Hex Tech Tuesday - Helter Skelter by Kim

 Do you remember that before Christmas (1st November) I showed you how to make a useful tower using Tando hexagons?

I’ve already made a lighthouse and a haunted windmill so this time I went for a derelict heater- skelter. 

Using the basic hexagon tower I decided that rickety old fairground rides would need to be built with boards, so my collection of coffee stirrers got put to good use.

Rather than cut the ends neatly I measured and snapped the stirrers. To make the planks look even older and more decayed. I used a sharp craft knife (being very careful, of course) and took a few chunks out of the edges. To vary the design I made some joints and some missing and loose planks. 

This was a long job and took maybe 150 planks from around 50 stirrers. I used PVA to stick them to the tower.

The top of the helter-skelter is make from Tando Creative birdcage shapes I had lurking. I cut out the centre cage bars and trimmed the top and bottom to be straight. I stuck five of them together using small hexagons as a former. The roof is made of thin card, curved to make a cone shape.

The broken slide sections are cut from Tando greyboard offcuts, with coffee stirrer sides.

I used DecoArt Modelling paste to add texture to the rotting roof. When dry it was painted black, before adding the other colours.

I painted the red diamond shapes on the tower with a diluted Santa Red, to give the patchy, peely look. The sides of the slide are in Forest Green, with Burnt Umber for the slides. The sides were aged with diluted washes of Burnt Umber and Lamp Black.

To add the mouldy, stained look I used DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics; Quinacridone Red, Paynes Grey, Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide, and Green Gold.

All finished with a distressed ‘Hell-ter Skelter’ sign.

Thanks for visiting. What would you build from Tando's hexagons?

Colour Inspiration January 2023- Fiona Randall

Hello and welcome to my contribution for the January Colour Inspiration.

Here are the colours provided to kickstart our mojo for the New Year.

For my project I decided to construct one of the Tando Mini Books.

I started by constructing the book and gave it a coat of DecoArt Americana Chalky Finish in Carbon. I then gave it a coat of DecoArt Media Ultra Matte Varnish when dry to protect and seal.

I then cut two pieces of cardstock for the back and front covers. These were sprayed with spray stains from the Steampunk Soiree set from Lindy's Stamp Gang and dried with a heat tool. Stencilling was added with white gesso and stamping with Black Archival Ink. The edges were also inked before adhering to the front and back covers of the book. Nect up I embossed a Small Tando frame with some Embossing Powder. I then stamped a Butterfly from a  Chocolate Baroque Stamp Set onto white card and fussy Cut out. The frame was attached to the front cover and the butterfly glued into place as shown. To finish I added sentiment strips made with a Dynamo Label maker and attached to the front cover as shown.

A quick and easy project with limited supplies to kick start the New Year.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and read.

Hugs Fiona.

PRODUCTS USED.

A Sized Book Covers and Spines Kit

Tando Small Bookplates

DecoArt Chalky Finish- Carbon

DecOart Media Ultra Matte Varnish

Aged Aqua Embossing Enamel

Archival Ink Pad- Jet Black

Chocolate Baroque- Just Butterflies Stamp Set

Other Products Used

Lindy's Stamp Gang Steampunk Soiree Shimmer spray set

 

June Colour theme- Fiona Randall

 

Morning all it's colour theme on the blog until the 5th July .

Georgeous colours so I had a play.

I created a tag and the colours were screaming out for a Butterfly LOL.

I used my favourite Tando size 8 tag as my base. gave it a quick coat of DecoArt Media white tinting base. I then used watered down DecoArt Chalky finish in Vintage and Keepsake to create watery washes and splatters. Drying between layers to give a faux watercolur effect. Then some stamping added with black versafine ink. The butterfly was stamped and coloured using the same watery washes as the base tag. This was then attached to the tag base. A quick easy project.

Do stop by the blog next week for a new theme and more inspiration from the DT.

Thanks for stopping by today

Fiona xx

PRODUCTS USED.

Tando Size 8 Tags

Decoart Chalky Finish- Keepsake

DecoArt Chalky Finish- Vintage

DecoArt Media White Tinting Base

OTHER PRODUCTS.

Finnabair Stamp Set- Don't Forget To Fly.

Tim Holtz Stamp Set- Etcetera

Indigo Blue Stamps- Paintbrush

Paper Artsy Stamps - Ink and the Dog- Petals

Versafine onyx black inkpad

Spray Inks/Paints Week-Fiona Randall

 

Morning all Fiona here with my project for this weeks theme.

