Playing with clay

In the middle of somewhat (very) busy life I’m having now, I managed to craft up a few bits of clay (I’m positive there must be a phrasal verb ‘to craft up, right?).

Here there are, along with a mini photo tutorial on hows.

I love my newly bought silicon moulds 🙂

Materials used; air drying clay (though I believe for bigger pieces I would stick the thing into an oven for 30 min with some hardening in temp. varnish), acrylics, bitumen by maimeri, twinkling H2Os. Treated at the end with two sprays of polyurethane varnish.

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Ikea mirrors come in threes!

Tags

decoupage transfer, Edward Binkley, mod podge dimentional magic, mod podge medallions, patina effect, steampunk, steampunk clock gears, upcycled ikea mirror, UTEE triple embossing

I’ve been a bit preoccupied lately and not posting much, but there’s a very good excuse up my sleeve… or should I say… a little bundle of joy I keep close to me at all times! 🙂

So, 3-in-1 baby/embossing/mixed media decoupage :):)

I absolutely love this guy’s work and his sense of humour. It’s Edward Binkley and his evil fairies… plus a bit of MP transfers and MP dimensional magic medallions.

 

And a bit of golden and over the top medallions splash 🙂

Mixed media large key cabinet

For this project I tried out Tim Holtz distress embossing powder, walnut stain over the key embossed image that was in the end sanded with 180 grade sand paper to reveal the key pattern.

The inside of the frame is a proper mix of various techniques, including pressing a cake decorating stencil onto a layer of not so dry acrylic paint and splashing the ‘sandwich’ with Tim Holtz alcohol inks. With the last layer of acrylic varnish I sprinkled some mica onto the ‘oranges’. The part with the three pewter hooks was created by pressing actual bronze keys into a thick layer of tile grout. When it dried, it was covered with Americana quadricone gold and then, when dried again, sanded slightly to reveal the key pattern. Must say I like the brown/resist embossing frames best!

Peacock tissue box

Tags

decoupage tissue box, moroccan stencil, napkin decopage, peacock embossing folder, stamping with mica powder, viva decor inka gold

I like the idea of having a paper napkin glued to a piece of card stock that in turn gets to be cut into pieces, sort of like a mosaic pieces that you may arrange on top of that something you are about to alter. This time I played a bit with a napkin with a beautiful peacock motif and after many hours of cutting it down to a homemade moroccan pattern, embossing, gilding and colouring with inka gold wax by Viva Decor it was ready to be arranged on top of a wooden tissue box.

I also used that wonderful waxy paste from Viva to decorate the sides via a stencil. As for the bottom, I quickly stamped the turquoise background with silicone stamp and a versamark embossing stamp pad and brushed three shades of mica powder on.

ps. Could somebody bring back the sun, please? Taking pictures that would show all the intricate details and, most importantly, true colours, is almost next to impossible 🙂

Doilies and resist stamping with a bit of metal embossing

Tags

alcohol inks, distress stains, metal embossing, resist stamping technique, round plywood box

Hi all,

This time I was playing with distress stains and alcohol inks as well as resist stamping with clear embossing. I always wanted to use all of the stamps from the doilies set I have been using far too little.

There is also a strip of metal sheet embossed and coloured with alcohol inks.

It was supposed to be mixed media book a la Andy Skinner…

Tags

Andy Skinner Book of Ruination, brass medallion, clock face stamps, DecoArt Traditions Artists Acrylic Paint, glossy accents by Ranger, Inka Gold Viva Decor, mdf altered book, Ranger Claudine Hellmuth Sticky-Back Canvas, semi transparent paint, stencils and modelling paste, textured background, time mask

I bet most of you Crafters have heard about Andy Skinner, but if you are not familiar with his pieces, make sure you visit this blog! I took the online classes for the Book of Ruination, downloaded plenty of video material and with the hopes (and a clearly set goal!) to achieve a similar result I got down to work. I soon realised though that my book would float into a different direction… I love the alien skin effect, and thanks to his awesome online tutorial I am now able to recreate this look, yet this particular crafting venture had to have somewhat a different ending:

A bit folky decoupage tray

Tags

bi colour stamping, decorate wooden tray, decoupage ornaments, decoupage tray, distressing with inks and acrylics, hot embossing, paper decoupage

Hello all!

Just a quickie before we set off for a bit of holiday…. a whole month visiting my family and friends in Poland. Can’t wait.

so… lots of techniques, let’s start with the sides then:

(hot embossing over background distressed with a bit of shabby chic (-ing :)) plus alcohol inks and distress stains)

I used fine, white opaque embossing powder and a part of a stamp from a lovely Indian paisley set by Viva Decor. Similar stamps from the very same set used here.

For the top I inked a floral background stamp with a shade of off white and autumn leaf, stamped four times, this over a navy blue acrylic background (I know, I know… looks black :))

The rest is quite obvious; it’s paper and some quilling strips of paper painted gold for the ‘framing’ bit. Still needs lots of varnishing so I am still to post the final pic. of a glass like surface over some paper cut outs 🙂

Till next time and thanks for stopping by!

d.

Fridge magnes to experiment on…

Tags

alkohol inks, Claudine Hellmuth Studio, distressing, fridge magnets, mica powder, mixed media experimenting, stenciling, sticky back canvas

… with inking, distressing, applying inka gold and mica powder. These little wooden blanks are great to experiment on!

Two cake decorating stencils used as a basis for playing with almost everything I’ve got on hand :):

sticky back canvas used as a ‘base coat’

Stamping with mica in bold colours

Tags

decorate a lamp, Indian stamps, mica powder, paisely design, stamping with mica powder, turquoise and gold

I think I am in love with mica stamping; this is the easiest and most gratifying (perhaps, because it’s  the easiest technique:)) trick you can adapt to enhance your crafting projects of all sorts. All you need is an embossing ink, mine is from Versamark, some mica powder and a stamp of your choice. For this project I used some stamps from this truly stunning India Paisley set by Viva Decor.

For this little lamp I grabbed some time ago when shopping at Asda I chose a combination of green, turquoise, gold and pink. I think it worked just fine 🙂

I suspected that hot embossing on a piece of linen lampshade with a plastic backing would not be such a great idea, but I had to try anyway 🙂

I especially love the combination of green and gold; must remember to try and come up with some others project based on that colour scheme.

Note to myself; next time cover the cord with some masking tape before painting 🙂

Mod Podge transfer – ferns and wild mushrooms decoupage box

Tags

botanical prints decoupage, dandelion stamp, decorating wooden box, decoupage projects, embossed paper, ferns and mushroom prints, mixed media, Mod Podge transfer

Hello again!

I do always struggle what to call my latest creations. I started my crafting journey more or less three years ago with simple decoupage projects. A bit of paint, napkin cut outs, sealed with varnish, voila! a finished piece. Then, of course, I got hungry for more techniques and tricks. So I’m always itching to try a combination of decorating solutions for one piece. And then I need to come up with a fairly brief title that would give you a rough idea what are you looking at. Not possible. At least not this time 🙂

So, here it is:

Mod Podge (matte plaid) transfer of laser print outs of mushrooms and ferns;

Latin names, flies and dandelions stamped with Versamark pine cone ink;

I tried embossing a couple of flies with a clear embossing powder, later buffed with some silver rub ons;

Cold embossing, hot embossing, Ranger Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Inks, sand paper (I love this technique, it’s pure magic :));

Again, MP transfers and embossed dandelions;

I must say that MP is the easiest and the quickest transfer method for laser print outs I have ever tried. You just need to be careful when removing the backing paper from the edges of more intricate motifs.