Stampendous and DecoArt Blog Hop - Day 5

Phew! What an amazing week this has been! I am so glad that you stop by my little creative corner again to see the finale of the fabulous blog hop week!

Stampendous say:

"The excitement continues as conclude our grand tour of amazing artists playing with Stampendous, DecoArt, and Princeton Artist Brushes via inspired by Willow Wolfe products! 

The inspiration has been amazing, and today you'll be even more astonished! If you missed the beginning of our journey, be sure to go back and check it out! MONDAY - TUESDAY - WEDNESDAY - THURSDAY 

Of course, there are prizes! DecoArt is sending three sets of their Media Fluid Acrylics, Princeton Artist Brushes via inspired by Willow Wolfe is donating Select 3750 Brushes and some Catalyst Wedges, and we'll be adding a Stampendous Creative Palette so you can practice all the techniques you'll see this week. We'll be sending three prize packages to commenters with U.S. Mailing Addresses, and DecoArt will be sending three generous sample packages to international commenters, so all our friends can play. 

 

Visit each blog, leave a comment! • Like Stampendous, DecoArt, Princeton Artist Brushes, and inspired by Willow Wolfe on Facebook! • We've also got a Pinterest Board started!

 

Please repin our projects on to your boards and be sure to tag us when you do (#Stampendous, #DecoArt, #PrincetonArtistBrushes, #byWillowWolfe) - we'll be tracking. Your comments on the blogs are your entry into the drawing! AND I have a few bonus goodies hanging around my office for some lucky people who SHARE our Facebook posts and Pinterest Pins! Ready for your trip around the world??? Then get a cup of coffee and get comfy. You have until the end of Sunday, June 29 PDT to comment on all the blog posts.

Louise Crosbie (Scotland, UK)

Lea Kimmel (North Carolina, USA)

Claudia Neubacher (Vienna, Austria)

Asia King (Oxford, UK)

Iliane de Fockert (Elly) (Niedersachsen, Germany)

Suzanne Czosek (Illinois, USA)

Julia Stratford-Wright (near London, UK)

Kristine Reynolds (California, USA)

Angelica Stark (Hudiksvall, Sweden)

Mark Gould (West Sussex, UK)

Debbie Cole (California, USA)

Jamie Martin (Oklahoma, USA)

Tobi Crawford (BC, Canada)

Wendy Price (New Jersey, USA)

Jessa Plant (Arizona, USA)

 

If you haven't already checked them out - here are the Official Rules."

*** 

So welcome back to day 5 of the inspiring blog hop featuring the DecoArt International Design Team - with the one and only Andy Skinner - who is giving away this terrific make to one of the commentors on the DecoArt DT members' blogs only and reveils the lucky winner today over here!!!!

 

Day 5 sees the grand final of a week full of inspirational posts from both - the Stampendous and DecoArt design teams and I hope you have enjoyed visiting all the teamies blogs so far!

My final piece for this blog hop has the wonderful Stampendous Fran-tage embossing enamels and mica flakes used on it as well as a lot of the new DecoArt media 

like for example their awesome new formula white Gesso and the "Iridiscent Gold" and "- Turquoise" alongside some "Metallic Gold" from the new DecoArt media fluid acrylics line.

I also used DecoArt's fabulous new "Translucent White" fluid acrylic to tone some dictionary pages I used to create the box for my shrine pendant.

As you can see the pages I used on the inside of the shrine are a lot lighter than the ones I left in their original state to use on the outside.

On the shrine's edges I used Fran-tage embossing enamels and I really love those teal and tea-stained mica flakes that surround the frozen charlotte. (You find a full materials list at the end of this post).

I also stamped some texture to the outside of the shrine to add some interest.

The hook and the ornament at the bottom were metal smithed from copper wire and blended in with DecoArt Metallic Lustre "Gold Rush", which I also used on the word bands which I hammered and stamped from aluminium wire.

The box was made from thick corrugated card, which I glued together with some masking tape and covered with dictionary pages (using the DecoArt Decou-Page matte glue and sealant).

The frozen charlotte was given a coat of DecoArt Media "Interference Gold" which creates a light and most delicate shimmer. I also added some to the shrine's outside (but honestly didn't manage to capture really well with any of my photographs I am afraid). At least the sheen is visible on the frozen charlotte (the other effects get visible as the pendant moves and turns).

The background the frozen charlotte and mica flakes are added to was done with adding a heavy coat of the DecoArt media white Gesso with a palette knife, before I stuck a dictionary scrap to it.

The dictionary scrap I placed the doll on was coloured with washes made from various DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics like the fab "Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide".

I hope you like my little shrine pendant! I definitely enjoyed creating with all the fabby stuff I was given and really hope that you leave my place inspired to hop over to the others' blogs (and maybe even create some Stampendous-DecoArt goodness too)!

Make sure to check out all the blogs from today's blog hop (and those you haven't visited throughout the week already)! It really is worth hopping!

Materials used: 

- thick corrugated card (collected from old packaging materials)
- DecoArt Decou-Page matte glue and sealant
- dictionary pages
- DecoArt media white Gesso
- DecoArt media Fluid Acrylics: "Interference Gold", "Interference Turquoise", "Translucent White", "Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide", "English Red Oxide", "Dioxazine Purple"
- DecoArt Metallic Lustre "Gold Rush"
- Stampendous Fran-tage embossing enamels "Aged Gold" and "Aged Teal", mica flakes "Teal" and "Tea Stained"
- Stampendous stamp from the "Wired" stamp set

- a frozen charlotte, aluminium wire, copper wire, beads, hammer and anvil, round nose pliers, palette knife, brushes, water, cloth


Hugs and happy crafting,
Claudia xx

Stampendous and DecoArt Blog Hop - Day3

 

Welcome back to Day 3 of this week's terrific Stampendous and DecoArt blog hop event! If you have missed the start of it, you can scroll to the previous post on my blog or simply read what Stampendous say:

"We're using terrific products from our generous friends at DecoArt and Princeton Artist Brushes, via inspired by Willow Wolfe, this week to show you that "if it will sit still long enough, you can paint it and stamp it!" 

If you're just joining us, don't miss the great inspiration from Monday's Post and Tuesday's Post. Artists from DecoArt's International Design Team are joining the Stampendous team to create some astonishing inspiration for you. Prepare to be amazed! 

Of course, there are PRIZES! 

DecoArt is sending sets of their Media Fluid Acrylics, we'll be adding a Stampendous Creative Palette, and Decorative Painter Willow Wolfe has persuaded Princeton Artist Brushes to donate some Select 3750 Brushes and a Catalyst Wedge to each prize package. We'll mail three prize packages to commenters with U.S. Mailing Addresses, and Deco Art will mail three sample packages to international commenters so all of our friends can play!

Visit each blog, leave a comment! • Like Stampendous, DecoArt, Princeton Artist Brushes and inspired by Willow Wolfe on Facebook! • We've also got a Pinterest Board started!

 

Please repin our projects on to your boards and be sure to tag us when you do (#Stampendous, #DecoArt, #PrincetonArtistBrushes, #byWillowWolfe) - we'll be tracking. Your comments on the blogs are your entry into the drawing! 

We'll randomly choose three blog posts from all the designer posts this week and then choose one commenter from each with a U.S. Mailing Address to receive a prize package. THEN we'll choose three international commenters to receive a generous sample pack courtesy of DecoArt, so everybody can play this time! AND I have a few bonus goodies hanging around my office for some lucky people who SHARE our Facebook posts and Pinterest Pins! Ready for your trip around the world??? Let's get Hoppin!

DecoArt Blog

Stampendous Blog

Claudia Neubacher (Vienna, Austria)

Kristine Reynolds (California, USA)

Iliane de Fockert (Elly) (Niedersachsen, Germany)

Julia Stratford-Wright (near London, UK)

Julie Robertson (UK)

Jamie Martin (Oklahoma, USA)

Debbie Cole (California, USA)

Shannon Moyer-Szemenyei (Canada)

Tamiko McCurry (Illinois, USA)

The Official Rules are here."

