Venice and The Warmth of Winter.

Welcome to Magpieheaven. The sun is out today, interspersed with dark clouds and heavy rain showers - sorry if I sound like the Weather Report - but those wintry beams had me thinking of sunlight on the stones of Venice where February is Carnival time and rich masks and costumes add warmth to winter. My daughter Matilda has been working so hard finishing her college project and she's had a nasty flu-like cold. As she's been journeying to college every day in driving rain and cold, she's been longing for a bit of warmth. She's always been feisty and independent, and I won't say we don't have our ups and downs, but she is warm-hearted and a great pal. At the wonderful Frilly and Funkie Challenge the challenge is to create some warmth in winter for one you love, so I decided to create a little assemblage for Matilda, my daughter and my friend.

 She is going into a shared student house next year and I'm really going to miss having her around with her quirky sense of humour. She has already decided a colour scheme for her room: blue and gold. I started with a little hanging board from Paper Artsy and a tiny mask I'd had for years. It was a charity shop buy and I had always thought it rather garish compared with the genuine Venetian masks I've collected since I first visited Venice. Would it be possible to alter it and create something that evoked something more Venetian?

 I began by giving my board and the mask a good few coats of Gesso. It was satisfying to see the glitter and the pink on the mask vanish!

Next I tinted some Grunge Paste with Paper Artsy Lake Wanaka and applied it with a palette knife through stencils: Prima flourishes and Crafters' Workshop diamonds to give a Venetian feel to the background. I then sponged and sprayed with different Fresco blues: Antarctic, Lake Wanaka and darkening around the edges with Inky Pool then Chocolate Pudding and French Roast to add contrast. I fixed on my mask with Golden Heavy Gel Medium pressed into the Grunge Paste while it was still wet and painted this with several coats of Antarctic. This blue is so pale it could be white, the colour of a Pierrot mask yet the hint of blue blends with the other stronger blues. I liked the way the chalky finish of the Fresco paints made the mask look a lot more like the authentic Venetian ones.

I then went to town, making and finding embellishments to add to my assemblage. I took some Heavy Card and die-cut some Paper Artsy and Tim Holtz flowers from it. I painted them on both sides with blue Frescos and using Paper Artsy Mini 75 and some Hot Picks flowers designed to go with the die-cuts, I stamped them with Wendy Vecchi Potting Soil Archival. Using my Heavy Gel Medium, I stuck them around the mask to give the appearance of it emerging from the petals of a flower.

 I made a paper flower with a curly wire stamen, gessoed and frantaged with Shabby Blue. The butterfly, a symbol of good luck on Venetian lace, is stamped in Ranger Black Archival ink on blue painted card and clear embossed, edged with Frantage and fussy cut to perch with his tiny legs on the flower petal. The stamp is from Paper Artsy Hot Picks 1204. Unfortunately it is impossible to pick this up in a photo but the Frantage inside the flower really glitters!

 The Venetian ticket is from a Stampington Clearly Impressed set called Butterfly Girl, which I bought when I first started crafting. Other embellishments include a key given me by my crafting friend Kerry, which I painted and then gilded with Aquamarine and Green Amber Treasure Gold. There is a a shrink plastic heart which I coloured with Fresco in Vanilla and then stamped and glazed with Glossy Accents. There is an old leaf earring, a Prima wooden butterfly from their Birds and Butterflies collection and a little fabric rose from Kerry, painted and gilded. To suggest the ribbons attached to the mask, I added curled white card.

 I accented the corners of the hanging with Treasure Gold and just slightly picked out the raised design on the mask. The hanging gleams now with a warm, vintage glow rather than the harsh sparkle of the mini-mask. I hope it will evoke just a little bit, the watery shadows and sunlight and the faded mellow, light of Serenissima. I think the gift did warm Matilda's heart too, as she gave me one of her lovely big beams when I said it was for her new home! I should like to enter my Venice hanging for the Frilly and Funkie Challenge ' The Warmth of Winter' and for the letter 'A' challenge at Simon Says Monday Challenges, as this piece could also be called 'A for a Venetian Assemblage'.