Halloween Tag

Good day blog friends, thank you for visiting.
Halloween is on the horizon, and everything's coming up spooky!  I’ve had an idea buzzing around in my head for a while and thought now would be a good time to try it out.  I began by gluing a piece of Spiderweb net down onto my tag.  

I happened to have black net,  but it could be any colour as the next thing I did was to paint it with black acrylic, then dry-brush it to highlight the texture (I used orange first and then just a touch of white).  I must tell you that I liked the effect a lot so you’ll probably be seeing it again.

I cut the cobweb border (a Tim Holtz die – love, love, love it!) from Bazzil Bling card and the pumpkin tendrils and leaves (Sizzlits dies) from Core’dinations Distress card.  I drew a face on one of the pumpkins and edged them all with a bit of Brushed Corduroy Distress ink.The little postcard is from Graphic 45’s Steampunk Spells 8x8 pad (it’s OK, I bought two so that I could bear to use one of them!)  I love that Toulouse Lautrec Black Cat image!
I'm entering this in the Our Creative Corner challenge – It’s Halloween – Let’s Tag it On!   (The tag must have a surface texture treatment )

LOC Challenges - Water

Time for another challenge at Left Of Center and this time we are sponsored by Delicious Doodles.  I've chosen Steampunk Mermaid for my project this time.  I've said it before, but the beauty of digital stamps is that you can have them in any size or colour your printer can cope with.  And they take up NO ROOM WHATSOEVER  - how good is that!

A few years ago glittering on acetate with Art Institute Glitters was all the rage and I acquired a fairly substantial amount of them, which have languished in a box under the table for lo, these several years.  It was high time to bring them out again and put them to use.

I printed the Steampunk Mermaid  on inkjet acetate, got out my glitters and a Quickie Glue pen and spent a happy afternoon applying glue to the back of the acetate section by section (starting with the darkest colour and working to the lightest).  Once I was done I coloured the sky and the rocks with alcohol markers (Promarkers in this case) and on the front of the acetate I added in some subtle shading to give definition here and there.  I trimmed the piece square as I wanted it to fit in the aperture of a little Graphic 45 box I happened to have about my person, and stuck it to a piece of Centura Pearl card with double-sided adhesive sheet.

The box got a "Weathered Wood" effect learned form Andy Skinner's Timeworn Techniques course and I moulded the shells and starfish from paper clay.  Once painted they all got a coat of Klear floor polish (this is a great sealer and gives a lovely soft sheen to things - and I've even used it as a clear adhesive where a lot of strength wasn't needed and the piece could take a long time to dry). The net was originally gold, and a bit flashy if truth be told, but once dunked in brown acrylic it came out looking good!

The inside of the box I painted with turquoise acrylic then put white over a coat of crackle glaze (Decoart, in this case).    Just right for storing a mini-album with memories of the seaside.

If you want to see what the rest of the DT have been up to, hop on over to LOC and take a peep - and perhaps share your project!  

Crafty hugs,

Keren.

PS I'm entering this in 

Country View Crafts Blog challenge - Layers

Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes

Our Creative Corner - Forgotten Things

Time gone by

Hi blog friends, and welcome to my blog.

As I'm writing this, the British Summer has arrived - although storms are promised for later this week - and a summery feel has crept into this little panel, which will form the focus of a scrapbook page.

I started with the photograph, which is of me with my two sisters.  I'm the two-year old toddler;  my elder sister is holding my little sister, who is decidedly unhappy about the whole proceedings - probably because she's too hot, being wrapped up in a woollen shawl.  We're sitting in our back yard, and it would be around June or July 1957.  My father was probably the photographer. 

I printed it twice, and cut out the figures of my sisters and myself to layer up over the background.  I prepared the panel with a faux wood effect (one of Andy Skinner's Timeworn Techniques) and die-cut a circular aperture.  While I had the Big Shot out (who am I kidding?  It never gets put away!) I die-cut the clock face (Tim Holtz Alterations) and the cogs (ditto) and the letters (ibid). 

I used two different techniques for the rust effect.  For the clock face and cogs, I gave them a coat of PVA glue mixed with some sand to get a  pitted texture.  Once they were dry, I painted them with dark brown paint and finally rubbed some gilding waxes lightly over the surface. 

The letters got a different technique.  I coloured them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, and then sprinkled on Vintage Photo Distress embossing powder, heated it, and finally rubbed away the release crystals. 

I stamped the panel with a hexagon texture stamp from the Artistic Stamper, using Mushroom Adirondack ink.  I stuck the clock face around the aperture, and put the photograph behind, with the cutouts popping out of the frame.  I played about with the position of the cogs until I hit on the idea of using them to make a "sun" .  I stamped the words "If I could turn back time! and "Time machine" using my trusty £1 alphabet and Coffee Archival ink.  Finally, I glued a scrap of net, which I'd soaked in runny brown acrylic paint, and stuck the letters onto a length of chain which I'd dipped into the same runny paint and then baked in the oven to cure. 

The last process was to stick the chain letters (geddit?) to the panel. 

I'm entering this into the following challenges -

Sandee & amelie's Steampunk Challenges - Rust
Our Creative Corner - Captured Memories
Country View Crafts - Summer Sizzler
The Artistic Stamper  -  Ladies Day

Thank you for visiting - come again soon, why don't you?

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Here's my Heart

Hello blog friends, thank you for stopping by!  Life is still getting in the way of crafting here so I'm not getting about the Blogiverse as I should - I have LOTS of catching up to do and I promise I shall be getting there soon.  

 

The June challenge at Our Creative Corner is to follow a recipe, chosen from the following lists (at least one item from each)

List A	List B	List C
Lace	Metal	Inks
Fabric	Wood/MDF	Paints
Ribbon	Clay	Stains

I've gone for fabric (the burlap rose), wood (the MDF heart), and paint (the finish on the heart).

The MDF heart was originally given its surface for Andy Skinner's Book of Ruination workshop ( I can recommend Andy's courses, definitely well worth the cost! ) but until now I haven't shared it on my blog, so I'm pleased to have the opportunity to do so now.    Because I learned the technique from Andy, it wouldn't be fair to him to tell how it's done - but I will say that it's surprisingly easy to achieve.

The flower is cut from burlap with the Tattered Florals and Tattered Leaves Alterations dies, then coloured with stains and mica sprays and shaped into the rose shape .  When damp, burlap is easy to shape and then keeps its shape when dry - I got this shape by cutting the largest flower twice and making a cut between two petals on one piece, then rolling it up to get the rose centre.  Then I stuck the two layers together, manipulating them in by fingers and getting very gluey to get the effect I was after.

To finish it off, I added some Tim Holtz bits, stepped away from the project, and called it finished.  Hope you enjoyed your visit!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren