I'll Stick to Fall

If I could, I'd have fall last for oh, I don't know, maybe six months. It's my favorite time of the year. I never get tired of rustling leaves, sweater weather (anybody get that?) wood fires, hot chocolate and gingerbread cake, all the gorgeous color and frosty mornings.

Hello everybody! Lora here taking my turn for the fab Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts folks and today I am bringing you a little bit of Autumnal craftiness. It's fall on a stick! I couldn't help the cheesy play on words, but it really is Fall on a Stick.

It's a little hard to photograph as it's 18-inches tall, but it is a left-over stick of plywood that was in my husbands scrap box. I love recycling things if I can, and this was the perfect thing to play with the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Fall Shape Set.

The first thing I did was gesso the surface of the stick and the pieces from the Fall Shape Set that I chose for my piece.

I made sure I liked the original arrangement, then removed the chipboard and began working on the surface of the stick.

Using matte medium, I glued down the paper I chose to the front and sides of the wood. The paper I chose is a neutral, cream colored paper with some script on it. I wanted something that wasn't dark but would have interest to it as it would show through on the final piece.

I used Phthalo Blue with some glazing medium to make the blue transparent, as you can see in the photo above, the lettering shows through the color. This gives the object more depth and richness and can give you a whole range of possibilities for future projects! After the glazing dried I applied some gold acrylic paint to the surface. No glazing medium in this, just the paint, which adds another dimension. I randomly applied it, keeping in mind that the surface of the stick is the background for the message.

I set this aside to let it dry and began working on the chipboard. I painted the scallop edge banner pieces black and set those aside. (Note; make sure you paint all the edges of your chipboard in black or gold or they will be white and glare at you!)

For the letters and the leaves, I used red and yellow acrylic paints that I also mixed to make orange and kind of randomly painted the leaves and letters. I didn't use a pattern and had all three colors on my brush. I dabbed and stroked the paint on and the colors came together on their own, creating a randomness...kind of the way you sometimes see leaves in nature, no two are alike.

I checked my placing one more time, finished painting the leaves and acorns and then glued everything down. You can see in the photo below that I applied the paint on the acorn tops thickly in order to get a bit more texture.

After everything dried, I used a very light application of Nickel Azo Quinac Gold on all the gold that I painted on the piece, including any gold that I painted on the leaves. It turns the gold a richer shade, and adds a bit of 'age' to the piece.

After it all dried thoroughly, I added some black dot details to the leaves and acorns to give them a little contrast, varnished the piece and glue a filigree doodad to the back as a hanger. Finished!

SUPPLIES:
Fall Shape Set

Plywood stick
Acrylic Paint
Acrylic Glazing Medium
Acrylic Varnish
Gesso

Thank you for stopping by!