A Glam Grunge Pencil Case - for StencilGirl Products

 Hi, servus and I hope you are all well and safe these days and enjoying a beautiful autumn!

I am sharing an autumn inspired project over at the StencilGirl Talk blog today. A lot of images and a detailed how-to are waiting for you to be checked out! Simply click HERE to get taken to the blog post. 

I found that a bit of bling goes awesomely well with a truly grungy background and design! 

I did some stencilling, also some printing with stencils and layering to create my Alpine Glam Grunge pencil case - and it was such great fun! The how-to explains in detail what I did and which DecoArt paints and media I have used on my blank cotton pencil case to transform it into a glam grunge Alps Lover's fashion statement ;) 

Hope you'll like the inspiration! See you over there! 

Claudia

xxx

Zombie Fright Night at Calico Craft Parts!

 Hi, servus and how do you do? 

Over on the Calico Craft Parts blog I am sharing my latest make - a Halloween themed one, of course! There are some new Halloween Hanger Kits available in their store and I got the Zombie themed one to play with - and that was great fun! 

I added some other cool pieces from their wide range of Halloween themed craft parts to the kit, though of course it already looks great on its own. But you know me: I love to customise kits of all sorts and that forms a huge part of the fun for me. 

Some Zombie hands from the cool Add On Sheet here, a little bat and word element there...and that amazing log fence really gave a boost to the whole scene! 

The pieces were all painted using DecoArt paints of all sorts - if you want to learn more about the used Calico Craft Parts and paints and HOW I've painted and used them, simply click HERE to get to the according blog post over at the Calico Craft Parts Blog. 

Happy Halloween crafting!

Claudia

xxx

I am entering this make to Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge.

Affirmative Matchbook - a StencilGirl Project and Instagram Hop

 Servus, everyone!

It's in the middle of the night over here and I am posting about my latest project for StencilGirl Products as we are having an Instagram hop with two giveaways for you to win (which starts in about twenty minutes at 10 p.m. their time seen from now that I am writing this post - which is 5 a.m on the next day at my place ;) . I hope to see the deer (that have recently started visiting our garden) in about an hour, before I go back to bed and catch a little more sleep. 

But back to "business" - the Instagram hop and my little matchbook! 

Our wonderful boss, Mary Beth Shaw, has recently sent all on the team little surprise parcels with paints, media, mixed media tools and other little goodies and the plan was to use these on a project that would get shared in an Instagram hop - which is where we are right now. Thank you once more, boss, for the great goodies - love them all!!!! xxx

The picture shows all of these to the right and the StencilGirl stencils and die cut matchbook (using the Tim Holtz "Matchbook" die). 

I used stencils designed by Tracy Evans, Wendy Aikin, Kristin Williams and Seth Apter. 

I started with adding black and natural white chalk paints for a first layer. The black paint got scraped on using a palette knife, then the white was added on top using the architectural stencil and a stipple brush. 

That was followed by scraping on some yellow chalk paint with the palette knife again and adding marks in brown here and there...

I then continued with a layer of sprayed on Cerise IZink spray ink die using Seth Apter's latest Grunge Strips & Borders stencil. 

The ink mixed beautifully with the yellow and natural white layers underneath and created awesome tones from intense pink to warm bright orange. I really loved that!

The sticky cork dots I was given were perfect for adding depth and texture! I painted these yellow and white...

...and while these were set aside to dry I stencilled the lovely faces to the inside of the matchbook (which I had primed with black chalk paint). Next I used some of the Sharpie and watercolour brush pens to add marks to the cork dots. 

Once these had dried I glued them to the matchbook cover and added black shades around them using the watercolour brush pen and a detail brush to smudge the drawn lines around the cork dots. 

To finish up the project I added some word stickers with affirmative quotes and outlined the stencilled faces with the yellow Sharpie. 

Et voilá!

All the infos on the Instagram hop and how to win one of the two giveaways are to be found on Instagram (of course) - simply look out for #stencilgirl and/or #winstencils. Good luck and have a lovely day! 

Claudia xxx

Faded Splendour - Fall Trio

 Hi, servus and thanks for stopping by! 

It's been such a long time that I have been taking a break from crafting and I am just slowly getting back into the saddle - with two studios in which there is always one or the other medium, stamp, cutting die or paper pad missing because it is in the other place...but I found that this forces me to improvise more and also use stuff I have been hoarding on forgotten shelves for ages - so it is a bit challenging but also a good thing ;)

I also found I am enjoying the freedom to pick and use whichever media and products I want to use with a single project (instead of having and/or trying to do an single-manufacturer-design-team-project). 

