Cuckoo ... cuckoo ... cuckoo

Hi! It's Candy back with another tutorial for Globecraft & Piccolo.

The Cuckoo Clock is one of the brand new products by Globecraft & Piccolo. Personally, I was excited to see it because I have always wanted a cuckoo clock. Granted, this one does not "cuckoo," but I did convert it into a working clock.

Candy Spiegel
Candy Scraps

Materials:

• Cuckoo Clock
• 3D Enamel Gels: Burnt Umber, Blue Pearl
• Embossing Powders: 24K Gold, Vintage Copper, Vintage Silver and Vintage Gold
• Glastique Matte

I started by punching out all of the bookboard pieces of the clock. Then I used a paintbrush to apply the 3D Enamel Gel in Burnt Umber to the base. By using a paintbrush, I was able to keep the gel light and transparent and the brush strokes help to create an illusion of wood grain.

For the door and bird stand, I applied the same gel directly onto the bookboard. This creates a rich color and provides a bit of contrast.

Then, I started coating each of the pieces with Embossing Powders. I used several different colors of metal-look powders, including 24K Gold, Vintage Copper, Vintage Silver and Vintage Gold.

Some of the pieces, like the pendulum, had large edges of bookboard that ruin the illusion of metal. For those, I used a bit of Glastique and smeared it on the edges with my finger. Once dry, I embossed like I regularly would. This provides a nice surface for the embossing powder to stick to and, when finished, gives the look of solid metal.

I wanted a bit more texture on the roof, so I dry embossed the pieces with a Cuttlebug embossing folder before embossing them with Vintage Silver (I did the same technique with a different folder to the weights).

Because Vintage Silver is a thick embossing powder, some of the dots ended up covered up with the powder, but I like that random, vintage look. If you did not want that to happen, you can use Siam Silver or 24K Gold or any of the micro embossing powders.

Once I had everything ready to put together, I thought the main part of the clock was a bit too plain. So I squirted a bit of 3D Enamel Gel (in Blue Pearl) onto my Non-Stick Craft Sheet. Then, I lightly tapped a stamp into the gel, moving it around until it was completely covered, and then carefully stamped it onto the surface.

I loved the results so much, I did it again ...

Then, it was time to assemble the piece. I glued everything together with Glastique Matte, so if I got a bit messy, no one would know once it was dry! 

I had my husband drill a hole the size of the clock mechanism I bought at Michael's and inserted the clock parts. Had I been paying attention, I would have chosen a different color for the clock face so it contrasted with the clock hands, but I can always take it apart and spray paint the hands!

I also added a small hinge from Graphic 45 to the bird's door. It's hard to see in this photo, but the door actually opens and closes.

Then, I added chains to hang the weights on.

And, here is my finished piece ...

I also made ornaments to commemorate the wonderful hunting achievements of my niece and nephew. You can check them out, here.

Adding a hint of enamel color

Some may think our Globecraft & Piccolo ornaments are best reserved for Christmas, but I beg to differ. I've used them for just about everything except Christmas! I love to use clip art images in them with a cute little quote and give them as gifts, or I hang them from cabinet doors, lamp knobs or drawer pulls as a little decoration. I've even used them to create a banner to hang across an altered window.

They are terrific to use on altered mini book covers and they work great on canvases to protect whatever it is you'd like to tuck inside them.

This time I experimented with our 3D Enamel Gels and only half of a DIY Portrait Ornament.

Here's what I used:

Linda Neff
linda-neff.com

• G&P DIY Portrait Ornament
• G&P Glastique Gloss
• G&P Cobalt Turquoise 3D Enamel Gel
• G&P Titanium White 3D Enamel Gel
• G&P Burnt Umber 3D Enamel Gel
• Vintage Dress Forms Accents
• Fairy & Dragon Wings Accents
• embossing folder
• binder clips or clip clothespins

I processed the interior oval (which I usually never use) and the outer rings through an embossing folder to add some fine detail.

