enchanted glade

Hi! Today I'm showing my layout for the ARTastic Challenge, which has to feature stitching and fabric.
I've based it around a created mixed media canvas completed at http://timetocreate-handmadetreasure.blogspot.com.au a couple of Saturdays ago. This was used as a background for a bronzed fairy sculpture, book- loving owls and various gumnuts, pine cones and pine roses, to create my base photo, of a fairy in a secluded glade.



Photo created using my fairy I've named Ariella, playing her zither. The mixed media canvas is in the background.

The background paper was altered by masking sections with white crayon, then smooching with Distress Inks: Bundled Sage, Weathered Wood and Black Soot. The crayon resist was rubbed off and the paper then randomly stamped with ferns, fairies and butterflies.

altered background paper

Tree trunks were from corrugated cardboard wet embossed using Opals Embossing Enamels.
The lyrebird, was cut from a piece of embroidered work I completed as part of a High School project, many moons ago. This was stem stitched onto very fine linen.Lyrebirds are one of Australia's native birds. They live in forested regions, but are rarely seen because they are very shy. Their tail feathers, when raised in a display, are shaped like lyres, hence their names. They are, however, wonderful mimics,copying other birds and if you can't see them in a forest, you may certainly be hearing them. They even mimic human-made sounds such as chainsaws, perfectly! To hold the cut piece together I ironed it onto a piece of fusible web, Steam-a Seam 2 and also layered over it, in the same process a piece of chiffon.

 

 

 

My fairy bower was made from strips of wool fibre sewn together and encased in a leaf-patterned chiffon. Stitched to this were 'fairy lights' made from drops of crystal beading.

 

 

 

 

 

The leaves edging the bower, were cut from the same chiffon, using a heat cutting tool. This not only cut, but also crinkled and sealed the edges. Great to use! Bits of wool fibre were then added to represent moss and Old Man's beard. The wool bobbles from some fibre, were cut, teased out a little and stitched onto the log and ground and became mushrooms.

I think Ariella looks very happy and contented in her secluded bower, playing her zither for her friends. Maybe If I  listen very carefully, I may even hear it next time I go walking through a forest!

Thank you for visiting my enchanted fairy glade. I hope you will come again.
Cheers, Di