Tim Holtz and Sue Wilson

I’m a very sporadic blogger.  I mess around with a bit of this & that but I always come back to making cards.  Two of the people who really inspire me are Tim Holtz and Sue Wilson.  I love Tim’s grungy Steampunky style and signed up for his Creative Chemistry 101 online classes – just BRILLIANT.  I’m not a novice but I learned something every day – it was well worth the modest fee!

Sue Wilson does amazing things with a bit of card and a Spellbinders die.  Not quick cards but the fun is in the doing, after all.  Here are my latest efforts!

The “Put some gears on it” stamp I made using my Imagepac kit – the daylight supplies have been discontinued (sob, sob) so once I’ve used up the sachets I’ve got I will have to either invest in the UV kit or just give up.

“Put some gears on it” inspired by this song!

Playing with Ferro (and more Croco)

It’s a bit scary when you Google on a subject and get directed to your own blog.. which is what happened yesterday when I went looking for more Croco paints and techniques.  I had to order more (from Craft Barn) as I’m just having SO much fun with it lately.

My small but select band of followers have probably realised that I discover a technique and do it to death, then move on to something else.  My latest craze has been the Viva Croco paints on papier-mache faux book boxes – here are my latest efforts-

The butterfly book features  NEW COLOURS (hurrah!) ( I got some Platinum and Azure to add to the gold, copper, bronze, turquoise and blackberry I already had – and I’ve ordered some orange, thanks, Craft Barn)

Anyway, I got some Ferro paints from Create & Craft because they were in the sale – four BIG pots – and then sat there thinking, OK, what should I do with them?  My friend Google to the rescue again and I found this..

Thoroughly inspired, I die-cut some Tim Holtz gadget gears out of grey board (from packaging – I never throw out useable board!) and Ferro’d them.  I am well pleased with the result.

I then thought – I wonder if it’ll work on fabric?  So had to try it.  Result – yes, it does.  You get a heavy, flexible, piece.  Had to run that through my Vagabond as well..

Not wild about the colour – I used the colour that  I liked least in case it all went HORRIBLY wrong – but was happy with the result.  Back to Craft Barn for more colours as this is going to work so well in Steampunk stuff…

Playing with Croco paint

I love the effect that Croco paint gives!  I have a few croco’d boxes scattered around the place.  This one is on my altar, and holds David’s runes and pendulum. 

Used some of the paper I’d marbled to line the inside!

Goth watch pendant!

With her head….

Tag art again.

‘“In the Tower of London, large as life,

The ghost of Anne Boleyn walks, they declare.

Queen Anne Boleyn was once King Henry’s wife<

Until he made the headsman bob her hair”…

If you want the full song, click here...

Playing Catchup

I’m a bad blogger.  I’ve loads of craft projects which I haven’t got round to sharing, including some Yuletide greeting cards.  Better late than never...

 

I die-cut some of the snowflake shapes out of double-sided adhesive sheet and stuck them to the white card., (leaving the release paper on the top surface) went over it with distress ink (broken china and dusty concord) stamped some snowflake designs and embossed in white powder, then took the release paper off the snowflakes and sprinkled glitter over the sticky snowflakes. 

Shame it’s taken me till Easter to blog ‘em!

Put some gears on it…

 

This box came with a crystal inside.  It is so sturdy that it was a pity not to do something with it!  So it was out with the Eco-Green paints and sprockets, some chipboard numbers I got from a pound shop, and some Tim Holtz Gadget Gears cut from greyboard.  It came out pretty well.

 

Faux Books

Another idea borrowed from Craft Stamper !

This is such a cool technique.  The covers of the “book” are made out of a piece of card, 6 inches wide and 11 inches long, creased at 4.5 inches and 6.5  inches.  To make the “pages” of the faux book, you take 2 pieces of paper just under 4.5 inches by 11  and 2 pieces just under 6 inches by 11.  Concertina them (I used the Hougie board to get  the concertina pleats spaced evenly, 1 cm apart.  The fun begins then as you need to interlock the folds (easiest if you do a short side to a long side, then repeat, then put it all together and let it dry. This is fiddly and you need a good glue (I used the Paper Flower Expert glue)

The example in the magazine was covered in pretty paper and stamped with a lovely sentiment.  The first one I made was similar – then I remembered the faux leather technique and thought..wouldn’t a “antique” leather faux book be cool?

The Faux Leather Technique

You need some card to turn into “leather” and some dimensional paint – I used Tulip paint – in a mix of colours of your choice and a roller/brayer. It doesn’t have to be fancy.   If you have a old ink roller that used to be used for lino prints or similar that will work fine.  Be warned – if you are going to use your best Speedball brayer have a bowl of water ready to drop the brayer into as soon as you’ve finished as once the paint dries it’s in place for good and will wreck your brayer, so clean it IMMEDIATELY.  You also need a non-stick craft sheet or something to mix and roll the paint on – I use the lid of an ice-cream container.

Spread dollops of paint onto your craft sheet or whatever you’re using and mix them up.  Once you’re happy with the blend, load your roller and roll the paint onto the card.  Once you’ve got it covered, go over it one last time, rolling in one direction (e.g. away from you or towards you but not both).    The card will have a  texture like fine hide – now clean the roller and leave the card to dry.

The core of the “book” is shirt cardboard.  The “leather” card and the marbled paper  lining give it strength.

I call this one “Coppelia” after the ballet – Coppelia was, I think, a life-sized dancing doll so the clockwork seemed to fit.

Bright Elusive butterfly.    This one was inspired by a Val Doonican song that I had running through my head.