Sunday, April 27, 2014

My Other Creations: Spring Nymph

This month I have the honor of being a Guest Designer for a fabulous blog called, A Vintage Journey.  Behind this blog are some mega-talented designers who provide some seriously inspiring projects and challenges that are in a vintage, shabby, mixed media, Tim-Holtzy style.  

The theme I based my project on is, "Spring Flowers."  I decided to make a Spring Nymph out of a re-purposed jewelry hanger.  Here she is:



Of course, she didn't start out this way.  Here she is before her seasonal transformation (who wants to have a hook for a head anyway???):



You can find these jewelry hangers at discount stores such as Ross, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, etc.  Using needle nose pliers, I pulled out the hooks from her neck and her arms and I cut off the black dress fabric.  I made a head and arms out of flesh-colored clay, which I baked.  Before baking, I left holes in her neck and arms so that when the pieces dried, I could string wire through the holes to attach them back onto her torso.

From then on, it was just a matter of giving her a new wardrobe made from Tim Holtz's "Dictionary" fabric.  I assure you that his fabric is every bit as fun as his patterned paper!  I added little scraps of colored fabric here and there and dabbed on several different shades of Tim's Distress inks as I went along.  I also used his fabulous Papillon stamp set to stamp some butterflies onto my girl's dress. 

To incorporate the spring flowers, I used one of my favorite flower-coloring techniques, which is simple to do.

Start with white flowers:



Using a craft sponge or make-up wedge, dab some Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peacock Feathers in this case) onto your flower:



And now the magic part!  Using an eyedropper, and while working over a waterproof surface like a craft mat, drip several drops of water onto your flower so that it causes the ink to spread and blend, like so:



Let the flowers dry and they will still retain that soft watercolor look.  Once they were dry, I added just a hint of Tim Holtz Distress ink in Walnut Stain to give them a dustier vibe.  And here they are all finished and attached to our girl:



I gave my girl bright red hair, which I made from several types of yarn and fibers.  I also decided to add some wings, which I made from a panel of crafting wire that was similar to chicken wire.  I adorned her wings with strings of turquoise yarns and fibers.



 For that last floral touch, I added a flower to her hair.


This project was such a joy to create and I love the complete versatility of Tim Holtz products.  You can go retro, dusty, rusty, grungy, soft or bright.

A special thanks again to A Vintage Journey for allowing me to make a project for them.  If you're a fan of Tim Holtz and all things vintage-y (totally not a word), then be sure to check them out.  And in the meantime, I'm going to hope that Spring really is on its way!