The Birds and the Bees at Anything But Cute

Hello Crafty Friends, welcome to this scheduled post!

It is time for a new challenge at Anything But Cute and the wonderful Niki is our hostess.  Niki has chosen 'The Birds and the Bees' as her challenge theme.  I was so thrilled with the theme
as I have had a Tim Holtz bee die cut in my stash for ages (courtesy of my lovely friend Mo) and this was a great opportunity to use it!

Since it is a sad fact that bees are in decline, I wanted to create a little wall hanging as a reminder that we should do what we can to try and 'save our bees'.

Here is what Niki has to say:  With the lovely warmer weather in my neck of the woods, I am seeing so many wonderful birds and bees, so I would love to see these in your mixed media makes!  Pull out those bird stamps, think of feathers and maybe some honeycomb.  Or you could even go for a non-traditional interpretation like a family crest that has a bird emblem on it.  The sky is the limit!  NO BUTTERFLIES please!

Take a piece of card (or 6" x 6" board in my case) and cover with a coat of Gesso.  Add some book page pieces here and there.  Some stenciling was added to the bare diagonal corners (the photo was too blurry to show).

Spray with various colours of Distress Spray Stains (you can see the stencilling in this shot).

Add some Tim Holtz Honeycomb Frameworks die cuts (these have been stained with Distress Spray Stains)  Put back some of the die cut honeycomb pieces and then apply some Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium - Crazing.  This gives a very subtle crackle.  A good layer of Glossy Crackle Accents was added to some of the spaces.

This is how the bee had been left in my stash, he had been painted with Black Soot and Mustard Seed Distress Paints.  

Here is the finished bee, with Glossy Accented legs, acetate wings, a coat of Distress Collage Medium - Crazing on the card layer of his wings and his body is coated with Distress Crackle Paint in Clear Rock Candy.

I really hope you can join us at Anything But Cute this month, it would be lovely to see your birds and bees mixed media creations!

As always, thanks for looking, I really appreciate it if you take the time to comment too!

Hugs, Anne xx


....................

If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man
would have no more than four years to live....
Albert Einstein