Steampunk Birdhouse

Happy New Year!

Hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and are all ready for a New Crafty Year!

    At Our Creative Corner we want you to use your 'Shopping Sins' -  Hop over to Our Creative Corner where Claudia will explain all the details about her wonderful challenge!

      I spent last year collecting Tim Holtz Idea-ology. Some of them I did manage to use, but some just looked so gorgeous in the packets that I couldn't bear to open them.....I seemed to be just waiting for the right project to come along to use these precious embellishments, but each time I would put them back unopened thinking - "Maybe next time".......

     Even as I took this photo I was trying to decide what to use and what to continue hoarding....I decided (reluctantly) to open the foliage and the charms.....eventually the transfers found their way onto the project too!

  

 I decided I had to make a Steampunk creation because this is Claudia's challenge. I chose a bird house that was gathering dust on the shelf. I had just treated myself to some Decoart Paints - Transparent Red Oxide, Quinacridone Gold and Turquoise. This was my colour scheme - rusty orange and brown with hints of blue.

     I started by covering the birdhouse with gesso and when that was dry I covered the roof with Chocolate Pudding Fresco paint which was then covered in crackle glaze.

    Snow flake paint was applied over the crackle glaze and the cracks started to form. When dry I began to stencil clocks and gears around the walls with texture paste.........

 ........and some of the Mini Antiquities text over the roof.

With all the base done I then began to build up layers of the gorgeous transparent paints....starting with Quinacridone Gold I applied a layer very messily - allowing brushstrokes to show.

     Then I began building up depth of colour adding the Transparent Red Oxide and also Chocolate Pudding Fresco paint.

    When this was dry I began to dry brush some Turquoise paint and also dabbing some paint through various stencils and dabbing stamps with turquoise as well. I also stamped with gesso, applying The Quinacridone Gold over the top. I also added a script stamp with Potting Soil Archival ink.

I spritzed the bird house with Melted Chocolate Dylusions spray to add a rustic speckled look

The Idea-ology gears, foliage and charms were added after being given a totally grunge makeover with paints and inks. Each was finished off with a dry brushing of Turquoise. Some rusty embellishments left over from my Steampunk Christmas tree were added along with mini watch parts and of course, my favourite rusty wire.

         
         I added some of the transfers as well......

     The final touch - the bird from the charm set was attached to the top of the bird house after being given a painty makeover....The photo doesn't do it justice here...after being painted I brushed the bird very lightly with Treasure Gold in White Fire with a very soft brush...it gave it a lovely iridescent style sheen....some curled rusty wire was added here too...

   I Hope you have enjoyed this Steampunk Birdhouse! Come on over to Our Creative Corner to see what else my talented team have made for you! Why not have a hunt around and see what treasures you have stored away and use them! Join in the challenge this month and you could be our Top Talent winner, or one of our Top 3. You could even receive a wonderful 'Crafty Individuals' prize!

            

Wings of Love

Hi everyone!

     I am not finding much time to do crafts at the moment. The kids are on holiday and on the first day of the holidays they had already announced they were bored! So I have been trying to find entertaining things for them to do and so my craft solitude time has come to a stop.

     However, after seeing SanDee and Amelie's challenge for a Steampunk matchbox creation I HAD to find some time! I had ideas galore halfway through reading about it!

    I don't really make many Steampunk items - so I really love how this takes me out of my comfort zone and challenges me....



       First thing I had to do was find a matchbox. I was sure I had seen one somewhere and I didn't have the patience to wait until I had time to go shopping...rummaging through craft drawers I did find one! And got to work.

     I painted it with several coats of Nougat Fresco Paint and then covered the top and bottom edge with DecoArt crackle glaze...I am still learning how to use this - it is a bit hit and miss for me at the moment, but I am slowly learning! I then covered the cracks with French Roast Fresco Paint and Black Soot DI.

   I dabbed Black Soot DI over some embossed card and covered with Tarnished Brass DS and smooshed with a babywipe....I didn't like how it looked so I covered it with White Fire Treasure Gold.

