Two Tiny Mixed Media Houses

Servus and welcome to my little creative spot here in beautiful Vienna!

I would like to share two tiny mixed media houses today that just hopped off my plate and that I had a lot of fun creating. When I saw the fab Tim Holtz "Tiny Houses" Sizzix die for the first time I knew this was a must have - even though I have ordered myself to keep crafty stuff shopping at a minimum this year (because I have too much of it already and no place to store away any new items ;) !

I also love seeing all the gorgeous houses out there in crafty blogland with the lovely idea-ology "Collector" images on them and the latest designer papers and washi tapes. But I wanted to go for a mixed media version of the cute houses and here they come (at least a first mixed media version for starters...I could also imagine using these houses as a kind of "art journaling" format to work on...each time with different media and a different topic...if you do one every other week or so you'll end up with a lovely little art journal village at the end of the year...):

They were done using DecoArt media and paints alongside my beloved Stabilo All Aquarellable black pencil and my much used black soot Distress Crayon.


Here's a quick how-to:

I first collaged torn tissue and dictionary page scraps to heavy cardstock using DecoArt "Paper" Decou-Page. Then I scraped on some white DecoArt media Crackle Paint with a palette knife.
Once that had dried I applied a wash of a mix of DecoArt media "Transparent Red Oxide" and "Raw Umber" Antiquing Creams. After I had sprinkled on some black and white DecoArt media Shimmer/Misters and heat dried everything properly I die cut my tiny houses.

I smudged some black soot Distress Crayon along the edges using my fingertip, then I glued my houses together with my hot glue gun. I drew the doors and windows freehand with my aquarellable black pencil and activated the pigments with a waterloaded fine tip brush. DecoArt media "Translucent White" was used to paint the door and window frames and also add some flowers and a washing line. As the wet acrylic paint re-activated the black aquarellable pencil lines I got "smudges" of grey here and there (which is an effect that adds a lot of depth).

I finished off my houses by adding details in "Bahama Blue" Americana acrylic paint for bit of contrast against all the brown colour tones.

I left the backsides as they were...just in case I might need the houses as a more "decent" decoration without the whimsy touch.

The cool turquoise paint makes the brown tones look even warmer and more intense. 

The roof tiles were handdrawn with the black aquarellable pencil too.

The other roof only got turquoise lines as a pattern as the design from the collaged on paper looks already "busy" enough. 

I painted the mown lawn all around my smaller house as I love how it forms a kind of "border".

I had also done a first try on a tiny house when my die and Distress Oxides arrived using two fussy cut images showing me as a kid...

I found that for me the Distress Oxides worked a lot better on high quality mixed media papers than on my usual cardstock. Not too bad for a very first try I dare say.... ;)

The roof was done by stencilling on a heart pattern with white DecoArt Modeling Paste and adding spray paint once all was dry.

So here's the start of my little village...and looking at the image I can no longer hide from myself that I seem to have a slight obsession when it comes to houses...lol

I hope you enjoyed your visit! Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

I did it! I made something cute!!!

Yes, yes...believe it or not - deep inside my grunge-loving heart there is also a corner that can fall for cute things....the proof can be found and seen HERE (on the Calico Craft Parts blog)!

I even used pastell tones and one of them was real pink. Not kidding! Here's a little sneak peek to show that I am telling the truth:

Hope to see you over at the Calico Craft Parts Blog!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia 

xxx

Round Two of our March Challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges

Servus, hi, welcome and thank you for stopping by!

The 15th of the month it is - and this means I am sharing my latest steampunk creation for our March challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges with you today!

We are back to  our usual "Anything Goes - Steampunk/Industrial" mode by now - so there is plenty of room for your creative ideas!!! Mine originated from rearranging stuff in my craft room and when I sorted my Sizzix dies I stumbled across the fab "Mosaic" die (by Tim Holtz)...and an idea started to form in my head. (which lead to a sudden stop in the process of cleaning up of course because I just HAD to try it out).

I simply layered three die cut mosaic frames the way that they created overlaps...like some metal framework or pipes (at least that was the image I had in my head when arranging and layering the corrugated card frames). 

To create the metal and worn look I used DecoArt media fluid acrylics, media black Gesso and Modeling Paste, black, white and turquoise Misters and Shimmer Misters, the fab "Short Circuit" stencil and Metallic Lustres. 

So I started with die cutting my mosaic frame three times from thick corrugated card. 

Then I layered and flipped the panels until I liked the layered look and cut them all to size.

The top layer was given a coat of black Gesso and once that was dry I applied the Short Circuit pattern through the stencil using black Modeling Paste and a palette knife.

While that was set aside to dry I glued the other two layers together and added a back panel that I had cut from heavy cardboard (from an old packaging).

The front panel was glued in place too and the whole mosaic layer piece was sprayed with dark acrylic paint from the media Mister.

The spots that the Mister had missed (sorry for the pun ;) were fixed with black Gesso. 

I dry brushed on some Sparkling Turquoise Metallic Lustre.

Next I went in with some Gold Rush Metallic Lustre and added it randomly to some spots using my fingertips.

I added sprinkles of white, black and turquoise Shimmer/Mister. 

To tone it all down and make it look a bit warmer and more worn I added a thin wash of Transparent Red Iron Oxide.

The (alpha parts) letters were glued in place and dabbed on some Gold Rush and Iced Espresso Metallic Lustre. 

The chit chat sticker was stuck in place.....done!

Some close ups as usual:

I hope you like my steampunk mosaic panel!

I would love to invite you over to our SASPC challenge blog to check out my teamies' makes as well! I promise you will find loads of fab inspiration over there! 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

A Canvas Tag and a Flower

Servus, hi, thanks for stopping by and welcome to my little creative spot!
It's been a long time since I last made a paper flower...but once in a while a project just screams for one and I have to admit: I had such fun creating it! I used the fab "Tattered Florals" die from Tim Holtz (which is the only flower die I have and one of my very first items I bought when starting this hobby).

The challenge for my latest DT project for Canvas Corp Brands was to work on one of their canvas tags from the "Canvas Shapes" line. It's a large, stitched tag made from pure canvas - so paints and mists and other media behave a bit differently on it than they do with paper. So I experimented a lot - with Gesso, aquarellable pencils, scraped on paint, sprayed and sprinkled on Glimmer Mists....and they all turned out just amazingly!

And of course my tag had to have a jute cord loop! 

If you want to see the finished tag and a detailed how-to with steps images over at the Canvas Corp Brands site (alongside another tag that was done by my crew mate Alicja - one canvas tag - two totally different outcomes) just hop over by following the link:

http://blog.canvascorpbrands.com/canvas-tag-what-to-do-with-it/

Hope to see you over there!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

Get Those Cogs Spinning!

Servus, hi, thank you for stopping by and welcome to today's short invite post for another project and short how-to over at the Calico Craft Parts blog!

Calico Craft Parts have just launched some of the most amazing new steampunk designs and of course I couldn't resist laying hands on them.

If you want to know what it is that I used the tools and technique shown below for, simply hop over to the Calico Craft Parts Blog to find out!  ;)

Hope to see you over there! 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

Splatter Some Fun at Emerald Creek Dares

Servus, hi and welcome to the start of a new dare over at the Emerald Creek Dares blog!

Splatter Some Fun!

is this month's motto and I love it!


You all know I love to sprinkle and splatter on acrylic paint, to smudge, spray and scrape it onto any possible substrate. And when I do so I use white sheets of paper to protect my desk. And when I manage to stop at the right point these protective sheets become beautiful backgrounds for new projects that I splatter and sprinkle even more paint or other media on ;)

In this particular case I used some of the fab Emerald Creek embossing powders to add splatter. To do so I needed a splatter stencil of course (and luckily I had one in my stash...deep down in my stencil box). This triple layer tag is the result of my splatter fun experience:

Emerald Creek Products used:

St. Paddy's Day embossing powder

Chinese New Year embossing powder

Tangarine Orange Sparkle embossing powder

Prize Cameo Charm

Ranger Emboss It Dabber

Distress Crayon - black soot

And here's a short how-to if you like:

Glue some protective paper onto heavy card and die cut three tags in various sizes. 

Use a splatter stencil and an embossing dabber to add your splatter patterns to the tags. 

Heat emboss as usual: 

Darken the tags' edges by smudging on some black soot Distress Crayon.

Add a focal piece to your layered tags. I decided to go for one of the lovely Emerald Creek Cameo Charms and a glass cabochon from my stash. 

I punched a circle from a left over scrap of the paper that I die cut the tags from, added a word sticker (I blended the edges with dark archival stamping ink) and glued all my layers (including the cabochon) onto the charm using DecoArt media Liquid Glass. 

Once all had dried I stacked my tags using sticky foam pads. 

Done!

I hope I managed to capture some of the bling from the embossing powders! It was quite dark outside (and when using my daylight lamps the glittery effect becomes almost invisible). 

Once more the finished tag (so you don't have to scroll back to the top):

I would like to see your interpretation of some good splatter fun! Simply click HERE to get to the challenge blog and to check out my teamies' makes as well! Don't miss your chance to win a $50 voucher to spend at the Emerald Creek online store! 

Hope to see you over there soon!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx