Thursday 28 July 2016

Sports & More - an Emerald Creek Dare

Servus and welcome back to my little creative corner close to the beautiful Austrian Alps!

Summer is in full swing and I hope you are all enjoying your holidays! It is the time of the year to be outside and get a tan, do summer sports or simply relax and have a good time out in nature.

Sports & More

is the theme of Emerald Creek's actual dare and "more" can be hardly anything you can connect to "being outside" (at the beach, on or in the water, in the mountains, forests, hills...well...I guess you get it).

I - for my share - declared collecting shells being a sport too. lol
But when you walk the beach for several hours each day collecting shells, I guess you can call it that. Right? (I did that when I was on Paradise Island in the Caribbean some years ago and it is one of my favourite holiday memories).

So here's my "Sports & More" tag for you:





Real sea shells can be a bit tricky to use on craft projects (especially if you want the project to stay as flat as possible) - so I decided to try create "faux shells" by using the gorgeous "Shocked" rubber stamp from the Emerald Creek stamps range with some air hardening white clay!




I hope you like the result as much as I do!


Emerald Creek Products used:


other supplies used, available at Emerald Creek:


Here's how I did it:

I rolled out some white Fimo Soft clay, sprayed it with water and pressed the stamp into it. Then I cut off the excess clay using the tip of a thin palette knife.





This special clay can be hardened in the microwave within a few minutes! I sanded the hardened shell shape for a softer edge using sandpaper.



I dabbed on some distress stains for a first layer of paint:


Then I sprayed on some gathered twigs Distress spray stain and heat dried everything. The Distress spray stain seeped into the stamped crevices and thus made the shell's texture more visible.


But it also tinted the whole shell's surface and sanding some of it down here and there revealed the lighter colours underneath which made the shells look weathered and worn and even more natural!



Time to create the background for my tag! I used Distress paints in various blues alongside some broken china Distress spray stain for the marbling technique.


Then I scraped on some white Distress paint directly from the bottle with a palette knife and immediately sprinkled on some "Mercury Rising" Emerald Creek embossing powder.


After that was melted with the heat tool, I repeated this step with Emerald Creek's "Ultra Puff White" embossing powder. This one melts to a rough surface which is perfect for a sandy feel to add to my tag.


Then it was all toned down by adding some gathered twigs Distress ink using a blending tool. The blues and the brown from the ink mix to a gorgeous "beach-y" bleached yellow-ish tone!


Some spritzes of water and drying with the heat tool to add additional stains!



So far for my finished tag background:



Time to fix my shells, rafia ribbon, chit chat stickers and ideo-ology ribbon!





And here we are! 







I hope you like my "faux sea shell" tag and technique! You can create as many shells as you need with just a bit of clay and a rubber stamp! How cool is that!

Make sure you check out the projects of my fab teamies too! And I hope to see you over at the Emerald Creek Dares blog soon! There is a $25 voucher waiting for one lucky winner!



Hugs, happy summer and happy crafting!
Claudia 
xxx


Monday 25 July 2016

Did you know that cute little piglets...

... serve as one of the most popular lucky charms in Austria and Germany? (not sure if they also number among them in other countries...)

Well, this piglet does not only bring luck and happiness...it also looks quite happy itself (as it obviously will not end up as a roasted suckling...which is another way for piglets to "appear" in birthday festivities in Austria's countryside...honestly I prefer the non-roasted, squeeking and grunting version ;).




To see the whole project and read the (short and simple) how-to, hop over to the Calico Craft Parts Blog (by clicking HERE). I would love to see you over there!

Hugs, happy summer holidays and happy crafting!
Claudia
xxx




Thursday 14 July 2016

A Blast From the Past at Emerald Creek Dares!

Welcome to another dare over at Emerald Creek Dares!


 This time lovely Kim asks us all to share a 

Blast From the Past 


...which means that you are invited to repost some of your Greats from weeks, months or even years ago!

It often turns out to be a good thing to revisit our older posts and projects as we often find that we forgot about great techniques and styles we loved back then and that might well lead to new inspirational projects here and now!

Well - here is one of my favourites! It was the second (or third?) project I did as a newbie on Kim's lovely DT and I still consider this one a "Blast" and the result of a "divine" moment at my crafting desk. lol (well, I guess you all know what I mean...giggle).







I used tons of Distress paints and Emerald Creek embossing powders on the heart and had a ball creating away and mixing the powders and paints rather daringly (well...at least I felt I was rather daring...lol).

If you are interested in visiting (or re-visiting) the tutorial simply follow my link by clicking HERE.

Emerald Creek embossing powders used:


Other products used that are available at Emerald Creek:




Don't miss the chance to re-share some of your golden oldies and maybe win the $25 voucher for the Emerald Creek store! Can't wait to see what you choose!



Hugs and happy crafting!
Claudia
xxx



Monday 11 July 2016

She Sells Seashells - Creating with Calico Craft Parts - Part VI

Aaand another invitation and sneak peek to lure you over to the wonderful Calico Craft Parts Blog!




Do you love sea shells as much as I do? Well - then check out Calico Craft Parts' gorgeous sea shell collection and the project I made for your inspiration! To get to the blog and project click HERE.

Hope to see you over there!
Hugs and happy crafting,
Claudia
xxx