Introducing Bella Bulb - A Member Of Craft Hoarder's Anonymous

When I was first approached to be part of the StencilGirl/Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge blog hop, I just laughed out loud!  Me?  A craft hoarder?  Duh!  Not only have I been hoarding craft supplies for over 20 years but when I moved here to Brasil from New York City, I took it all with me.  And then I started to hoard Brasilian craft supplies.

Okay, I admit it - I AM A CRAFT HOARDER!    

For this blog hop, the artists had only two rules - use StencilGirl stencils and then to dig through our craft hoard and use whatever we wanted to use.  I grabbed stencils (duh) sprays, pastes, paints, makeup sponges, lots and lots of BLING, you name it.  Heck, I even grabbed my bag of keyboard letters and some fake eyelashes that were in the hoard.  Told ya, I am a craft hoarder.

There is something very freeing about just using stuff from my hoard and making a piece of art.  I did not do much thinking here.  I did know what stencils I wanted to use and then I just pulled stuff out of the hoard to use with the stencils.

I had soooooo much fun working on this challenge/piece!  I even gave her a name. Bella Bulb!!
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DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY!!

MAKE SURE YOU CHECK OUT THE PROJECTS ON TODAY'S BLOGS, BELOW, AND LEAVE A COMMENT TO BE ENTERED IN THE GIVEAWAY!!  

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Blog

Amber Milone

Christy Butters

StencilGirl Talk Blog

Janet Joehlin

Michael  Trent

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Now, wanna make Bella Bulb?     

Step by Step:

Steps 1 through 4: The Canvas Background.  

• Cover the canvas with a coat of Gesso. Allow to dry or heat set.  
• Grab a bunch of sprays.   I am a little low on my Dylusions sprays and, since I do not have the luxury of a Michaels near me, I went to my "Hoard".  I found a bunch of sprays from Stamp Zia (no longer in business but very much missed) and a bunch of Mister Huey's sprays by Studio Calico. So I grabbed them and just started to spritz away! Heat set but removed excess in areas with a paper towel.  
• Then I placed the large Clock Face stencil from the StencilGirl Club) over the canvas and sprayed the London Blue Dylusions through it. Removed stencil. Heat set. Then washed stencil.
• Place (washed) Clock Face stencil over the canvas again, in the same exact position, and spray with the Calico White Mister Huey spray. You will need to shake well and get that ball inside bouncing. I wanted a "muted" London Blue color to come through.  Heat set.

So far, this is what I have - I kinda like it just the way it is but...this being a post about using your hoard, I gotta keep going!!  

Step 5 and 6: The Head and Face Outline.

• Place the open part of the Face Map Version 2 on left side of piece. Hold in place and coat inside with two coasts of gesso.  Heat set, wash stencil, and then do again with a skin colored acrylic paint (I used a Brasilian brand).
• Then I mixed some molding paste with some black acrylic paint and used a spatula to apply the mixture through the outline side of the same stencil.  I did not want a strong black outline and the mixture helps achieve that. 

Step 7 through 9: The hair - YES, Bella needs hair!  LOL

• Place the "mask" - the solid face part from the Face Map Version 2 stencil- over where you painted. I placed it about 1/16" below the outline.  Then I placed the 6" Peacock stencil (from the January 2014 Club Kit) over the mask.  Using the same molding paste/black paint mixture from Step 2, above, use a spatula and apply this mixture through the peacock feathers - in order to make the "hair".   

Step 10: Paint the hair. 

• I mixed a bit of blue acrylic paint with just a hint of H2O and filled in the hair. You still see the designs on the canvas, which is what I was aiming for.

Step 11: The Words....the Phrase - The Uplifting Words stencil by Carolyn Dube was just perfect for this piece.  Actually, it's a great stencil for any project - but that is my opinion.   Most of the words I wanted were already on the stencil but there were a few that were not.  So, to start - 

• Using white acrylic paint and a makeup sponge, I placed the word "find" on the canvas where I wanted it and applied the paint.  Allow to dry or heat set.  Now, because I did not use gesso first, I had to do this for the words 2 or 3 times until I got the level of white that I wanted.  Next up was the word "THE".  Did the same with the paint.

