Anything Goes!

Monday morning, and another new challenge over at Use Your Craft Stash on FB! We've gone for and Anything Goes theme this week - so..... Anything Goes. Whatever crafty project you are making with your old stash, join us and enter the challenge- just remember to add your photo to the album and tell us what stash you've used. Here's my inspiration for the week.

At first, I was thinking "We don't have a theme! I don't know what to do!", but then though, what do I really want to play with from my stash? Two things came to mind - rice papers and my melt pot. So

I used them to create the canvas.

The rice paper is an A4 one from Stamperia called Rose Garden with Fence, and I've used a 10x12 canvas.

As the canvas is larger than the paper, I used a palette knife to splodge white gesso and Imagination Crafts Menthol Starlight paint, onto the canvas. Then, rather than using a brush, I used the knife to spread it across the canvas. The paper was then stuck down with IC Satin Decoupage Plus.

The next step was to make some embellishments using the Melt Pot. I found the receipt in with the instruction book, telling me I bought this back in 2013, and I bought all the stuff to go with it - I have loads of large tubs of UTEE and some small ones too. I have the large tub of clear. I have the beeswax with a separate pan, the texture treads, inks designed to colour UTEE and a few moulds. But I am obviously out of practice as I managed to get the stuff on me twice - and that is very painful.

I never throw the unused UTEE out - and consequently I have a collection of things I never used, or ends of batches that I pour into little silicone moulds to set and keep for later. I wanted green leaves for the canvas, so gathered all the green and light coloured pieces from my scraps boxes, chucked them in the pot, and poured it into the moulds. There was a lot left over, so that has been saved for another day.

   

I didn't have much pink, so used the little bit I had, and mixed it with white, blue raspberry and clear UTEE. The little balls are UTEE Flex. The UTEE can be quite brittle when set, so this helps to stop it shattering if dropped.

Once made, the top can become matt from being in the mould. You can heat with a heat gun which slightly melts it and makes it glossy, but I decided to drag something else out the cupboard - my Cosmic Shimmer Mica Powders - which I dusted over the top. I used Golden Pear and Pearlescent.

 

And then, as always happens with me and mixed media, I forgot to take any more photos. But the next steps were stencilling the corner details on using Sheena Create a Flower A Leaf of Graph Paper stencil and IC Shabby Chic Relief Paste in Sage and Ashy Rose. I dusted these with Mica Powder too.  A little bit of stamping with an IC art stamp and Distress Oxides in Bundled Sage and Worn Lipstick added a little more to the background (but would have been better if done before the stencilling. And then I attached the embellishments with Finnabair Art Basics Heavy Body Gel, as they are quite heavy in relation to the canvas.

And there you have it. We hope to see all your amazing creations this week. 

Cxxx

I have entered this into: 

Mix It Up Challenge Blog #37

Love to Craft Challenge Blog #46

More Flowers and Keys

Another canvas using the Flower and Keys stencil.

I covered the canvas with Gesso, then added Sand and Bright Maroon Starlight Paints. I then added rice paper (design 407) in the top left corner, and used watered down Cafe Creme Rusty Patina to knock it back. For the stencil elements, I mixed Rustique, Verdigris and Cafe Creme Rusty Patinas to make the drop shadow, then went over the flower with Ruby Gold Sparkle Medium and the Keys with Cafe Creme Rusty Patina. Once that was dry, I added some Verdigris and Rustique Rusty Patinas to the keys.

Around the edges I used Artsy Stones, Ruby Gold Sparkle Medium and all three colours of Rusty Patina.

Back tomorrow with more samples!!
Cxxx

Flower and Keys

So, as well as the gorgeous new Feather stencil, there is also a fab Flower and Keys stencil launching on Thursday too.

This is an 8x12 Canvas, coated first with White Gesso, then Zinober Gold and Black Gesso brushed through. One half I covered with rice paper (design 012). I then used Structure Paste through the stencil in both the top left and bottom right corners.

Once dry, I went back over the Sructure Paste of the flowers with a mixture of White and Black Gesso, and painted the petals with a mixture of Zinober Gold and White Gesso. I also used the Zinober Gold onthe keys.

Back with more later.

Cxxx

Paris Tag

So today's the day. Sue will be on your screens at 6pm for the launch of the Imagination Crafts Parisian Hochanda One Day Special. Today's share is an MDF tag.

For this, I used Rich Gold and Green Starlights with White Gesso to cover the tag, then added rice paper to the bottom left corner. I then masked off the scissors in the stencil, to leave the flowers, and used a combination of Gold and Malahit Relief Pastes. For the flowers, I rubbed French Lavender (Purple) Alchemy Wax over the relief paste. 

The little Paris and France circles are Magi Cutz covered with paint and wax. Lots of ribbon to finish off!! 

Don't forget to tune in to see Sue with lots more samples from the DT and loads of demos!

Take care,
Cxxx

Village Bauble

Over the past two days, I have been demonstrating load of gorgeous Imagination Crafts goodies at the Craft4Crafters show at the Bath and West Showground, and meeting lots of lovely crafters. There's still another day tomorrow, but I have had a lot of interest in one of the cards I have made, so I said I would blog the details so they can remember the steps.

It's a really simple card - but very effective. Apologies for the blurred photo - and the messy red water drops!

So, the first step was to lay the Village Bauble on watercolour card, then stipple through with black gesso and a stencil brush. 

Once this was dry, I laid the stencil back over, and lined it up. I then moved the stencil slightly. The idea is that the black gesso will create a drop shadow. Icy Snow Paste was then spread over the stencil creating this effect.

Once the paste was dry, I put the stencil back over and used a small stencil brush to apply Starlight Paints. I used Diamond on the berries and tree trunks, Pearl on the leaves, trees and roofs, Silver on the ribbon and buildings, and Black on the bottom of the bauble. Once again - apologies for the watery orange blob!! 

To create the card, I mounted it onto silver glitter card then black card.

As I said, a few simple steps for an effective card.

Take care, 

Cxxx