Sparkling Key Cabinet

 

I bought the key cabinet from 'the works' website. I did my usual thing of looking at the dimensions and thinking that's a good size then when I got it I was shocked how small it was!!! Lol. Does anyone else have this problem? I'm sure at least once in a life time everyone has made this mistake.

·         Firstly I painted the cabinet with chalk paint, I only needed one coat. I must say I am pretty well impressed with the decor art paint. I've painted a dark brown varnished display cabinet, I didn’t do any preparation prior to painting and I only needed 2 coats. I think if I had used a paint roller rather than a brush it still would have been 2 coats but using less paint.

·         Had to lightly sand the wood after painting as it looked really rough, I was hoping the paint could have disguised it but not to be.

·         I then diluted some inkadinks with water and sprayed all over the cabinet but when it dried you couldn’t really tell that I had used it. It appeared to have soaked into the wood.

·         So I added some mica powder which showed up a bit more but to be honest you can't really see it.

·         Distressed the edges with green viva decor and polished it after applying. I really love the effect this gives every time I use it. It can be used on multiple surfaces too. Pinflare sell this but they call it 'Buff It'.

·         I used a green sparkle medium with a key stencil to decorate the glass.

·         In my stash I found 2 keys and a shape that looks like old fashioned hinges made with air dry clay. I sprayed the Inkadinks on my glass mat and using a brush to paint them. Them on the hinges I used Inka Gold and the keys I used sparkle medium.

·         I then decorated the corners of the glass with liquid pearls and distress glitter glue. I'm not sure I like what I have done but for now going to leave it as I have but later i may try and scrap it off!

Materials used;

DecoArt Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint - Refreshing

Inkadinks - beany green

Mica powder

Sparkle medium - chartreuse

Viva Decor Inka Gold - green/yellow

Martha Stewart mould

From my own stash -

Stencil - key

Air dry clay

Challenge entered;
imagination-crafts

Wow 'Time' Tag

I just love the saying with these stamps. Is so true!!!! And I know plenty of other people would agree with me lol.

·         I cut the tag with my silhouette.

·         Stamped the background with gesso and then Versamark and embossing powders.

·         Stamped the numbers on white card and cut them out.

·         Using Versamark I stamped the saying on craft card and used a punch to cut it out.

·         I wanted the clocks to look like they had glass faces so i applied Versamark and embossed them with clear powder.

·         Added a string to finish the tag.

Materials used

Wow embossing powders - clear, blue glitz, blueberry regular.

Indigoblu - Stamps - Good Times, gesso

Distress ink - faded jeans

Kraft card - crafters companion

Versamark

From my stash -

EK Success punch

White stamping card

Twine

Challenge entered;

wow embossing powder

Stencil Tag

The technique I have used is by Tim Holtz. Challenges are; PanPastels - Inspired by Tim, Thats Crafty use stencils, masks or templates, I've used my own stencil made with the silhouette cameo. The Craft Barn a quote with the words IMAGINATION & LOGIC, I found on the internet for challenge.

·         Start by tapping distress inks on my stencil.

·         Misted the inked stencil with water so to react the distress inks.  

Placed it on to watercolour cardstock. Tim's instructions - While the stencil is on the cardstock, press down over the entire design using a paper towel to print the colour as well as immediately absorb any ink that might seep out inside the stencil openings.

·         TOP TIP don’t use a stencil that has a tacky surface that helps it stay in place because i had inked the other side so when I placed it on the cardstock my fingers kept sticking to the stencil so I wasn’t able to press on it to achieve a clear pattern! 

·         Lift the stencil off, dried with a heat tool.  

·         I Cut the cardstock to fit the tag and distressed the edges with PanPastels

·         I used the same stencil. Used Versamark and dusted on PanPastels then adhered watercolour cardstock to the tag.

·         Stamp the dragonflies using black archival ink.

·         Then I stamped the dragonflies a second time on the watercolour cardstock and cut them out. I didn’t have to colour then as there was some colour from the previous stencilling so that's where I stamped them.

·         Wrote the quote, then cut them out separately and coloured with distress ink then adhered along side of the dragonflies, slightly bending the wings to create dimension.