• For the word "Time" - using painter's tape, I masked off the word Time from the word Timeless on Seth Apter's Timeless stencil and applied the white paint through it.  

• For the words "TO" and "MAKE" - I dug through my hoard because I knew I had some old keyboard letters.  Using a hot glue gun, I adhered the letters down when I got to that area.

• For the words "ON" and "Ideas", I just masked of the letters I wanted to use and applied the paint through each letter.  I heat set between applications and letters.

**After all the words were done, the paint applied and dried, I went back with a black Sharpie pen and outlined each of the letters.

Step 12: The Lightbulbs (the "Ideas" in her head)

• Mix a small amount of yellow acrylic paint with a hint of H2O and spread it over a piece of white cardstock.  Allow to dry or heat set. 
• Now lay the Lightbulb stencil on the paper and, using a makeup sponge and some black acrylic paint, apply the paint through the smallest of the lightbulbs.  I did this 5 times.  Heat set.  I then applied a light water-based sealer/varnish over the bulbs. Heat set again.  Cut them out.  (Note: the photo below shows that I only cut 3 of them out but I ended up cutting and using all 5 in the final piece).

• Using the hot glue gun, I applied some glue on the back of each bulb and adhered them around her face in her hair.  I did not go below the hairline.  And, although the photo below shows 3 bulbs, I did use all 5 of them.  

Step 13: The Bling and Shiny Stuff!

• Bling!!  Enough said.  Using Glossy Accents, I applied Bling around her face, along the hairline.  Also applied a few pieces of Bling in her hair, here and there.  And I made her a necklace of even more Bling!  I also gave her lips some red paint and, after it dried, applied some Glossy Accents with a bit of glitter.
• Then it was applying the fake eyelashes with more Bling!  Oh, and a smaller Bling in her nose.  What the heck!!
• And, since I knew all of this would be drying overnight, I applied a coat of Glossy Accents to each of the bulbs to give them a glass effect look.

Step 14: Final Steps

• Because I felt there was something missing, I placed sections of the Clock Collage in the upper left and lower right corners of the canvas.  Applied some white paint through the stencil and felt this balanced the whole piece.
• I also went and painted the 4 sides of the canvas in red paint.

And that my friends is it!  Man, if you really read and got this far, please leave me a comment!!  I know my tutorials tend to be long but once you do a project of mine, you realize I just want to make sure you understand everything I did and how I did it!!

Thanks for letting me share this with all of you.  Hugs!!

~Michael

Supplied I Used:

I know...a crazy Hoard!!

StencilGirl Product Stencils Used:

Uplifting Words Stencil by Carolyn Dube
Face Map Front Version 2 Stencil by Pam Carriker
Timeless Stencil by Seth Apter
Clock Background and Lightbulbs by Carolyn Dube (from April 2014 StencilGirl Club Kit)
Peacock (6x6) by Jessica Sporn (from January 2014 StencilGirl Club Kit)

Stuff From My Hoard Used:

12" x 8" Canvas (30cm x 20cm)
Gesso by Golden

Mister Huey's Sprays by Studio Calico - Gable Green, Cameo, Overdue, Dewey and Calico White

Color Wash Sprays in Citron, Blue Topaz, Tanzanite, and Ruby by Stamp Zia, who is no longer in business (unfortunately)

Dylusions Spray in London Blue

Acrylic Paints - Titanium White, Yellow, Blue, Red, Black, Antique Beige
Molding Paste/Spatula
Hot Glue Gun and Glue
Keyboard pieces from old unused keyboards
Black Sharpie
Glossy Accents
Normal everyday stuff - brushes, foam brushes, heat gun, makeup sponges, painters tape, scissors,
Glass or ceramic plate for mixing paints and textures

What would a Blog Hop be without a GIVEAWAY??!!!

StencilGirl Products will be picking FIVE winners this week--one from each day!

Take your time and visit each blog showcased every day this week and leave a comment. 

The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN! 

One comment per blog please.

You will have until Sunday, June 22nd at 11:59PM Central Time to leave your comments. The winners will be announced on the StencilGirl Facebook on Tuesday, June 24th.