Pairs Trios and Sets Tutorial

 Hi everybody! As promised I'm back with a tutorial showing how I made my shaker decorations, for our latest challenge, Pairs Trios and Sets. Lets get started....

I started off with these domed frames I bought from a craft show bargain bin several years ago. There were 5 in the pack and I've lost count of the number of times I've picked them up, looked at the, waited for inspiration to strike  and then put them away for another day. Luckily for me, this time inspiration was not far away! 

I used some lovely papers by Tim Holtz, from last year's Christmas release. Firstly, I cut out an oval shape, just a little bigger than the outer frame. I adhered this to the surface, and used a craft knife to cut away the centre. I then used a sanding block to remove the paper from around the outside edge.......

Sanding the inside edge of the oval was a little more tricky, to do this, I wrapped a piece of sand paper around a pencil. This made it much more easy to remove the surplus paper. Once this was done, I blended a little Vintage Photo Distress Ink around both the inside and outside edges of the frame. I then followed the same procedure for the other two frames, using different but similar papers from the pack.

 I covered the centre of the base of each frame, with an oval piece of paper, slightly larger than the open frame. I also drew around the inside of the frame to help with the placement of the elements that go inside the dome. 

I cut several pieces of foliage, using these Tim Holtz dies and some Craft Core paper. I dotted a little white paint on the surface to suggest snow.

I added a little colour to the Paper Dolls using my Distress Markers, as well as dimensional tape to the backs. It was then time to assemble the elements.....

I firstly adhered the background foliage die cuts and then the slightly raised Paper Dolls. Next I secured the acrylic dome using strong clear glue. I left about 1 1/2 inches unglued at the top so that I could add the 'snow'. Once the glue was dry, I gently lifted the open part and spooned in the glitter.....

 I used three different types of glitter, Diamond Dust which is slightly heavier and more like glass glitter, I also used some very fine holographic glitter, as well as a sprinkling of tiny glitter stars. 

I then secured the opening at the top of the dome with a little more clear glue, and attached the outer frame. The finishing touches, were to add an arrangement of die cut foliage with some tiny pine cones, and a little die cut paper bow. 

This was a most enjoyable project to make. I have one more dome left which I think I will use to make another shaker decoration, and this time, I shall use pictures of my own dearly departed ancestors. 

I have enjoyed seeing the wonderful projects you have uploaded for our Pairs Trios and Sets Challenge. If you haven't had chance to join in yet, don't worry as you have until 18:00hrs on December 3rd. Plenty of time ! x 

 

Numbers Tutorial

Hi everyone, Annie here to share  the tutorial for my 'Numbers' Shadowbox, using Tim Holtz Idea-ology Vignette Trays. I really did enjoy creating this home decor piece and as there are lots of pics you may wish to grab a cuppa of your choice x

Believe it or not my first thought was to create a project using Tim's Artful Dwellings, however, as often happens, another idea  came in to my head, taking me in a very different direction.

Below you can see many of Tim's products, including his Distressable Papers that I found whilst having a  craft room clean out several months ago !! These papers, together with Tim's Distressable books ,were purchased many years ago (possibly 16 years or more !)

 

The distressable paper was cut to fit the inside of the small vignette tray then stencilled using gold texture paste as seen below.

While the texture paste was drying I applied some colour to the chipboard doll using Distress Marker's.

The butterfly below is a Tim Holtz Sizzix die and once cut it was placed in a Bingo Ticket embossing folder prior to running it through my Bigshot.

Vintage Photo and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks were applied to the butterfly and I just love the bold colour on the numbers.

Tim's Idea-ology pieces were covered with Speckled Egg paint, which I applied with my fingers

 

Crackling Campfire and Speckled Egg Distress Inks were applied to the background paper, together with  Vintage Photo. Water was spritzed on to my hand and then flicked on to the paper too.  Numbers were applied to Tim's  Idea-Ology Film Strip  and dominoes from my stash were adhered together, creating a platform for the Chipboard Doll.

Some close ups:

 

The die below enabled me to create  some bunting to which I applied rub ons.

The timepiece was given a wash of Speckled Egg and Picket Fence Distress Paints,  both paints applied with my fingers.

Below is the bunting and rub ons

Another pic of the finished make x

Thank You so much for dropping in and I hope that you have enjoyed the tutorial and maybe even be inspired to create something for the 'Numbers' challenge, which runs until 5th November @ 18:00 hrs. 

Would be lovely to have you hop on board with us x 

Have a great weekend and Happy Crafting

Annie xx

Cogs, Gears and Textures Tutorial

Hello, this is Ann, thank you for joining me today. I'm sharing a tutorial for my project made for this month's Cogs, Gears and Texture Challenge!

