It's Very Puzzling....

and I don't mean the torrential rain and Autumnal conditions here in the U.K. "Summer"!

What I am talking about is the new Quirky Challenge set by me over at Quirky Crafts Challenge blog. I want you to use jigsaw pieces, in any way you like, either real ones (charity shops are great for getting puzzles for very little) or die cut puzzles or pieces or inchie puzzles. Hop on over to the blog to see some great examples.

I have had this giant piece for a long time, Deanne (Quirky Boots) sent the DT one each when she was still around, and I haven't ever got round to altering it. So this was the ideal opportunity. I managed to find it which was a good start, then had to decide what to do with it. I knew I was using the Tree of Circles image from our sponsor The Stamping Boutique. This is what I did:

1. Sanded the shiny picture side of the piece with fine sandpaper.

2. Painted it with white Gesso (you could go right to step 3) and allowed it to dry.

3. Painted over the Gesso with white acrylic with a touch of blue blended in and again allowed it to dry, this was too pale so....

4. I used two different blue alcohol inks and some pearl blender and applied that using a felt pad and applicator handle, also applied plenty to my fingers in the process.

5. While the Gesso and Acrylic paint was drying I coloured the image using my Koh-I- Noor Progresso woodless coloured pencils for the first time, mainly because they leapt off the shelf and hit the floor when I reached for the Trias, and this was quite an intricate image to colour and I find it easier with pencils. These pencils are blendable with Sansador and can be used with Prisma Color pencils too. I think they are very vibrant which I what I wanted. I went over the colours with some paper blending stumps and Sansador, I had trouble finding my stumps and had to open a new pack.

6. When the acrylic paint was dry I found a pretty stamp to stamp the background with Stazon ink. The stamp I used is by Inkadinkado and is a wood mounted corner flourish stamp with a couple of birds on it, I don't know the name of the image.

7. Got out the old Krylon gold pen and went round the edges.

8. Cut out a large and smaller image, and worked out where to place them then I used Decopatch to stick them to the piece and to go over the whole thing to seal it, that stuff dries very quickly compared to the Gesso and acrylic, which was good for me! 

9. I felt it needed more, I added a Kan Ban metal tag, using a gem brad, and then some matching Papermania  adhesive gems to the trees.

10. Still needed more, so the pack of mother of pearl buttons I found in my hand were threaded through with green wire and added.

11. Finally I went over the edges of the image where they met the edge of the piece with Krylon gold pen, and I punched a hole in the top and added a loop of ribbon to hang the finished piece, and that's all there is too it!

I might see if I can get a better photo, looks a bit out of focus one side, or maybe the Decopatch was still a little wet! This was so much fun, and I am really pleased with the result so I will have to go hunt for more big jigsaws at the charity (thrift) shops, unless I can cut them out on the eCraft.

This is a little late being posted, we were out for the day yesterday at my Son and Daughter-in-Law's house, taking my Mother-in-Law to see it for the first time, and we had a lovely lunch out and a busy day with lots of travelling, I was too tired to blog last night.

Hop on over to Quirky Crafts and have a go, you could win some lovely Summer Holiday ribbons or some digi's from our two lovely sponsors: Crafty Ribbons and The Stamping Boutique.

Now I have spotted a few challenges I can enter, so here goes:

Paperplay - Things with Wings, there are birds in the image and background

Paperkutz - The Skies the Limit

Cute Card Thursday - Going round in circles

Lollipop Crafts - Anything goes

Stamping for the Weekend - Wings and Things

My Time to Craft - Bird Watcher (not sure if non cards are allowed though)