Mandala Box by Amanda Southern

Hi Everyone

Did you catch the shows yesterday on Hochanda where That's Crafty launched another new range of stamps and stencils designed by my very talented team mate Melina Dahl, they are all fabulous. You can catch the shows on Hochanda through their Rewind feature, all shows are available to re watch for 60 days HERE.

As part of the design team we got to play with all of the new products to prepare samples for the show. So for this weeks post I would like to share with you one of the samples I made, the Mandala Artist Trading Block, that featured on the shows.

Here's What I Did:

I started by constructing the MDF ATB, for this block I have used the 4" version but the pack also comes with 3" size, the kit comes with 3 of each size so brilliant value. These go together really easy made easier with the right glue and That's Crafty glue is just perfect and holds everything together really quickly. I then painted around all the corners with black multi surface paint, no need to gesso first as this paint has brilliant coverage. I then set it one side to create my panels. 

I took a couple of A4 sheets of thick white card and painted each half of the card with That's Crafty multi surface paints in Mustard, Midnight, Christmas Red & Teal. Once that was dry I brushed on a layer of That's Crafty Crackle Glaze, for the best effect ensure you brush or scrape it on in one direction, this part doesn't have to be perfect in fact you can just add it to an area on your project for the the crackle it doesn't need to go all over it. For my card I wanted it over the entire piece as you never know where the best crackle will appear which also makes it good fun to play with. Leave the glaze to dry naturally. I left it a couple of hours, the crackle glaze will be tacky but that's how it should be. Then paint over with a contrasting colour, I used all the base layer colours except the midnight as that would have been too dark to stamp over.

These are the scraps I had left which shows the effect the glaze gives you, and of course enough left for another project - Watch this space.

I selected the part of each colour I wanted cutting a piece 3.5" square which gives a nice border around each panel. Onto each one I stamped each of the new Mandala stamps from Melina's 'Just Doodlin' - set 4 with Stazon pigment ink in piano black and heat embossed using clear embossing powder. To blend the edge into the black block I blended the edges with Black Soot distress ink and splattered on a contrasting colour from the 4 colours I had used. I added a little bead into the centre of each one and then glued onto the block. 

The base that the ATB sits on is several MDF Artist trading coins glued together and painted black with a strip of the crackled card cut to go around them.

Here are the other sides

and the top

I have finished each side off with a Tim Holtz Small Talk Sticker. 

To protect the block I painted over it all with That's Crafty acrylic wax which gives is a tactile, slight sheen finish. The ever popular acrylic wax is now available in a bigger pot 225ml along side the original 120ml size.

Here's What I Used:

That's Crafty MDF Artist Trading Blocks Pack of 6 (3 x 4" x 4" & 3 x 3" x 3")

That's Crafty MDF Artist Trading Coins pack of 10

That's Crafty Multi Purpose Craft Glue

That's Crafty Multi Surface Paints - Black, Teal, Midnight, Christmas Red & Mustard

That's Crafty Crackle Glaze 150ml

Thick Stamping card or mixed media card, you will find a good selection HERE

That's Crafty Stamp Set by Melina Dahl - Just Doodli' Set 4

Stazon Pigment Ink - Piano Black

Clear Embossing Powder 

Heatgun

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Black Soot

Ranger Ink Blending Tool

That's Crafty Liquid Wax 

Tim Holtz Small Talk Stickers

Adhesive Black beads 

Have a great week and I will see you all next Tuesday

Love

Amanda X