So here it is - a little trio inspired by autumn which is already in the air these days and which is still my favourite time of the year (even though it also is the most challenging when it comes to health issues I've learned). 

I have already shared this project on the Calico Craft Parts blog (where you can find the list of craft parts I have used alongside the Sizzix "Funky Insects" dies set from Tim Holtz) - simply click HERE to get to their blog to find out about the many cool substrates and add-ons from Calico Craft Parts' wide range of MDF parts. There are also some infos on and pictures of the finished project that I am not sharing in this post...

I really LOVE the Funky Insects dies (which is no surprise as I really LOVE insects in general ;)! 

I want my displayed insects understood as "found beauties" that were already dead and lying on the ground, having been found during a walk in a lovely late autumnal forest (instead of insects having been hunted down and put to death to display them in all their shiny glory). Their wings may be crinkled and the colours already fading a bit, but there is this special beauty in decay and the fact that the splendour is still there and visible is maybe the best proof of their timeless beauty...

I had a pack of self made small background papers - all done using Tim's Distress and Distress Oxide Inks - 

...and I used some of these to die cut the insects' parts from. I used Tim's Sidekick and fixed it to my Travel Glass Media Mat - two of my favourite products  (I found a "lefty" glass mat on a sale and use it upside down to have the white area to the right) to work with. 

I crumpled the wings and then highlighted the crinkles with gathered twigs Distress Ink. I also used one of the small Detail Blending Tools to blend the edges of all the tiny die cut pieces. 

Using my large Sizzix Big Shot I die cut three of Tim's Décor Frames and primed these with DecoArt Raw Umber Student Acrylic paint. Once that had dried I scraped on some white DecoArt media Crackle Paint here and there and let that dry naturally. 

In the meantime I added DecoArt Triple Thick (using a detail brush) to the insects' legs, eyes and feelers for more dimension and a bit of gloss. 

Once the crackle paint had dried I smudged some walnut stain Distress Crayon with my fingertip across the crackled areas to tone down the bright white and highlight the cracks. 

I also added some antique linen Distress Glaze on top and Fran-tage Aged Copper embossing enamel in some of the untreated spots on the frames. 

For a bit of bling I sprinkled diluted DecoArt Vintage Brass Extreme Sheen acrylic paint on the finished and glued together insects, using a splatter brush. 

Time to pick some MDF panels from my Calico Craft Parts stash! I decided to go for a slightly different centre piece - so I used a beer mat and two ATC blanks. 

I also used two label holders and the Faded Splendour Word Element. 

The ATC blanks and the beer mat got covered with DecoArt Découpage paper using DecoArt matte Decou-Page.

Then the edges were blended using dark brown archival stamping ink, before I fixed the frames, label holders and insects into place using thick black sticky foam pads for additional depth.   

I also like to use the sticky foam pads' excess and cut that to size - that is especially helpful when you don't need a circle shaped pad but a thin square one...

The little signs with the Fig. numbers were stamped in black archival ink using Tim's Classics #12 stamp set and then toned down using Antique Linen Distress Stain. 

Voilá!

The finished trio.

I hope you feel inspired and like it as much as I do! 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

GrungyFlower Still Life - a StencilGirl Project and Video Tutorial

 Oh, well...hey there....long time no see...so thank you even more for stopping by! ;)

As you may have noticed I haven't been spending much time in my studio(s) during the last months but now and then inspiration still likes to strike (at least a little) or one or the other design team project "forces" me to indulge in some creative me-time and I really always enjoy that (and am thankful for it as it keeps me going and in touch with my creative side). 

I am still in the middle of exploring and re-defining myself and my life, being in a new location and also health (or rather meno-pause)-wise forced to find new approaches to enjoying myself and everyday life. The new home close to the lake and the mountains helps a lot with this and I am enjoying my little garden, riding my kayak and exploring new sections of the lake's shore. Hail from one of the last heavy thunderstorms has done some superficial damage to the house and garden, but it is definitely nothing compared to the massive damage farmers and market gardens are dealing with! 

This weekend my son will get his second dose of Cov-19 vaccine and then the three of us will all be on the safe side and relaxed. So we are all well and safe - I hope you and your loved ones are too! 

I am sharing a flower still life with a video tutorial today - done for StencilGirl and with their wonderful stencils of course. If you hop over to their StencilGirl Talk blog, you will learn about what subconsciously influenced my painting - I was amazed myself how much I am obviously visually influenced by my new home and surroundings! 

The ten-minute video shows the whole process and also offers hints on composition and other helpful information on paints and tools used - so I hope you will like it! Enjoy your summer! 

Stay safe!

Claudia xxx