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Saturday, January 25, 2020

Spreading Some Sunshine

Over the last year, my Mom kept me going.  She travelled with me to see doctors in NY three times and nursed me through two surgeries.   To say thanks, I wanted to create her something special.  Mom's kitchen is sunny yellow and blue.  It's decorated with sunflowers, my mom's favorite flowers.  Recently, I went junkin' in my Dad's old workbench.  My family was trying to decide what to keep and what to throw away.  I found tons of rusty goodness.   One of the things that I found was my grandmother's coal shovel.  Instead of ending up in the metal scrap pile to be recycled, I knew I wanted to do something special with it.  I still remember the warmth of that coal stove in my grandmother's kitchen.  It was the feeling of love and home.


After brushing off all the dirt and giving the shovel a matte clear coat of spray acrylic paint,  I decided to create a wall hanging for my mother's kitchen.  It had to have some sunny sunflowers and   a blue and white checked ribbon.  As I rummaged through my craft supplies, I found Tim Holtz's Rosette dies.  I used decided to use it to create my sunflowers.  There are three different patterns.  I created the a small sunflower for the coal shovel handle from the diamond cutout rosette.  I used some printed yellow printed paper for the petals.  I colored it with Mustard Seed and Wild Honey Distress Ink and grunged the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  Walnut Stain was used to ink one of the die cut rosette centers.  Then I covered it with these really incredible light gold translucent sequins that I found in my stash.  I adhered them with Ranger Glossy Accents.   Wow!  They really catch the light.


I created a larger sunflower by making two of the diamond cutout rosette and taping them end-to-end.  I chose another rosette die with teardrop cutouts to make the second layer of "petals" out of printed paper.  I used Walnut Stain and Ground Espresso Distess Ink on a patterned grunged board circle for the large sunflower's center.  Some of Tim's grunge board Flourishes, painted with Peeled Paint Distress Paint, we added to the large sunflower in lieu of leaves.   I added some Peeled Paint Distress Stickles (you can't really see them in these pictures) to give a little more sparkle.


A hot glue gun was used to adhere the sunflowers to the shovel.


The rustic look of this project needed some jute twine to go along with my blue gingham bow.  So cute.


 As I stood back and looked at the project, I felt like it needed one more pop of sparkle and blue.   My mom loves butterflies (yes, there are butterflies in the kitchen too).  I used one of Tim Holtz's Detailed Butterflies dies to do just that.  The background is Distress Ink-ed card stock.  The detailed overlay is black card stock.  The sparkle comes from Deco Art Perfect Crackle.  I added some dots with a white Sharpie Oil-based paint pen.


Perfect.  This added a bit of sunshine to my mom's life after a pretty tough year.   Thanks Mom!  You are the best!!!! I love you.

I would like to enter this project in the following challenges:

The Funkie Junkie Boutique "Repeat Performance" Challenge
Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge -- "Home Decor"

I am so glad you joined me on this special creative journey.  -- Mary Elizabeth


7 comments:

Words and Pictures said...

What a beautiful and brilliant thank you gift for your mother... taking a piece of family heritage and altering it with all her favourite emblems, giving it a fresh lease of life. Of course I love the rusted coal shovel to start with - a wonderful substrate - and those glowing sunflowers bring a touch of the garden indoors. The sequin seed heads at the centre of the smaller flower are simply glorious! I love that the butterfly has been drawn to the flowers too. The gingham and rustic twine finish the whole thing off perfectly. Having met your mom, I know what a life force she is, full of warmth and strength - as you are yourself, a chip of the block! - and this is a perfect way to show your gratitude for all that support.
Alison xx

sarascloset said...

What a fabulous way to use a family heirloom, not left to the trash, but embraced as the treasure that it is indeed! I love how you've really thought about your Mom and her preferences in embellishing this in the colors and decor of her kitchen. This is sure to be a treasured gift! What a wonderful Mom you have to get you through your surgeries and mending! I'm tickled pink you shared this with us at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog! Hugs!

Words and Pictures said...

Thank you so much for all your amazing comments - that's dedication! In quick response to your latest... it's less a question of how big the craft table is, and more one of how high the teetering towers of stuff are that are piled on it, under it and to either side of it!
Axx

Cec said...

What a fabulous piece of wall art with those wonderful sunflowers and that very special butterfly. This will be so treasured by your Mother because of all the family ties it has and the feelings behind the creation of it. Thanks for joining us at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog.
Hugs!
Cec

Suzanne C said...

Brilliant way to pull in all the beautiful family memories into a gorgeous addition to your mother's kitchen! Wonderful sunflowers and butterfly! Thank you for sharing it with us in The Funkie Junkie Boutique "Repeat Performance" Challenge!

Maggi said...

What a wonderful gift made so special because it was your grandmother's! The sunflowers add so mcuh ceer, I'm sure your Mom loved this! Thanks for joining in our challenge on The Funkie Junkie blog.

Jenny Marples said...

Oh Mary Elizabeth that is absolutely stunning! I love that you've taken something so full of memories and destined to be discarded and transformed it into a special piece of art for your Mom. Thank you for sharing this with us and for joining us at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog x