Heroes - a DecoArt Project

Servus, hi and thanks so much for taking the time to stop by my little (quite quiet) creative corner.

I haven't posted much lately as I am having to take a break from some of my already few design team commitments - due to health issues that I can no longer ignore.
I am in the middle of a struggle with a panic disorder that has obviously built up during the last fifteen months (being caused by menopause having hit hard last year) and has now struck me full blow.
Shaky hands and panic attacks caused by just sitting down at my craft desk and trying to tackle (even far away) deadlines are a nasty thing to have - especially when it concerns a hobby you think (or thought) you love. So obviously I will need to find new ways to go on with being a creative (which I have no doubt I am). Gladly I am in the very lucky position that some of my design team terms have just ended and that I am also on design teams where members are being cared about; so special agreements could be made. This way I didn't have to completely leave them all!

Sounds worse than it is actually (or maybe it doesn't) - but there's no need to feel sorry for me. I've already hit rock bottom and finally accepted my current situation - so the only way from now on can be upwards again. ;)

But there are of course also better days when my muse seems to be around and when I obviously manage to not be fixed too much on a deadline or the needed perfect (uh oh! Killer!) result of a project. So this week is going to bring you even two new projects and tutorials instead! Today's post is the invite over to the DecoArt Blog, where I am sharing a little altered mixed media tray that was a true pleasure to create.

It originated during my attempt to do a bit of tidying up in and around my craft space - which I find often sparks ideas for new projects (I guess because it is definitely more fun than a proper tidy up). I was right about to store away the little tray (the post on the DecoArt Blog reveals what it held in the first place), when I saw the drawer with my hoarded Tim Holtz paper dolls....and there it was!

The quote and melancholic feel to it were inspired by Peter Gabriel's fantastic cover version of David Bowie's wonderful "Heroes" - a song that never fails to deeply touch me. I have obviously heard it lately (I think it was used in a TV series or documentary or so) and it seems it was still spinning round in my head and needed to come to the surface.

As always there is a detailed tutorial with lots of steps images to find on the DecoArt Blog. Simply click HERE to get to the blog and check it all out. I hope to see you over there soon! And don't forget to pop by tomorrow for another project and tutorial!

Hugs and happy summer crafting!

Claudia

xxx

Gypsy Fortune Teller Cards

Servus!

Today I just want to share a little somethin' I made for my niece, Rosi, who will have a Halloween party on Monday where she will be wearing a mysterious gypsy woman costume and she still needed some fortune teller's cards - so I promised I'd make some for her.

I had this lovely 7 Dots Studio designer paper with tarot cards on it and cut them out. Then I glued a patterned paper to them for the backside, inked the edges black and ran them through my laminator.

To have something gypsy style looking to tie the cards up in a bundle I twisted some thin wire and various ribbons that I had tinted with some walnut ink solution into a bendable cord. The wire within makes it flexible and all you have to do is wrap it around the cards and it will keep stay in place.

I created a little charm using a 7 Dots Studio rubber stamp and shrink plastic. Then I rummaged my embellies box for some beads and other goodies and found a lovely feather.

The beads were part of a cheap bracelet that I took apart. I threaded them onto an eye pin and attached it to the wire within the gypsy cord.

I hope my niece will have the most wonderful Halloween party!!! I am sure she will look just terrific. And as she is great at putting up a show I am sure she will be a fantastic fortune telling gyspy! (Let's hope I will get to see some pictures of her!)

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Halloween!!!

Claudia

xxx

The "Geistesblitzgenerator"!

Servus, hello and welcome back to my little creative spot!

I am glad you stop by and before I continue I want to thank all those who have been taking the time to leave their comments with me since I started this blog - I really appreciate that a lot and they also mean a lot (of encouragement) to me. So thank you very much! (We all know that comments are what keeps us going, don't we? ;)

Well, here's my new invention! The "Geistesblitzgenerator" - which is German for "flash of genius-generator". By sharing this project with you today I want to invite you to take a look at or even play along with our actual "Anything Goes - Steampunk/Industrial" challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges.

The idea originated from several days of mojo-less suffering - trying to figure out what I could create for our steampunk challenge. I knew that I wanted to use some of the awesome steampunk chipboard pieces from our second prize sponsor "boozybear"...and I knew I wanted to arrange them to give a machine-like impression. But which kind of machine?

The final kick off needed came from our short trip last weekend when we visited one of my favourite places - Castle Bernstein in Burgenland. There is a small museum at the foot of the castle hill that shows old mining equipment and machines and I took a picture of this little digger:

I loved the rust working through the coat of yellow varnish and all the rusty texture!

And my plan was to recreate this exact look - but I still didn't know what kind of machine I would want to "build"...well...as usual when this happens I decided to simply start and find out where the project might take me...as long as there was yellow and rust and loads of gears...

So here's what I used:

parts of three packs of boozybear chipboard pieces

and a lot of DecoArt Media Fluid Arcylic paints and mediums: 

I started with playing around with the "mechanicals" and "lightbulb" chipboard pieces until I had found the "right spots" to make them look  a bit machine like. Then I glued them to the wooden block (a find from the sales section of a home decor shop) using matte DecoArt Decou-Page.

Next I gave everything a thick (stippled on) coat of Raw Umber heavy body acrylic paint. After that had dried I stippled on two layers of DecoArt Americana "Primary Yellow" acrylic paint.

After that had dried, I applied DecoArt Media Texture Sand Paste in some spots - using my fingertip and a small palette knife.

I let that dry too and then started dry brushing the piece with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics "Raw Umber" and "Dark Grey"

I also added first shades of English Red Oxide - dry brushing it on and also applying a light wash.

Then I built up layers of paint - dry brushing them mainly onto my piece - using an old bristle brush and a soft flat brush. 

Paynes Grey:

Quinacridone Gold:

Paynes Grey again:

I also added mixes of  Quinacridone Gold, English Red Oxide, Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide and Diarylide Yellow here and there for more depth and richness in colour.

I painted some drip lines too and toned everything down with a wash of English Red Oxide.

Next I needed the icy blue spark that jumps from the lever to the light bulb. I used a little bit of wire and applied some matte Decou-Page to it with a soft brush. Then I dipped this piece of wire into various sorts of glitter and let that dry:

I drilled a tiny hole into the chipboard and inserted the wire into it - fixing it with matte Decou-Page. Once that was dry I added some dashes of Primary Yellow to blend my spark in.

The ramifications were painted directly onto the lightbulb using a white gel pen and a light blue marker. 

I still needed a sign though. As I didn't have a stamp that matched, I searched the internet for a stencil font I liked, mirrored the word on the computer and printed it out in matching size.

I used DecoArt Americana Decor Image Transfer and applied it to both: my prepared substrate (cut from foam board and painted with acrylic paint) and the front of my cut out word. Then I glued the word face down onto the substrate and made sure I applied thorough pressure so there would be no bubbles. 

After that had completely dried (best wait for several hours) I used a soft sponge and added clear warm water to my "sign" to soak the glued on paper. With soft pressure and rotating motion I rubbed off the paper with the soft sponge to reveal the letters - voilá:

Then I used the same paints I had used on my machine to "age" my sign:

I fixed it to my wood block using two short pieces of rusty wire that I inserted into two drilled holes at the side.

I added a bit of matte Decou-Page (using a fine tip brush) to the holes and wires to make sure everything would stay in place.

 Done!

Now I will never run out of good ideas! Yay! And I can outsource a lot of brain activity (or rather replace missing brain activity? lol)...

Here are some more close ups, if you like. But first I will give you the link to our challenge blog - over HERE. ;)

I hope you enjoyed your visit today! And I hope I will see you soon over at our steampunk challenge blog! My teamies have prepared the most stunning inspirational projects for you! So make sure you check them out! I promise you will get a bundle of fantastic steampunk inspiration! 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia 

xxx

A Mixed Media Necklace for Our Creative Corner

Servus and happy new year to you, my dear old, new and true readers! It is my special honour today to kick off 2016's challenge galore for Our Creative Corner!

I have learned my lesson with new years resolutions and have narrowed mine down to just one promise I am making to myself each Silvester: to be as gentle and kind with myself as possible (as dealing with a chronic illness often makes you feel that you just have to try harder, be less slack...and therefore less forgiving towards yourself - which most of the time leads to the exact opposite from what was intended: more frustration and more anger) and to make more time for pressure-free me-time....without any goals - except this one: to enjoy myself!

So OCC's January challenge asks you exactly that: to enjoy yourselves by creating within your comfort zones...maybe challenge yourselves a little too if that is something you enjoy...but no pressure, no given direction, no precise theme - just a lovely moodboard palette and image to spark your imagination:

If you hop over to Our Creative Corner you will find a wonderful bundle of very different inspirational pieces done by the Design Team! I love and adore them all!!! (and I will love and adore our players' pieces too! Of that I am sure ;)

When looking at the colour palette and image I immediately thought of using metal and patina tones...something with circles...which led to jump rings...which led to the idea of creating a necklace from self made wire links, metal stamped pendants and found objects (as I discovered that hammering wire and bending it into shape is something very relaxing for me).

And here it is:

(Ignore the pastel blue pins - these were used to hold the necklace in place). Except from the little key and the idea-ology safety pin all parts of the necklace are handmade (of which I really am quite proud I have to admit as this is a result of my very first steps at metalsmithing and creating beautiful links from wire).

I especially love this wire link that is made from silver coated copper wire and darkened with black patina after some metal stamping.

 The "Live" pendant was made from a flat brass disc which I stamped and domed lightly. For the green patina touch I added a bit of turquoise gilding paste.

If you want to learn how to create the paper beads with wire you will find a full tutorial over HERE. 

The box for my necklace was made from an emptied chocoloate box into which I inserted a cut to size corrugated card panel. It was covered with some Tim Holtz "Eclectic Elements" fabric that matches my necklace's design perfectly!

The outside of my box was covered with some "Madame Payraud" designer paper and inked around the edges with Ranger "Sepia" archival ink.


