Go Away I'm Marking

This one is a bit different. Working on wood is a first for me, but I wanted to make something for my daughter, Danielle, that was a bit different from the last sign I bought her! That one read "Piss Off I'm Busy". Not really appropriate for a music teacher, but I thought it was funny at the time. You had to be there...

Anyway, out came my Paperartsy Fresco Chalk Acrylics. Obvs. I covered the sign with Little Black Dress and then ran some alpha dies through my Big Shot machine. I used Bigz Extra Large Die Word Play by Tim Holtz for 'Go Away', Just A Note Thinlits Alphabet by Jen Long for 'I'm Marking!' and then added the ink splat from Scribbles and Splat Thinlits die set by Tim Holtz for good measure. I tore some manuscript bits from some Tim Holtz tissue because Danielle teaches music.   

After all of those fiddly bits were stuck into place, I covered the whole lot with some Crackle Glaze, waited for it to dry, then I painted over with Purple Rain (*nods to Prince*). There was some amazing texture happening, just like magic...

I had to make it all pop a bit more, so I played with Chalk paint, pens, rubbing the paint back again, but it still looked all wishy washy and not at all me.

I squidged a warm grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker around everything. Then sponged Little Black Dress and Chalk over the splat and 'I'm Marking!' I loosely scratched around the lettering with a black pen, trying to grunge it up. It did help to lift it from the background, but I asked my lovely PATwits family on Facebook if there was any advice to be had from here...

... and the wonderful Siobhan Brignull encouragingly said that it was fab, then constructively suggested I add some Treasure Gold. Now, I haven't got around to the Treasure Gold yet, but I do have a selection of Creative Expressions gilding wax in several colours. I rubbed some Pewter around the edge and highlighted the sticky up bits (technical term) with it. It was much better, but I still wanted more oomf (another technical term) so I highlighted everything with a white Posca pen. 

Finally!...

The good news is that Danni loves it. But then, would she dare say that she didn't? She seemed pleased that she had a sign that was suitable for children to see, anyway. 

Love and peace x