A House is made of Bricks and Stone.........

Hi Everyone 

Today, I am a Guest Designer over at A Vintage Journey   and I 'm as thrilled and honoured as I was last month to have been given this wonderful opportunity again this month . Being able to share a little of my creativity on such a prestigious blog amongst so many talented crafters really is a dream come true. 
Its Jennies Challenge theme this month and Jennie can be found not only at AVJ but also here and if you haven't already be sure to pay her a visit as Jennie is super talented . The flowers she crafts are stunning and her ability to use colours subtly is second to none. 
 Jennies chosen theme is 'Home sweet Home' and here's what she has to say :

For most of us the summer holidays are over, schools are back and it is nice to be home and back in the usual routines. So for this challenge let's create a project which sums up "home" for each of us (either past or present), using Tim's fabulous array of products and techniques. Just make sure Tim's style is evident in what you make.

Thanks Jennie for yet another great theme this month! 
So what does Home mean to me ??? 

Well, I took time to think about this and many thoughts and emotions were provoked. here's a few of my musings  . When I purchased my first house I remember wanting it to be a place where both myself, friends and family would feel a warmth, a welcome, a place that was full of LOVE, a place no one felt they wanted to leave in a rush and looked forward to coming back to, a place where invites weren't always necessary, a place where you could truly be yourself and share on any level even if it brought with it heightened emotions at times both good and bad it wouldn't matter because it was a house full of LOVE - a HOME! I guess what I'm trying to convey is that for me it doesn't matter what a house is made of or how much it cost ,its location or what it looks like as long as its full of LOVE - only then do I feel I can truly call it home!
This brought to mind the quote 'A house is made of bricks and stone but only LOVE can make a HOME.'
and so my inspiration for this challenge theme was born. 
Before I share my creativity with you I  would like to apologise for the length of the post and for the quality of some of the photos especially the main one! Try as I might I just couldn't seem to condense the post nor get the perfect shots despite numerous attempts so I hope you'll forgive me on this occasion.  

I have altered a wooden box frame to depict the words of the quote

The frame is a shop bought box frame which I sanded back before applying a coat of gesso and a couple of coats of Tim Holtz Antique linen Distress Paint. Once dry I applied Coffee Archival ink and gold gilding wax with my fingers to highlight some of the wood grain and give a more aged appearance. 
I added corner decoration to the window of the box using one of the dies from Tim Holtz Mixed Media thinlit dies. I stamped the die cuts with a Tim Holtz script stamp and distressed with Walnut Stain Distress Ink  before adhering in place .

The Brick Wall 

I gave a panel of heavy grey board, cut to size, a coat of gesso and a coat of Antique Linen Acrylic  Distress paint and then I used a mix of Deco Art Textured Sand paste and Paper Artsy Grunge paste applied through Tim Holtz Brick Wall layering stencil. Due to the width of the stencil I had to create the brick wall in two halves making sure I repositioned the stencil so the bricks were aligned.

I chose to paint my brick wall using Acrylic paint and a dry brush after applying the texture paste mix, (but you could add the paint to the texture mix, personally I found the consistency too runny) Admittedly the whole process did take time and a great deal of patience as the stencil had to be repositioned often and I had to leave to dry between applications  but I think it was definitely worth the extra hours spent to get a result I was happy with. To finish  I scuffed over the wall and around the edges lightly with Tim Holtz Sanding grip. To the touch it really does have that rough, gritty feel of real bricks - Such a shame you cant reach into the screen and feel for yourself !

The hearts  
(to represent the 'Love' and home is where the heart is after all!) 

I covered both the large MDF hearts with dictionary definition pages relevant to the quote -'Home' and 'Love'. I lightened some of the text off with Antique Linen Distress Paint and stamped onto the text using Tim Holtz Speckle stamp in Coffee Archival ink. I distressed the hearts, one more than the other, with Walnut Stain DI before catching the edges lightly with gold gilding wax.

I adhered one heart on top of the other and offset them slightly. This helped to create a sense of shadow.

The crackled elements 

( every home has a crack or too whether it be in the people who live there, the people who visits or the structure - its what gives it character and makes me love it more! )

The small heart was cut out of mount board using Tim Holtz Heartfelt Bigz die, given a coat of gesso and then a very generous coat of Finnabair Platinum Texture Crackle Paste .To enhance the crackle I rubbed in a very light touch of Walnut Stain DI and Gold gilding wax. It really does have a fabulous pearlescence ( I think the camera has just about picked it up).  I added an ideology cog inked in gold Alcohol ink to embellish.

 The vial bottle
( well whats a home without a nice bottle- wine or beer of course!) 

This was given a coat of glue and seal and then a coat of Rock Candy Crackle paint and left to air dry.  Once dry I rubbed over the crackle with gold gilding wax to help highlight the cracks and add a touch of opulence.

The Quote

This is stamped using Black archival ink and individual alphabet letter stamps as well as alpha stickers to give emphasis to the words 'house', 'home' and 'love'.  I chose chit chat stickers that for me are some of the things that make a house a home, adhered them to card and distressed them using Antique Linen and Walnut Stain Distress inks .

With all the elements crafted all that remained was to bring them altogether. Once they were all adhered in place I then added a few extra touches -stones ( from my garden/ driveway)  to represent the words in the quote,a 'LOVE' tiny tag tied to the neck of the bottle, rusty wire to attach the chit chat stickers to,

   and a memo pin and numbered heart pendant embellished with a couple of gems.

I really have enjoyed making this piece of 'Home' art not only because of the creativity involved in the making but also because it was born out of a quote that truly resonates with me -maybe it does with you too ? 

It  you fancy joining in this months challenge theme there's still plenty of time to enter - just head over to A Vintage Journey's  blog, checkout the rules and then go create!

Huge Thank you's again to all the lovely ladies (Creative Guides) at A Vintage journey for my Guest Design spot today . I truly am grateful and incredibly humbled .  

 

I would like to enter my altered Frame into the following challenges: 

Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge- Love this Technique  

(for using some  much loved techniques - crackle, texture paste, stencilling, stamping, distressing )

Try it on Tuesday- Challenge: Add some metal

( the rusty wire and ideology)

Love to Create- Challenge 19 - Anything Mixed Media/ Creative Goes

Craft Stamper- Take It Make it Challenge- September  

Country View Crafts Challenge - September 'Numbers'

(the number heart embellishment )  

Thanks to you all too for popping by today. Your visits and comments are always welcome and appreciated and I hope that when you do pop by you feel very much at home!

 Hope you all have a great weekend 

Take care and look forward to seeing you again soon

 Amanda x