Snarky Cat's Dapper X-mas - for SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Winter Special Challenge 2020

 Hi, servus and thanks so much for stopping by! 

I am sharing my make (and tutorial) for our annual two-months-long Winter Special Steampunk Challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges and as you can see I am already in Xmas swing. 

I recently bought a cheap Christmas themed dome kit and decided to customise it by using one of the absolutely adorable and fun cat stamps from the Tim Holtz "Snarky Cat" stamp sets (in this case I've used one of the cats from the "Snarky Cat Halloween" set). 

And of course I wanted to have lights - so I used one of Tim's Tiny Lights as well! 

Snarky Cat had to dress up for the festivities on Christmas Eve (as is the custom in my family...well, not for the pets actually, but for the human family members of course) - so I decided to give it a dapper hat and bow tie (from the Tim Holtz "Distinguished" stamp set)! 

You can tell from his look that he obviously doesn't like wearing a hat and a tie, but there is a little present for him under the tree - so it is worth the little suffering, right? Or maybe he is already planning on some climbing the tree with its temptingly dangling baubles and the shiny star at the top and doing what most cats love (or would love) to do at Christmas ;) 

Our Winter Special Challenge at SASPC will ("Same procedure as every year, James!")  be open from 1st November until 31st December and instead of the usual three entries each player is allowed up to five this time. Two more chances to win one of our two prizes!!!! And if you need some inspiration, there is a link to the challenge blog at the end of this post, so you can hop over and check out my teamies' fabulous makes too! 

I've created my Christmas tree using an older Tim Holtz Bigz die - the "Evergreen" one (which is still my favourite tree die to be honest). As a base I die cut one tree shape from thick grey board. That was going to be mounted to the dome's base by cutting a wood slice (found at the home decor section of a Dollar Euro store) in two and gluing the finished tree between these two. 

Then I cut two more tree shapes from a piece of white card stock that I had first coloured using Distress Inks, Distress Oxide Inks and Distress Oxide Sprays and Tim's technique of creating this kind of beautifully splattered backgrounds with loads of lovely depth. (Make sure you die cut one of the two tree shapes with white side face down and the other with the coloured side face down so you get two different tree shapes for the front and back sides!)

I added a bit of Distress Glaze on top to preserve the colours and speckles and to intensify them. 

Finally I glued the coloured trees to both sides of the grey board tree using Tacky Glue. 

Next I die cut my dimensional star for the tree top using my beloved Sidekick and the smallest die from Tim's "Dimensional Stars" Thinlits dies set. 

I then folded the little star into shape and glued it to a piece of left over white card stock. Only AFTER I had painted the star with DecoArt Extreme Sheen "Vintage Brass" acrylic paint, I cut off the excess! This way the small star was easier to hold while being painted and my fingers stayed clean. 

Snarky Cat was stamped onto white card stock using black archival stamping ink and then I used my coloured pencils to colour him (as I find it easier for me to use these instead of Distress Inks and a watercolour brush). 

I also coloured the bow tie and dapper hat and then fussy cut all my shapes. Snarky Cat also got his tail chopped cut off - which explains the look on his face I guess. 

But he got to keep it of course - I just needed it to stick out at a different angle. 

So far, so good. 

Time to prepare the decoration for the tree! I used more white card stock, Tim's "Deck the Halls" Colorize dies set, his "Festive Things" dies set, Distress Oxide Inks and the ink blending tool on my media glass mat. 

I also added a generous amount of DecoArt media Liquid Glass on top of the baubles (to give these a dimensional and glossy look) and put everything to the side (on the central heating to be more precise) to dry naturally while I went on with decorating the dome kit base. The inner platform got a coat of DecoArt Americana Arbor Green acrylic paint, while the edge was painted using DecoArt Extreme Sheen "Vintage Brass". 

I die cut some cogs in different sizes and shapes from white card board, painted these with more Vintage Brass (on both sides) and glued three of them to the back and one as a front piece around the base. 

I also added a self adhesive gold foil trim around the base that was die cut using Tim's 

"Star Trim" 3-D Impresslits folder. 

To create a stand for the Christmas tree, I sawed the wood slice in two (but first I made sure the tree would still fit into the dome when being put between the two pieces) - the smaller wood slice piece pointing towards the back. Next I used my rotary tool to drill two holes - one into the smaller wood slice piece and another through the base (at the exact same spot where the wood slice hole was going to be). 

I also engraved a notch into the bottom of the base - leading from the drilled hole to edge right at the centre of the three glued on gears at the back of the base. I made sure it was wide enough to hold the thicker part of the Tiny Lights' cable. 

Then I glued the wood slice pieces with the tree pinched between them (and more glue) in place and after that had dried I inserted the string of Tiny Lights. 

I used my small hot glue gun to glue the thicker part of the cable into the notch and to fix the Tiny Lights chain to the wood slice in some places. As it got wrapped tightly around the tree it stayed in place pretty well and I only needed two glue spots to fix the lights chain to the wood slice base and one at the tree's back. Snarky Cat, his present and the stamped quote got glued in place using little pieces of MDF left overs at the backs as little stands. 

Before I filled the dome with "snow" (from the kit) and glued it in place permanently, I checked the lights of course. Then I added glue around the dome's edge and put the base with the tree face down in place (otherwise the snow would fall out from the dome) and let that dry. 

Finally I added four pieces of self adhesive felt floor protectors to the base. 

Done! 

Our steampunk/industrial style challenge is open until the end of December - the team and I hope to see you play along with us! Simply click HERE to get to the challenge blog with the actual challenge post. 

Stay safe, enjoy the advent season, merry Christmas and a happy new year! 

Claudia

xxx

Victorian Style Brooch & Pendant - for SASPC's Summer Special Challenge

Hi, servus and welcome to the kick off of our annual summer special challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges! I hope you will join in our two months long summer challenge again this year!

My project for your inspiration this time is inspired by an upcoming murder mystery dinner on a beautiful castle with our best friends, that will throw us back into Victorian times. Yay! I will be playing the murdered lady's chambermaid - so I am looking forward to having lots of fun and joyful role playing!

Of course I will need some personal belongings for my character (my friends and me all being passionate and true role players) - so I decided to make a brooch and pendant showing some of "my" ancestors that I like to keep close to my chambermaid's most innocent (!!!!) heart ;)

But back to the project and the challenge! The rules apply as usual - the only small change for our summer special is that you can enter up to five makes during the two months instead of the usual three. So two more chances to win one of our two fabulous prizes (being generously sponsored by DecoArt and boozybear chipboard)!!!!

To create my jewellery set, I used DecoArt matte Decou-Page and Raw Umber Americana paint alongside DecoArt media clear Crackle Glaze, Liquid Glass, Raw Umber, Interference Gold and Metallic Gold fluid acrylics, Titanium White Antiquing Cream and Americana matte spray sealant.

The arches and tiny shields MDF wood shapes are from Calico Craft Parts.

The papers I've cut the backgrounds and portraits from are from older Spellbinders designer paper pads designed by wonderful Susan Lennart Kazmer.

I also added some texture using the 3D Impresslits "Lattice Trim" designed by Tim Holtz.
The loop on the pendant was made using a thin strip of linen ribbon that I glued in place with matte Decou-Page.

(by the way...have I already mentioned that I am NOT the murderer of my poor lady?...I am sure it must have been the gardener!!!)


The Lattice Trim pieces were first painted in Metallic Gold and then given a wash of Raw Umber fluid acrylic.

The arches were first painted with Raw Umber and then given a coat of clear Crackle Glaze. Once that had cured, I went in with Titanium White Antiquing Cream and only wiped part of that back with a damp cloth for an aged look. Before I went on, I sealed the two pieces with DecoArt Americana matte spray sealant (otherwise the Antiquing Cream could be reactivated by any moisture or come off with time).

The third arch shape was covered with some script designer paper and then painted with Interference Gold.
The tiny shields with the glued on portraits were given a thorough coat of DecoArt media Liquid Glass each and left to cure over night.

Once all the pieces were dry and cured, I painted around all the edges with Metallic Gold fluid acrylic and then diluted the left overs on my palette and sprinkled that onto the pieces as well.

I used a simple safety pin for my brooch. It was glued to the back using matte Decou-Page and a piece of linen ribbon. I made sure the ribbon was glued tightly around the pin, so it would stay in its exact position. Gold Metallic Lustre was added to highlight the raised areas from the Lattice Trim pieces where the wash had toned it down too much.

Done!

I love how much dimension the Liquid Glass and the Lattice Trim add to the pieces! And the depth and weathered look from the sprinkled on Gold and the Antiquing Cream was just what I had hoped to achieve! A thin purple velvet ribbon from my stash was the perfect addition to the more colourful pendant. Yesss!!!

I love it when things come together just nicely! 

I hope you like my little jewellery set too and are inspired to play along! There's time until the end of August to enter your creations to our challenge. Over at our challenge blog the teamies' fabulous makes are waiting for you to be checked out as well - please, take some secs to visit their blogs and leave them a little love. Thank you!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

Steampunk Birthday Tag for SanDee&amelie's June 2020 Steampunk Challenge

Hi, servus and welcome to the launch of our June challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges! Over at our challenge blog a new challenge and some new inspirational projects by my wonderful design team are awaiting you!

