Birds of a Feather are World Traveled with Frog Dog Studio and Rachel Whetzel

Hello, everyone!! My name is Rachel Whetzel. I had the pleasure of working with Amazing Crafting Product's "Partners in Crafting," FrogDogStudio this month. Like some of the other designers from Amazing Crafting Products, the kit's Asian/Indian inspiration hit me straight out of the box. I knew that would be part of my theme as I started to create.

HERE'S WHAT YOU WILL NEED
TO CREATE THIS YOURSELF

FROM THE APRIL MIXED MEDIA KIT {please see contents at end of post}:

• Canvas Mini's from Canvas Corp (1)
• Tim Holtz Clear Fragments (large oval) 
• Stampendous Mica Fragments Jar, Pearlized
• Sheet of Decopatch Tissue Paper (burgandy) 
• Stampendous Mini Clipboard Canvas pack (large and small) 
• Alumidust Powder - Red Plum
• Dusty Attic Chipboard set of Birds (1)
• iZink Pigment Ink bottle - Gold
• StazOn Midi Ink pad - Claret

FROM THE APRIL ADD ON KIT {please see contents at end of post}:

• Amazing Mold Putty
• Amazing Clear Cast Resin
• 1 oz Measuring Cups
• Wooden Stir Sticks

FROM YOUR PERSONAL STASH:

• Map Pages
• Glue
• Q-tip
• Foam Ink Applicator 
• Feathers

Here's how I made my piece:

I wanted to use one of the Canvas Mini's in the piece, but I thought it would look neat if I made it stiff and shaped by adding Amazing Clear Cast Resin over it.

First, I got out a mat that I have made using Amazing Mold Putty (Directions HERE) and rolling it flat. I use it for all sorts of things, but in this project, I'm using it as a shaping tool, and curing surface. The advantage to creating a mat for yourself is that Amazing Clear Cast and Casting Resins do not stick to Amazing Mold Putty material. This makes for easy clean up too. Here's a shot of my mat. It's less than 1/8 of an inch thick.

Next, I mixed my Amazing Clear Cast Resin, (Directions HERE) and got to work using my wooden stir stick as a tool to spread the resin thinly on the canvas.

Once the piece was covered on both sides, I started molding

it so that a couple edges would be curled up.

When I was satisfied with the shape, I used some glass weights (bowls and platters from around the house) along with the Amazing Mold Putty mat to hold the piece in place while it cured. This takes up to 24 hours.

With the resin I had left over, I got busy with my next piece in the project. I chose a larger oval shape from the assortment of sizes and shapes in the Tim Holtz Clear Fragments.

I used the Amazing Clear Cast Resin I had left to hold a pile of the Stampendous Mica Fragments into place. I left that on a mat to cure as well. About 1/2 way through the cure, I lifted my piece off it's mat, and trimmed the drips of resin away from the sides so that I would be able to clean them up more precisely later on. Then I allowed the piece to finish it's cure.

Once my Amazing Clear Cast Resin had cured on my pieces, I got to work on the rest of the project. I knew I wanted to use one of the Decopatch Tissue Papers in my piece, and I chose the one with burgundy colors. I used an element that I wanted to repeat in my layers, and backed the Tim Holtz fragment with it so it would show through the back of the piece using glue.

Once the glue was dry, I sanded the remaining resin off the sides

of the piece, along with the extra tissue paper.

I attempted to punch a larger hole into the top of the fragment, but ended up breaking the loop on the piece, so instead of trashing it, and starting over, I decided to go with it. I used sandpaper to sand off the broken part of the piece.

I glued a piece of Map that I had from a vintage dictionary I own onto the largest Stampendous Mini Clipboard Canvas, and layered a section of the tissue paper I chose so that the pattern I liked best was on the canvas. My map didn't show through the tissue piece as well as I had originally thought it would, so I decided to use water and rub off part of the tissue to allow my map to show better. Here is a picture after I rubbed some water onto the tissue. It's starting to lift off, leaving the map safely behind.

A view of the finished rubbing away of the tissue.

As you can see, I used a map of the Asia's for my canvas.

While the glue and now wet canvas finish drying, I got to work dusting my resin-ed canvas disc with the Red Plum Alumidust using a Q-tip. I just dipped the Q-tip into the dust, and rubbed it into the canvas.

I knew I wanted to use feathers in my finished piece, and I realized that the Dusty Attic Chipboard Bird's tail feathers would look really cool mixed in with real feathers. I got to work cutting one of the birds up so that I could layer that into the piece too.

I put a layer of iZink Gold Pigment Ink onto the tail of the bird. (I didn't end up using the head feathers, but they are pictured here) I also used this ink to add some embellishment to the design on the tissue paper on the canvas, and to put a border between the tissue and the map paper.

I layered the smallest of the Chipboard Canvas pack with more map paper, and used the Claret StazOn to create a red edge around both chipboard canvases. I used my Tim Holtz ink applicator to do this, but a make up sponge or other similar tool would work just as well. I really like the way the red edge imitates the vintage red edged pages of some of my dictionaries (notice the new gold ink border and dots on the tissue paper).

Finally, I layered my pieces onto the canvas and clipped them all on with the canvas clip from the largest Chipboard canvas. Once I knew where I wanted all my pieces, I chose some feathers, and got busy layering and gluing everything down.

Thank you for reading! Want to see more of what I'm up to?

Visit me on PINTEREST and INSTAGRAM, or like MY PAGE on Facebook!

Thanks for stopping by! ~ rachel

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The Frog Dog Studio April Mixed Media Kit includes:

(1) **Alumidust Powder - Red Plum; (1) StazOn Midi Ink pad - Claret; (1) StazOn Midi Ink pad - Blue Hawaii; (1) iZink Pigment Ink bottle - Gold; (1) Stampendous Mica Fragments Jar, Pearlized; (1) Dusty Attic Chipboard set - Birds; (1) Stampendous Mini Clipboard Canvas pack; (1) Set Canvas Mini's - Canvas Corp; (3) Sheets of Decopatch Tissue Paper; and (16) Tim Holtz Clear Fragments (random sizes/shapes). ** Alumidust is one of the many additives from the Alumilite Corporation. Valued at over $45.

The Frog Dog Studio  April Add-On Kit includes:

(1) Amazing Clear Cast Resin – 16 Fluid Oz Box; (1) Amazing Mold Putty – 2/3 lb Box; (25) 1 oz Measuring Cups; and (50) Wooden Stir Sticks. Valued at over $47.

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