Crackle Week at Tando

Morning all,

I have a tutorial for you over on the Tando blog today, hop across to find out all the details on how this was done.  I love these new stamps from Illusionary Artists too!

I used an MDF arch blank from Tando for this piece, it lent itself to the stamps perfectly.

There's a lot of texture going on, and plenty of layers!

Hope you can join me to find out more, and catch up with my teamies makes, over at Tando Creative.

Happy Crafting,

Nikki
xxx

Faux Metal week on the Tando Blog.

Hi all,

My first post in the New Year today!  I've been a bit poorly with a kidney infection and then a bad back (twice), but finally hoping I'm getting somewhere.

I have a post for you today over on the Tando Blog, hope you can join me and my colleagues this week for 'Faux Metal' week.  This guy would like to know what you think about him :)

Happy Crafting,

Nikki
xxx

Route 66 - Mixed Media Canvas with DecoArt Media Acrylics

Morning everyone,

I'm sharing a piece today that I made for Mixed Up Magazine, for February 2017.  You can still get this issue of the magazine from Pocketmags, and I'd really encourage you to take a look at Mixed Up Mag and subscribe to future issues, it has tons and tons of pages of mixed media inspiration and projects. 

This piece was loosely valentines based, well, it had a heart in it!

This piece even made it to page 66!

Hope you like it, you can check out the full details on how I made it in the magazine.

Have a fab weekend,

Nikki
xx

Mixed Up Magazine Blog post.

Morning all,

Today you can join me over on the Mixed Up Magazine blog, sharing 'I'm only Human' with you.  Hope you can pop across and check out how I made it.

Best Wishes,

Nikki
xx

A new technique - Mixed Media Acrylic with DecoArt Chalk Crackle.

Morning all,

I had a brilliant weekend at Dare 2 Create this weekend gone, with Andy Skinner and Tracy Weinzapfel Stratton, and the fab Tando Creative Ltd.  It has taken a couple of days to recover!  I was demonstrating on the Saturday evening, and I had some ideas floating in the grey matter, to try a crackle on the back of an acrylic piece. Bearing in mind painting on acrylic works backwards, it took some working out, and hope that it wouldn't crackle all the layers.

Here is a full tutorial, and pictures of some of the pieces I have made since.

The Acrylic has a protective layer both sides.  I remove just one side to work on, and leave the other for protection on my work surface.  Stamp an image on to the acrylic using Carbon Black Fluid Media Acrylic. You do have to be careful not to let the stamp slip, but the bonus with acrylic is that you can wipe off any mistakes while still wet. Spread the paint thinly on your craft mat to stamp with.

Choose a paint colour, and colour in behind the heart, (always on the same side as your stamping), going over the black stamping as well (this will still show through in places).

When dry, colour in the missing parts of the heart, I used Venetian gold here.  You could colour the whole heart in, some of the gold would still show through the first layer of magenta.

Cover the whole heart in a layer of black, this seals the front colours, and stops light getting through further.  It also makes the black stamping clearer from the front.

Next, splatter some slightly watered down colour all over the acrylic.  You can use one or more colours.  Dry between applications so they don't make mud!

Apply the Crackle Medium to the acrylic.  I went around the edge of the heart, but you can go right over, it won't crackle normal acrylic, or what's underneath it, just what you put on top.  This crackle only works with the chalk paints.

Once completely dry, paint over with your chosen colour of chalk paint and let dry.

The final step is to paint behind the cracks in a contrasting colour.  

Then it's time for the final reveal, just peel back the acrylic from the other side and admire your artwork.

As you can see, I'm slightly hooked.  The best part is peeling away the protective cover and seeing what's beneath.

Hope it inspires you to have a go.

Best Wishes,

Nikki
xxx

Products Used:

Tando Creative Acrylic Cubbie Pieces/Media boards.
Andy Skinner/Stampendous/Laurel Burch Stamps.
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics.
DecoArt Chalk Crackle.
DecoArt Chalk paints.
DecoArt Dazzling Metallics.

Tando Creative - Anything Goes week.

Hi all,

Over on the Tando Blog today I have a little step by step on a Gothic Arch frame, if you'd like to hop over and check it out. I just love these 'Indigo Cats' stamps by Laurel Burch too!