Spray Inks Paints.

I've chosen to decorate one of the Tando A6 Binders which come in a bundle pack of two binders plus 4 pairs of covers to make more journals along with the co-ordinating template pack.

I went with a monochromatic theme for this project. 

I started by cutting a piece of watercolour cardstock to fit the front cover then painted the whole binder inside nd out with a coat of DecoArt Chaky Finish in Relic.

 Then a coat of DecoArt Ultra Matte Varnish applied to seal and protect.

 The watercolour cardstock was then glued to the front cover.

 DecoArt White modelling paste was applied through a Finnabair stencil and dried with a heat tool. 

Water was then spritzed onto the cover before spraying with Beetle Black Tattered Angels Ink Spray.

The water allows for the ink spray to move freely and get into all the nooks and crannies but also dilutes the colour of the ink spray from a stark black to a Dark Grey.

DecoArt White Tinting Base was then applied to the edges of the binder blending in with my finger to give a whispy edge effect. Splatters were then added with a Dina Wakley white gloss spray.

A finnabair Grunge Frame mold cast from resin was given a coat of DecoArt Black Gesso and when dried swiped with DecoArt Metallic Lustre in Silver Spark.

The base of the Large Tando Layered Butterfly was given a coat of Relic DecoArt Chalky Finish and whilst still wet a sprinkle of Ranger Rock Candy Glitter added. 

The Top Layer of the Butterfly was given a coat of  Everlasting DecoArt Chalky Finish and once dried with a heat tool stamped with a dotty stamp from my Stash with black Archival Ink then glued to the bottom layer to complete.

The frame was the attached to the binder cover using off cuts of grey board to give depth and dimension and the butterfly attached as the focal point to finish.

Simple techniques but effective and dramatic in the monochromatic colours.

Happy with the way this turned out.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Stay Safe

Fiona.

Products Used.

A6 Binder and Cover Pack

Butterfly Panel

DecoArt Chalky Finish- Everlasting

DecoArt Chalky Finish- Relic

DecoArt Metallic Lustre- Silver Spark

DecoArt Media Black Gesso

DecoArt Media Modelling Paste- White

DecoArt Media White Tinting Base

DeccoArt Media Ultra Matte Varnish

Other Supplies.

Prima Finnabair Mold- Grungy Frames.

Prima Finnabair Stencil- Gothic

Ranger Dina Wakley Media Gloss Spray- White.

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Glitter- Rock Candy.

Ranger Archival Ink- Black.

Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist- Beetle Black.

Spotty Stamp- My own Stash.

Two Part Casting Resin.

Gothic Arch Frame- Fiona Randall

 

Morning All it's Gothic Week here on the Blog.

I love a Gothic theme and I love Arches so this little project ticks all the right boxes for me.

I have used one of the Tando Gothic Arch Layered frames for my project. It consists of five frames to layer on top of the base and gives real depth to your project.

I covered the base in some Tim Holtz Halloween paper as this gives a real Gothic feel to the background. next I glued and layered all five frames together and then gave them a coat of DecoArt Chalky Finish in Carbon. I then inked up the frame with versamark ink and applied sticky stuff embossing powder and heat set with a heat tool. This makes the frame sticky for the next step which is foiling.

I pressed a piece of pewter foil to an area of the frame  and rubbed lightly and lifted straight away.

 This gives a random distressed aged effect.

 I continued this step all around the frame until I was happy.

I then went over the foiling with a coat of Black DecoArt Antiquing cream and wiped back back to age the frame further.

I then gave a resin frame, cast from a Finnabair Mold a coat of DecoArt Media Black gesso and heat set.

 I then swiped over the raised edges of the frame with some DecoArt Metallic Lustre in Silver Spark.

I stamped the skull in Black Archival Ink and applied clear embossing powder and heat set. 

This was then cut and glued to fit in the frame as shown.

DecoArt Chalky Finish in Carbon was then applied to a Tando Bookplate From Andy Skinner's Industrial Elements set and the edges swiped with the Metallic lustre as used on the small frame.

I inked a scrap of white card stock with Pumice Stone Distress Ink and then applied a sentiment from one of Andy Skinner's Mixed Media Transfer sets.

The small resin frame was then applied to the Gothic Arch Frame using an off cut of grey board to raise and give depth and dimension.

The bookplate was then added to finish.

A quick and easy project and I love how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by today

Stay Safe

Fiona.

PRODUCTS USED.

Tando Gothic Arch Layered Frame

Andy Skinner Mixed Media Transfers- Alchemy Plus

Andy Skinner Stamp- Skull of Spades

Andy Skinner Industrial Elements by Tando Creative

DecoArt Chalky Finish- Carbon

DecoArt Media Black Gesso

DecoArt Metallic Lustre- Silver Spark

DecoArt Media Antiquing Cream- Black

OTHER PRODUCTS.

Tim Holtz Distress Ink- Pumice Stone

Tim Holtz Worn Wallpaper- Halloween

Judikins Sticky Stuff embossing powder.

Deco Foil- Pewter.

Prima Finnabair Mold- Grungy Frames.

Two Part Casting Resin

Stampendous Clear Embossing Powder

Versamark Ink Pad.

3D Week - by Nikki Killinger

 Hi all,

It's my turn for this weeks 3D theme and I'm sharing a different take on Di's 'Butterfly Frame' workshop.

I painted the backboard in midnight chalk paint, and then applied crackle glaze with a sponge.  The top coat was chalkboard grey.  This left a fine crackle.  I highlighted it with red paint just by dry brushing, and stamped a text stamp over the top.  

The next layer is the arched frame, and was painted in midnight, and then dry brushed in silver.  

The top frame was also painted in midnight, and crackle glaze applied.  Over this I sponged warm white, which gives a distressed crackled look.

I whitewashed the text page, and adhered the painted plaster heart to the centre of the frame.  

Some transfers were added on the frame, and the diamonds were painted black and stamped in red text.

Hope you like it.  

You can still purchase the workshop here, and it will have instructions for Di's lovely Butterfly Frame.  I just thought I would show you a darker take on it. x

Have fun crafting,

Best Wishes,

Nikki

x

May Colour Theme - with Nikki

Morning everyone,

I made something for the colour theme week, I don't usually do these as I struggle sticking to 'rules'.. lol.  But these colours were so good together I couldn't resist.

I started with a media board that I had already put some modelling paste on, with the Clock stencil, and painted in magenta and turquoise, for a different project.  But something told me it would work well, so I stuck with it.

To disguise the turquoise (as it wasn't in the theme), I added pale grey/blue chalk paint and yellow iron oxide to areas just really roughly with the paintbrush.  A bit like the theme above!

Once I had finished messy painting, I added transfers to certain areas in keeping with the time theme, and stamped in a dark burgundy in random places.

I painted a Tando ATC coin in the grey, then stamped in yellow chalk paint with a distressed wallpaper stamp.  These pics are taken in the evening so the colours are more vibrant when seen on the finished piece.

This picture shows the background detail and layers on the media board background.

I took a plaster crown from my stash, and painted in a mulberry pink chalk paint, then finger painted over the relief bits with purple.  On top of this I highlighted in gold.  This was glued to the ATC to finish, and a final transfer number added for detail.

I absolutely love how busy and vibrant this is, and that depending on where you start with a piece of art you never know where it is going to end up.

Best Wishes,

Nikki K.
xxx

Products Used:

Tando Creative:
Media Board
ATC Coin
Clock face Stencil

Andy Skinner/Creative Expressions:
Enigma stamp.
Mixed Media Transfers
Distressed Wallpaper Stamp
Andy Skinner Structure Paste
Artist Pigment Yellow Iron Oxide Paint
Artist Pigment Paynes Grey
Quick Grab Glue

DecoArt Media:
Primary Magenta
Quinacridone Violet
Tinting Base
Cobalt Turquoise Hue (under layer).
Metallic Gold
Dioxazine Purple

Crackle week - 'Safe' by Nikki

Morning everyone,

It's my turn this week to do a crackle piece, and I made this tag.

I took a Tando tag and painted in random colours, red, yellow and orange all over, then spritzed with white mister to knock the colours back.  On top of this I put a layer of Crackle glaze.

I stencilled in modelling paste on the heart with the grid stencil, and painted the heart red.  I used the Chalk Crackle medium next, and then a layer of chalk paint to bring out the crackle.

The book plate was simply embossed with mixed media embossing powder, and the word 'safe' taken from the dictionary and framed.  I used Heavy Gel medium to glue all my pieces together, and give the word a protective coating inside the plate.

I went back to the tag once the crackle was dry, and used green patina antiquing cream to age it and show the crackle, and then used mixed media transfers to add detail.  Sometimes I like a colour change!

Hope you like it and have a go yourself. xx

Best Wishes, stay safe.

Nikki.
xxx

Products Used:

Tando Creative:
Tags
Bookplates
Heart

Andy Skinner:
Chalk Paint
Mixed Media Transfers
Mixed Media Embossing Powder - Funky Cold Patina

DecoArt Media:
Heavy Gel Medium
Crackle Glaze
Pyrrole Red Media Line
Primary Yellow Media Line
Vermillion Media Line
White Shimmer Mister
Green Patina Antiquing Cream
Americana Chalk Crackle Medium

Texture Week - by Nikki K

Morning all,

It's Texture week this week, and my turn to make a project today.  I hope you've enjoyed the rest of the team's posts this week, and if you haven't seen them, please check them out on the blog, we really appreciate your visit. x

I started by taking one of the fab layered Tags by Fiona for Tando, and putting a thin coat of Texture Sand paste on the bottom layer.  I wanted this to create texture later.

I glued the tags together, and painted the whole tag in black.  Then colours were sponged on to give a galaxy effect, I used Cobalt Blue, Magenta, Cobalt Teal, Dioxazine Purple and White.  For both of these processes I used a sponge to give the paint effect more texture.

The whole tag was then splattered, with white, to give the appearance of stars.

For the aperture's, I mixed Triple Thick Glaze, with a little transparent yellow iron oxide, and put a thin layer in each aperture, so that the texture still showed as lumpy through it.  I didn't want a flat glazed look.

The little bits of black in the moon and stars are from the sponge painting, I like that they show through and give depth.

I love the glazed effect, and you can add any colour paint in a tiny amount to Triple Thick Glaze for it to take on a whole different look.

Hope you enjoyed this today.

Best Wishes,

Nikki

Products Used:
Tando Creative
Layered Tags Bundle 2

DecoArt Paints:
Media Line: Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide, Cobalt Blue, Cobalt Teal Hue, Titanium White, Dioxazine Purple, Primary Magenta.
Texture Sand Paste
Triple Thick Glaze

Other products:
Andy Skinner's Quick Grab Glue

Anything Goes Week - Mini Book Case by Nikki K

Morning all,

It's Anything Goes week so I have decorated one of Tando's fantastic Mini Book shelves.  They are the perfect storage for your little book collection.

I started by painting all the pieces in Rouge Chalk paint.  Be careful to avoid the tabs if you can, it makes it easier to glue your pieces together afterwards.  I used a brayer to paint, it gives a nice smooth even finish with not too much paint.

I took a Chocolate Baroque Feather stamp and stamped the whole bookcase with tiny feathers.  This was followed by a coat of Crackle medium, but at this stage my crackle failed for some reason, so I went back in with a coat of Matte Varnish, which I actually preferred the look of anyway.  You can always cover up or change the look of something, if all else fails, paint it again!  We all make mistakes, and it's more fun experimenting.

I covered two Tando Mini feathers in modelling paste to make them look more realistic, and when dry painted in black gesso.  These were glued to the back of the bookcase top shelf.

I edged the bookcase in Iced Espresso Metallic Lustre to finish.

Now I need to make more mini books to fill it...

Best Wishes,

Nikki K
xxx

Texture Paste Cog

Hi there, it’s Celia here with a look at texture pastes. They lend themselves very well to rust effects, and I find they're so useful to add interest to a project.
I decided to use four different pastes together, because why just use one! I used DecoArt Sand Paste on the cogs and stippled some Andy Skinner Lava Paste on the big MDF cog. This needs heat setting to make it puff up. If you stipple it on finely it creates a nice pitted rust effect.
For the base, I used a 6x6 greyboard sheet and stuck on some Tim Holtz Abandoned collage paper. I discovered that the big cog is the same size as the cut outs in Fiona’s new Layered Tags, so I cut one out to put behind the cog. I just sprayed this black.

I used a spatula to apply Andy Skinner's Strata Paste and DecoArt Crackle Paste randomly around the edges of the base board.

When this was dry I stippled on a mixture of DecoArt media fluid acrylics to roughly match the colours of the paper (Burnt Umber, Green Gold, Pthalo green yellow, Transparent Iron Oxide). I also stippled some rusty colours on the big cog. Then I dry brushed the texture pastes with Titan Buff to highlight. I also coated a couple of small cogs from the minis cogs tag with some Ferro.

Then I added a couple of washes to tie it all in together before assembling. I added some silver Gilding Paste to the cog to highlight the rusty texture. The combination of the different texture pastes produces all sorts off yummy crunchy goodness!

And here's the finished piece - 

Thanks for stopping by!

Celia x