Friday 24 August 2018

Don't Forget to Shine! - Bubbalux Bangle


Hi, servus and thanks for stopping by! It's Friday evening over here and I wish you all a lovely weekend! Finally temperatures have cooled down. Phew! With lower temperatures my creative muse seems to have returned as well and I would like to share a project today that I made using something new to me - CraftTex Bubbalux Creative Craft Board.

The lovely people from Personal Impressions let me have some for free to play and experiment with. Thank you so much! I had great fun and have yet just started to find out about all the possibilities.

On the package it says that Bubbalux can be cut with scissors (I used large ones and that worked well), die cut (that's on my list), embossed (of course I had to try that!), painted (yes, that had to be tried out too), shaped (Whoa! Cool! That was definitely the first thing to put on my "try this"-list!), stamped on,  screen printed and ...well, I am sure other crafty folks out there will find out a lot more amazing things to do with it.

Of course my aim was to find out if I could also use it and create something Claudia-style...if you know what I mean...something a bit grunge and worn looking.

And here we go:




Voilá - my first Bubbalux Bangle, done with the use of our hair drier and various DecoArt and DecoArt media paints and products. But let me also show you the back and inside of my bangle....






...and then take you through the process.





I received some blue Bubbalux to play with (it comes in six different colours). Packages come in sizes of three sheets of 2mm thickness that measure 215 x 279 mm.


I used my large pair of household scissors to cut a strip of 25 mm width off one sheet. That took a bit of an effort, but I managed to do a neat cut easily. Then I removed the protective clear board-coating from the cut off strip.



I cut the strip to the length of about 16 cm and sanded all the edges and corners with a sanding block.



Of course I had to try some embossing with my Big Shot! That went absolutely smoothly and the result looked really cool!



I carefully heated the embossed strip with our hair drier  (as there's only a little heat needed to soften the Bubbalux to bend it into shape). That was really easy too. You only have to pay attention to not heat it too much,  otherwise the embossed texture might get lost (also pay attention not to flatten the embossed texture when holding and shaping the softened bangle with your fingers!)


For my focal element (and to cover up the edge where the two embossed sections meet in the centre) I also cut out and embossed a single word using a tiny piece of Bubbalux from the left overs and the same embossing folder again. The single word was glued on using superglue.



Next I primed the bangle's outer side with Lamp Black DecoArt Americana acrylic paint. I stippled the paint on with a worn bristle brush to avoid any visible brushstrokes. By stippling on the paint instead of brushing you also achieve beautiful texture and tooth for the following layers of paint to hold on to.



Then I started dry brushing on different layers of acrylic paints. The first layer was DecoArt Titanium White Americana paint.



That was followed by a layer of DecoArt Quinacridone Gold Hue premium paint, ...



...then by some Raw Sienna,...



...some Cobalt Teal Hue...



....and once that had dried, a wash of DecoArt media English Red Oxide fluid acrylic paint.



I let that air dry thoroughly before I went on to my next step - gently dry brushing on a very light layer of Lamp Black here and there and then sealing the dried paints with a matte spray sealant. I finished off my bangle by adding some Orange Flicker DecoArt Metallic Lustre with my fingertip for the final bling.



To cover up the blue colour from the Bubbalux sheet on the bangle's inside, I glued on some fabric using matte DecoArt Decou-Page. I first glued the fabric on, let that dry and then cut off the excess. The Decou-Page also helps to prevent the fabric from fraying.



I added more Orange Flicker Metallic Lustre to all the edges once the glue had dried to finish up my bangle.




And this is how it looks when being worn:





The Bubbalux is so lightweight that you hardly feel it on your wrist and there's a short moment of surprise when you pick it up, because it weighs nothing - the worn metal look even adds to that effect.





I spy some potential for more fun and lightweight mixed media jewellery projects in the future! ;)







I hope you like my heavyweight looking lightweight "metal" bangle as much as I do! I would also love to hear about your experiences and projects with Bubbalux as I have only just started to find out about all the possibilities there are. I am sure some creative geniuses out there have already taken this new crafting substrate to the next level. ;)


Have a nice weekend and as always
hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia 
xxx

Monday 20 August 2018

Diving Deep at Calico Craft Parts

Hi, servus and welcome to another Monday on which I try to lure you over to the Calico Craft Parts Blog to check out my latest project and tutorial there!

Of course I had to help myself to some of the new Tim Holtz 3D embossing folders and my first play with one of them was not only great fun but the result has definitely exceeded my expectations. Just wow! I have long been waiting for a possibility to create a beautiful wood texture on paper withouth having to use a stencil - now it's here!




 I have even dared use some driftwood from the home decor shop alongside my selfmade driftwood plank (and I like my paper version of it more to be honest). ;)

But what I love most on my new Calico Craft Parts project is this:



The picture only shows part of the amazing new wood shape, but isn't the detail just stunning? I only needed to add some DecoArt media fluid acrylics and look at that!

You will love this new Calico Craft Parts wood shape (and of course all the others) once you have seen the whole piece! I promise! Hope to see you over there! Simply click HERE to get taken to the project post and a very detailed tutorial!

Hugs and happy crafting!
Claudia
xxx

Monday 6 August 2018

A bit of Gold, Pink, Green and Divine Crackle - a Calico Craft Parts Blog Invite

Hi, servus and welcome to another quick invitation over to the Calico Craft Parts Blog, where I am sharing my latest project. As the sneak peek image shows I have mixed divine crackle (thanks to the fab DecoArt Weathered Wood crackle medium) with delicate flowers and dashes of gold to create a.....erm....click HERE to find out. ;)





Hugs and happy crafting!
Claudia
xxx

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