Tim's 12 Tags and a catch up

Hi folks!  It's been too long since I blogged, so this is going to be a bit of a mixed bag - I thought I'd better state that right up front.

First off, my version of Tim Holtz's tag for July -

I LOVED making this one.  I've been waiting for the  seaside dies to become available since CHA, and the faux sand technique is just genius.  I live beside the sea (I can see the beach from my living room window) and this looks like the real thing.  My husband had a hard time believing it wasn't.

Speaking of my husband, he's part of the reason why I've been a bit quiet of late.  He's recently got back into cosplay (look it up on wikipedia!) and for London ComicCon he wanted to go as Dr Strange (again. wikipedia is probably your friend here).  So I've been busy with the sewing machine.  Here's the scrapbook page I created.

(I also put together a slideshow if you want to see some of the fantastic work of the cosplayers who attended. )

I have to say it was very, very hot at Earl's Court and the queue was so long that it could have had its own postcode.  I only went for the preview session on Friday evening (to carry bags, mostly, but Lady Ermintrude did get herself a rather spiffing top hat and a set of goggles for when she's gadding about the Steampunk world).

For the rest of the weekend I headed for the museums (and spotted Barbara Grey of Clarity Stamps in the V&A).

Anyway, back to Tim's tags - which is where we came in - and I'm still playing catchup, because August will be here soon and I still haven't finished June's tag (which I will do, for the sake of completeness).  So I'd better crack on.

See you soon,

Crafty hugs,

Keren

Eerie does it

Hello bloggers! The minions at Haunted Design House have challenged us to make something creepy, Gothic, or Halloweeny this time, so I've taken the opportunity to share something I've been playing with for a while.

I'm not sue what to call it - but I think it fits the bill for gothic!  It's made from chipboard which has been given the Andy Skinner weathered wood treatment (and you will need to sign up for Andy's Timeworn Techniques course to find out how it's done) which I've cut into the arch shapes - love that Alterations die, it's one of my favourites.  Another one of my go-to dies is the Spellbinders birdcage, and I've used it here on the three sides of the arches-

The rest of it's just a cotton reel with some texture paint and a small skull from a Hallowe'en decoration with some acrylic paint (another Andy technique).  Last of all I hot-glued the black lucite rose bead.  I still don't know what the final article is, but I hope you like it - and that you come back again some time!

Thanks for coming,

Crafty hugs,

Keren

Bowing out

My last DT piece for Left of Center, at least for the time being.  I need to take a break and relieve the pressure a bit, so I'm stepping down.  It's been the most enormous fun and my teamies are a very talented bunch, so do hop over there and see what they've created.

This week's theme (yes, LOC challenges are now weekly!) is "Fairies", sponsored by Delicious Doodles.  I've used Steampunk fairy - I love the look on her face!  She's been printed on tissue (no, I'm still not tired of the technique) coloured on the reverse with alcohol markers (Promarkers in this case) and then glued onto a painted wooden coaster with Mod Podge.  I gave her a coat of Crackle paint but wasn't thrilled with the look so I put gloss Mod Podge over the top - and got this rather interesting texture.  Happy accident time!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my projects for LOC and that you'll continue playing.  I'll still be around blogland - so if you see me, say hi, OK?

xxx 

Keren

Light a Candle..

It's Christmas!  All right, it's not, not really - but it's now nearer to next Christmas than last, and over at Ikesworld Challenges we believe in getting ready early! I've used "Holly"  and applied it to this candle, printing onto tissue paper and then using my heat gun to embed it into the wax.

We're taking a summer break so this will be the last Ikesworld challenge until September, so please do join in with us!  If you use one of Ike's digis you could win a gift voucher for Ike's shop, where there are lots of yummy digital stamps to choose from - so come on, show us your projects.  We really want to see them.

Bye for now,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Lady Ermintrude's Aetheric Speaking Tube

I am so proud to have been asked to be July's Guest Designer over at SanDee & Amelie's Steampunk Challenge Blog.  Steampunk is just about my favourite style and I've had huge amounts of fun with this project.

Of course, when creating in the Steampunk genre, I channel Lady Ermintrude.  Inspired by Warehouse 13, Lady E has commissioned the Aetheric Speaking Tube (Steampunk mobile phone to you!)    Here's what it looks like inside -

And here's the exterior -

Here's what I started with- a tin of peppermints, some gold foil paper and some sealer.  First I ate the peppermints, and then I covered the tin and the foil paper in the sealer.

Then I gave the tin a couple of coats of black gesso and another coat or two of sealer.  I die-cut some fancy corners (the die is from Marianne) out of the gold foil paper.  Giving it a coat of sealer gives it more body and makes it look aged.

I cut a dial shape out of shrink plastic and painted it gold (after I'd shrunk it).  The other items in the picture are a circle of brown funky foam, a brass curtain ring, and a piece of mesh cut from a splatter guard (you know, the kind you use when frying sausages - well, cooking's not my strong point anyway!)  and coloured with alcohol pens.

I stuck the dial and the die-cuts on the front cover of the tin, cut a circle of card to fir the centre of the dial with a "telephone number" on it.  Then it was time to get on with the internal workings.  I cut a piece of card to fit inside,  covered in in some of the gold foil paper that I'd embossed and aged with a wash of black paint.  I cut a hole which will be for the screen and glued a curtain ring to make a frame, punched two holes and set grommets in them with the Crop-o-dile.  The speaker is was assembled by putting the mesh on top of the funky foam and sticking a curtain ring on top -

The black things you can see in the picture are stoppers from sample bottles of perfume, dipped in sealer first and allowed to dry, then dipped into gesso.  I cut the stems off and stuck them throughout the holes in the grommets.  Finally,  I cut another piece of card, stuck a large glass Glintz cabochon to it and assembled the panel.  The inside of the lid is a piece of copper foil, embossed and distressed.

And here's how it turned out again.

Thank you for visiting.  I hope you're going to play at Sandee's & Amelie's this month!  

Crafty hugs,

Keren