There's not mushroom inside...

No, they're all over the outside!  And there certainly isn't much room inside as it's only a little box.  Sorry for the appalling pun... back to business now.

It's time for a new challenge at A Vintage Journey and the lovely Julia is asking us to Box It Up.  You'll find all the details of the theme along with some spectacular inspiration from my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey.

My offering is a 3-inch Artist Trading Block covered in fungi in two dimensions and in three.

Tim Holtz's new mushroom stamps were an absolute must for me.  My mother, Cestina (of Cestina's dolls houses), is a fungi fanatic - at least partly owing to her Czech parentage (the Czechs are huge gatherers of wild mushrooms... it's all those fairytale forests in their landscape).

She's always complaining that there aren't enough mushrooms around here at Words & Pictures, though they have put in the occasional appearance over the years (quite recently over at PaperArtsy, or rather longer ago courtesy of Stampotique and I'm sure there have been others).  I thought these gorgeous tiny botanical images might finally shut her up!












It all started with one of Calico Craft Parts sturdy MDF boxes, and I cut 6 3x3 panels of watercolour paper to decorate it.














First of all, they got a smooshing of Old Paper and Antique Linen (for that old botanical sketchbook look)...














... but then I got tempted into a little more colour with some Tumbled Glass for the sky.















I only needed the fungi on four panels to go around the sides of the box, and I stamped them as though it was one long panoramic scene.














It works really nicely as all the illustrations have a grassy segment at the bottom so you can join them up very easily.














I had a lovely time "colouring them in" with a waterbrush, Distress Inks and washes of Fresco paints.














I decided to keep the mushrooms themselves in soft neutrals, from the palest of grey/beiges to a darker, nuttier brown in some cases.














And of course you get another touch of colour with those grassy knolls and tufts.















The background stamping details are all from the same stamp set - the tiny script, the specimen label and some of the delicate spatter is stamped too.














The top and bottom panels of the box got some more layers of smooshed Distress Ink and Oxide in various shades of brown to create a nice woodland floor.













The moss and logs I used for my Stargazing Skeleton scene were still just by the craft table, so it was a pretty short step to deciding they would play a part on the top of the ATB.

But I really needed some mushrooms to sprout there too... out with the modelling clay.  This is a Fimo type clay, rather than air-drying, so it needed baking.  They're pretty ugly in the original colour (bought mainly for doll-making).














A few layers of Fresco chalk paints later, and a sweep of Archival ink for the final burnishing...
















... and I'm really pleased with the finished look.














I even carved some gills into the underside of the mushroom heads.















I really like that you get the toadstool illustrations all the way around the box...















... and then the three dimensional scene echoing them on the top.














An Idea-ology tokens warns you to watch out which fungi you're picking for the pan.  There's a Czech proverb which says: All mushrooms are edible, some of them only once.















And I've used tiny phrases extracted from the quotes on my PaperArtsy EAB01 Trees & Flowers plate...














... just the odd word or two, which seemed right for the subject matter.















Fungi roots (or more properly, mycelium) can spread a long way underground.















What you see sprouting on the surface is a tiny proportion of the potential fruiting capability.














And you certainly do get fungi in lots of wild and crazy forms, even if the ones here are tamely beige!













I hope you like my box of mushrooms, and I hope you'll be inspired to Box It Up with us this month at A Vintage Journey.  As I said, there's lots more inspiration over there to get you going.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I'll see you again soon.

I say, I say, I say (Not you again)...
My dustbin's absolutely full with toadstools
(How do you know it's full?)
'Cos there's not mushroom inside...
From Lonnie Donegan's My Old Man's a Dustman

At the Mix It Up Challenge it's an Anything Goes with an optional twist of a 3D project - done!
613 Avenue Create are playing Anything Goes with an optional twist of Pop Up or Exploding Boxes - my box is not quite a pop up, but there are mushrooms sprouting up!
At Moo Mania & More they are inviting us to Use A Stamp - I used several!
It's another Anything Mixed Media Goes at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog