Christmas Star - "Celestial" for The Altered Element

Welcome to what is going to be my last project for The Altered Element Design Team.

I used the smaller of the 2 wooden stars, these come flatpacked and you can just slide them together. I glued the pieces into place with glossy accents.

Then I painted the whole star with a gold acrylic paint as a base and when that was dry I simply melted a layer of gold UTEE onto each section. I used PVA glue to adhere the UTEE, works very well for large sections like this. The UTEE came out smooth in some parts and more textured in others but that just adds to the character.

I had this thin gold wire lying around for ages and thought this be the prefect opportunity to use it. So I wrapped it round the star randomly. It's not glued (only the ends), it just holds itself in place around the shape of the star.

The charms are all from Vintaj brass. I used the gold wire again and some golden jumprings to attach these to the bottom. I just drilled some small holes in the star to attach them.

And there you got it, a shiny, shimmery, twinkly christmas star ready to hang.

Another great idea for using these wooden stars would be to make a star topper for your christmas tree.

Stardust Necklace - Celestial Theme for The Altered Element

Hello again,

this month the theme at The Altered Element is Celestial and I have been busy getting creative with some glitter. I have made a stardust necklace for you to see....

I started off with a 1.5x1.5" Memory Capsule, filled it with glitter and star beads and then using glossy accents I glued memory glass to it, it takes a while to dry and I ended up with a few bubbles inside but they just add to the effect. For the background I simply used an off cut of blue-silvery paper.

The other side is really easy too. I used some card and inked it with blue distress ink and some black round the edges, then stamped some starry background stamp onto it, but if you wanna give it a go, this could be any background stamp really, or you can use the same paper as on the other side. I then glued on the embossed tape and covered the whole thing in stickles.

When everything is dry put it inside the frame.

To make the frame into a necklace I used some ballchain and silver ribbon and added a Vintaj charm.

This doesn't have to be a necklace though, the frame could be attached to a swivel clasp and made into a keyring too.

I hope I've inspired you to create something starry yourself. Unfortunately the shop has sold out of most of my supplies but I'm sure you could come up with substitutes and make it your very own. Make the most of the closing down discount whilst you can.

Recycled Mini Canvases - For The Altered Element

Here is another little Recycle project I made for The Altered Element.

A while back I couldnt get enough of mini canvases and decorated a whole lot of them, but not all turn out the way you want, but I kept them nevertheless. And these came in handy for this project.

I used the back of one canvas and from another one I used just the wooden frame, glued on top. That makes a nice little deep frame, ideal to hold little bottles, ornaments or other small objects.

I textured the whole thing with Viva Decor Terra Paste and then painted it over in cream when it was dry. I then rubbed some greenish gold paste, also by Viva Decor, over the top, just using my fingers.

The bottle has been filled with sand from a recent holidays and the twigs and died brown leaves also came from my holiday.

As for the flowers I used Maya Road metal flowers and treated them with Crafty Notions Rusting Powder.

So if you ever have any little (or bigger) canvases lying around, put them to good use and make a deep frame. The texture paste hides the canvas and imperfections of the frames perfectly.

Happy crafting!

Mirror, Mirror on the wall......

Back from my holiday I would like to share with you my first ever Design Team project. I'm really excited to have been picked for the Altered Element Design Team and this month's theme is "Enchanted". My first project is a Fantasy Mirror......

I used the Twiddleybitz - Fantasy Shadow Frame for this and covered the whole frame in Terra texture paste by Viva Decor. Around a 2-3mm thick layer does the trick. I then used a script stamp and spritzed it with water using a Mini Mister and then pressed the stamp into the texture. I smoothed over some stamped bits to break up the text a bit.

When this had dried completely I painted the whole frame in a dark mulberry colour using Cut n Dry Foam. Any acrylic paint will do for this, just make sure the paint goes onto the script. When it had dried I worked over it using a light pink colour, picking up the higher points of the texture. And then I worked over with a white acrylic paint. To give it that pinky shimmer I sprayed the frame with Cosmic Shimmer Mists. A mix of plum twist and Lava red works really well. If you try this technique the best advice I can give you is to just play around. Try taking off some of the spray with kitchen roll or leave little puddles to dry. Just try it and have fun.

When the shimmer is all dry I picked up the highlights with white acrylic paint once more.

The roses have been created by stamping flowers onto pink paper, then cut out and made into cones. Each cone is then dipped into melted clear UTEE (with some added Flex) and sat inside the bigger cone until you have the finished rose. Just pop a bead into the centre whilst the UTEE is still hot.

I then added some curled memory wire to add a little playful touch. Any kind of coloured copper wire would work nicely here, just curl it round a pokey tool.

The butterflies are simply punched out, stamped onto with a random background stamp and also dipped into UTEE.

I hope you've enjoyed this little project and remember if you want to join in with this month's theme there is a £10 voucher for The Altered Element up for grabs. Check out the blog for details and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!!!