A frame for a Duchess - with a tutorial

I found a small portrait in a rather plain frame at the local fleamarket. The portrait was

printed on a satin fabric. On the back it said that the lady in the picture was a Beatrice d'Este. 

Beatrice was the duchess of Milan born in 1475. She became famous for her patronage 

of artists during the Italian Renaissance. I thought the frame was to plain and modest for a 

duchess so I decided to make her a new one....

I mounted the small frame inside a bigger one 22x28 cm.

A lot of embellishments..

...and a lot of DecoArt acrylic paint

I doubt that she ever saw a zipper or a wrist watch in her lifetime...

Cogs and gears for a "steampunk" touch...

Crowned with a star...

A small boot to honor her Italian heritage..

A lot of texture on the background...

"Step by Step"

I used Decoart Traditions Carbon Black, Aquamarine, Blue Green Light,

English Red Oxide and Warm White. 

Americana Gloss Enamel Rich Espresso and Texture Fierro Iron Black.

Two picture frames, lace and ribbons and lots and lots of small trinkets, decorations 

and junk (I prefer to call it treasures LOL)

First of all I needed texture, I found a really cool ribbon in my stash....

and glued it to a peice of chipboard. 

I glued the smaller frame to the chipboard....

I glued another ribbon to the larger frame and attached the chipboard inside

At this point it's a really good idea to give the frame a first coat of paint...

The outside rim of the frame was to smooth for my liking so I dabbed on some

Texture Fierro Iron Black.....

Then I started to glue down my decorations....buttons, upholstery nails, paper 

flowers metal charms, glass beads...

....zippers, plaster decorations, parts from a wrist watch, plastic cogs from a printer,

hair pins, small light bulbs, pieces from old earrings......

Now I got all my "junk" glued down, I do love my hot glue gun for this type of

projects. 

One more coat of Traditions Carbon Black and then we are ready for some

serious dry brushing!

First some dry brushing with Traditions English Red Oxide.........

Then I added some Blue Green Light and Aquamarine for some extra patina.

A tiny bit of Warm White for highlights.

Finally I dry brushed the whole thing with Americana Gloss Enamel 

Rich Espresso. It's not as opaque as the Decoart Traditions line so it allows

the layers of green and red to show thru and gives a brilliant, antique finish.

Graphic 45 Design Team 2014 Audition-Round two

Steampunk Spells

It was not easy to decide what to make for the final round in the Graphic 45

Design Team audition....I knew I wanted to use my favorite G45 papers, Steampunk

Spells. I had a pretty good idea of what to make...but the biggest challenge was

to make a Youtube video....I have never ever done a Youtube tutorial, but I guess

there has to be a first time for everything!!! You can find the result of my "movie making

efforts" at the end of this post. 

A 14" high exploding pentagon. 

A base of chipboard and a LOT of hot glue....g45 staples and my favorite G45 papers.

The metal butterfly is attached to the lid with black pearl strings.

Chipboard cut with Sizzix/Holtz dies (Gadget gears and Mini Labels) painted with 

black gesso and Decoart Metallic lustre Gold to match the G45 staples.

I used a Martha Stewart deep edge punch (framed tulips) for the "railing" on top.

I love the matching die cut sheets, the sign from Steampunk Spells Banners.

An album inside....

Of course I made a pentagon album.....

The album is folded to fit in my "exploding pentagon"

Base of black cardstock.....

Lots and lots of chipboard and cardstock decorations, from Steampunk Banners,

Tags & Pockets and Chipboard 1 &2.

And if you take the "lid" of..........

......the "box" opens up and reveals my "Steampunk Lady"

The dress form is a cutting file from SVGcuts (from a set called Dress Shop)

cut in cardstock with my Silhouette Cameo.

Butterflies, a brad and a piece from a metal key for the dress.

The skirt looks rather torn and distressed....(made from polyester mesh)

A satin ribbon and brads to hold the skirt together.

A lot of flowers....all made from G45 papers in the Steampunk Spells collection.