 

Then I coated the embossed outer rings and the larger plain inner ring with Glastique Gloss. I had fun here and used the finger application method, which means - squeeze some Glastique onto the bookboard pieces and spread it with your finger! What's great about the Glastique is that it doesn't get tacky on your fingers so you can continue to work without the pieces sticking to your fingers. 

I also spread the Glastique onto the Dressform and Fairy Wings and sprinkled the Fairy Wings with a bit of Sand Ultrafine Art Glitter. Using the same finger-application method, I applied Titanium White 3D Enamel Gel to the embossed inner oval then set all those pieces aside to dry. They dry rather quickly because of the thin coating.

I wanted to bring a bit of color, but keeping with a nice soft look, so settled on using the Cobalt Turquoise and Burnt Umber 3D Enamel Gels. I again used the finger-application method to swirl on the turquoise then the burnt umber. The gels dry quickly with this method so I was able to really play with the colors to get just the right amount of each. Look at that background - fun, fun, fun!

Once all the gels and Glastique pieces were totally dry I added a few words cut from a printed sheet of white cardstock. The words are adhered with the Glastique as well as the general assembly. Rather than sit and hold my rings together till the Glastique sets, I prefer to use binder clips or clip clothespin.

Don't worry if a small amount of the Glastique oozes out from the ring. Just leave it dry. It will dry clear and usually if I try to clean it up when it's wet I just create a mess - it's best just to let it dry. It doesn't show afterward.

When the ornament is completely dry, remove the clips and add a pretty ribbon. Because this is flat on the back, it can be used on a book cover or canvas by snipping the hangar loop off the top. Or leave the loop with a pretty ribbon or beaded hook in it and hang it for ornamentation.

Visit my blog to see another project I'm working on using Globecraft & Piccolo products.

Ring in some pure sparkle!

Arin Flynn
A Piece of Life's Pie

Oh my . . . it is already the day after Christmas! Thankfully, we have a magical evening of bubbles and reflections of both the past year and the holiday sparkle to still enjoy. 

Speaking of sparkle, I must introduce you to some of the most amazing sparkle I have seen and worked with, Piccolo Sparkle Glitter! I am a glitter nut and I have worked with the gamut of different glitters and this product is by far straight from Tinker Bell's stash. Unlike the traditional square glitter, this product is made with multidimensional round individual glitter which makes for the most natural and brilliant sparkle I have ever seen.  

The coverage is amazing and coupled with Glastique, projects will have less waste, secure hold, and an astounding amount of sparkle!

To see more on how this glittery winter snowflakes is made using both Piccolo Pure Sparkle Silver Glitter and Glastique Matte, feel free to head on over to my blog!

Sweet & Simple Birthday Challenge

HO-HO-HOpe you're having a Merry Christmas! Since we are celebrating the birth of our Savior, this week's challenge theme is...

Sweet & Simple Birthday

We'd love to see your creation, so join in the fun! Remember to use a SweetStamps image on your creation to get an extra chance at winning  $20 of rubber stamps from SweetStamps.com. Rules are listed in the sidebar and instructions can be found at the bottom of this post.

Check out these great birthday creations from our Design Team sweeties this week:

Bonnie Brown

Calypso Bastian

Dawn Bennett

Jacki Randolph

Joni Mastronardi

Kendra Sand

Linda Jover

Shelly Schmidt

Tamara Morton

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
WIN FREE STAMPS! 

Join our weekly challenge

You can use any stamp on your challenge entry, but if you use a SweetStamps image, you will get two entries into the giveaway! To enter the challenge, please add the URL to your actual blog post or online gallery to the InLinkz at the end of this post. Please do not link to your main blog; we want to be able to find your post to leave you comments. Also, please link back to our blog.

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Remember, you can only enter the challenge one time, use a SweetStamps image to get an extra entry in the challenge. Please limit the amount of challenges to 10 (including ours).  You must link back to us in your blog post.