***

Hasn't it been a terrific week so far? Loads of awesome inspiration and no end in sight! Yay! Ready for another push to get your mojo flowing? Here we go:

my second project for this event is an art journal page I created with one of the prints I pulled using the Creative Palette and the new DecoArt Media "Fluid Acrylic" paints.

As with my first project (which you can find over here) I used some cut out circle masks, a brayer and the wonderful Stampendous stamps to create various layers. But this time I used some old, yellowed paper sheets to print on - which tone down the translucent colours a bit and make them blend in even more.

The text in the circles is written in German this time...it's some encouraging artists blurb kind of text mainly. *lol. Well, you know what I mean. (Honestly I could write a whole book about the strange miracle of lack of self confidence that is mainly to be found with really gifted and true artists....but I guess we all know that story).

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I also used some of the stencils that come with the Stampendous stamp sets alongside some Dazzling Metallics, a white Sharpie pen, a black ball point pen and a black watercolour pencil.

As the text is more of a textural thingie with this make it wasn't my goal to think too hard about what to write. I wrote the sentences as they evolved...in an associative way mainly.

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According to the amount of Fluid Medium or Gel Medium you add to the colours on the Creative Palette (and to how you move the brayer across the plate) you come up with visible streaks where the colours didn't blend in completely - an effect I really love!

The stamps I was given to by Stampendous are perfect matches for art journaling!

I hope you enjoyed your visit and leave my tiny creative spot inspired.... ready to hop over to the blogs of my talented DecoArt teamies and the fab Stampendous DT! Make sure to come back on Friday to check out my last project for this weeks blog hop event!

And don't forget: Andy Skinner is giving away one of his wonderful creations to one lucky person  too! You will find more information on how to get eligible to win this one if you scroll to the bottom of my previous post for this blog hop event. 

Happy blog hopping and creating!

Claudia x

Stampendous and DecoArt Blog Hop - Day 1

Servus and welcome to the start of an exciting week with some massive blog hopping with DecoArt in collaboration with Stampendous, who have provided the members of the DecoArt International Design Team (featuring Andy Skinner) with loads of their awesome stuff so they could join in and show what they can create with their lovely stamps, stencils, embossing powders and enamels and the Creative Palette!

But I guess I better first let Stampendous do the talking:

 "Our great friends at DecoArt are joining with us this week to show you what you can do with stamps and acrylic paint! 

You'll be amazed how these two craft items make amazing things! Artists from all over the world will be playing with Stampendous and DecoArt. Prepare to be amazed! Of course, there are prizes! DecoArt is sending three sets of their Media Fluid Acrylics to international commenters, and we'll be adding a $20 Stampendous Reward card to each one so you can choose the stamps or essentials you'd most like to work with!! 

Visit each blog, leave a comment! • Like Stampendous and DecoArt on Facebook! • We've also got a Pinterest Board started!

Please repin our projects on to your boards and be sure to tag us when you do (#Stampendous and #DecoArt) - we'll be tracking. Your comments on the blogs are your entry into the drawing! We'll randomly choose three blog posts from all the designer posts this week and then choose a winner from each to receive a prize package. BUT I have a few bonus goodies hanging around my office for some lucky people who SHARE our Facebook posts and Pinterest Pins! Sorry, even though our artists are from all over the world, you still have to have a U.S. Mailing Address to win. The Official Rules can help explain why. Ready for your trip around the world??? Let's get Hoppin!

Claudia Neubacher (Vienna, Austria)

Kristine Reynolds (California, USA)

Iliane de Fockert (Elly) (Niedersachsen, Germany)

Julia Stratford-Wright (near London, UK)*

Julie Robertson (UK)

Asia King (Oxford, England)

Jessa Plant (Arizona, USA)

Kathi Rerek (New Jersey, USA)*

The Official Rules can be found here. Ready for your trip around the world??? Let's get Hoppin!"

* Sorry - there was a mistake with the first version of the link, but it is updated and should work now. 

***

I hope everything is clear now and you can enjoy a wonderful inspiring hop! As I have the special honour to open this terrific event, I really hope you like my little "Take Away Sketch Journal" I made for a very special and talented young lady (so she can note her ideas for more great poetry in it whenever they hit her mind). 

DecoArt also sent a huge bundle of their new Media fluid acrylics line to their DT so we all can experiment and explore the new possibilities to show them to you, makes this event even more exciting! 


And this is the awesome load of goodness I was able to play with during the last days:

Awesome, isn't it? The new fluid acrylics from the DecoArt media range contain an incredible amount of pigments and I love the opaque tones as well as the translucent ones! There's an "Interference" colours range too, antiquing creme and some fab texture media like crackle glaze and paste and different varnishes - just to name a few. If you hop over to the blogs of my fab teamies (throughout the week) you will find the whole variety there is to choose from - and what you can create with it!

This week is going to see a lot of inspiration from the Stampendous AND the DecoArt International DT members and there will be new posts from Monday to Friday - and some chances to win goodies and give-aways too! So make sure you check back each day with Stampendous and DecoArt to not miss any of the fun! Also make sure to read to the bottom of this post so you don't miss a very special give away from fabulous Andy Skinner himself! Yay!


I highly recommend you visit all the blogs of my creative colleagues and get inspired (but to leave some words of encouragement as well - these are highly appreciated, you know?)! You won't regret it! I promise!


For a start I had a heavy play with the Creative Palette from Stampendous, which works really well as a palette to spread your acrylic colours on but also as a monoprinting plate! You simply apply acrylic colours - like the DecoArt Media fluid acrylics or the Americana paints - alongside some DecoArt Gel Medium or Fluid Medium (or other drying time extenders) - to the palette with a brayer, take off colour with stamps or bubble wrap, doodle into it, use masks... and pull your prints (applying pressure to the back of the paper with your hands or a brayer). Especially printing several layers in separate goes produces the most intriguing results!

You can see the Creative Palette to the left and one of the prints I pulled. It is the one I used to create a thin notebook from as I used a heavier paper with it - so it worked really well as a cover for a light-weight notebook with a sewn binding.

The white circles were done by positioning cut out paper (or acetate) masks before laying down the paper to pull the print. I like to use these areas where the white paper still shows through to add more detailed texture or text.

I stamped some "Brush Strokes" images (from the Stampendous stamp set) first - using DecoArt Traditions "Carbon Black", the Creative Palette and a piece of cut'n dry foam to apply the colour evenly to the stamps.

For more opaque stamped images I used some colours of the Americana range alongside the new Media Fluid Acrylic paints.

Slowly the layers of my cover began to build up and create depth. I also used DecoArt Dazzling Metallics for some of my stamping - to add a bit of metal shine and "bling". I hope a bit of it can be seen with this image:

The golden stamped dots circle was stamped with DecoArt Media "Interference Gold" - which is very subtle but gives a rather delicate feel to your creations.

For a finish I added some detail with a white Sharpie pen and black watercolour pencil.

I then cut the cover to size, folded it and cut some sheets of paper to according size to sew them to the cover.

And this is how the finished project looks like:

I hope you like it! I had such a ball playing with the Creative Palette and the beautiful stamps and the new DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics go a long way with just a little droplet! Stampendous stamp sets used: Brush Strokes, Grunge, Wired.

Also up for grabs - exclusively on the Decoart International Design Team Blog posts -  is a chance to win a one off piece of artwork from brilliant Andy Skinner who will choose one winner from the comments on our blog posts on Thursday and will announce the winner on his Facebook page on Friday: Andy Skinner  facebook page

Didn't promise too much, did I? ;)

I will share some more projects I created for the DecoArt-Stampendous blog hop on Wednesday and Friday - so make sure you come back to check them out! Thanks for stopping by my place and enjoy hopping!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia x

That Craft Place Blog Hop!

Servus, dear crafting friends, readers and followers old and especially anew,

come and join me and the fab design team on some blog hop fun for That Craft Place !
It is also the start of our new challenge and you are very welcome to enter as by doing so you get eligible to win some awesome prizes and give-aways!

The theme is a delightful "Anything goes" - so dont forget to have fun and enter your creation into our challenge!