Happy Crafting,

Nikki
xxx

Morning everyone,

I have a post over at Tando Creative blog today, to show how I made this quick Easter tag with very few crafting supplies as I was away.

Hop over if you can to find out more.

Hope you have a lovely day today, whatever you are doing.

Best Wishes,

Nikki
xxx

Proud Guest at A Vintage Journey - Going Round in Circles

Hi all,

So proud to have been asked to contribute over at A Vintage Journey, it's my first time as a Guest there, and I couldn't be happier!  The theme this month is 'Going Round in Circles', and I went 'small' for this one!

The matchbox was treated inside, and on the top, with DecoArt Media Crackle paste.  Once dry I painted in Media fluid acrylics in Prussian blue hue, and Quinacridone gold, using a wash of each colour, and letting one dry in area's before adding the other.  This gave a distressed old look.

I stamped the postmark and stain stamps in raw umber paint.  And dripped more quinacridone gold down the sides of the box.

The crackle and antiquing process was repeated onto a simple piece of card, to use in the circular necklace.

I cut the card to fit my circle bezel, glued and sealed with matte medium.  I stamped the Toxic word in raw umber onto a piece of card, and aged with quin gold.  Some cogs were added and glued in place, and then resin was added to dome in the bezel.

Inside of the matchbox and underneath were also aged, and the necklace fits perfectly to give as a gift.

I so enjoyed making this and following the theme, don't forget to check out the rest of the projects over on A Vintage Journey's blog.

Best Wishes,

Nikki

xxx

Products used:

DecoArt Media:

Media Crackle Paint

Media Fluid Acrylics - prussian blue hue, quinacridone gold, raw umber.

Stampendous/Andy Skinner Stamps - Toxic, Shabby

IndigoBlu - Diamond Resin

Matchbox, bezel, chain & cogs from stash.

DecoArt & Hochanda shows and Happy New Year..

Morning all,

I hope your New Year has started well, there has been a bit of sadness over the last month and even into this year for a few people I know, so thoughts are with those less fortunate as well.

I just wanted to share some of my makes from the Hochanda show's on Monday.  I had a brilliant time with the fab new 2oz chalk paints from DecoArt, and the multi-surface, Dazzling Metallics and GlamourDust paints!  Like a kid in a sweet shop.  Not forgetting the lovely new Tando pack made up for me!

So this little media board gave me a new technique, as I'd already stencilled it with DecoArt's Scribbles stencil, and left it to one side a while ago.  I painted it with the 'restore' chalk paint, (they all come in new 2oz bottles for crafting now!) and then added the chalk crackle.  When I came to put the top coat on, I noticed that the crackle followed some of the stencilling, and gave a really cool effect.
 

I then crackled the Tando heart, using Lace and Romance chalk paints, and painted and stamped the smaller heart in opposite colours.  The wings are painted in Dazzling Metallics Venetian Gold, and the edges of the board dabbed with it on my fingers.  

This little daisy tag was similar, the crackle followed the stencil, and cracked more between the daisy's than on top!   I repainted the daisy's in separate colours, multi-surface coastal waters and chalk cherish. 

And then I did a sparkling canvas, although it's not so clear from the picture!  I crackle painted a canvas a while ago, and didn't have a purpose for it at that stage.  When I got the tv samples through, I knew immediately that it needed the Dandelion!  I painted roughly, leaving patches, with Serene chalk paint, over the crackle.  I then added the daisy stencil in legacy chalk paint, and put Neon Blue Glamour dust paint in the centres of the dandelion heads.  I stamped with Andy's scratches stamp (Toxic Set) in places,distressed the panel slightly with paynes grey, made it look chipped all around the edges with paint on my fingers, and then coated the whole canvas in Ice Crystal Glamour dust, for a very subtle, gorgeous glitter effect.

I hope you like these, I had fun making them!  I will try and share some more soon.

Best Wishes,

Nikki

xx

Products Used:

DecoArt - 

Stencils - Scribble, Daisy Chain, Dandelion

20z Chalk paints - restore, legacy, serene, lace, romance, cherish, Americana Decor Crackle medium.

Multi-surface - Coastal Waters

Dazzling Metallics - Venetian Gold

DecoArt Media - Paynes Grey, Crackle paint.

