That’s Crafty! Show Samples: ATCs

Posted on 8th October 2017 by perfectly4med

I was on your viewing screens last Friday (you can still catch up at hochanda.com until 16th Oct, 8am & 11am) showcasing the latest releases from That’s Crafty! Part of the mega-pack was a bumper pack of greyboard ATCs, and also available were acrylic and MDF ATCs. Combining these with multi surface paints, shimmer paints, Sparklers and Lynne’s new affirmations clear stamp sets, here are the samples I made, some of which I demonstrated on air.

GIVEAWAY:
If you’d like a chance to win all of the ATC samples I made, comment on the blog post, and at the end of the month I will pick someone at random to receive them. UPDATE: Congratulations to Doreen, who won the draw.

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That’s Crafty! Show Samples: Christmas

Posted on 22nd August 2017 by perfectly4med

Following on from yesterday’s post, here are the Christmas demo samples I made for the live Hochanda shows. Unfortunately, we seemed to enter a time warp for the final hour, and there was not much time to go through all the demos I had lined up.

Merry Christmas Wreath

That’s Crafty! Surfaces MDF Wreaths and Baubles Set
That’s Crafty! Surfaces Bits & Pieces Greyboard: Christmas Sentiments 2
That’s Crafty! Surfaces Bits & Pieces Greyboard: Holly & Mistletoe
That’s Crafty! Surfaces Bits & Pieces Greyboard: Christmas Florals 2
That’s Crafty! Multi Surface Paint: Christmas Red / Green / Purple / White
That’s Crafty! Multi Surface Paint: Antique Gold / Gold / Silver
That’s Crafty! Multi Purpose Craft Adhesive Pen

Try mixing different colours to make shades of green – red for a warm brown, purple for a rich evergreen. Use Craft Adhesive for a doming glaze over the berries, and a glaze for the leaves.

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That’s Crafty! Show Samples: Autumn

Posted on 21st August 2017 by perfectly4med

As always, a quiet blog usually means frenetic activity in The Studio. The start of this month has been no different, with not two, but three live hours of craft TV demos to prepare for. And, as usual, there was a press embargo on sharing the products, or the samples, until the live shows aired.

So, without further ado, here are my samples for the Hochanda shows that aired on 18th August 2017. Please let me know if you’d like fuller instructions on how to make any of these, I’ll see what I can do. Later this week, I’ll also do a review of the new That’s Crafty! Multi Surface paints based on what I learnt making the samples.

’tis the season

That’s Crafty! Multi Surface Paint: Black / Christmas Red / Yellow / Brown
That’s Crafty! Multi Surface Paint: Metallic Gold
That’s Crafty! Bits & Pieces Greyboard: Acorns and Leaves / Leaves
That’s Crafty! Bits & Pieces Greyboard: Christmas Sentiments 1
That’s Crafty! Surfaces Set of 2 MDF Shadow Boxes [small] That’s Crafty! Multi Purpose Craft Adhesive Pen

Use the Craft Adhesive as a doming glaze for the berries. The metallic gold adds a little bit of shine to the leaves.

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TV: Sneak Peeks [for That’s Crafty!]

Posted on 12th June 2017 by perfectly4med

It’s been a bit hectic here at The Studio, prepping samples and show demos for my TV appearance on Friday, on Hochanda (16th June, 8am & 2pm). That’s Crafty! have a huge new release including their own shimmer paints, lots of laser cut embellishments and the new giganTAGs. As usual, I’ve been a bit quiet online as I’ve been hard at work offline! So, here’s a quick peek of the project I’ll (hopefully) show step-by-step beginning to end in the first hour:

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Art Journals: using acrylic covers

Posted on 28th April 2017 by perfectly4med

I was on Hochanda this week demonstrating techniques for using the acrylic covers effectively, for the A4 and A6 journals from That’s Crafty!. As always, there is too little time on air to fit in all my ideas, and only just enough time to fit in all I had planned! What follows below are photos and quick explanations of how to do your own. I really need to remember to take step-by-step photos as I make so that I can do a proper tutorial post! First is an unbroadcast cover, then the mirrored cover that didn’t go so right when rushed, and last for this post is the bubbling water effect shown in my first hour.

Peel off the protective film from the reverse of the cover
Work on the reverse side for all the following steps
Place the snowdrop stencil in position and fill in using Posca pens
Dry, then place the TIME stencil upside down and sponge through ivory paint
Dry, spritz with gold mister, dry
Meanwhile, print texture stamps onto large Rizla papers using Chartreuse archival ink
Heat set the ink, then using decoupage glue/multi medium glue overlapping layers of the printed papers
Once dry, any paper over the edges of the cover can be sanded off

Peel off the protective film from the reverse of the cover
Working on the reverse, add alcohol inks until you are happy with the coloured layer
Place the JOURNAL stencil upside down and sponge a layer of Jet Black archival ink through onto the alcohol ink
Remove the stencil and then rub away the black in with a clean cloth/kitchen towel
Repeat inking steps if you want to remove any more of the alcohol ink
Now spritz with a water-based varnish (e.g. Pentart spray varnish) to seal the ink
IMPORTANT: allow to fully air dry, do not heat. Repeat varnish layer
Spritz with Pentart Mirror Mist and heat dry immediately to stop the mirror mist weakening the varnish beneath
Seal the mirror mist with the same varnish and finally apply a layer of black acrylic paint
Peel off front film to reveal your results

Peel off the protective film from the reverse of the cover
Working on the reverse, and using the word stencils the wrong way up, sponge your main colour onto the acrylic; heat dry and repeat directly over the top.
Next, sponge your shadow colour through the same stencil, slightly offsetting from the first colour
For the water effect, first dilute some white gesso/primer
Working quickly, cover the whole sheet with a layer of watery paint and then dab isopropyl alcohol into the wet paint – it will push the paint away and start the effect
When you are happy with the effect, heat dry in a well ventilated room
Repeat with a light shade of blue, and then another darker shade of blue
This technique will work over any sealed surface, but does rely on the paint being thinned and still wet
Try adding text to the front of the cover as well, this time starting with the shadow colour and working over the top with the main colour

Bonus post

Later this week I will do a separate post explaining my ‘now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t’ technique that was a wee bit rushed at the end of the second show:

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Art Journal Pages: Colours

Posted on 19th March 2017 by perfectly4med

Regular readers won’t be surprised to learn that I have been spending quite a lot of time making samples and prepping demos for my shows on Hochanda last Friday. It’s one reason that there have been very few blog updates recently, as there’s always a media embargo on sharing things before the shows go out. Now that they’re over though, here is one of the 8×8″ journals I decorated for the occasion.

Each spread uses the Pentart Matt Acrylic Paints in a baby-wipe swiped layer, stamped and stencilled, to give a tone-on-tone effect. Some worked well (purple and orange), others not so well (mentioning no names, green). The fine applicator nib is great for painting outlines and letters, as I demonstrated on air.

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Altered Art: The Key to Creativity

Posted on 29th March 2016 by perfectly4med

One of my Tuesday night regulars, Hilary, brought amongst a whole stash of other things two sets of greyboard keys and fobs. ‘Can you think of anything you can do with these?’, she asked. This is what I came up and finished this morning.

The key is textured with sand texture paste, and then layered with fluid acrylics following Andy Skinner’s industrial paint recipe I learnt last year. The tag was sealed with black gesso. I cut a smaller oval and painted that gold, and two layers of black card were cut on the Silhouette Cameo and layered together before the top layer was dampened and hammered loudly and long to create the texture. Once everything was dry, it was all glued together and two coats of thick gloss spray varnish completed the look. I’m impressed with the triple thick glaze spray – it really helps the hammered card look more like a hammered metal enamel finish.

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Laser Cut Planter Kits now available

Posted on 19th May 2015 by perfectly4med

Until I’ve got round to setting up a Kickstarter project and found funding for my own laser cutter, I’m having to outsource my laser cutting. For my first laser cut project since college, I thought I’d mass produce some ‘planters’, suitable for the topiary trees I make with polystyrene balls and Craftwork Cards Candi (examples here and here).

The planters are roughly 2 inches square and 2½” high and cut from white faced 2mm thick greyboard. I’ve made sure that they are simple to construct and stiff enough to hold up the tree (or whatever else you choose to put in them). I’m pleased to announce that the kits are now available to purchase for £3.25 (including p&p and an instruction sheet). All you need to add is decoration and a cube of polystyrene to poke your tree into.
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