Thursday 31 October 2013

November classes update at The Craft Barn

Good afternoon friends
I know, I've been absent for a little while. I had a couple of days break to spend some family time so we popped down to see the Autumn colours at Sheffield Park and Winkworth Aboretum as well as a day down in Hastings watching the approaching stormy weather whipping up the waves... all good but now it's time to focus again. So, here are the other class details for November at The Craft Barn.
Pandora's Box is full but there are still places on Friday November 22 for my cotton bag class. The details are HERE and this is what we are doing, working with DecoArt So Soft and Ink Effects fabric paints....


I'll be back on Friday November 29 creating a fun gate fold book with my Geometric Cover Kit. This book makes an ideal and fun travel journal to take away on holiday with you to record and keep your memories together while you are away. Inside has a notebook side and pockets to fill with memorabilia.
Details are HERE and this is what we'll be up to.....

It would be lovely to see you there.....

Also this week over at The Craft Barn Blog the team has been looking at fun ways with pegs, both big and small. There are some cool projects there and yesterday was my turn....this is a sneak peek at my project

and I'd love you to pop on over for a closer look HERE.

Hope you all have a brilliant day, whatever you are doing and I'll be back with more exciting news tomorrow....

Stamps - Time Travelers, The Chemist
Die - Writing Desk
Distress Inks- Wild Honey, Forest Moss and Black Soot
Distress Stain - Brushed Pewter and Tarnished Brass

Thursday 24 October 2013

From new to old with DecoArt

Good afternoon friends.

I thought you may enjoy a little tutorial today on transforming something new to something old?

 This was my starting point. My wife was given these candle holders and though she liked them they didn't go with our house decor and style so she handed them over to me with the instructions "do something with these for me please!" So I did......the first thing was to cover everything with a coat of gesso to get rid of the smooth surface and to give some "tooth" for the paint.
 When that had dried I then took DecoArt Americana Deep Midnight blue and painted everything. If you miss bits it's no biggie as there is more paint to come.
 Once everything is covered I then added DecoArt Traditions Transparent Red Oxide to the mix and dabbed it over randomly. The trick is not to cover everything so aim for all the white bits and some of the blue.
 Once you've added that, then repeat the process with Americana Raw Umber. The key is to dab with your brush rather than brush it on and don't overload the brush with paint. Once you've done that, set it aside to dry which will then give you this finish.
 I liked this effect but felt it was a little too dark for me still so I popped some Americana Raw Umber and some Americana Slate Grey onto my craft sheet and mixed them together to give me a pretty "muddy" grey and brushed that over the whole thing, again, don't overload your paint brush, less is more. Once that was done I used a wet wipe to remove a lot of the surface colour to reveal the underneath. The end result is this...
 Two gorgeous "Vintage Shabby" aged candle holders. You'd pay good money for these in one of those fancy interior shops and all it takes is a bit of paint and time and it's enjoyable too. I love the way the last layer lightens everything up, keeps the aged feel and you can still see the darker tones underneath, giving a lovely depth of tone!

Hope you are inspired to give it a go. If you are, this is what you need....

Your object, which can be anything, though I think that things with lots of details like these work really well.

DecoArt products :
Gesso
Americana Acrylic - Deep Midnight Blue, Raw Umber and Slate Grey
Americana Traditions - Transparent Red Oxide

Other products :
 Paint brush (Stiff bristle works best)
Wet wipe.

Hope you all have a good afternoon.



Monday 21 October 2013

November classes at The Craft Barn

Good afternoon friends,
Thought I'd take a moment to update you on next months classes at The Craft Barn

On Sunday 17 November I've an all day class called Pandora's Box. A lovely mixed media wooden chest.
The details are HERE and this is the picture of what we'll be doing. I'd love to see you there if you are in the area.



(The colour choice is up to you by the way, you don't have to use my colour choices!)

Couple of other classes at the Craft Barn for you but I'll update the blog with photos once they are totally finished as both are busy drying in various pieces!
Friday 22 November for a funky cotton bag class. The details are HERE
Friday 29 November for a different take on my Geometric Book Cover Kit. Details are HERE

Hope you are all having a good afternoon too.




Friday 18 October 2013

What's your poison Sir.......

Good morning friends.
As the Halloween time approaches, I generally break out into a bit of a sweat. No, not because I'm scared of things that go bump in the night, but because it is not something that is big on my celebration calender.  I prefer  Easter and Christmas personally.
However I know that I end up doing something for it so I try to think of something perhaps slightly different and this year I have made a coffin for you..... There is a bit of  a "how to" guide over on The Craft Barn Blog
HERE which I'd love you to pop on over to see; and as further encouragement to do so I'm only going to show you the outside here.....


This is the product list I used to create this


Tim Holtz - The Chemist stamps
Tim Holtz - Tissue Tape
Tim Holtz - Distress Markers
Clear UTEE and Versafine embossing ink

Thursday 17 October 2013

Another thing finished.

Hi there
I'm slowly but surely working my way down my pile of unfinished pieces and here is another thing I managed to get finished!

 The frame is around 25cm square and originally a dark brown wood. I lightened it with some Distress Paint and rubbed it down so you could still see some of the wood.
 I used a selection of tags as my base layer and covered everything with a layer of gesso before gluing some lace down and adding thicker sections of gesso to give additional texture. When everything was dry(ish) I used Dylusions Inks to colour. I really like how the fabric has kept the intense colours but the gesso has created more pastel tones.
 I used a script stamp from PaperArtsy in both Coffee and Black Archival ink in various areas. The girl was stamped onto card and cut out before colouring with Distress Markers. The sentiment comes from Tim Holtz Chit Chat and to tie the colour in I added a couple of mini flourishes in  a similar colour.
For the outer mount I added some random areas of gesso and sprayed in a selection of green Dylusions to create a mottled background over which I stamped the same script stamp in the two colours randomly all over. Everything was then assembled behind glass. (I'm seriously impressed that I managed to get these photos as good as they are as usually the glass messes everything up big time!)

Anyway, I'm pleased with the end result and glad  that I've another project ticked off the "to finish" list.
Hope you all have a good afternoon, evening too. Now I'd better get back to see what's next.......

Wednesday 16 October 2013

Small journal #2

Good morning friends
If you saw my desk yesterday you will have seen the second of the small journals I've made. Here it is in more detail as promised. Like the last one, this started out because I had spare paper from the second heart journal I made. Other "scraps" made their way into this one too.

 I began with cutting two pieces of chipboard to fit the pages.  As many of you know I have my range of book cover kits available through Tando and one of the things that I find is that I don't use all the elements you get in a kit every time as there are so many different ways to use them. The result is I have "spare" bits, so I cut down and used a spine and a scrap of binding cloth to join the covers and also used a piece from the Geometric kit cut down to add a decorative element to the front (and back, but you'll see that just now)
 The central embellishment is the result of messing around with a chipboard circle, UTEE, Texture Treads and a melt pot ages ago. I attached it to the cover and used texture crackle around the rest. I love this crackle because if you add a thick layer you get awesome crackle but if you use it thinly you will get very very fine crackle and lovely textural effects can be created.
 I attached the pages to the spine with wire, also adding this gorgeous piece of driftwood and the wing charm too. Can't remember where I picked it up but I think it's beautiful.
 The back was kept simple with just some softer texture and the rest of the Geometric piece.
 Everything was gilded with Treasure Gold in Copper and Emerald. I stamped the decorative ends with my Fantasy Background stamp and then added a couple of layers of clear UTEE to add shine and also to have a distinction between the covers and them as they were all in the same colours.
 I enjoyed making this, even more so because I was able to use bits and pieces that I had already and was not sure what to do with.
This medallion looks amazing now but originally I was going to bin it as it looked a bit messy and the original colours were pretty yucky, now I'm pleased I kept it!
Hope you enjoyed this and that you have a great and creative day.



Tuesday 15 October 2013

WOYWW 228 The early edition!

Well, hello there, Julia is off on holiday and has posted early, so as my photo's were taken this afternoon while there was some light I thought I'd join in with some of the others and share my workplace early too (But I'm sure that it is Wednesday somewhere in the world already....)

 My desk this week is a cross between a dump zone and work zone. I've been feeling under the weather for a few weeks now so haven't managed too much, but now I'm trying to force myself to get going again and have been getting some half finished bits done.
 Like this book, made from left overs but I'll be sharing that in more detail in a separate post tomorrow if I get the time. The large bird sketch is part of another project I hope to get finished soon.
This little pile of shapes have been made from Thermomorph, a piece that I had made and painted but in the end didn't like so I remelted it with the heatgun and mixed it up again and moulded these.
So, short and sweet this week. For more desks pop on over to Stamping Ground..... Have a good time.

Monday 14 October 2013

Hidden.......

Good morning friends.
 Well, it is a grey and miserable day here, what happened to yesterday's nice weather (Which I couldn't enjoy because I was at work).
No point in moaning about it, though I hope next weekend is better, but you didn't pop in to hear me witter on about the weather did you?

 So, how about this....... a new little journal called "Hidden"  A while ago, I made my 2 heart journals and as the inside pages were smaller than the A3 used, there were leftover pieces so I decided to make a couple of small journals from them. This is the first; I used one of my test pieces created with Thermomorph (See the full review post HERE if you are interested) and Decoart Texture Crackle paste to create loads of texture on the front cover.
 The spine is leather and attached to the covers with screw head brads.
 I used my Shoal Negative mask for the back to give texture but not too much bulk.
 Everything was then covered with layers of treasure gold and PaperArtsy Claret paint which gives a colour but because it is translucent allows the other colours to shine through.

 U used wire to attach the driftwood and a  small charm to the leather spine and glued a tiny feather to the wood.
So there you have it, one small journal with lots of lovely textures and shimmer. Hope you like it!