Some of the flowers is from the die cut sheet "Steampunk Spells Flowers".

And now for the moving pictures...3-2-1 Action!!

It's no big secret that I love making paper flowers.... my all time favorite is
the "paper peonie" 

And here is the "step by step"

I love how you can transform a "simple piece of paper" into something

completely different....

.......here's another of my favorites.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my work!!!

My Guardian Angel...

I'd  like to think that everybody has a guardian angel of their own...

a nice thought that someone's watching over you and keeps you safe. 

I don't remember ever meeting my guardian angel so I guess he's doing a 

pretty good job... or it could be he's quit his job a long time ago..... 

Better safe than sorry I decided to make my own guardian angel!!

Jag vill gärna tro att alla människor har en egen skyddsängel i någon form,

 en fin tanke att alla har någon som håller ett vakande öga över en.

Jag har inget minne av att jag någonsin träffat min skyddsängel så jag

antar att han gör ett hyfsat bra jobb....eller så kan det vara så att han har 

sagt upp sig och slutat för länge sedan. Kanske bäst att ta det säkra före det 

osäkra... jag bestämde mej för att göra en alldeles egen skyddsängel.

Sometimes I find that "perfect thing" at the flea market ... in this case, the 

"iron gates". It used to be a mirror frame but the glass was broken.

Ibland hittar jag det där "perfekta fyndet" på loppis som jag bara måste göra något av...

i det här fallet var det gallerdörren. I originalskick satt det ett spegelglas i den men nu har

det fått ett annat användningsområde. 

A concrete angel......

En ängel av betong....

He looks kind of sleepy (and a bit overweight) but looks can be deceiving, he is a great

guardian angel.

Han ser lite sömnig ut (och en aning överviktig) men skenet kan bedra, han är en suverän

skyddsängel.

Looks like he's been on the job forever....a lot of crackle...

Han verkar ha varit med ett tag.....

A golden shimmer on the wings...

Ett gyllene skimmer på vingarna...

An angel with a message, Quiquid latine dictum sit alum videtur....is latin for 

"Anything said in Latin sounds profound"

En ängel med ett budskap, Quiquid latine dictum sit alum videtur är latin och betyder:

 "Allt som sägs på latin låter djupsinnigt"

I added some rust to the metal....

Jag fixade till lite rost på järn dörren....

And....here's how...

I used Decoart acrylics

Decoart Traditions Carbon Black, Quinacridone Gold, Permanent Alizarin Crimson,

Raw Umber and Prussian Blue Hue. Decoart Americana Desert Sand.

Dazzling Metallics Glorious Gold, Metallc Lustre Gold  and of course a lot of Decoart

 Perfect Crackle.

The angel is a leftover from my "concrete period". (There is still a lot of strange 

concrete stuff in my stash) He's about 15 cm.

Ängeln är en rest från min "betong period". Jag har ett helt lager av mer eller mindre

märkliga betong figurer. Han är ungefär 15 cm lång.

First of all a coat of Gesso then two coats of Decoart Traditions Warm White

Först ett lager Gesso som grund, sedan två lager Decoart Traditions Warm White.

And then some colors, Quinacridone Gold for the body Prussian Blue on the

 wings and Permanent Alizarin Crimson for the hair.  I diluted the paint with a little

bit of water it so the white background would show throug the top coat.

Sen är det dax för lite färg, Quinacridone Gold till kroppen, Prussian Blue på vingarna och Permanent Alizarin Crimson till håret. Jag spädde ut färgen med en aning 

vatten så att den vita bakgrunder skulle anas under färgen.

And then some dry brushing, Americana Desert Sand for the hair and body and 

Traditions Warm White for the wings.

Torrborstning nästa! Americana Desert Sand till kroppen och håret och Traditions Warm

white till vingarna.

And finally I dry brushed the whole thing with a bit of  Decoart Dazzling Metallics 

Glorious Gold.

Och till slut en vända torr borstning till, den här gången med Decoart Dazzling Metallics 

Glorious Gold.