·         Embellished with a small butterfly on a head pin and curled the wire using my pocky tool.

·         I Applied distress inks to craft sheet and Misted the inks with water

·         Cut 2 pieces of ribbon and rubbed them into the inks until covered.

·         Dried with a heat tool.

·         Tim's description of the bow - Start by inserting the short ribbon through the hole in the tag.

·         Take the longer ribbon and secure one end under your thumb.

·         Wrap the remaining ribbon around your fingers until you run out.

·         Slide the loop of ribbon from your fingers and pinch in the centre to hold. Place the loop on to the top of the tag and tie the short ribbon around the loops to hold. Tie again to create a knot.

·         My doesn’t look as good as his because he used crinkle ribbon and I haven’t got any so made do with satin ribbon which didn’t absorb the inks a good as crinkle ribbon.

That's something else on my 'I WANT' list of craft goodies!!

Materials used

Stencil - made with my silhouette cameo

Distress inks - crushed olive. Spiced marmalade, picked raspberry.

Archival ink - black

PanPastels - pink, green, orange.

Versamark

Viva decor 3D glitter stamp paint - silver.

Papermania rubber stamps - dragonflies

From my stash

Watercolour card

Ribbon

Water Mister

Challengers entered;

the craft barn

thats crafty challenges

panpastel uk

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Just a little note

My mind has been a little distracted the past 3 weeks and my crafting mojo has disappeared! Everything went ok with my knee operation but it was the diagnosis that floored me.

I watched the whole operation on the monitor and the anaesthetist and surgeon explained everything to me. It was very interesting I just wish they were talking about someone else's knee, Lol.

The outcome being that I have severe arthritis of the patella (knee bone) and the only treatment for this is a new knee operation!!!! This diagnosis blew me away; I seriously thought they could have repaired any damage during the arthroscopy.

Three weeks on and I'm coming to terms with the diagnosis. I see the surgeon again in about 3 weeks so that I can have a good chat about the next course of treatment. It's not going to be an easy decision as I have other musculoskeletal problems.

I have to keep telling myself that this is not going to beat me so I'm really pushing myself to craft as it helps with my self esteem and self worth.

I'm sure there are many of you out there that use crafting as a way of distraction from illness and to help fill those gaps of long drawn out days of emptiness and illness. 

Roses on the Horizon

This felt like my hardest challenge. I couldn’t really think of any techniques for this one.

My mind has been a little distracted this past two weeks with the diagnosis I got from my knee operation, thankfully everything went ok. I will leave a short post about my experience.

After racking my brain I came up with this design. I thought 'right' just get some materials out and go with it! My only problem is I want to use all my crafting stash all at the same time; I have too many mediums to choose from! I'm sure there are many of you out there with the same problem. No not problem but CHOICE.

·         Firstly I applied metallic PanPastels to card, the card at first seemed too smooth and the colour wasn’t as vibrant as I wanted but eventually I achieved a good coverage, it did help when I switched my daylight lamp on and saw the shine! Lol

·         I randomly stamped the large rose with Versamark and brushed PanPastels over it, repeating with a smaller rose and different colour of pastel.

·         In my stash I had some shaped card so i used that for the quote. I applied Versamark all over it then brushed on PanPastels but was left with lines where the pad had been placed so using the splat/blot stamps I randomly stamped them all over the card. I didn’t apply any PanPastels to these because as I stamped it pulled some of the colour off and I liked the effect.

·         I wrote the quote freehand.

·         Back to the background, I randomly stamped splat/blot stamps with Versamark between the roses. The stamps somehow managed to pick up some of the magenta PanPastels so that when I stamped them on the card it left a faded purple look which I actually really liked so left it like that. My Versamark pad is a little grubby to say the least. I must have had it a few years now and it's still going strong and I've used it loads of times.

·         I ruffed up the edges of the background and quote and stuck the quote onto the background.

·          

Materials used

PanPastels - phthalo green, magenta shade, metallic's

Versamark

Nikki Hall stamps - roses

From my stash -

Super smooth card

Soft brush

Challenges entered;

www.thecraftbarn.co.uk

panpasteluk.blogspot.co.uk

Tag - Summer Days

The background is made using my 6x6 Gelli plate. When I got my Gelli I had to try it straight away. I went to their website to look at videos. Tried it myself but they didn’t come out like any techniques they showed!!!!!!! I'm going to write a post about my experience with the Gelli.

·         I did this background on copier paper! Cut to the shape of a tag and backed onto cardboard.

·         Stamped images.

·         Applied embossing powder.

When I heated the embossing powder the glue that was sticking the paper to the card melted and warped the tag, grrrrr!!! I never learn. It took ages for me to get it flat'ish again, i heated it and flattened it with my hand many times, it wasn’t going to beat me.

·         Stamped the butterflies and dragonflies.

·         Tied ribbon. I used a lighter to crinkle the edges to make it look different. I surprised myself there wasn’t a fire; I'm a little accident prone!

Not a big description on 'how to' but I think the techniques are very effective.

Materials used;

Crafty Individuals stamp CI-207

Gelli plate

Versamark

Distress ink - picked raspberry

Stampendous embossing tinsel - vintage mahogany

From my stash;

Embossing folder

Paper

Card

Acrylic paint

Ribbon

Challenge entered;

craftyindividualsblog

Proud

I love this quote. 

I've just got a 6x6 Gelli Plate and I'm proud with my first attempts.

When I got my Gelli I couldn’t wait to use it. I got out all my stencils, embossing folders, magic stamps (I them made a few weeks ago. Mainly using embossing folders and silicone moulds), most of my acrylic paint, brayer, paper and card.

Once I started I couldn’t stop. I will write a separate post about my Gelli experience.

This is going to be a short post cos my mind is on other things because I'm having a knee operation tomorrow (27/06/14).

·         Firstly I chose which print I liked best.

·         Cut and glued them to card and then on a page in my journal.

·         The ticket ribbon I cut ages ago and thought it would look ok.

·         Printed quote edged with ink.

·         Glued to the page.

Materials used

Gelli plate

Acrylic paint - deco-art, jo-sonja and numerous other brands. Anything I could get my hands on!!! Lol

Silhouette cameo

Distress ink

Card

PVA glue

Challenge entered

thecraftbarn.co.uk

Ozzie Owl

I've had the owl a while in my stash so when I saw the challenge for PanPastels and that's crafty I thought I would decorate my owl. I had been tempted to do him blue and white after my beloved footy team but those colours wouldn’t suit my home decor. So in honour of my fave team I've called him Ozzie owl!! Lol he's now perched above the table which is much more than I can say for the league table the footy team are in.

·         Firstly I drew around Ozzie onto the back of the card, cut him out and sanded the edges to take on a distressed look and also it neatens the edges of my cutting.

·         I applied Versamark to the eyes, beak and chest.

·         Using a soft brush applied the PanPastels. I did spray with hairspray when I had done them and I managed to get finger prints on it so then I remembered the hairspray!!!! I do it all the time and then wonder why my work is smudged!!!! Lol

·         I used the scallop stencil as i thought it looked more like feathers so then applied the gel with some PanPastel mixed in it. I'm a little disappointed that the metallic of the PanPastel didn’t shine through the gel when it had dried but I was still happy at the result.

·         I glued everything in its place. I felt the branch needed some decorating so in my stash i found some paper flowers and leaves.

·         Then added glitter glue to the flower centres and eyes.

Materials used

MDF owl from Anna Marie Designs

Co-ordinations cardstock

PanPastels - metallic's

Maimeri - modelling paste

Stencil cut on silhouette cameo

From my stash

Paper flowers, leaves, glitter glue, twine

Challenges entered;

Panpastel

Thats Crafty

Monochromatic Tag

I love love love the vibrant colours of the Dylusions sprays so I wanted to make something really bright and cheerful.

