Hello! Continuing my Throwback Thursday posts, this time only going back to January, when I once again traveled to the Creativation Trade show, in Phoenix, Arizona. Held by Association For Creative Industries or AFCI, during the show I was honored to once again be invited to the 7th annual Prime Networking Event. This event gives bloggers, designers, authors and brands in the craft industry a chance to come together to network, make new partnerships, and learn about new product information. The event was fun, informative, and free product samples were provided by this year’s sponsors. After the event attendees were encouraged to try out and create art for the Favecrafts Best Blogger Craft Event. This year I won runner up in the Best Blogger Contest 2019 for my project!

For my entry I decided to use products from these sponsors: Diamond Art by Leisure Arts, Tribe Design, Mod Podge  Ultra Matte Spray, FolkArt Crackle Medium and Home Decor™ Chalk Paint along with supplies from my personal collection of art supplies.

Supplies:
Diamond Art by Leisure Arts Diamond Painting Kit – Tribe Design
Mod Podge ® Ultra Matte Spray
FolkArt ® Mediums – Crackle Medium
FolkArt ® Home Decor™ Chalk Paint in Java, Parisian Grey, White Adirondack and Black
Liquid Fusion ® Clear Urethane Glue 
9 inch x 12 inch Cradled Wood Board
Assortment of artificial tropical plants
1 Flat Paint Brush
1 Round Paint Brush
Scissors
Ruler
Pencil
Cotton swabs
Isopropyl alcohol
Used and dried coffee grounds

Since it took a few hours to finish the Diamond Art kit by Leisure Arts, I had time to consider the pattern.  In my mind it needed something more than to just be framed. It reminded me of patterns of old, and FolkArt Chalk Paint would help me with that.  To have it look like a wall fragment I would need it to be on a board, Mod Podge Spray would help apply the canvas. For water damaged cracks, I would need a Crackle Medium.

Maybe it could be a forgotten image, now found once again? Slowly a story formed in my mind…..
After traveling many miles, you start seeing the remnants of a once mighty city, now taken over by nature. Slowly walking through the dense forest a fragment of a patterned wall slowly appears. What ancient artist created this image and who was it intended for?

I opened up my Leisure Arts Diamond Painting Kit and made sure I had all of the required parts. The printed canvas needed to be flattened a bit before I started so making sure to leave the sticky film cover on the canvas, I placed a book on top of my canvas for a few hours before starting.

Following the instructions included with the Diamond Art I applied all of the flat backed diamonds to the canvas. It took me only a few hours to complete.

Next I trimmed the Diamond Art canvas to the very edge of the blue background with a pair of sharp scissors.

I carefully used a pencil and ruler to mark as close as possible to the Tribe Design pattern, creating a slightly elongated diamond outline. I then trimmed the canvas further with the scissors, using my pencil lines as my guide.

Now that the Diamond Art canvas was cut to size, it fit neatly on the wood board I wanted to attach it to. Once again, I used my pencil to mark out the exact placement of my canvas on the wood board.

Making sure my wood board was clean of dust or particles I sprayed it with Mod Podge Ultra Matte in the pencil outline of the diamond.

Quickly and carefully I applied the diamond canvas to the coated wood board. I applied firm pressure to the canvas. The spray version of Mod Podge Matte makes it much easier to apply fabric without a worry of oversaturation or bubbles forming. I let the Mod Podge fully dry.

Making sure to cover the sides and front of the wood board I applied on FolkArt Home Deco Chalk Paint in Java. Using the flat paint brush to apply paint to the open sections of the wood board and the round brush for the detailed sections around the diamonds. The Tribe Design canvas had a tendency to soak up more paint, so I applied a bit more paint to make sure there was even coverage.

Before the paint fully cured I used cotton swabs dipped in isopropyl alcohol to remove any paint that accidently covered the diamonds. I then let the paint fully cure before the next step.

On the now dry paint I applied FolkArt Crackle Medium, careful to not over brush and to only apply the medium in one direction. This would ensure a better crackle formation later on. I let this layer fully dry.

To create a highly textured topcoat I mixed a tablespoon of used and dried coffee grounds in a small cup, with 4 parts FolkArt Home Decor Chalk Paint in White Adirondack, with 1 part Parisian Grey.

I quickly applied my textured topcoat to the crackle layer, making sure once again to not over paint, and for the most part, go only one direction with the brush strokes. Any time the paint built up too much on the brush I cleaned the paint brush with a paper towel and then reapplied fresh paint mixture to the brush.

Once again before the paint fully cured I used cotton swabs dipped in isopropyl alcohol to remove any paint that accidentally covered the diamonds. I then let the paint fully cure before the next step.

In a small cup I heavily diluted some Black FolkArt Home Decor Chalk Paint with some water and applied it to the cracks, textured elements and raised portions of the wood board, careful to avoid the flat backed diamond pattern. I left the paint to fully dry.

I cut and placed the artificial tropical plants on the board, finding the placement I liked best, gluing the plants in place with Liquid Fusion Clear Urethane Glue. Once the glue was fully cured my pieces was ready to be displayed. 

Until next time, safe travels!
*This is an affiliate post, which means I received an assortment of products as a compensation for the creation of art. To read my full disclosure, click here.