And then for the fun part.....crackle!!

Decoart Perfect Crackle is a two part crackle medium, first apply step one, let

dry until clear and then step two.....

Och nu börjar det roliga!!!

Decoart Perfect Crackle är ett två komponents krackelerings medium.

Pensla på steg ett, vänta tills det torkat och då är det dags för steg två...

.....it doesn't take long before  the cracks appear.

.....det tar inte alls lång tid innan sprickorna börjar visa sig.

To emphasize the crackled surface even more I rub brown acrylic paint (Burnt 

Umber) over the whole surface  and wipe the excess off with a soft cloth.

För att framhäva den krackelerade ytan ännu mer gnuggar jag in brun akrylfärg (Burnt

Umber) och torkar av överskottet med en mjuk trasa.

I really love the crackle effect Perfect Crackle gives!

Nu syns verkligen krackelering.

My angel needed a home...I used my flea market treasure (the "iron gates")

 and I found a chipboard sign and some kind of flexible plastic (1,5 mm thick) in my 

stash, great building material! I love to recycle old packaging and I must admit I 

collect (some people might call it hoarding) a lot of old boxes, signs and all kinds of 

"useful material" (The only downside to my recycle addiction is that my craft room is 

most likley to explode someday)

Min ängel behövde ett hus...jag rotade fram min loppisfyndade gallerdörr, en 

pappskylt och någon sorts flexibel plast som passar perfekt till rundade väggar.

All the parts is ready...

Delarna till huset är klara...

I love my hot glue gun!!

I often apply glue to all the parts, let it cool down...

Jag skulle inte klara mej utan min limpistol!!

Oftast börjar jag med att lägga lim strängar runt alla delar jag ska limma

och låter limmet stelna.....

....then I line up the parts and reheat the glue with my heat gun.

.....sedan värmer jag limmet när jag har delarna på plats.

One plastic strip glued to the back wall. I use a double sided adhesive (carpet tape) to

adhere a second layer, creating a very stable wall.

En plastremsa fastlimmad, dubbelhäftande matt tejp på utsidan....och sedan en remsa

till för att skapa en riktigt stadig vägg.

Mission completed!!

I primed the walls with Gesso.

Ett lager Gesso.

Carbon Black for the outside and Warm White inside. Then a wash of Prussian Blue.

Carbon Black till utsidan och  Warm White på insidan. Jag spädde lite Prussian Blue med 

en aning vatten och målade insidan.

A crumpled paper .....

Ett hopknölat papper.....

...can make a a cool effect on wet paint.

.....ger en cool effekt på våt färg

I gave the inner walls a wash of Traditions Quinacridone Gold, and of course some

perfect crackle.

Ett tunt lager Traditions Quinacridone Gold och så klart en omgång Perfect Crackle. 

An angel without a halo?

 I took a piece of gold cardboard but wanted some structure ....... 

a homemade "embossing folder" was the solution. I cut my pattern out of a piece

 of cardboard, stacked the two pieces and ran them through my Cuttlebug (with 

an embossing mat over it)

Vad vore en ängel utan en gloria? Jag tog en bit guldfärgad kartong men ville ha lite 

struktur på glorian.......en hemgjord "embossing folder" blev lösningen. Klippte 

till ett mönster ur en kartongbit, körde båda bitarna i min Cuttlebug (med en 

embossing matta över) och nu fick jag ett strålande mönster.

Black color washes on the gold cardboard and finally some Metallic Lustre.

Tunna lager av svart akrylfärg på glorian och till sist lite Metallic Lustre för

lite extra strålglans.

Traditions Quinacridone Gold gives a great rust effect....I used a lot!!!!

Traditions Quinacridone Gold ger en snygg rosteffekt...Jag använde massor!!!

Now I know I have my very own guardian angel and if I ever doubt his existens 

again I can allways look at my bedroom wall....and I can see my sleepy (and a bit 

overweight) hard working guardian angel.