• I sprayed the ink onto some watercolour card. Then cut out a tag shape. What I've decided to do is a few different tags for different challenges and then use them to make a card when I need one or I might even display them in my home.
• I love poppies and also my great nieces' middle name is Poppy so any excuse to use poppies in my designs suits me down to the ground. But I think this tag is a little too old for her at the moment, she is only 6 months old! Lol.
• I stamped the poppies onto smooth card, embossed, cut them out and coloured them with distress inks and marker. Also I edged them with the green marker.
• Stamped the saying and edged with the marker
• I placed them on the tag but they looked a little lost and didn’t stand out so I sprayed a couple of pages from an old book and stuck the poppies and saying to them.
• Carefully I tore around them and also edged them with the green.
• I placed them on the tag and liked them much better.
• Using the fine nib end of the marker I drew along the edge of the tag. I had seen this done on a card on Pinterest and thought it looked really effective.
• Stuck them to the tag but I thought something was missing so added the ribbon to the bottom of the tag and also through the hole.

I can't make up my mind whether to put any more embellishments on it or not. For the moment I'm going to leave it as it is but when I put it on a card I can then add something to correspond with person who is receiving it.

Materials used

Dylusions spray - bubblegum pink, fresh lime

Distress ink - picked raspberry

Distress marker - crushed olive.

Wow embossing powder - ultra shimmer

From my stash -

Watercolour card, pva glue, pink organza ribbon, old reading book

Challenge entered;

Indigoblu

Texture but no mistakes!

I really like PanPastels mixed in a texture paste because it's so easy to blend them together.

So when I saw That's Crafty blog wanted texture in there challenge and PanPastels wanted 'man' as the theme I thought the 2 go together and the quote 'mistake' used for the Craft Barn challenge seemed so fitting because we learn from our mistakes.

Sometimes the mistakes we make in crafting can work out ok.

But also I'm sure we have all made mistakes with the male species!!! Lol.

• Firstly I used distress inks with a stencil to begin the 1st layer of the background.
• I then mixed the PanPastels with the gel and used with various stencils.
• To add a little interest I used some acetate packaging and applied PanPastels mixed into the paste using stencils. Cut with decorative scissors. Edged with paint.
• I got a quote off the internet. Copied it into my CraftArtist and used a font I really like.
• Printed it. Cut with decorative scissors. Edged with paint.
• Stuck the acetate to the page, then the quote.

Voila a 'man' textured quote!

Materials used

Smash book

Stencils - crafters workshop, Debbi Moore, Stamps Away, my own made with the Silhouette Cameo.

PanPastels - permanent green shade, bright yellow green, turquoise shade, turquoise.

Texture paste - Maimeri matt gel.

Distress Inks - black soot, faded jeans, rusty hinge.

Acrylic paint.

Fiskars - decorative scissors.

Challengers entered;

www.thecraftbarn.co.uk

panpasteluk

thatscrafty

Glitter Fest

I wanted to decorate a plastic tin I'd had in my stash for a few years!! Yes it's took me this long to decorate it. I found it when I moved house last year. It's surprising what lurks at the back of cupboards!

I couldn’t decide how to decorate it so I looked at different blog challengers to get my brain into gear.

So I'm entering it into Imagination crafts - all that glitters, Cuddly Buddly - daisy, WOW - garden.

• Right down to business.
• I dusted off the tin and measured the size of card that I need to cover the majority of it.
• Cut a stencil out of thick card on my silhouette. The idea behind using the card instead of stencil material is that I want the stencil to fill in where the card shows through the design so that I can add colour and sparkle.
• Cut the stencil in half so that all of the Kraft was covered.
• Applied purple and green sparkle medium.
• Whilst the stencil was still wet from the sparkle medium i applied the embossing powders but when done I realised I had put the wrong colours on each section!!
• So take 2! Applied Versamark to stencils and made sure I put the correct embossing powder on each one. Once heat set the pink was ok but the green didn’t show up very much and looked too pink!
• So take 3! Applied Versamark again then powder but still too much pink showing through
• So take 4! I used regular green which gave a more pearlescent effect but I went with that.
• I stuck the stencils down with pva glue. Should have waited longer to do it cos some of the sparkle medium was still wet!! I don’t have the patience to wait which causes me more problems but I never learn! I'm sure there are many of you out there agreeing with me lol.
• I stippled sparkle medium to the parts of the tin which wouldn’t be covered and also the lid.
• I made a daisy flower out of wire for the lid and applied viva decor silver paint in the middle, when dry a blob of liner.
• I then applied glamour liner as faux glittery pearls to the lid. I must confess I bought the liners in the sales for my great nephews to paint their own t-shirts but when they arrived I thought they were far too good for kids!! lol so in my crafting cupboard they went.
• I left the project over night before I stuck the sparkle fest to the tin.
• So as not to take away from the glittery fest I found in my stash some acetate butterflies so applied them randomly around the tin.
•  I would have liked a butterfly on the lid but I thought it might get in the way of getting the lid off. So added a wire daisy, i made myself, instead. Adding 3D glitter paint and liner to the centre.

Voila an over the top decorated tin. Not really my style so felt totally out of my comfort zone but must say I really like it.

Materials used

Silhouette cameo.

Cutting file - flower background lace.

Versamark ink pad.

Sparkle medium - silver, chartreuse, old rose.

WOW embossing powders - lime light, green regular, magenta twinkle.

Waco glamour liner - black, purple.

Viva decor - 3D glitter paint silver.

From my stash -

Plastic bucket/tin.

Kraft card.

PVA glue.

Green wire.

Challengers entered;

cuddlybuddly.com

imagination-crafts

wowembossingpowder

Pastel Flowers

This is the first time that I have tried to compose an actual picture with the PanPastels! I've done plenty of backgrounds and using them with dimensional mediums but not as the main focal point.

Basically all I did was position the stencils where I wanted them and using the brush loaded it up with the PanPastels and applied it to the paper.

I hadn’t got a plan but just played with it until I got something workable.

Stamped the flowers and circles with versamark.

Sprinkled the embossing powder over stamped images and heated with a heat gun.

Coloured the flowers with Wink of Stella and the circles with the distress pen.

Finished!

Materials used

Watercolour card and Stencils from my stash.

Soft brush.

PanPastels - magenta, magenta extra dark, permanent green shade, bright yellow green shade.

Sheena Douglass stamps - A taste of India-Mandala

Versamark.

Wow embossing powder - verdigris

Wink of Stella - dark pink, orange.

Distress marker - crushed olive.

Challenge entered; panpastels blog

Music To My Ears

I chose this quote because I think it is quite fitting for me.

I suffer with fibromyalgia and endure constant pain all day every day for me the quote is so true, music doesn’t hurt when it hits you; it brings pleasure and a diversion to the pain.

• I opened a digikit with lots of music embellishments and saw the plectrum! I have always wanted to learn to play the guitar.
• I wrote the quote and resized it so it would sit inside the plectrum. When I was happy with the sizes I pressed save and printed it on smooth white card. Cut them out, matted with black card and sparkle medium applied with a very complex tool!!!! My finger lol.
• Applied the glue to a page and put the tissue on top ironing out any wrinkles with my hand.
• When the glue had dried I realised that i could see the brush marks through the tissue!!!!
• Decided to apply Versafine Spanish Moss. Looked a little better, so went with it, keeping fingers crossed it would look ok once the embellishments were in place.
• Designed a music note stencil on my silhouette. Cut it out on black card. I do have some stencil material but I like to cut my designs out on card so then I can use the 'waste' on one of my projects at a later date. I don’t like to do the same thing all of the time so by doing my stencils like this I don’t get any the same.
• Laid the stencil over the tissue, using a spatula applied sparkle medium.
• Glued the plectrums to my page and the 'waste' from my stencil.

Voila another page done.

Materials used

Smash journal

CraftArtist 2 and digikit

Silhouette cameo

Papermania printed tissue

Black card used as a stencil

Imaginations craft sparkle medium - silver

White card for printing

Mod Podge Matt glue

Versafine Spanish Moss

Challenge entered - http://www.thecraftbarn.co.uk/blog/q-l-challenge-passion-music/

Krafty 'Time Flies'

When I read the blog challenged it spurred me on to try the leather Kraft card Sheena Douglass showed on create and craft a few weeks ago. I had to watch the video on her website to refresh my memory.

The only hurdle I had to concur was I don’t have an embossing machine!!! Never fear water and a rolling pin here!!!

