At the risk of being completely cheesy – here’s a great big thank you using my favourite technique from Creative Chemistry 102 taught by Professor Tim Holtz with his more than able assistant BTS Mario. Unfortunately I don’t have the time at the moment to do all the other technique tags given I’m taking my studio apart for repairs on Tuesday, but I had to fit this one in 🙂
The longer-term followers of this ‘ere blog will probably vaguely remember that I did Tim Holtz’s Creative Chemistry 101 online class last year. He’s only gone and started CC102 today – there’s thirty more techniques he’s sharing – and of course I had to sign up. So here’s Day 1: six things to do with Distress Paints. I’m not allowed to share the techniques, but you won’t need to look far elsewhere on my blog to see where I have used them with conventional acrylics. That is, all but the first – the marbling effect is unique to Distress Paints because of their make up.
It’s my last official day as a student (though my student ID card is still valid for another month… what can I find with a discount on? 😉 ), and I’ve popped down to the studio to do a bit of creative work before some of the tutors and my class mates come round this evening for an end of course party. These cards are part of my colour development work – I used Photoshop to create an inverted (negative) version of the distress ink colour palette and then colour matched the results to the inks. This way, I was able to quickly find the complementary colour for each ink, that being the colour opposite on the colour wheel. Frayed Burlap complements Weathered Wood, and Bundled Sage complements Dusty Concord. I added even more yin and yang with the Retro Circles texture fade folder.
I took a little time out from enjoying the [rare] sunny weather today to put together this experimental tag. I used the Random Circles mask from Tando Creative to deboss the circles – inked up with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink, embossed onto a pre-decorated tag from my stash, and then covered with Vintage Photo Distress Powder for that authentic rusted look. I used the same mask to select areas of cardstock from the Tim Holtz Lost and Found stash and then stitched them onto the tag using my machine – stitching on card seems to be a bit trickier than into fabric! I aged all the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. A few TH cogs and sprockets, and various metal embellishments decorated with Distress Paints are then added with brads before adding the florist ad from the TH stamp set. A bit of unravelled jute string finished the tag off nicely. Not really my normal style, but hey, that’s what experimentation is about 🙂
Over the last couple of days I have been putting together this handmade book as a potential project for a gathering of some of the UK course graduates of the Creative Chemistry 101 online course with Tim Holtz. The cover is made from 100gsm paper dragged through Distress Paints, which has the bonus of being waterproof once dry. The lining was done the same way. The pages are folded from A5 printed sheets of paper and stuck down the opening edge with 3mm wide double sided tape to form the tag pockets. They are handsewn for binding before gluing the spine and sticking into the cover.The completed book contains 25 different #5 tags with the instructions, and I probably need to explore a concertina binding on the spine to account for this…
[Book dimensions: 31/4″x51/4″ (8cm x 13cm)]I’ve got into the studio at last to do my own thing in between some craft room reconfiguration and college work! I’ve chosen to do some quick mixed media tags using mainly Ranger/Tim Holtz products:
I’ve taken a bit of time out from designing for my college course to make this canvas featuring a paper craft vase and paper craft, die cut, hand coloured and constructed flowers. I’ll be entering it into Tim Holtz’s Tattered Floral Challenge as it is his Tattered Floral die that I used to cut the flowers from 160gsm thin card. The vase is made from the same card to my own design – SVG file available if anyone would like it…
Each flower layer was wrinkle free distressed in first a layer of Fired Brick and Festive Berries both sides, dried and then wrinkle free distressed in a layer of Fired Brick with Ripe Persimmon. They were then dried before being spritzed and flicked with water and left to dry naturally. The centres were punched and then sprayed with Dylusions Granite spray. The flowers were assembled onto florists wire and stuck together with matt multi medium and left to dry over night before being glued into the vase and onto the canvas background.
Here’s the inspiration pic, a vase of flowers in our lounge:
I’ve been asked to do a guest slot on the Less is More blog today 🙂
This week’s theme is Kraft & Kreme, and as always, a clean and simple design is required. Ok, my design might not be so simple to make, but it’s clean and simple under the definition of lots of white space (i.e. unfilled – kraft card isn’t exactly white!).
I cut a 15cm sq kraft card to shape, keeping the oval offcut from the front. I made a mix of 50:50 WOW! Primary Bark with WOW! Vanilla and triple embossed onto the oval offcut, then whilst still hot swirled it with a metal tool. I used the same mixture to emboss the sentiments (from WOW! Merry & Bright Christmas and WOW! Everyday Sentiments) and hearts (from WOW! Gratitude) – I flexed the clear stamps on the acrylic plate to follow the curve of the card. I outlined with Vintage Photo Distress Marker and shaded with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I’m happy to create a template if anyone requires one 🙂
It’s the last Craft Club of the year tomorrow, and thus the last of my twelve tags of 2012. This one incorporates WOW! Embossing Powder, die cut tattered pine cone, a cocktail stick, hot glue, dry glitter and the special secret ingredient – an upcycled orange juice carton! There will be the option to add holly sprigs as well.
Hi – this morning has been spent on a commission. I have been asked to wear something I have made using WOW! Embossing Powder when I’m demonstrating at the NEC next week [Hobbycrafts Exhibition, stand M12-15]. Though I didn’t immediately dismiss necklace or earrings, I didn’t think I’d enjoy the ear lobe crushing of a clip on, and necklaces just dangle in the melt pot… So I came up with two ‘man bracelets’:
Both bracelets are made from grungepaper coloured with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain distress inks, embossed using Tim Holtz texture fades embossing folders, stuck down with Studio matte multi medium. Sewing reinforces the whole thing and the fastening is a Tim Holtz copper hitch. Bracelet 1 features the new WOW! Special Edition Embossing Glitters (Caribbean Jewels) due to be launched at the NEC. Bracelet 2 (The Other Wrist) features the WOW! metallic embossing powders. Grungeboard would work as well, but I didn’t have a size that wrapped round my wrist!