The challenge over at Our Creative Corner is open until January 28th. This month's prize sponsor is Creative Embellishments - so don't miss the chance to win a $25 voucher for their store!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

A Toilet Roll Steampunk Tag Album - and a DecoArt Tutorial

Hello, servus and welcome back for another tutorial for the DecoArt International Design Team Blog (featuring Andy Skinner) which I am proudly part of!

Browsing the net I recently found some wonderful mini tag albums made from toilet rolls and I felt the urge to finally do one of these myself!

And as some of you might already know Meresanth from "Meresanth Krafts" has recently opened her brand new online store "Retro Kraft Shop" where she offers the most wonderful vintage steampunk crafting goodies.

She generously sent some more of her treasures along with my order so I could have a play with them and create a project for her shop blog - and this is the result:

It was a lot of fun to play with all the watch parts and lovely embellishments, lace ribbon and designer papers! But now on to the promised tutorial:


To make your own mini tag album you will need:





- DecoArt white Acrylic Gesso
- DecoArt Americana Acrylic colours "Red Iron Oxide" and "Sea Breeze"
- DecoArt Dazzling Metallics "Bronze"
- DecoArt Decou-page matte







- some bristle brushes
- 5 toilet rolls (and your Sizzix or Cuttlebug to get them real flat)
- a tool for making eyelets
- wire and some pliers
- designer papers of your choice
- scissors, glue, eventually some sticky foam pads
- some small tags (or the Sizzix "Tag and  Tie" die, which I used for my tags)
- some stamps and stamping ink for further embellishment
- Distress ink "rusty hinge"
- various kinds of washi tape


Items used for embellishing this project that are also available on Meresanth's Retro Kraft Shop:
- Prima "Printerie" stamp set
- Vintage Neutral - K&Company Paper Pack
- Bronze Metal Branch
- Bronze Metal Key 4
- Watch Dials and other Watch Parts
- White Lace 
  

Step 1

Flatten your toilet rolls using a bone folder or (even better) your Sizzix or Cuttlebug.

Step 2

Give the rolls a thick coat of white DecoArt Gesso.

Step3

Take the DecoArt Dazzling Metallic "Bronze" and paint your rolls once the Gesso has dried.

To do so load your brush with some colour and stipple the colour onto the edge of your roll:

Then use the same brush (or your fingertips) to direct some of the applied colour towards the roll's center with gentle and fast strokes:

See to it that you don't work too evenly. Let Mr. Random be your guide ;)

Step 4 

Next apply some DecoArt Americana "Sea Breeze" - but this time the colour has to be stippled on and around the edges - that way it looks like spots of verdigris patina.

Step 5

Load a brush with some heavily diluted DecoArt Americana "Red Iron Oxide" and sprinkle a lot of stains on your rolls and do this from both sides. This will add a little more depth to the bronze look. 

Step 6

Punch some holes for the eyelets. You can set the eyelets right now but can also add them later.

Step 7

Cut five tags from designer papers using the Sizzix "Tag and Tie" die and your cutting machine. 

Step 8

Choose some designer papers for all sides of your painted rolls and cut them to rectangles that don't cover the eyelets and leave an edge about at least half a finger's width - so your beautifully painted edges remain visible. Leave one of your painted rolls untreated - we will later use it to create the cover.

I also distressed and then blended the edges of my cut to size paper panels with DI "rusty hinge"before I glued them in place.

Step 9

Add some pieces of washi tape here and there. Create layers and overlaps.

Step 10

To make the cover wrap some lace around the "front roll" and glue it in place. Then embellish to your liking. 

I used some watch parts, metal embellishments and some stamping on the cover. But you can do whatever you are up to.

Step 11

Cut two pieces of wire to size (depending on how many pages your album shall have). (leave a bit more on both ends to form two tiny rings at each end - but for now leave the ends straight so you can insert them through the eyelets). 

Bend your two wire pieces into circles by "wrapping" them around one of the DecoArt colour bottles' caps. They have the perfect diameter for book rings ;). Assemble the album before you finish the wire ends!

Step 12

Assemble your mini album once you have embellished all the pages. 

Insert your cut out tags. 

Curl up the wire ends at least once (see picture above) to close the rings. Then use pliers to form small rings at all ends, so no one gets hurt by any sharp and pointy wire ends. 

Done!

On the inside of my album I used some of my newly "found relatives" from my last visit at the flea market at the famous Vienna Naschmarkt. I made colour copies and blended the edges with DI "rusty hinge".

I hope you can see at least a bit of the shine of the DecoArt Dazzling Metallic "Bronze" - as it looks so very cool!

I love the colour contrast of the "verdigris" and the shiny bronze! It is what keeps the album's design together.

I had to fix the spring to the cover with a brad. All the other embellishments were glued on using DecoArt Decou-page matte and/or sticky foam pads.

The tiny metal branch was fixed to the clock face using a small piece of thin wire.

And don't these calendar rings look just great? The bell jar image is a stamp from the Prima "Printerie" stamp set (as are the stamped words and the "Welcome" at the back cover).

I hope you will be making your own toilet roll steampunk albums soon! Thank you ever so much for stopping by and the encouraging comments! (Ssssst...he's my personal favourite: ;)

Hugs and happy crafting,
Claudia x