Winged Things - Make a Difference

Winged Things!  Thank you, Susan Mostek, for a soaring new adventure for the month of June.  I love all things birds, but wanted to find something different for the "winged things" theme.  Something whimsical, maybe, or an obscure meaning.   However, feeling pensive, and finding myself inspired by this quote from John F. Kennedy, these lovely birds from Tim's Wallflower Paper Stash seemed right.  I don't know what kind of birds they are supposed to be but they're beautiful, aren't they?  I use them again and again.

I covered a piece of chipboard wth tissue from a sewing pattern, gluing it down with Matte Medium, wrapping the edges around the back.  I covered that with gesso and then rubbed DecoArt Transparent Yellow and Cobalt Blue paints over the gesso after it dried.  I rubbed Raw Umber Antiquing Cream over the entire surface to tone down and unify the colors.

I tore the two birds from the corner of a page from Wallflower Paper stash.  I really needed that paper to be thinner and more workable than it was so I used a trick I learned a long time ago from Stamping' Up.  Pull the paper between your thumb and your bone folder, like you would if you were stripping a ribbon to make it curl.  Turn the paper over and repeat on the other side.  Keep pulling the paper through on both sides and at different angles and you begin to break down the fibers in the paper and it starts to separate.   

Pretty soon you can separate an entire layer of paper, making the bit you want to work with thinner.

Here was a bit of genius.  I had completed the background, painted, positioned and glued down the black letters and had to just stamp onto tissue and glue down the last words.  Almost finished.  Got all that done and oops!  Misspelled difference.  Seriously???  I restamped it on a scrap and ended up liking it that the word got a little more emphasis done this way.  How often do we fall in love with our mistakes???  Ha!!

Using just my finger, I tapped just a little bit Dina Wakley Penny paint onto the word "everyone" to give it emphasis.  Over that, I tapped a little DecoArt Quinacridone Gold.  LOVE that paint.  It gives a gorgeous detail and is perfect for rust elements.  The words "can make a" and "should try" are stamped on tissue and glued down with matte medium.  I found that rubbing a bit of Transparent Yellow over the tissue made it just melt into and become one with the whole.

The compass spoke to me of making sure I have my moral compass ever at the ready, prayerfully trying do what's right, trying to make a difference.  

So what do you say?  Let's see how "winged things" speaks to you.  I know several of you are in studio, working away, giving voice to YOUR creative spark!