Go Rust-ic! . . . . . With Our Creative Corner

Hello everyone, today sees the start of a new challenge at Our Creative Corner. Our host this month is the hugely talented Laura and here's how she introduces her challenge:

I really love Autumn and find it very inspiring with all those textures and colours we see in nature right now.  So I decided to bring those textures and colours into a challenge here and see all that rustic creativity at Our Creative Corner!

 We want to see a huge variety of items, so make anything you like - but add some RUST!

Now you can take this Rust-ic creativity to any level you like - You can use just use some rusty autumnal colours or you can really go for it and work with gorgeous, rough textured, grungy, real or faux rust. 

So.....How 'rusty' are you?....

How happy was I when I saw this challenge?! I love all things rusty as many of you know and I don't need any excuse to play with rust again. This is a wonderfully open challenge and if textured grungy rust is not your thing then go for using those beautiful autumnal shades that are just starting to appear in UK or wonderfully rustic country piece in shades of rust and neutrals. My very talented teamies will be showing their inspiration too, so why not hop over to Our Creative Corner and see what they've got to show you?

Here's what I made for Laura's challenge this month:

When I first saw the Spellbinders embossing folder which I used to create this tag, I just couldn't get this line from Sting's song out of my head. I added it as a sentiment because this bird fits the song perfectly.

Dies and embossing folder from Spellbinders are used for the tag base and the layers on top. In addition, tattered floral flower strip is used for the flowers.

This was one of those projects which I just started one day and then left to come back to and complete. Therefore, I don't have any photos of the early stages - sorry. The paints and mediums in the photo were all used to develop the embossed tag.

The tag base was embossed with the folder and given two coats of gesso. When dry, the DecoArt media line acrylics shown in the image earlier were used to colour the tag. Finally, the surface was antiqued with DecoArt Antiquing Cream. This was followed by adding DecoArt Crackle Glaze to chosen areas and leaving to dry. Quinacridone Gold was then added over the glaze to fill the cracks.

The top of the tag is decorated using part of a piece of Spellbinders lattice die cut. The small piece has been given a rusty coating using one of Andy Skinner's techniques which he teaches in online classes - sorry I can't share!

The sentiment was made on a label maker then grunged up with inks. The line comes from Sting's track called 'When We Dance'. It's a beautiful song but so sad as the subject is lost love. Click here to listen to the track.

The flowers are made from die cut card which was embossed then given the same rusty finish as the other elements on the tag. Rusty wire has been twisted and used in the centre of the flowers.

Another Spellbinder's die cut given the Skinner rusty finish. The leaves are some skeleton leaves I've had for ages. They were given a couple of coats of paint to subdue their original bright colour.

I really love this little bird! I love him even more with his rusty finish. If you haven't used the Spellbinder folders before (which I had not) I can honestly say they are fab! Wonderful deep emboss which lends itself to all kinds of techniques.

The section at the base of the tag is made of metal and used to be part of an old photo frame which broke. I saved it because I hoped it may come in handy at some point! This has been given the same rust technique as before.

For the top of the tag I twirled some rusty wire and added tiny rusty bells.

The final step was to give the tag a coat of Ultra Matte Varnish to tone down any gloss areas caused by paint, crackle glaze etc.

I hope you like my rusty offering. I really do have to tell myself off from time to time because I like adding rust to anything - thanks Laura for giving me the opportunity to do it without guilt!

So now it's up to you! Remember to head over to Our Creative Corner and check out the inspiration from the rest of the team. Do have a quick check of the rules whilst you're there too. You have the chance to win a prize from our generous sponsor for this month which is:

The Funkie Junkie Boutique

You could be chosen as one of our top three or even be in our spotlight! You have to enter to get one of those chances so get creating your Rust-ic creations!

Your turn!!