The prizes to be won:

 1st £10 to spend in That Craft Place
 2nd £10 to spend in the DDD (Ditzie Digi Designs)  esty store
 3rd £5 to spend in That Craft Place
 4th £5  to spend in the DDD etsy store

Now to win you need to make sure you are a member of each group! 

So here are the links to the shop and the facebook groups:

TCP facebook shop group
Natter&Chatter facebook group
Ditzie Digi Design's inspiration group
Our Etsy store

We also give away freebies in the Ditzie Digi Design group once a month so all you digi fans out there please hop over and say Hi!

My personal give away for you would be this little wall hanging. I will randomly draw a winner from all the people who leave a comment with this post next Saturday. So check back then to find out if you are the one!

I created this little hanging assemblage from Lisa's fabulous Ditzie Designs Wood embellishments mainly (the wings, the bird cage and the lock), using a lot of DecoArt paints and media on them like Chalky Finish paints "smitten" and "rustic" alongside some "gold" Dazzling Metallics and Traditions "Titanium White" (which I simply spread using my fingertips).

The "Inspire Others" quote is an exclusive That Craft Place design too!

The wood embellishments, the stamp and the beautiful center piece with the cameo can be bought with Lisa's shop as well as the DecoArt stuff!
And if you don't find an item you desire with her shop range she will be happy to order it for you (which works best and fastest if you join the TCP facebook group)!

I will be very happy to send this over to one lucky winner! ;)

 ***

Now the amazing Design Team have some inspiration on their blogs and some of the DT ladies are even giving away their creations to one lucky blogger - so make sure you hop by and give them some love!

Lisa 

Amanada 

Shell

Claudia (the blog you are currently looking at)

Stacey 

Lorraine

Rebecca

Gayle

Debs 

Cheryl 

Kay

Cathy

Jules

Aurora

Lisa M

Erin S

Rachel

Suzi

Kezzy's 

Deb J
Erin  

Love & Hugs

from all of us at

That Craft Place

SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges - Mid Month Inspiration

Servus, dear Steampunk friends!

As some of you may already have spotted, we have some slight alterations with inspirational posts on the Steampunk challenge blog over at SanDee&amelie's. As our former "ambitious-two-steampunk-girlies team" has grown (because I was so lucky to have some of my favourite steampunk creators join my team), we decided to present our projects for your inspiration with two separate posts - one at the start of the challenge on the 1st of the month - and the other at mid-month, on the 15th.

So today you will find some more and brand new inspiration PLUS our last new member being introduced (AND all detail there is to know) for our actual challenge

"Shades of Grey, Blue and Rust"

if you hop over to our challenge blog.


And this is what I came up with to get you started:

This month we want you to exclusively use all shades of grey, blue and rust you can come up with (and decide to use) to create something steampunk for our challenge! Black lines from stamped images or quotes are allowed of course.

As usual we have a prize to give away too - donated by one of our generous sponsors! And it is once again Tusia from 7 Dots Studio! Yay! Check out the prize package she offers to send to one randomly drawn player from this month's challenge!

I was so lucky to lay my hands on one of the fab Sizzix Alterations arch dies with a sale lately - so I had to use it as soon as it arrived with the mail! The shrine-like shape is so very inspiring, isn't it?

I used some Distress crackle, idea-ology, Distress paints and DecoArt Americana acrylic paints alongside the fab large wooden gear from the fab Ditzie Designs range (which I really really LOVE as it is so heavenly bulky - which makes it look very "real" metal and heavy).

The small panel I glued the gears onto is a scrap of one of the Tim Holtz "Laboratoire" stash sheets. The "steampunk" word is an Artistic Outpost stamp.

The metal foil lace ribbon was a gift from a wonderful swap with the lovely and awesomely talented Candy Colwell (thank you once again, Candy! x).

Even though my mojo is suffering a bit at the moment - due to some health issues that cause trembling hands (which makes stamping and crafting rather tricky and tedious) - I really enjoyed creating this small steampunk assemblage panel! I hope you like it too and that you will join in our challenge soon! Can't wait to see your interpretation of our challenge theme!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia xx