Please turn off word verification so we can leave comments on your challenge entry!

Next Tuesday our challenge theme is Pink, Green & Brown! Hope you'll join us.

Happy Stamping! Have a super sweet Christmas!

P.S. Our Monthly Technique Challenge: Cracked Glass runs through January 14th and a new technique challenge will begin January 15th

Sketch Card Winner

The winner of SweetStamps.com's challenge #96 Sketch Card is...

Juliet

Congratulations!

Please contact me for your winning prize of a $20 shopping spree for rubber stamps at SweetStamps.com.

Thank you to everyone who joined in on the challenge, we hope you had fun and will join us again — we have a new challenge every Tuesday, and also a monthly technique challenge!

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!

Hi everyone! Monica here, and I wanted to share with you the ornament I made using the G&P DIY Portrait Ornament, 3D Enamel Gels and the Vintage Flourish Charm set.

Monica Edwards
Scraps2treasure

Supply list:

• G&P DIY Portrait Ornament
• Metallic Gold 3D Enamel Gel
• Vintage Flourish Charm set
• Glastique Finishing Glaze
• Graphic 45 papers
• Shaved Ice (Stampendous)

Step 1: I used Metallic Gold 3D Enamel Gel to the accent piece to give it a nice shiny look.

 Step 2: Added Stampendous Shave Ice.

 Step 3: Pour the shaved ice inside the bubble to give a look of snow.

Step 4: Use G&P Glastique Finishing Glaze to seal the bubble frame and to adhere your decorative papers.

Step 5: I adhered my ornaments to my Christmas lights by using a glue gun. The crystal Christmas ornament inside really shines from the light and outlined the writing on the Graphic 45 paper with the gold embossing powder as well.

I Really tried to capture the look under the lights the first one is with no flash so you could really see the light.

This one is with the flash where you can really see the ornament and snow.

The finished ornament. Visit my blog for even more inspiration!
Merry Christmas Everyone!

Hugs - Monica

Giving a snowman his stripes

I wanted to pass along a little tip I discovered recently when I came across a few boxes of metal garland that I had not used in years. I make coco cones every year instead of cookies and I like to attach a tag to each of them. When I ran across these, I wanted to recycle them into that project and decided to test out some techniques.

What I found is that Piccolo 3D Enamel Gels and Piccolo Enamel Powder works amazingly well on metal! Not only does it add some amazing texture and uniqueness to the material and project, but is very easy and straight forward to do.

Arin Flynn
A Piece of Life's Pie

Embossing Powder Technique:
Apply Piccolo Embossing Powder Adhesive to a stamp image. Then stamp directly to the metal. The image may appear very faint, but once you dust with Siam Silver Enamel Powder and shake off the excess powder, you will see a clear image. Apply heat using a heat gun, set aside to cool and set. Using a pair of Piccolo Easy Grip Tweezers would be a good idea for handling the metal after the use of the heat gun. The metal gets very hot to to the touch.

3D Enamel Gel Technique:
Using a good quality stamper's ink pad, stamp image directly onto the metal.  Let set for a quick minute.

Then using the 3D Gel Enamel, apply to the stamped image by tracing and filling in the desired stamped area. If you are doing a multiple color project, let the first color set before applying the next color. This will prevent the colors from running.

To see more on this project or how to make the coco cones, head on over to my blog.

Using the Fine Tip Applicator

Christina Colón
The Twisted Muse

Good morning! Chrissy here to show you a nifty little tool that will help when trying to accent those fine lines and tight nooks and crannies of a project. The Fine Line Applicator Tip is a MUST if you do a lot of detail work like I do.

Fine Line Applicator Tip

For example, I love decorating the Piccolo Snowflakes Accent for the winter time. However, it is very hard to do super small ones because of the really teeny tiny segments of the flake.

Just put the tip onto the bottle of enamel gel or even the Glastique and apply according to the directions.

Continue decorating snowflakes to your heart's desire!