Let the Sun In!

Rise and shine, crafters! I have a mixed media project to "shed some light" on my Birthday Blowout Blog Candy today. For those of you just joining me, from April 1 through April 15, I am celebrating another trip around the sun by thanking all the crafters whose art I have admired and been inspired by. I'm doing that by offering some awesome prizes and blog candy throughout those two weeks, and you can go back to the very first post to "catch up."
All I ask is that you are or become a Follower of my blog, display my Party badge in your sidebar, and if a question is asked that day, that you answer it. I may ask you your preferences in technique, or maybe to check out a sponsor's store for your favorite image or paper.
So today I decided it would be fun to try a new technique. One should never be averse to stretching out of our comfort zones. Betty from Simply Betty created a YouTube video of a project using melted crayons. Not the drippy ones on canvas, but ones you cut into small shavings and add to a surface to give it new color and texture. You can click HERE to view it.
I started with broken crayons (slated for the trash can at the school I work at) in various shades of yellow, orange and pink. Do you see that off-white sun shape next to the foil? I got that sorry looking piece of acrylic from a Goodwill Store for 49 cents! It originally had a mirror in it, but hubby dropped it on the way into the house! Silly man, he was going to throw it away (gasp)! I let hi clean up the broken glass and remove any leftover from the base, and locked myself in my craft room (mwa-ha-ha).

I shaved those outcast crayons with a manual pencil sharpener. After a base coat of yellow acrylic paint, I used adhesive glue spray and dropped and mashed in my pink shavings. I heated the whole thing with my heat gun, then did the same for the yellow and orange. I think in doing the pink first, I lost a lot of it, and didn't have enough to add to it. Next time I will hire, I mean ask, my daughter to start shaving the crayons I need to use a couple days before I plan to start the project, using a hand sharpener took some time!
After I got the melty, textured look I wanted, I held a white crayon over my sun and let a few drops fall randomly for a little highlighting. Then I sprayed everything with homemade shimmer mist, giving it a subtle shine.
The most difficult part of this project was deciding what to place in the center. I found a great quote from the book Anne of Green Gables and misquoted it for my project, which reads, "Life is new every morning, and I feel as if I washed my very soul in that bath of earliest sunshine."
Once the quote was in place, I embellished with a ring of pearls around the sentiment and a ring of Stickles around the diameter of my sun. Too plain! So I added a butterfly and a flourish of pearls, then balanced my "canvas" with a flurry of white flowers. And I like it!!
I hope you do too, and you make that decision to step out of your comfort zone and try something new.
Now on to today's prize. I have a rubber stamp from Simply Betty from her Teen Scene collection that I want to give to someone today. So why don't you go check out her YouTube video (link above) and leave her some love?! Let me know you've done this, and you will be in the running for one amazing stamp!
Thanks all for stopping by !!

Challenges I am Entering:

Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes (no cards/ATCs)
Recycle, Re-purpose & Re-invent - Anything Goes
2 Creative Chicks - Anything Goes (no cards)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Goes (mixed media)

Scrapbooker PhD - Focus on the Sentiment
Decorate to Celebrate #97 - Anything Goes
Artistic Inspirations challenges - Anything Goes w/a Twist of Flowers
All Crafts challenges - Anything Goes (no cards)