Sunshine, good company...

...and a fabulous morning crafting.

The weathermen promised a warm day but to be honest, when I left home this morning it was looking doubtful. It was chilly and misty and there weren't any signs that it would improve.

I was meeting my friend Hilary at Barleylands craft village for a morning of messy playtime at Pinnacle crafts. We met in the café for breakfast and by the time we had finished our coffees the day was starting to brighten.

Starting off with a piece of greyboard approx. 8x8...

...it was given two coats of white gesso...

 ...and blasted with a heat gun to speed up the drying because of the limited time available.

A selection of die cut shapes were cut from funky foam...

...and these too were given a good coat to gesso.
Whilst the die cut pieces dried, the base board was given some texture using stencils/masks and some texture paste... 

...and when this was dry, the die cuts were arranged and stuck down before being given a light wash with some more gesso.

The whole piece was dried very carefully using a heat gun - ensuring that the heat wasn't directed at any area for too long so as not to cause the funky foam to blister...

 ...and then it was coloured using mica sprays. I used Black night, Hematite and Ocean to create the shading that you see here.
I used 3 different stencils for my background...

 ...brickwork...

 ...and shattered glass.
This was how it looked when I finished applying the mica sprays...

 ...and again it was carefully dried.
I used a dark teal and patina shade of guilding wax...

 ...to highlight a few areas...

...giving it a gentle buff all over to bring out the sheen.

The piece has been sealed with a light coating of...

...Silver Spray & Sparkle.

After a lovely morning crafting, Hilary and I went off for a bit of retail therapy and a spot of lunch.

When I got home I mounted the finished piece in a white square frame...

 ...and hung it straight on the wall...

...sorry the light wasn't that good by this point but I wanted to finish the project and get it hanging where it is going to 'live'.

What a lovely messy, mucky morning (aprons and gloves certainly came in handy) and I am really pleased with the result. Thank you Andy for lots of fabulous tips and ideas and thank you Hilary for making it a very pleasant day...........................................................................