All in the Family

Hello and happy summer!

I'm back again with a free standing art piece that I have put together for our Frilly and Funkie All in the Family challenge. Our host for this challenge is Suzanne Czosek. Suzz wants us to create something that was inspired by our family. Whether it is our ancestors, a favorite family memory or family outings, we want you to create a vintage or shabby chic project reflecting your family.

You might already know this about me - our family loves to vacation in Key West.  We go there for a week or two every summer.  This year, we are renting a vacation home for a month and filling it with family and friends.  I was so excited to be able to put these cool new dies from Tim Holtz to such fun use!  This was a total labor of love for me.  

I started with an 8x8" piece of Speciality Stamping Paper.   Using Wendy Vecchi's Ranger Archival Inks, I painted a sunset beach scene with the inks and rubbing alcohol.  This was perfect to build my seaside scene on. 

I did an internet search for Key West vintage travel posters and came up with two fantastic ones.  The Southernmost Point is a true Key West icon and the Green Parrot bar is a place that we have loved for years to hang out and listen to music!

I wanted to mount my piece to make it less flimsy.  I ended up deciding on using a 10x10" piece of chipboard.  It was painted first with white gesso and when dry, painted again with two coats of  Tumbled Glass distress paint.  I chose Tumbled Glass for the significance of the color to Key West.  In Key West the porch ceilings on the old conch houses are painted sky blue.  Architectural historians seem to agree that this tradition dates back to African descendants from the West Indies who believed that spirits or ghosts (called “haints”) could’n't cross water and that by painting their porches some shade of water-color blue, they would confuse the haints and keep them from entering their homes.  As time went by another legend came to be as home owners continued to paint their Key West ceilings blue. The idea was (and for some still is) that blue porch ceilings act as a natural bug repellent because the porch looks like the sky and fools the bugs who obviously won’t build their nests in the sky.

So that's my family memory project.  So happy you stopped by!  Thanks so much.

Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Reinker - Cornflower Blue	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Reinker - Tiger Lily	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Reinker - Buttercup	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Reinker - Orange Blossom	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Reinker - Pink Peony
Ranger Inkssentials Specialty Stamping Paper 8.5 X 11	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 18PK - Vacation Words: Script	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 8PK - Tropical by Tim Holtz	Dina Wakley Media Mediums - White Gesso	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Tumbled Glass
Seasonal Stickles Assortment - Frozen	$11.99 Core′dinations Kraft Core By Tim Holtz - Shattered Collection 12 x 12	Medium Weight 12x12" Chipboard (12 Sheets