The theme is as always "Anything Goes - Steampunk/Industrial" - so just enjoy some steampunk or industrial style fun the way that makes you feel best and play along! As always we will give away two prizes from our generous sponsors DecoArt and boozybear - so don't miss the chance to win one of these! ;)

My make for June is a birthday tag with loads of delicious crackle and a special mechanical heart!

I had been given a lovely dies set to create a steampunk heart with loads of cogs and gears quite some time ago and now it was finally time to play with it!

A lot of paint layers, dry brushing, toning down and highlighting again went into my steampunk heart and I really loved building my own mechanics by die cutting some of the gears several times and combining the many different parts in a playful way. Next time I use this heart it will for sure have a different mechanism ;)


I started by die cutting the heart's base and all the cogs and gears from heavy black cardstock. To make the heart even more sturdy I cut another heart shape from some cardboard packaging to glue it behind the die cut heart.

I used the "Foundry" 3D embossing folder to add some texture to the die cut heart before I glued the sturdy back to it. Then I started building "clusters" of cogs and gears. As some of the pieces were really tiny, I used diluted DecoArt matte Decou-Page and a detail brush to apply the glue and to fix the small bits to their proper spots.

This is how my finished heart looked once it was ready to get painted:

I started by dry brushing on layers of DecoArt premium Titan Buff and Burnt Sienna acrylic paints.

Then I went for a rusty, brown-ish look and added more dry brushed layers - this time I used Titan Buff, Burnt Sienna, Quinacridone Gold Hue and Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide.

I actually liked that, but I wanted to go for something a bit brighter - so I decided to add a bit of "patina" by dry brushing some spots with Cobalt Teal Hue.

I loved that version too...but for this particular tag I had a background in mind that would need something more contrasting and bright...so I decided to try a third version (isn't it a good thing that you can paint over acrylics again and again?).

I toned everything down with a subtle dry brushed on layer of Carbon Black and then kind of started anew - though the layers that were already there were definitely adding a lot of depth to the end result - so these weren't done in vain.

This time I started by dry brushing the centre of the heart with Titan Buff first, letting the intensity of the layers fade out towards the outer edges. I added about three layers of Titan Buff this way, making sure they all faded out nicely and turned the very centre brighter and brighter. Next I made the centre the brightest spot by adding Titanium White and not spreading that too much. That was the base for the colours to follow: mixes of Titan Buff and Diarylide Yellow, Diarylide Yellow and Vermillion Hue, Vermillion Hue and Pyrrole Red but also the pure colours in between to achieve a kind of blend with the most intense red in the centre.

Yep! I definitely liked that and it was perfect to contrast the background colour I had in mind for my tag. But first I added DecoArt Metallic Lustres Black Shimmer and Radiant Red here and there using my fingertip.

My tag (which was die cut from very thick grey board) first got a thorough layer of DecoArt Americana Lamp Black acrylic paint and one that had dried I applied a generous layer of DecoArt Weathered Wood. I made sure I changed direction while brushing on the crackle medium - this way I would get nice variations of the cracks' directions.

Once the Weathered Wood had dried to the touch I used a very soft wide flat brush to gently apply a layer of DecoArt Chalky Finish paint "vintage". I didn't cover the tag's edges so a black border would remain visible.

The crackling happens so fast that you shouldn't work over the same area twice! 

I definitely liked the result! The very tiny cracks where there is only a very thin layer of paint - and the larger ones where the paint was applied thicker.

To repeat the red from the heart I sprinkled some drops of red DecoArt media Mister to the tag.
I also applied some Black Shimmer Metallic Lustre around the tag's edges.

Next I toned everything down with a very thin wash of Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide media fluid acrylic paint.

The background was still missing some interest - so I added a bit of stencilling  using some of Andy Skinner's DecoArt stencils and DecoArt Americana acrylic paint French Vanilla.

On top of that I added another thin wash - this time of English Red Oxide.
To finish off my tag I added a word sticker that I shaded in using my Stabilo All pencil and a wet brush. The heart was fixed to the tag using very thick sticky foam pads for additional dimension.

Done! 

Some detail shots: 

I hope you like my tag! There are a lot of different dies sets out there to create this kind of layered steampunk heart - so I am sure you will find the one you like best. And of course the techniques shown and the design can be used on any other kind of theme.

I hope to see you over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges soon! And I promise you will love the team's inspirational projects this month!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx