Thanksgiving Centerpiece with Gesso and Perfect Pearls

My coworkers all laugh at me, because I'm always picking up bits and pieces of things they are going to throw away. This was an apple cider jar one of my coworkers brought to a recent fall-themed potluck. As she was about to chuck it into the garbage, I stopped her and asked if I could have it. She looked at me confusedly, but handed over the jar! Woot! Normally this blog is all card making, all the time, but I had to share my finished Thanksgiving centerpiece. 

The first thing I do when starting a project is to look for inspiration from challenges. The fabulous Oscar de la Renta is being paid tribute over at Runway Inspired Sketches. He will be much missed and left an indelible mark on the fashion industry. I loved his ability to create such light, airy, girly clothes that flattered every figure. I'm not really sure if it's a card making only challenge because the rules don't really say, but I'm going to find out. ;) I chose this image to inspire my design:

 It's bold and graphic and shimmery, but isn't too hoity toity (notice the sneakers?) That's the look I was going for with my creation.

In my last post, I wrote about my first experience using gesso on cards. Did you know you can also use it to paint on glass? I began by slathering my jar in gesso.  It took three different coats! Here you can see the progression. 

  

I've also written many times about my love for Perfect Pearls because those babies are so versatile! (If you want to see many of the ways they can be put in action - check out my post A Walk Down Memory Lane.) I wanted to make the leaf motif on the jar really stand out, so I mixed some Perfect Copper with water to form a pasty paint. 

My camera was cooperating quite well and you can see the shimmery copper accents. I painted the leaves and the stem of the jar and then added Perfect Gold, which is a slightly lighter shade to accent the veining on the leaves. 

I let everything dry, and voila!!

It looked lonely there all by itself, so I ran to Hobby Lobby and grabbed some burlap flowers, berry sprigs, and a little glittery cardinal to add some cheer. 

I hope my dinner guests will like it as much as I do! The next time you think about throwing out a cool glass jar, why not upcycle it into something truly lovely? 

I'm also going to enter it into the following challenges:

Eclectic Ellapu - Leaves 

Mixed Media Mojo - Thankful (because it's for Thanksgiving dinner)

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