Under the Sea - DecoArt challenge

I am participating as a DecoArt Mixed Media Design Team Member (DMMDT) in their summer challenge 'Under the Sea', you are invited to submit a project up until the 12th August and there are two fabulous media packages to be won.

So get your DecoArt supplies out and get your thinking caps on, this is one not to be missed.
I have had some fun with a cheap Ikea frame for this one.

Process steps 

(These can be taken out of order, when you are waiting for drying or crackle times work on another piece of the project)

1. Give your frame a coat of white gesso and dry. Take some muslin and cheesecloth and adhere to the frame with a fabric structurizer (I used one I have in my supplies but DecoArt do a fabric stiffener you could try). Leave to dry.

2. Cut your card to fit the frame and give it a coat of white gesso. Mix some transparent/semi transparent sea blue and greens with water separately on a craft mat and dip and dry your background several times keeping the wash very light in colour.

3. Use a bubble like stencil with transparent crackle glaze and randomly add sections to the background. Leave to dry.

4. Take a piece of card and brayer red, orange  and yellow paints over the surface both horizontally and vertically and finish with a brayered wash of yellow oxide. Use a crackle stamp with red geranium archival ink and when dry die-cut flowers. Because they looked deeper than I wanted I dipped them in a watery titan buff and dried them.

5. Make another piece using greens and brown (without the crackle stamping) and cut foliage. Again I knocked the pieces back by dipping in watery titan buff.

6. Adhere glass flat backed cabochons to the background. Make more colour washes in the blue/greens and then drip and spritz with water. Repeat layers as necessary to achieve required results.

8. a) Die cut two seahorses from mount board and glue them together, dip in tiny amounts of pyrrole red and cadmium orange with water, seal with a coat of matte medium. b) Draw on markings with a ground espresso distress marker, c) then spritz lightly to move the distress ink around a little and seal with micro glaze. d) I spritzed again to check it was sealed but it wasn't fully and more ink moved around so I dabbed it off and re-drew in a few parts of the seahorse and sealed it again. e) To finish I splattered with some of the pyrrole red and quinacridone orange and used a posca white and a posca black pen to draw in a few dots and details. 

9. I didn't like the eye in the last photo so I played with it a bit more and now I'm happier with it (although he doesn't look as angry irl).

Right after that marathon onto more of the frame.

10. a) When the fabric is dry on the frame adhere glass glitter and micro beads to the fabric using matte medium. b) When dry splodge translucent blue and white paints over, spray with water mister and dry - you will need to repeat several times all around the frame. c) Again when dry spray perfect pearl sprays and dry again. This time add in some brown and yellow colours.

11. Knock back the deeper colours by splattering translucent white paint and by adding some snowtex.

10. Take the fun crab chipboard piece, add sand texture paste and dry, then stipple sandy colours and brown over him.

11. The other embellishments also had a bit of a make over including the starfish and shells that are real.

12. Give everything a spray of Americana matte sealer and finally put the frame together adding some knotted string and raise the seahorse to give it added dimension. I hadn't added the title of the piece on this photo but I am really pleased with the effects.

I hope you have been following the team and their projects this month, so do pop over to the Media Blog to see what they have been creating AND look too at what you could be in with  chance of winning if you join in.

 Many thanks for stopping by Bumblebees and Butterflies and checking out my Under the Sea frame.

hugs Brenda xxx

Taking Sara's steer I am entering this into the 'By the Sea' challenge at Frilly and Funkie which includes a nautical or beach theme and colour palette. Thanks Sara. xxx

I also notice that Anything but Cute has a Summertime Fun challenge going so I thought I would enter it there too. No better fun than being by or in the sea.

So then I thought let's have fun with anymore challenges I could find and Mixed Media Mojo has Summer Fun with a twist of Shells.

PRODUCTS AND SUPPLIES

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Phthalo Green Blue

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Cobalt Teal

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Phthalo Turquoise

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Titan Buff

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics – Quinacridone Magenta

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics – Yellow Oxide

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Pyrrole Red

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Quinacridone Red

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Cadmium Orange

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Transparent Red Iron Oxide

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Viridian

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Prussian Blue

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Green Gold

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics – Raw Umber
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics – Raw Sienna

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Quinacridone Gold

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Burnt Sienna

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics – Translucent White

DecoArt Media Mediums and Specialty Products – Transparent Crackle Glaze

DecoArt Media Mediums and Specialty Products - Clear Matte Medium

DecoArt Media Mediums and Specialty Products - White Gesso

Sizzix (Tim Holtz) Wildflowers thinlits

Sizzix (Tim Holtz) Holiday Greens thinlits

Sizzix (Tim Holtz) Sand and Sea Bigz die