Mixed Media Coral Board - a DecoArt Mixed Media DT Project

Servus and welcome to my blog on this snowy and rainy day in the midst of April! *rollingeyes

My latest project for the DecoArt Mixed Media Blog has gone live a few days ago and now's the time to post a short little invite over here to lure you over to check out the make and the tutorial.

I have been playing around with the DecoArt media Gloss Varnish and did a kind of "Varnish Layer Resist" thingie. This is the result I got:

As you can see I also used wire and a crackle medium alongside some found objects...

...and this is the coral that gave name to my creation. You could as well use fossils, shells, insects,...and many other nature finds for this project that is mainly meant to stage these finds. Most of the time they are being stored away in little boxes or drawers...but why not get them out and put them on a wall?

As this is just a detail view I hope to see you over at the DecoArt Mixed Media Blog where you can check out the technique and full tutorial !

Thanks for stopping by and as always

hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

Going Eastern at Calico Craft Parts

Hi, servus and welcome to my usual bi-weekly invite over to the Calico Craft Parts blog where I am sharing another project and tutorial.

And here's the "mystery picture" that is meant to make you curious and lure you over to the CCP blog ;)

Yep, this could be a box (you all know I love boxes). Yep, it could also be an ATB (Artist Trading Block) project (you all know I love the fab ATB cube kits from Calico Craft Parts). Yep, this one could be real fun to make. lol

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

Have a good start into the week and as always...

...hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

"Steampunk City" ATCs for SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges

Servus, hi and welcome to the mid-month projects share over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges!


The challenge theme is once more "Anything Goes - Steampunk/Industrial" - so you are free to create whatever makes you happy (as long as it meets our few challenge rules of course).

Team B - which I am part of - have again put a lot of love and labour into creating some awesomely inspiring projects for you! And we already have a lot of amazing entries from our wonderful players (not to forget about the fab makes of Team A)...so there's a lot to find and check out over at our challenge blog (and I am so proud of what the small challenge blog that Sandra and I set up four years ago has become!!!)


This time my April project was done using stuff from my latest Tim Holtz haul. ;)

There's a lot of traffic going on on my "Steampunk City" ATCs! Zeppelins are floating by and shiny metal dust flakes from the many factories cloud the air. Gear shaped drones are monitoring everything that happens down in the narrow streets...these are adventurous times for tough steampunk explorers! 

These are actually altered playing cards but very close to ATCs regarding their size and format...

The playing cards were first covered with old book pages on both sides (so they do not warp!) and then blended with various Distress Oxide inks and spritzed with water to activate the oxidizing process.

The Zeppelins (a flonzcraft design) were stamped onto the cards and partially coloured with a white gel pen. 

The "Cityscape" skyline was die cut from Kraft card that I had used the Distress Oxide inks on as well but then had to darken it with walnut stain to make their silhouette pop from the background.

They were glued to the background and outlined with a white gel pen and a black permanent marker. 

I added some of the fab new Tim Holtz "Aristocrat" design tapes to the bottom. 

Then I stamped on some gears (that are meant to be "drones") and doodled on them with the white gel pen too. Afterwards I sprinkled on whatever metal spray inks and paints I had - from gold and "brushed pewter" to opaque white. 

The cards' edges were darkened using black archival stamping ink and a piece of cut'n dry foam. Done!

After seeing the finished APCs I found that it would also have been a cool effect if I had stamped the Zeppelins across the touching cards so they would float by from card to card...guess I will have to do some more... ;)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you over at our challenge blog soon! Please, visit my teamies' blogs and leave them a little love if you are able to spare a second or two!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

Busily Crafting for Easter at Calico Craft Parts

Hi, servus and welcome to another short invite and teaser to lure you over to the Calico Craft Parts Blog where I am sharing a shabby chic Easter crafting idea and also some (hopefully helpful) hints on how to paint natural looking flowers with acrylic paints. 

Wishing you a good start into the week and hope to see you over at the Calico Craft Parts Blog soon!

Hugs and happy (Easter) crafting!

Claudia

xxx

Double Duty at Emerald Creek Dares

"Double Duty" 

is this month's challenge over at Emerald Creek Dares - and a challenging one it is indeed. We want to see projects that can have multiple meanings - be it a card that can be used for different occasions for example or an item that can be used in several ways.

I went for the second option and created two rings - one that can be used as a napkin ring and one that serves as a little lantern to be put over a tea light:

I used the fab "Trellis" and "Honeycomb" Sizzix dies designed by Tim Holtz to create my rings and the fab embossing powders and embellishments from the Emerald Creek online shop. Here's the list of all the Emerald Creek items I used - but you will find a lot more that can be used for this project. So the possibilities for designs are almost endless ;)

EC Charred Gold embossing powder

EC Hammered Metal embossing powder

Amethyst Gemstones

Filigree Cherry Blossoms Charm

Antique Silver Metal Circle Dots Brads

Royal Fork Charm

Royal Knife Charm

And here's the how-to:

Die cut two strips of each design from heavy black card. 

Cut off a segment from each second strip as shown in the picture.

Then glue the pieces together by overlapping a whole segment from each strip. 

Don't close your rings yet!

Paint the insides of the rings with a metal paint. I used DecoArt Dazzling Metallic "Copper" paint.

As you can see I marked those segments with a white gel pen that were later going to be glued behind the opposite segment to close the rings so I would not add any paint and/embossing powders to these spots. Glue doesn't work too well on heat embossed surfaces. 

Heat emboss the other side of the rings with a metal looking embossing enamel. I used Charred Gold and Hammered Metal - two of my absolute favs!

Using a strong glue (like matte DecoArt Decou-Page for example) glue the untreated end segments behind the  opposite ends to close the rings. Fix them with some cloths pins until the glue has dried.

I used the gorgeous Royal Fork and Knife charms for the napking ring and decided to fix them with the cool silver circle brads. 

I simply bent the brad's ends around ...

...and then added some hot glue to the back. 

I also used my hot glue gun to fix the large Filigree Cherry Blossom embellishment and the gorgeous little Amethyst gem stone to the "lantern ring".

...and this is how the finished lantern looks:

And here's the finished napking ring: 

My lantern ring can be used as a napkin ring too. But the fork and knife embellies sadly are too heavy to have that ring "stand" so it can be used around the tea light too - so IF you want to create ONE ring to use for both purposes make sure your added embellishments aren't too heavy.

Maybe I will make a stand for the lantern ring that has a bit of a brim - so that will also hold a ring upright and in place that has heavier embellishments on it. ;)

I hope you like my double duty project idea! 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you soon over at the Emerald Creek Dares blog! If you would like to win an amazing $50 voucher to spend at the shop playing along is all you have to do. Can't wait to see what you will come up with! If you are in need for some inspiration - my teamies' have made some cool projects too! ;) 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx