Hello

This week I have one of the large MDF Rounds to share, where I layered the beautiful leaf stamp from a That's Crafty! Textures Collection stamp set, to create a focal.

Supplies

That's Crafty! Surfaces MDF Round 8"
That's Crafty! Flat Matte Spray: Basil, Bluebell, Aqua
That's Crafty! Surfaces Mixed Media Paper/Card Kit (Rice Paper)
That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set Textures Collection Set 3
That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set Lynne's Affirmations Set 10
Memento Ink Tuxedo Black 
Gel Medium
Extras
Sewing Machine
Handmade Paper
Twig

Instructions

Spray Rice Paper with the Flat Matte Sprays (the paper I used was previously under-paper when using the sprays on another project) allowing to dry completely. Try not to move the Rice Paper when it is wet as it is very fragile in this state, allowing to dry makes it easier to work with. Apply Gel Medium to the MDF Round, taking the Medium to the very edges. Place the stained Rice Paper onto the panel, gently smoothing to ensure good adhesion. Leave to dry.

Stain enough Rice Paper to cover the MDF surface and allow for extra, for the focal image. Also staining pieces of handmade paper, book text and found paper (piece torn from cardboard box packaging).

The paper in my project has a mottled brown area, this is a result of previously having laid rusted items to dry on the paper.

Stamp leaf onto stained Rice Paper, tearing around image. Continue to stamp the same leaf onto other pieces of the stained Rice Paper. Layer them and machine stitch down centre of leaf. Machine stitch piece of stained handmade paper and other pieces of stained papers. Adhere those pieces to the panel.

Ruffle the edges of the stamped focal.

Leave tail ends of thread to hang loose.

Stamp Affirmation onto stained handmade paper, discarding the word "secrets".

Until next time,

Wishes
Lynne

Hello
I think regulars will have noticed that I keep dipping into the Surfaces Mixed Media Paper/Card Kit. Here I am once again, making use of the teabag paper and calico.

Oh, there is a sneak peek of some upcoming That's Crafty! products, new Autumn Colour Sprays! I added a cheeky spray of Autumn Gold, Olive and Raspberry but there are many more colours.

Supplies

That's Crafty! Clear Stamp Set Lynne's Wildflowers Set 1 A5
That's Crafty! Surfaces Mixed Media Paper/Card Kit (calico, teabag paper
That's Crafty! Multi-Surface Metallic Paint Antique Gold
That's Crafty! Multi-Purpose Craft Adhesive
That's Crafty! Texture Paste
That's Crafty! Surfaces MDF Panel (9"x4.5") Pack of 3
That's Crafty! Flat Matte Sprays Basil, Rose
That's Crafty! 8"x8" Mandala Stencil TC8014
That's Crafty! Dinky Stencil Feather TC098
Palette Knife
Memento Ink Tuxedo Black 
Sewing Machine & Black Thread
Twig
Rusted Washer
Teabags and Coffee Granules (for staining)
Muslin

Instructions

I utilized pieces I had already prepared but I will write the instructions as though starting from the beginning.

Tear panel of teabag paper slightly larger than the MDF panel. Stain with Flat Matte Sprays, also staining at the same time, piece of muslin, smaller than the teabag paper panel. Leave to dry thoroughly.

Prior to machine stitching, there are a few pieces to prepare. Stamp  sentiment from Wildflowers set onto two pieces of book text, onto the margin. Next, partially stencil Mandala, with Texture Paste onto a piece of kraft cardstock from the Kit. Once the paste is dry, spray Flat Matte Spray Basil and Autumn Colours of Raspberry and Autumn Gold. When this is dry, with fingertips, apply Antique Gold paint to highlight some of the relief design.

For the stenciled leaf, first stencil with Texture Paste onto calico from the Kit. Once dry, snip into the fabric and tear around the stenciled leaf (you can see that I stenciled a trio of leaves, then I have extras for future projects!)

Place the panel into a bath of tea and coffee. Allow liquid to cool slightly before placing the stenciled panel into the bath (see video), otherwise the texture paste will become one gooey mess!


Allow to dry.  Now, spray with Raspberry and Olive, leaving to dry before applying Antique Gold to relief design with fingertips.

Now for machine stitching, layering the stained muslin to the teabag paper.  You can see from the photos that along with the leaf and stamped sentiment, I also layered a piece of found paper and to the right hand side,

layers of various papers were machine stitched. At upper right of panel, machine stitch a small loop, formed from stained calico.

Remove from sewing machine.  Adhere stitched panel to MDF panel with adhesive. For the overlap at the edges, apply extra adhesive to those edges and fold upwards, this heightens the texture and brings a more organic style to the piece. Allow to dry before adding the pieces of Mandala stenciled design to the panel.

With palette knife, apply Texture Paste to panel, also to a twig which has been threaded through the single loop.  Adhesive applied to the underside of the twig will ensure it stays in place.  Add metallic highlights to the panel with Antique Gold, applied with fingertips.

The final touches, a spray of the Autumn Colours to the panel,

with a rusted washer adhered to the stenciled feather, along with a few stray fibres which happened to catch my eye and thought they would be perfect as a wee addition.

Hello

This week I am sharing a project which began life as a piece of kraft card from the Mixed Media Paper/Card Kit, playing with sprays and texture paste on it before morphing into this collage/assemblage with the kraft panel adhered to a MDF panel cut to the same size... That's Crafty! will cut MDF to size requirements.

Frustratingly, the blue tones which are evident IRL on the project, doesn't really show in the photographs.

Supplies

That's Crafty! Surfaces Mixed Media Paper/Card Kit (kraft, corrugated cardboard, rice paper)
That's Crafty! Surfaces MDF Heart Pack of 12 #3
That's Crafty! Texture Paste
That's Crafty! Flat Matte Sprays: Aqua, Bluebell, Rose
That's Crafty! Multi-Surface Metallic Paints: Metallic Gold, Metallic Patina, Metallic Bronze
That's Crafty! Multi-Purpose Craft Adhesive
Character Constructions Clear Stamp Set - Paris Flea No. 1
Ranger Designer Series Archival Potting Soil Ink
Gesso
Walnut Ink Crystals (dissolved)
Idea-ology Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
Mister Bottle (look HERE)
Palette Knife (That's Crafty! stock palette knives HERE)
Extras: Twig, Rusted Washer, Button, Black Thread, Scraps, Small Tag (which was tea stained), Fluid Acrylic Titanium White

Instructions

Play around on the kraft panel by applying walnut ink onto the kraft which has been prepared with Gesso (I have also tried this without the application of Gesso for a slightly different result). I always set out with no plan other than to play around.

Allow to dry before applying patches of the Texture Paste, again allowing to dry before spraying Aqua, Bluebell and Rose, not full coverage and in some areas I dab the surface to blend the sprays into the panel.

At this stage, I would recommend adhering the panel to a substrate, if that is your plan. Me... always making life more difficult, I only decided to adhere to the MDF panel on completion!

The heart I worked with as the focal was already prepared and so you will have to forgive me that I cannot give you the exact steps and products but it did appear as though I might have used Plaid FolkArt Rust Kit on the heart. To this I added a spritz of the Flat Matte Rose Spray before, applying with fingertips, Fluid Acrylic in Titanium White also adding a hint of Metallic Gold (That's Crafty!) paint.

While you have the paints out, it would be a good time to add flashes of metallic paints to the background panel, only in small random areas. It is funny when we say random because those "random" areas are often well considered!

Ink up the beautiful sentiment from the Character Constructions stamp set. Sadly, I didn't have room to include the word "an" in the line "an easy thread".  The bottom was torn off the tea stained tag before adhering to the heart, embellishing with a rusted washer and button threaded with black thread, keeping the tails hanging loose from the thread. The string ends from the tag were loosely wrapped around a twig which was also adhered to the panel.

Before adhering the heart and twig, gather corrugated cardboard and rice paper. I utilized pieces which had already been prepared with Gesso and the rice paper had been eco dyed, along with book text and other scraps.

The words "gentle" and "heart", from the same Character Constructions stamp, were individually inked up and stamped onto fragments of book page, torn and layered onto other scraps, as a means to convey the overall message of a Gentle Heart.

Until next week,
Wishes
Lynne