Flower & Leaf Brooch

On Tuesday at our SU! Make and Take evening Alex very kindly gave out some crackled die cut shapes she'd made using PaperTrey ink dies.  To make them, you coat die cut CS shapes with a glossy medium (like Glossy Accents or Crystal Effects) and let that dry completely.  Alex die cut 2 or 3 shapes and layered them together to get a thicker base.  Then you paint on a coat of Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint - Alex used Picket Fence which is white - and wait for that to dry and the cracks to appear.  Then you can sponge ink over the top and using the white paint means you can make your shapes any colour.  One of the shapes Alex offered was a butterfly and I snaffled that straight away!  I also took a leaf and 3 nesting flower shapes and that's what I've used here to make a brooch.

I sponged Pretty in Pink, Perfect Plum and Rose Red inks on my flower shapes and Old Olive ink on the leaf.  I then added one coat of gloss varnish to the front of each shape.  Once that was dry, I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch holes in the flower centres and fixed the flowers together with one of my treasured SU! Antique brads.  I then glued the flower to the leaf using a generous amount of PVA glue.  I attached a couple of clothes pegs to the shapes to keep them close together while the glue was drying.  Then I glued a brooch fitting to the back, again using a generous amount of PVA glue.  My finishing touch was to add a clear Swarovski crystal to the brad centre.

Wow, I LOVE this technique and I'm so happy with my flower brooch - considering it's my first attempt!  I think these accents make great brooches and they'll also be fab on cards and boxes.  I hotfooted it to the Glitter Pot to get some crackle paint and I have used it this morning on flowers die cut using the SU! Fun Flowers die.  I'm waiting for them to dry so I'll be creating something with them soon.  I'm torn between a fridge magnet and a handbag decoration.

I must say I love the shape and size of the PTI blooms and leaves die shapes so, of course, I just had to order them!  The shapes turn out very sturdy yet they're also still a bit pliable so you can do some moulding and shaping to get some dimension.  I wore my brooch yesterday on a plain black top so it really stood out, my friend Jan loved it.  I had to get some crackle paint for her too!  She has just lent me an SU! punch and a stamp set and she's challenged me to do the crackle technique using the owl punch and owl stamp from the Punch Bunch set.  I do like a challenge but I'm not sure how the crackling will look over the stamped owl, I guess I'll find out!

Many thanks to Alex for sharing this fabulous technique, for the shapes and also for the enabling LOL! 

Supplies:
Stamps: None
CS: white CS
Ink: SU! Pretty in Pink, Perfect Plum, Rose Red & Old Olive
Tools: PaperTrey Ink Beautiful Blooms II #1 die collection, Leaf Prints die collection, Crop-A-Dile
Embellishments & accessories: Ranger Glossy Accents, Tim Holtz 'Picket Fence' Distress Crackle Paint, PVA glue, clear gloss varnish, SU! Antique brad, clear Swarovski crystal, brooch fitting