    I tore the card in places (after working out where to leave crackle effect revealed) and stuck the card onto the box.

I cut a heart from card and covered with Nougat paint and applied the crackle and French Roast.

    The wings were cut out from card, covered with Hobgoblin Tissue tape and the edges were inked with Black Soot. I then covered them with a medium layer of Rock Candy Clear Glitter glue...This is one of my most recent purchases - I LOVE it!

    I assembled the wings and heart on the matchbox and added the word LOVE from Tim Holtz Chit chat stickers. A little dab of Black Soot DI added a lovely shabby look. I have a collection of real watch parts (sooo tiny!) and using tweezers and Glossy accents glue I arranged a selection of the metal bits and pieces around the heart.

    The drawer of the box was covered in the same metal embossed card and I attached a dolls house door knob to it and stuck metal watch parts around it. The inside of the box (yes, the drawer does open) was covered in cogs patterned paper.

  
     And that is how I made a Steampunk matchbox - Why not head over to SanDee & amelie's Steampunk challenge and see the gorgeous creations over there and make one yourself?

         Thanks so much for visiting - I'd love to know you were here so please leave a comment. Your comments mean so much to me and I love reading them.

         Hope to see you again soon!

       

I would like to enter this in the following challenge -

  SanDee & amelie's Steampunk Challenges - Matchbox Steampunk
  Crafting with Dragonflies - Alter something
  Left of Center - Use metal



 

Hearts are for loving

     Another paint creation for you here! A heart full of LOVE!

          The heart decoration 'Paris in Springtime' was really popular, so when I was last at the Range I grabbed several of the heart decorations just in case I wanted to do another at some point. The arrival of my new Fresco Paints seemed a good time!

      I decided I needed some blues and greens....I got 'Bora Bora' and 'South Pacific'. I do love pale sage green so I chose 'Sage' and 'Toad Hall'. I also got 'Stone' and 'Nougat' and I just had to get 'Chocolate Pudding'!!! I love the 'French Roast' Fresco paint but I wanted a softer brown for shading.

       So today - the focus is on Aqua....so I bought Bora Bora and South Pacific out to play

     I had been thinking about using string and glue to wind loops onto things and then paint over it. So that is where I began with the heart shape. I just wound swirls using fine hemp string and applied glue, very messy and I learnt quickly that it really is best to work with small lengths - I had wanted one continuous strand - but honestly it really isn't worth the horrible mess, tangles and agitation!

      'Simon Says' are asking for 'Buttons' this week so I added three to the heart decoration 

      I applied a layer of Modpodge over the top of the string to make sure the strands are sealed. Then I painted a layer of Chocolate Pudding Fresco paint over the top. I scraped a thin layer of Crackle Glaze in the corner and applied Bora Bora that had been mixed with a little Snowflake Fresco paint.

     I then dabbed South Pacific around the edges of the heart and then dry brushed Chocolate Pudding paint over the edges, dabbing some of the Bora Bora paint as well over the string and buttons. I carried on layering the colours like this until I had achieved a distressed worn vintage look.

     I got some Tim Holtz Grungeboard letters and selected the word 'Love'. I painted the letters with South Pacific paint and then covered with crackle paint and when this was dry I covered with a layer of Chocolate Pudding paint and wiped off before it dried. The main covering of paint on the heart had been quite a light colour, because I had added Snowflake paint to the Bora Bora paint. As I wanted a bit of a shadow effect behind the letters, I added another layer of paint. This time I used just the Bora Bora paint and added some South Pacific into the center of the area I was painting - One of the many things I adore about Fresco paints is that even though they do have a quick drying time, they are so easy to blend and get very soft effects.

I then very lightly dabbed some Treasure Gold White Fire around the edges of the letters before gluing them to the heart.

    The wooden bead that was attached to the string was given the same paint and crackle treatment as the letters, which the final touch of white fire too which adds a gorgeous gleam. White Fire was then rubbed all over the edges of the heart and across the top of the swirls to highlight them.