Thursday 10 October 2013

Have you heard of Thermomorph? Neither had I........

Good morning friends

A long post from me today and right at the start I will say that this is a solicited (and honest!)  review of the product. I was contacted a while ago by David of Thermomorph asking me if I would be interested in testing and reviewing the product. Not having heard of it before I wandered over to the website and have to say I was curious so I said yes......
So, what is Thermomorph ? Well, they are Polymorph granules. They cost £19.95 for a 500g pot and are available from Amazon . Ok, I bet you are still wondering what it is; in essence it is a pot of plastic granules that melt when put into boiling water allowing you to mould and shape it. So why don't you join me as I test it out.

 I decided to work in the kitchen to begin with so I was near to the kettle. You can see that the pot is filled with tiny granules. I started by putting a couple of tablespoons of pellets into a bowl of boiling water. Very quickly you see them turn from white to clear.
 Like this! I used a spoon to push them together and lifted them out of the bowl. I was a bit careful when I first took them out but I soon realised that it was fine to handle.
 I rolled it a bit and began to press into the silicone mould.
 As you can see, I managed to fill all but one tiny mould with my 2 teaspoons so a little goes a long way. I left them in to cool (We'll come back to them later)
 Next I was going to try something so I popped a couple more spoons of pellets into the same bowl and realised that they were not  melting quickly because the water was not warm enough (So, each melting needs to use boiling water)
 I took them out and was going to pop them in fresh water but thought, I kind of liked the texture so I pressed and stretched it out and left to cool ....
 So, back to what I was going to do; more fresh boiling water and pellets, scooped out and popped onto a rubber stamp (Must use rubber, not clear!)
 I put an acrylic block into a bag and pressed hard onto the stamp to flatten the Thermomorph.
 It came off easily and I left it on the stamp to cool (It turns white again when cool) before peeling off.
 Then I tried some free hand moulding.  Not the easiest because you don't have that much time to work so I think you need to know what you are doing to do this. So that was my initial play time. So the next step was to add colour...
 I coloured these with Treasure Gold which was fab. I added some washes of paint to age. The starfish was painted with acrylic first

 I began to develop some projects using them
 I used a Crop-o-dile to punch  a hole and attach a chain tassel which was easy to do and just layered up.
I also found that I could use a heat gun to soften everything again allowing you to press and join pieces, like this face to the texture and it does not seem to lose definition. (Still more experiments to do though!)

So, in conclusion; a very interesting product. Overall I was very impressed, it is easy to use, cost effective and I will definitely be using this a lot. Especially for moulding as you would be able to make tonnes of moulded objects but I have more ideas I want to try too. Like die cutting, book covers different moulding....

However, one issue that cropped up was with the starfish, free hand shaping by pressing pieces together as I did for this will not work as it all fell to pieces with a little pressure as the separate elements didn't bond. Not a biggie but at least  I know that now. But by using the heat gun to join the face to the texture piece and pressing it in with some tools seems to bond the pieces together properly.

Here are the links; to the website

http://www.thermomorph.net/

and for the Amazon link

Click here


If you are still with me, thanks for sticking with it and I hope you've enjoyed it. At first glance, though it is not an inexpensive product, a little goes a long way. I've hardly made a dent in my pot and I've made more that what I've shared here and if you don't like what you've done you can always pop it back into boiling water and start again!






Wednesday 9 October 2013

Just a quick one

Hi there.
Just a quick one today. Not feeling too great at the moment so curled up in a ball feeling sorry for myself....
Still, today I'm over at The Craft Barn sharing a fun journal page using the Lavinia range of stamps that have recently been launched at the shop. I'd love it if you would pop on by and take a peek.

http://thecraftbarnblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/mystical-week-neil.html

Here's a picture of the page but there are lots more details over on the blog.
Hope you all have a good day.



Materials
Lavinia stamps - Shaylee, climbing Ivy and Icicles
Dylusions inks - various colours
Masks - JellyfishFish and Cell Theory
Sizzix Tattered Garland Die

Monday 7 October 2013

Journal Page

Hi there folks.
It's a blink and a week is gone time at the moment. I just realised that I haven't been on my blog since last Wednesday and I decided I was not going to get distracted again so here I am! I found a bit of time to work in my big Dylusions journal. I've always loved this piece of writing and I've been raiding my Prince of Persia book for imagery.
 The background has been made with a selection of masks and Dylusions inks. I bordered the pages with my Geometric Square stamp and used Distress Stain (Forest Moss) to colour it..
 I used a white Posca pen to write. It pretty much filled the left page.

I used Some Distress Stain to create a ground for Dastan to stand on and then added some doodled details. (Including weird creature on the right LOL, not sure what I was thinking at the time....)

It was fun to do though.
Today I was looking for something and ended up shuffling my "Man Cave" around too. I did find what I was looking for so it was not a total waste of time...... Want to see?



I also love having a clean space. I can actually see the carpet and move around a bit too. I even discovered some lovely things I'd forgotten about! So, now I can go back and make another mess! See you later.