That's Crafty!: March 2020

That's Crafty! have a number of paper ranges from a company called Craft O'Clock available on their website. They have also featured on a number of shows on Hochanda. So today I am sharing with you a project made with one of these ranges - Hazy Street. Whilst I have used a shallow box frame from my stash this project would work just as well with any 6 x 6 base such as the Chunkies although the technique will need adapting slightly.

To make this piece I cut a piece of paper fit snugly in the bottom of the shadow box and adhered it to the base with some grey board pieces so that it sat slightly forward of the bottom of the frame.

The frame element in the center was constructed by cutting out a frame from the cut apart sheet in the pad and covering the aperture with a piece of acetate. I then selected an image from the paper pack - the owl is located in the top corner of one of the papers and cut this to fit behind the window. I used foam tape and created a well into which I poured a mix of three colours of microbeads (gunmetal, emerald and a soft green) before adding my image piece to the back.

I cut a small tag again from the cut apart sheet and divided this into two before adhering it and my shaker frame to the back of my shadow box again using some more greyboard pieces to lift it forward. My title was cut from the same ephemera sheet and adhered to the front of the frame. If you follow me regularly you will recognise that I find it important to give my pieces a title as they help tell the story of the piece.

To cover the outside piece of the front of my box I cut a square big enough to cover my frame and then marked the internal dimensions and cut out the central part.

I wanted to add some more areas of interest so I cut the clock from the ephemera page placed it as show and added Glossy Accents to the clock face.

I created a birds nest with a couple of different colours of sisal and added some clay eggs from my stash to it. I then fussy cut some birds from the extras sheet that matched the paper pack and adhered a couple close to my birds nest along with the word memories.

To decorate the top part of my frame I adhered some sticks taken from dry cut gypsophila from a floristry wholesale shop but you could just as easily raid the garden and added another fussy cut bird. My final touch was to add two shades of green flowersoft to give an appearance of moss and leaves.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this post and that you check out the entire Craft O'Clock range of papers - for further inspiration here are some photographs of other pieces made with this range

Hello!

I felt in need of something bright and cheery this week so the perfect share was my rather funky style journal pages which have somewhat of a retro vibe which I hope you like.

Step by Step:

I don't actually have process photos for the pages as they were kind of go with the flow. The first step being to add a coat of white gesso to the greyboard page which is the left hand one. If you do that, you won't be able to tell the difference between the finished pages.

I then took the clever new rectangles A4 stencil and began adding pattern to both pages. I layered up several shades of multi surface paint (apricot, yellow, orange and teal) using different rectangles and twisting them round to get a bright and funky look. As you can see, some of the paints are more translucent than others which really adds to the effect.

I used the new bamboo stencil with black gesso to add a pattern that rather reminds me of zebra stripes, on each page, 2 thinner ones on the left and the thickest on the right. I then stamped on the groovy circles pattern from the faces set with black ink and heat embossed the images with clear powder.

I stamped my chosen girl on white smooth cartridge paper with black ink then coloured her hair, eyes, lips and earrings with the brand new and totally amazing satin inks (did you see Leonie playing with these yesterday and it's worth a look on rewind if you missed it as they're so versatile). I coloured her skin with watercolour pencils. I then cut her out and glued her in place.

I decided on my text which I couldn't resist and used the alphabet stamp set to create it, stamping the letters on black card with embossing ink and heat embossing them with white powder. I cut them out and glued them on the left hand page, forming a funky curved shape with the letters.

There we have it, much simpler than you might think!

Hope you're surviving the current stay at home and all I can say is keep on crafting!

Fliss x

Hi Everyone

Welcome to my Thursday weekly DT post.

This week I am sharing a small piece of mixed media 'Art on the Round' that I hope will add a touch of colour and a few encouraging words to your day!

The substrate I worked on was a That's Crafty! greyboard 4inch round surface.

I covered the round with 2cm strips of 13Arts scrapbook paper adhering them with That's Crafty! Multi Purpose Adhesive and sealing them with matt medium.

As the strips of paper were used to add a base layer, nothing more I knocked back the colour and design on the papers using white gesso.

I then introduced colour using some of Dina Wakley heavy Body Acrylic paints. The paints were applied randomly and freely working one colour at a time and drying in between each colour application. When happy with how they looked I then added some black acrylic paint in the same way to accentuate the colours and add a touch of drama.

Next I added some background detail by stamping some text using part of an Aall and Create stamp aswell as splattering some white paint around!

For the focal feature I stamped and fussy cut a butterfly from a Tim Holtz stamp set. I coloured it with the same paints I used for the background (watered down slightly), added a few sketchy white highlights, manipulated its wings and mounted on a small painted wood chip circle. It was adhered to the round positioned in front of a couple of 'off set' black die cut circles.

The thorax was decorated with a length of black plastic topped with a black gem bead

Setting the butterfly on a mount helped lift it off the background and the manipulation of the butterfly's wings gave it a sense of movement and added some welcome dimension.

To finish off I added a few encouraging words courtesy of a Tim Holtz sticker.

Products I used:

That's Crafty! Surfaces: Greyboard Rounds Pack
White Cardstock
13Arts 6 x 6 inch paper pad: Grungy Walls designed by Olga Heldwein
That's Crafty! Multi Purpose Adhesive
DecoArt Matte Medium
That's Crafty! White Gesso
Dina Wakley Heavy Body Acrylic Paint: Magenta, Ruby, Black, White
Tsukineko Versafine Ink: Black Onyx

White Fineliner pen
AALL and Create stamps: # 292 Scripts designed by Bipasha BK
Tim Holtz /Stampers Anonymous Stamp Set: Flutter
Seth Apter Dies: Loop de Loop
Tim Holtz Small talk stickers
Scissors

Paint Brush

Black gem bead and length of plastic, Wood chip circle (own stash)

I hope you have enjoyed your time with me today and that maybe I have offered some colourful creative inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a lovely creative week

Take care and stay safe

Amanda

(ink-a-pink)

I started off with an upright and gave it a coat of gesso, being mindful of the areas that slot together as any excess paint will make them difficult to put together later.

Next I choose some Distress Crayons - these colour will remain in use through the entirety of the project. I start by scribbling small amounts of the crayons and then use my finger to blend them on the surface.

Next I take my stencil and either a damp cloth or an environmentally friendly wet wipe and I go over the stencil this removes most of the crayon from the exposed surfaces.

Now in retrospect I think I should have left the background at this point as there is not much of it visible, however I did say in retrospect so I did not, indeed I backgrounded this to within an inch of its life :-)

so as I said you may or may not choose to do more or less with your background but bear in mind that there won't be much of it to see. Next I stamp the base with the key element from #268 Shuttered Window from Aall and Create by Bipasha BK, I then scribble the crayons on my mat and use them like watercolours to colour the stamped base.

And that can now be glued together and popped to one side to dry while the other elements are prepared.

I use the window from #268 Shuttered Window, I stamp this three times as we are going to use multiple layers to add dimension.

I then start the cutting process I take a little more from each of the three layers, I take my time and use a combination of craft knife and scissors, I found the best way to cut the window pains was to use a craft knife and cut first in one direction and then the others, in other words, I cut all the vertical lines and then all the horizontal, that's just how I found it easier there is no right or wrong and I'm sure you'll have your own methods.

I picked a Tim Holtz image that fit behind the window, sorry ladies I did have to cut your legs off just a little bit. I stuck the image to the back plate.

I coloured the stamped images using the distress crayons as watercolours so keeping the same colour theme, I also coloured the ladies dresses. I used some cardboard box scraps to add a little depth to the individual layers.

and I stuck them on the base plate.

I then used a combination of leaf adornments from 13arts, to which I added using a split ring for the dangly one on the wheel.

I added strip from #235 All Measured Up, by Tracy Evans for Aall and create, I used some Walnut Stain in on this and wrapped it around a little wooden thing a me bob that I had kicking around in my stash, I also added a Tim Holtz thimble just for good measure.