Friday 29 April 2022

24 Boxes of Advent - Follow a star - by Kim

Here is the next in my series of 24 Boxes of Advent.
 
Follow a star ... but which one? There are trillions to choose from!

I couldn't get them all on this box, so you'll have to use your imagination. My inspiration was the wonderful photographs taken from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Once I'd glued the box together I base coated the whole thing, inside and out, with Lamp Black.

Because my nebula is small I used an old and worn out brush for the stippling. All colours are stippled on so they blend easily.

The centre of the nebula is Cadmium Yellow. Make the colour more dense at the centre. Next up, and mainly towards the left of the picture, is Tangerine. Start by covering some of the yellow so the colours blend and gradually change from one to the next. Scarlet is next, stippled on as before. Then Calico Red. The red doesn't cover too well, which is good for the blending process, the density can tail off as you stretch in to outer space. You will probably need more than one coat for the denser areas.



To the right I used Primary Blue with tiny dabs of white blended in roughly. As the blue area gets farther from the centre it becomes less dense and eventually fades in to space.

At the centre of the nebula I added some tiny white 'splits' in the yellow layer showing the white heat of the core.

Next, the rest of the universe. I diluted a couple of drops of Titanium White with water to make it a milky consistency, then with an old tooth brush, spattered the stars over the surface. Try out your technique on scrap paper before you aim at your project - it could be messy!

Choose a couple of larger stars to have extra sparkle. With a fine point like a dip pen or cocktail stick paint in six or eight starburst lines. Make them taper away from the centre. Worth practising on a spare surface for this, too.

Once all is dry, mix some diluted black and add shadowy clouds in a couple of areas.

As this is my fourth Advent box I cut a number 4 from spare greyboard, painted it black, then added first Tangerine, then white highlights only to the edges that face the glowing nebula.

Thank you for journeying around the universe with me.


 Products:

Thursday 28 April 2022

Tando 6 inch Ring Binder - by Zoë Sanderson

 Today I'm sharing the steps and stages in transforming a bare Tando Kit to something both useful and to my mind attractive.






For me the start looking at the basic kit and thinking about what to use with it is the beginning of a journey that might go in any direction!  Having a good look at the kit and getting a feel for it is important in getting a feel for the direction to go in.  Once the ideas start to take shape you can start to stamp and colour.


Of course I had to experiment this time the first stage was to stamp and emboss the cover.  For the embossing both black and clear powders were used.  The result is a worn looking image, that was further aged and distressed with a blending of different coffee coloured inks.


The light must have changed for this picture because the camera settings were not changed nor were colours/light edited later.   Hay Ho at this point a gold ink pad had been run over the edges and hinges of the cover.  An application of Viva Maya gold had been brushed over the two stamped images.


The last element of the aged distressed process was a rough application of clear crackle glaze.  I spread this with a pallet knife leaving it in different thickness over the board.  As the glaze dries the cracks appear being bigger and more obvious on the thicker parts.

Time to start dressing the cover up.


From a bag of assorted Tando shapes four pieces had been selected for embellishments.  To get a good cream finish they were painted with Viva Ceramic effect.  This medium is a thicker finish which can be applied to any surface including glass, plastic and metal.   I'd also got some more stamps out used on card coloured and fussy cut.  

When fussy cutting you need to keep as close to the outside line as you can even cutting into it, unless you have embossed the image a cut into embossing will possibly lead it to start flaking off.   The art of cutting is also to move the card in the open scissors rather than opening and closing the blades while moving them along the card.


A variety of stamps from different manufacturers were used with Archival coffee coloured ink to stamp little sentiments, then the gold ink pad dragged round the edges.


The inside was painted with black gesso and then some very old printed paper cut down to fit over.  Gel Medium used to attach the papers both below and above it for a good secure hold.



Prior to working on the inside a slit was cut in the hinge on each side and ribbon threaded through.   A fussy cut stamped image attached to the right front  making a bridge there ribbon was passed under to meet up with the piece on the other side and tie the cover closed.

I'm really pleased with this it is wonderfully inky, messy and textured and was great fun to do.

Products used

Tando 150gram Offcuts these are great to have to hand and are useful for all sorts of projects.

Tando Ring Binder for 148x82mm stencils

DecoArt Clear Crackle Glaze

Stamps, ribbon and other mediums from my personal stash.

Tuesday 26 April 2022

Hexagon Tags



Today i bring you two beautiful tags made using lovely vintage botanical scrapbook papers and Tando Hexagons.



When i made my "fly free" original hex canvas earlier this year, i covered my desk in brown paper as i was using lots of distress oxide sprays. Once my project was finished i realised i had a lovely background paper.


I took a Tando tag and sketched around it before gluing to a piece of Grey board. I randomly stamped on some text in black and highlighted some of the Hexagon's on the background,



I used a Tando stencil and textured paste and added pattern to the tag. 



Once dry, i cut out some hexagons from paper and began layering them up on the tags




I fussy cut some flowers and foliage from my scrapbook paper and added it to the tags. I cover some Tando Hexagons with more vintage paper and added them to the tags with foam pads



To finish i added doodling, tiny hexagons, word stickers and ribbon



And there you go. Simple tags, made from waste that just look beautiful i am sure you will agree,

Thanks

Sarah










 

Saturday 23 April 2022

Tando Art Block - by Zoë Sanderson

 This is my little block of Butterflies.


This is a very light hearted piece, playing with lots of different mediums and ideas.  As always it started with a Tando kit waiting to be put together.


As always precision cut making them easy to assemble with snug fitting sides.  I'd decided to leave one end of my block open so the picture above shows one piece less than the full kit provided.  The box is constructed with PVA art and craft glue.












Once the glue had dried it was time to paint them.  On the outside Pretty Gets Gritty Chalk paints were applied with a sponge.   Both colours on the same sponge and blended together.


On the inside a grey colour applied.  Then of course another wait for the paint to dry.


An older Tando stencil placed over the corner on one side.  Now I did have the bright idea of applying a stencil glue to this to help keep it in place.


With transparent embossing paste pushed through glitter were sprinkled over.  Problem the residue from that stencil adhesive left on the box also attracted some of the glitter.   Fortunately it is a glue that is designed for repositioning the stencil and when the paste had dried I was able to brush away the mess, well most of it anyway.

Time to stamp and fussy cut a couple of butterflies, using one of my old trusted and favourite butterfly stamps.




With another stencil and gilding glue my favourite work Laugh had bee added along with some random lines.  Silver gilding flakes had been added here, and as the glue had spread under the stencil to make the word stand out a silver liner pen went over the actual letters stopping it from becoming a messy silver spolge.

As butterflies had become the dominate them I pulled out some Tando butterflies and coloured them with Pearlywinks keeping to the pink purple pallet.


Before the butterflies had dried they were popped into the tray with the glitter still in it.  A couple of them randomly picked up glitter.






A fun little muck around that with drying time, and other projects also calling for attention, actually took a few days to complete and is now a handy little box for the desk.

Products used

Tando Art Blocks

Tando Stencil 

Tando Butterfly Grab Bag

Heavy Gel Medium

Anita's Tacky PVA Glue

All Other items from my craft stash.

Thursday 21 April 2022

Product Focus - More Door Hangers - by Kim

 Just for fun! 

I was recently struck down by the dreaded Covid lurgy, and it gave me an idea ... how about a door hanger warning sign! It would serve as a reminder that I was infectious and everyone should keep away. In olden times I would have carried a bell and wandered about the streets moaning, "Unclean! Unclean!" 

But we live in more enlightened times (or so you would think!), and while the ideas were flowing, how about a hanger for those who work shifts and are asleep while the rest of us are awake?

And of course, one for the stroppy teenager who won't communicate because us adults just don't understand, but eventually comes round when food is on offer.

So here are my fun hangers. Can you think of some other important messages they could carry?

Stop. Covid Zone: Front; Yellow and black quartered background, hand lettering in red. Back; Three greens scumbled as background, red lettering with white blocking. And a big tick. 

I'm Awake: Front; Light blue and white scumbled background, yellow letters, dark blue blocking and red decoration. Back; Darker blue and white scumbled background with some lightly applied clouds in white, white letters, black blocking.

Go Away!; Front; Solid black background, orange lettering with red blended over the bottom half. Back; Red, pink, and white scumbled background, letters based in yellow the gold over the top, outlined in black. Gold dots on the background.



The Obverse - for Covid, shiftwork, and stroppy teenager.



The Reverse - for Covid, shiftwork, and not-so-stroppy teenager.

Thanks for dropping by - I'd love to see what messages you put on your hangers!

Product:

Tuesday 19 April 2022

ALICE HEX CANVAS BY NICKY ROUSSOU

ALICE TEX HEX CANVAS BY NICKY ROUSSOU


What fun this was to make and don't you just LOVE the stamperior Alice in wonderland papers! 

Do yo know how hard it is to cut up these gorgeous papers! But worth it don't you think?

I started by coating the canvas in  white gesso.


I then used the Tim Holtz stencil with some silver crackle paste and randomly over the canvas.


I love this stencil!


I then used carbon black decoart mister and added splodges over the canvas.


After the mister I used Decoart Quin Gold which gives a really nice aged feel to the canvas.



I used a selection of the hexes and decorated them all slightly different. 


I just had to add some sparkles too... Got to have sparkles right???lol


The sparkles look amazing with these papers don't they.



Just loved making this project. I hope you enjoyed! x




TIME HOTLS STENCIL

STAMPERIOR SILVER CRACKLE PASTE