• ·         Basically the technique is to spray Kraft card with diluted glycerin and scrunch up.
• ·         Then I needed to emboss the card so my method of embossing is spray with water, let it soak in, place the card in an embossing folder and use a rolling pin roll over the folder a few time.
• ·         I thought the card looked sufficiently embossed but when I applied the ink the pattern didn’t show up as well as I would have hoped.
• ·         I've done the same method with paper and thin card and got really good results but the Kraft card is 300gsm so far too thick for me. I haven’t much strength in my arms and shoulder so I have a feeling that may be the problem getting a good result.
• ·         I found in my stash the fob watch chipboard and thought that would display the leather look card.
• ·         Embossed the fob watch.
• ·         Glued the card and watch together.
• ·         Embellished with various goodie in my stash.
• ·         The lace behind the clock charm I made by threading ribbon through the bottom of the lace, pulled tight then knotted. I made 3 to go on the watch and seeing that the lace was too white I sprayed with a green and gold shimmer spray but once they had dried I arranged them on the clock but they didn’t really show up.
• ·         So used a clay flower I had coloured for a previous project and pushed a creative expressions brad in the centre.
• ·         Designed a saying to put on my fob watch, created in CraftArtist.
• ·         Applied glossy medium.

I'm really pleased how this project turned out because i didn’t really have a plan set out for this one. I usually have a good idea what i want something to look like.

Materials used

Kraft card

Glycerine from the chemist

Embossing folder - Darice

Wow embossing powder - verdigris

Chipboard fob watch - Stamps Away

Shimmer spray - Stamps Away

CraftArtist 2 and digikits

Embellishments from my stash

Martha Stewart clay and moulds

Glossy accents

Creative Expressions  brad

White card for printing

Mod Podge Matt glue

Challenge entered
http://thatscraftychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/thats-krafty-challenge_16.html

My favourite colour palette, spring is in the air with sparkle

I wanted to make a 3d picture but I didn’t want the hassle of dusting it!!!!

Light bulb moment! Lol

There it was in front of me, some packaging!!!!!

• Firstly I chose the frames I wanted to use.
• Sprayed with Dylusions.
• That's when I thought a stencil I had cut the other day and hadn’t fully cut through would look good with the frames with light being able to show through.
• Made the roses and used pva glue and glitter for the centres and dabbed sparkle medium on the petals.
• Coloured the sparkle medium with PanPastels. I was really surprised how well the PanPastels and sparkle medium mixed. I'm now addicted to them both as they are so easy to work with.
• Painted it on various clay flowers, leaves etc.
• I thought the packaging could do with a bit of sparkle so used a stencil. Even though I say it myself I am well impressed.
• I needed to make another slightly larger frame to fit the size of the packaging. I cut one out on kraft card, applied versamark then green panpastels. That looked a mess because you could see the lines of the versamark pad! Plan B- stamp large dragonflies around the frame but still looked a mess. Plan C- acrylic paint. Good old trusty acrylic paint saves the day again!! Lol.
• Now to put it all together mmmmm problem i want the light to show through the acetate stencil but wanted it to stand away from the large pink frame!!!! Because the frames were nesting there was no where for me to use sticky pads or pinflare without it looking messy on the back. So after a few tries of different ways i eventually went for using acetate struts.
• It worked!!!!!
• I used pinflair to attach the rest of the clay flowers, leaves, butterflies and owl.
• I placed the design in the packaging and dropped in the paper flowers.
• Im not sure if i have over done the decoration but for the time being im leaving it as it is because i can always remove the paper roses.

I hope you like the design and the bright cheerful colours

Materials used

Packaging

Imagination crafts stencil

Craftwork cards embossed frames

Dylusions spray

Green pearlescent paint

Sparkle medium

PanPastels orange, magenta, bright yellow green, turquoise

Martha Stewart air-dry clay, moulds, glitter

Opaque acetate

Silhouette cameo, rose cutting file, stencil 

Pinflare glue

Challengers;
http://panpasteluk.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/challenge-13-pick-colour-palette.html
http://imagination-craftschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/mays-inspiration-post.html
http://thatscraftychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/spring-is-in-air-challenge.html