, they are an
endangered species where we live and I wanted to celebrate them.

First of all I gathered up all the items I wanted to use.  The Golden Fiber Paste and  the IndigoBlu underwater stamp set have been in my stash forever so I thought they deserved an airing.

First, I painted the chipboard (6" x 6" board from IndigoBlu) with white Gesso and once dry
applied the Golden Fiber Paste, it has a lovely thick and pulpy texture.  I just used the palette
knife and my fingers to make an 'underwater pattern'.

Whilst the paste was drying I used Distress Crayons to colour the die cut seahorses (which
had been gessoed first - the crayons work much better when the card has some 'tooth'), moving
the colour with my finger. A coat of Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint
was then applied, quite thickly.

 Apologies, I got a bit wrapped up in the painting and did not take photos of the painting steps 

but it was pretty simple.  I made three 'puddles' of paint using DecoArt Media 
Fluid Acrylic Paint:

1.  Primary Cyan and Titanium White (Translucent) Ratio: 10/2
2:  Primary Cyan, Titanium White - Ratio: 10/4
3: Gold Green, thinned with a little water

I applied the first mix of colour to the whole of the base.  I lightened some areas with the
second mix to create some 'movement' in the water.  Lastly, with a thin brush I applied the
Gold Green (the other paint was still wet at the time) to some of the
ridges to create 'grasses'.

I used the IndigoBlu bubble stamp with the white paint to create some bubbles near to the
seahorses, you can just about see them here.  I added beads to the seahorses for eyes.

I thought it needed something extra and I had this string net in my stash, so I attached it
along with some shells and a beautiful blue starfish (purchased from a seaside souvenir shop).

To finish off I painted a piece of card with some leftover paint and stamped the IndigoBlu
sentiment and embossed it in white embossing powder.

I really did enjoy making this piece for Samra's challenge at Anything But Cute,  I hope you
can go over to see how my talented team mates interpreted the Earth Day theme!  Why not
join us?  We would love to see how you interpret the theme....

As always, thanks so much for looking, I hope to see you again soon.

Hugs, Anne xx