 

Rusty wire and a metal ballerina embellishment were added to the buttons

     So that was the latest heart decoration.....a little brighter than my usual pale vintage creations - What do you think?

             Thanks so much for popping in! - Hope to see you again soon!

         

I would like to enter this in the following challenges -

PaperArtsy - Inspired by Crackle and Blue
Simon Says - The Button Challenge
PanPastel - Anything Goes
Love to Create Challenge  - Vintage or Shabby  

My heart will go on....

   Still in Valentines mode everyone! Sadly this is my last Valentines creation.......until next year ;o)

     My other posts have been very girly - I love pastel, vintage, flowery crafts...and although I find grungier darker work really striking and interesting, I have found it hard to do. Many people have been telling me to watch videos online and so I took some time to sit and watch and learn. I saw a video of Tim Holtz demonstrating crackle paint. A medium that is new to me, so felt it was important I saw it. He created a tag in browns and blues with stamps and crackle paint. I haven't followed the tag exactly here - I was really inspired by the colours and style - Still I had some difficulties mastering some of it, so in the end I had to bring my own ideas in!

    Another artist who inspired me when making this tag...was Trace from inkypinkycraft - Trace is an AMAZING artist and I adore her blog. Every time I see one of her hearts with wings creations I smile. She does wonderful work and if you haven't taken a peek at her blog you really should - I am always inspired by what she makes.

    This tag....well, the first one was a disaster....then for my second go I decided to not copy Tim Holtz exactly....I began to just play around with the colours and stamps. I started off with blending Chipped Sapphire, Pumice Stone and Gathered Twigs DI's over the tag. Some spritz and flick and we were on our way to a grungier tag than I normally make...so far so good! Some dark copper spray was needed next and the spray doesn't work - it never has worked well but I decided this time it won't stop me. I poured out a little of the shaken spray and swirled a brush (A mascara wand style brush that comes in one of those brush on highlighting kits for your hair) and flicked it at the card to give a very fine sprinkle of dark copper spray.

   Some Tim Holtz stamps followed....a photo, film strip, text and flock of birds.

 

I stamped some wings onto card that had Pumice Stone DI blended over it and then I cut out the wings...I found some heavy thick card cut it into a heart shape and edged that with Black Soot DI. I then wrapped some silver wire around it with a silver jewellery bead cap at the centre. I sprayed the wings with silver glimmer spray and blended some Black Soot and Stormy Sky DI's around the edges of the wings. The word 'Valentine' was placed at the bottom of the heart...

 

    I applied some crackle paint around the edge of the tag.....loading a small brush (I never use the brush that comes with the pot, I find it too tricky to handle) with the paint and rolling it along the edge of the tag rather than painting it on. After it was dry and cracked I applied some Black Soot DI to enhance the cracks even more before wiping away excess ink.

   The tag ribbon started off as ribbon edged with bright glittery silver and it was too bright for this tag so I cut the edges away and used just the grey ribbon after fraying the edges a little.

    And there is a Valentines tag that will form a Valentines card for my husband - The title of this blog was chosen for very special reasons...First because it does feature a heart but the second, more important reason, is my husband is a drummer in a band and one of the first songs I heard him play and was amazed by and totally loved, was their version of 'My heart will go on' I still love hearing them play that song 12 years later....I asked my husband if I could feature him on this blog and he said yes!!!...so here you go....If you would like to have a peek at 'Allergy' click this link - Boatanic


     If you would like to see another heart themed tag then why not pop over to my daughters blog  and see the first tag she has made for a challenge...it would mean so much to her to get some comments about it so if you have the time to take a peek and write a short comment she would be very happy - Thanks!

            Take care!

   
I am entering this in the following challenges -

Creative inspirations paint - Valentines day
Try it on Tuesday  - Get ready to celebrate Valentines day
Sunday Stamper - Endless love
Fashionable stamping challenges - Birds
Vintage Stamping Challenges  -  Blues, brown and beige