To begin, I sprayed the watercolor paper with Distress Oxide Sprays in Vintage Photo, Mermaid Lagoon and Iced Spruce and spritzed more water. When it dries, I adhered the old book paper and distress the edges, then stamped the numbers on the corners and titched around the panel.

I dry embossed the silver metallic cardstock by Mechanics 3-D Embossing Folder and Rub a Distress Black Soot Paint all over the surface of the foil, getting it down into the crevasses of the design. Using a paper towel and wipe away the excess black paint. You may repeat this process until you achieve the depth of black you desire. Heat dry.

To make more texture, I stamped the Splatter on the edges with VersaMark and sprinkled some Taos Sunset Baked Texture Powder. Hot embossing it with embossing heat gun.

I smeared some Crackle Texture Paste on the edges of linen board.

For the Faceted heart, I covered it with Distress Paint in Peacock Feathers. I adhered gears on the heart to make it look more industrial, then distressed with Walnut Stain Ink. I added some metal charms on the bottom of the heart. 

I die-cut gears from chipboard and used Distress Oxide in Rusty hinge to cover them, then I sprayed them with Clear Texture Spray. When they dry, I used Distress Crayons in different brown and black colors. 

To finish this deco, I adhered some gears and Quote Chips on the panel. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed your time here with me today. If you have not done so yet, there is still plenty of time to join in our Cogs, Gears and Textures challenge, we would love to see what you come up with for that.

Happy crafting and stay safe!

Ann xo

Watercolour Wonders Tutorial

Hello, it's Deb back with you again to share a tutorial on how I created my Beautiful Moments watercolour painting for our current Watercolour Wonders challenge.

If you missed our July challenge, here is the brief:

This month we want to see what can you create with water reactive mediums. There are lots of options - watercolour paints, dye inks that react with water, or any of those wonderful powders that bloom to life when sprinkled onto a wet surface. Just remember to create your project in one of our preferred styles: vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.

I decided to paint my little floral watercolour study using watercolour paints and watercolour pencils.

It was super easy to do and believe me, if I can do it anyone can because I am most certainly not an illustrator!   The secret I have found is to hold the watercolour pencil near the end and lightly sketch your florals without worrying about how realistic they look.  You are looking for a representation of the flowers, not a botanical study.  I've made a quick little video to show you how I made my sketch with the watercolour pencils.

See, easy right?  After sketching, mix a little green watercolour paint and apply it to the sketched leaves in a loose fashion with a round paint brush.

Then mix some pink or red watercolour and apply it to the sketched flowers, don't worry if the paints bleed together a bit, that's part of the joy of watercolour!

While the paint is still wet, go back to the leaves and flowers and sketch back over them with the watercolour pencils.  Add some 'swirls' to the top of the flowers to simulate petals.

Make a light green wash and colour in the background around your flowers, letting the paints mix and blend.  Add a little bit of clean water here and there to help the paint colours move into each other.

Take the green watercolour pencil and sketch the stems back in while the paint is still damp.  Set the painting aside to dry.

Add another water reactive medium to your painting by creating a background with Distress Ink.  Ink up the BACK of a floral stencil with blue Distress Ink, spritz the inked stencil with water and press it firmly onto a piece of watercolour paper.  Blot up any of the ink that comes up through the stencil.  Let the blue ink dry.

Replace the stencil over top of your monoprint, lining it up, and then ink with green Distress Ink through the stencil as you normally would.

Trim your watercolour floral to size and tatter the edges with a distress tool or your scissors.  Mount the watercolour painting on to a piece of sanded gold Metallic Kraft Stock with a scant 1/8" reveal.

Cut the stenciled background about 1/2" larger on all sides than your watercolour painting and mount the painting on top with foam strips or squares.

Select a sentiment and mount it on another piece of sanded gold Metallic Kraftstock with a scant 1/8" reveal.  Centre the sentiment below the painting.

Select a piece of coordinating scrapbook paper for your background 'frame' and lightly distress the edges with a distress tool or your scissors.

If desired, add a die cut easel to the back of the scrapbook paper frame for display or you could also add the assembly to a card blank to make a lovely all occasions greeting card.

Centre your watercolour painting on top of the scrapbook paper frame and you are done.

Here are a few more pictures of the finished painting.

I hope that you've enjoyed seeing how my little floral watercolour study came together and that you will join in our Watercolour Wonders challenge with your own watercolour project, you have until August 6th to enter.  Can't wait to see what you create, thanks so much for stopping by and happy creating!

Deb xo