Very Anti-Valentine

It's been far too long since I've blogged.

I kinda miss it. I got super burnt out after the 31 Days of Halloween.

I was creatively paralyzed for the entire month of November and most

of December, too. I think I have successfully corralled my mojo, 

slapped a saddle on that bitch, and am ready to ride.

The new theme over at Aurora Wings is 

Pro/Anti Valentine.

C'mon, let's face it, Valentine's Day isn't for everyone. 

After 40 something years of falling prey to the financial

expectations of the holiday, the glitter and sparkle has faded.

I'm over it, and have decided to not hold my husband to an unattainable

standard set by big business any longer. He's still pretty drained financially

from Xmas, so it's not a big deal. Besides, he spoils me periodically

with flowers and trinkets all year long anyway. He's a keeper.

So with all of that said, I have decided to go with the 

Anti-Valentine option of the challenge.

I chose to use my absolute favorite Aurora Wings Flower Sprite, 

the Corpse Flower Sprite.   

He's perfect for an anti-Valentine, dontcha think?

I began by coloring the sprite in lovely purple shades.

The first time I colored him I kept him in red shades.

I think I like the purple better. 

I manipulated the image in Gimp, and laid the text over the top of it.

I also sang "Love Stinks", by the J. Geils Band the entire time, too.

I decided to make a 6"x6" canvas, and prepped it using brown acrylic paint,

 and crackle medium on all of the edges. I rubbed a darker shade of brown paint

into the crackle once it was cured to make the cracks really show up.

I distressed various papers in browns, that complimented one another.

The use of distress ink in walnut, and frantage really helped to tie it all together. 

I added a couple of paper flowers and some burlap ribbon for some added 

interest. I really love all the textures. 

I also used some pearl thingies on top of a nearly over-distressed doily.

I mean that thing has more ink on it than the rest of the entire project.

Very absorbent little sucker.

I used Platinum  Stickles on the distressed edges of the papers on the

perimeter of the canvas. Gives it another nice layer of sparkle. I also like 

to splatter white Dylusion ink on everything for a nice, cohesive effect, too.

And lastly, I added a smattering of lavender jewels to tie in with the purple

Corpse Flower. 

I am pretty pleased with myself this time around.

Please stop by the Aurora Wings challenge blog to see all of the 

other wonderful work by the rest of the design team.

Who knows? You may be so inspired that you'll want to play along with 

us this month. Stranger things have happened.

    

Corpse Flower Sprite

I have the great pleasure of being on the Aurora Wings DT.

This means that I not only get to create with all of Mitzi's incredible

artwork, but that I get to make suggestions as to possible future images.

Well actually, if you are a member of the Aurora Wings facebook group

you can make all the suggestions you want, and eventually Mitzi may get

around to drawing up one of your suggestions!

But I digress...

I have always been slightly enamoured with the magical carrion flower, or

also known as the (way cooler sounding), corpse flower. 

This beautiful plant grows in the rainforests of Sumatra.

The bloom is enormous, and smells of rotting meat, or really smelly gym socks. 

It only blooms once, every two years. So it is a pretty big deal every 

time one blooms. The bloom only usually lasts for 24 to 48 hours.

 One just bloomed in Missouri Botanical Garden, and one also bloomed 

in a man's backyard in Florida. He has been growing it for 12 years from a seed.

This is the first time it has bloomed. He has seven total plants that he has
grown from seeds he purchased for $100 each. So cool!

Again, I digress...

See? I said I was a bit enamoured with this plant.

Soooo, 

I asked Mitzi if she would draw this incredible plant as one of her Sprites.

And she did!

Wanna see him?

Are you ready?

Isn't he delightfully menacing?

And dig those awesome, squiggly stench lines!

And the flies, too!

I loved coloring this odiferous guy up!

I think he'd make a great/funny "get well" card. 

He is now available in the Aurora Wings digi shop.

Get him before his stench fades!