GlamourDust Paint - Neon Blue, Ice Crystal

(A lot of these available in the UK from Tando Creative)

Stamps - Andy Skinner Toxic Set

Tando Creative - media boards, hearts, wings, tags.

Craft Stamper TIMI Challenge May Reminder- Take A stamp

Morning everyone,

It's time for a quick reminder about the Craft Stamper TIMI Challenge, our May theme is just 'Take a Stamp', so it's nice and easy.

The rules are simple, one entry per person, with a link in your post back to the Craft Stamper Blog, and your blog post must only contain the one piece you are entering.  No cased entries please - your own work.

For full details see the Craft Stamper Blog HERE.

In return, we have two amazing prizes on offer as always, firstly our Design Winner , who is chosen by our DT, who all vote for their favourite designs from all of the entries.  This winner will have their winning project published in Craft Stamper Magazine, (with a 2 page spread of their very own!), they will have a GDT slot for an upcoming challenge, and will also feature in their very own Winners Profile blog post!

And then we have this totally amazing prize on offer, to our completely random winner.
Our sponsor this month is: Designs By Georgina 
Prize: As pictured. 3 stamp sets and 3 new release stencils.

Over on the Craft Stamper blog our team have some fab inspiration for you, here is my offering:

I made a tryptiche with Tando Creatives mini Arches, and painted them with DecoArt Media Acrylics, in Andy Skinner's Rust style, and using Andy's stamps, the steampunk set.

I painted a piece of card in the same colours, and stamped the butterfly and clock in black versafine, and clear embossed them, then cut them out.  The clock was shaped to arch and cut around, to make it fit.

The skull is a Tando mini, I LOVE these!  I'd put them on everything if you let me.. It's painted again, then embossed with Frantage embossing powder, in aged copper.  It has some amazing texture to it.

The three little arches are held together with some mini hinges and glossy accents, but you could use ribbon or washi tape as hinges too.

I stamped on top with the steampunk words in black, to add a little more interest.  And the whole thing was coated in a layer of ultra matte varnish, to make the rust more realistic and take down the shine from the embossing.

So I hope you can join in the challenge at Craft Stamper this month, and you enjoy our team's inspiration.

See you soon,

Nikki

xx 

Craft Stamper TIMI May Challenge - Take a stamp

Morning,

Today is the start of Craft Stamper Magazine's Take it Make it Challenge for May.  Our theme this month is 'Take A Stamp'.  This means any new stamped creation you have made, with rubber stamps.  The rules are simple, one entry per person, with a link in your post back to the Craft Stamper Blog, and your blog post must only contain the one piece you are entering.  No cased entries please - your own work.

For full details see the Craft Stamper Blog HERE.

In return, we have two amazing prizes on offer as always, firstly our Design Winner , who is chosen by our DT, who all vote for their favourite designs from all of the entries.  This winner will have their winning project published in Craft Stamper Magazine, (with a 2 page spread of their very own!), they will have a GDT slot for an upcoming challenge, and will also feature in their very own Winners Profile blog post!

And then we have this totally amazing prize on offer, to our completely random winner.
Our sponsor this month is: Designs By Georgina 
Prize: As pictured. 3 stamp sets and 3 new release stencils.

So my inspiration for you today is a Tando Creative Tag.  I painted it in DecoArt Media acrylics in Dioxazine purple and mixed with the tinting base which is white, to give a variegated effect.  On top of this I stamped in stazon's vibrant violet and gothic purple, using Andy Skinner's Steampunk stamp set.

Next I used Stampendous' Frantage in Jewel Purple, all around the edges of the tag.  I used Flitterglu to hold the embossing, as it doesn't heat or boil when used, and is excellent for embossing purposes as it's very high tack and holds it brilliantly. 

Next I took an mdf heart and painted it purple, then used DecoArt's Media Crackle Paste in a nice thick layer on top.  This gave some lovely deep cracks across the heart.  I also dropped the green interference paint into the paste as it was drying, and used a pin to swirl some edges out, making little pinwheel shapes.  It has a lovely green irridescent sheen across the heart in patterns.  I went round the edges of the heart with some more paint, and then stamped part of the steampunk stamp set across the top.  

For the finishing touches I painted a piece of card in the same way as the tag, and stamped and embossed in black versafine, the steampunk butterfly from Andy's set, and DREAM, which was from a PaperArtsy stamp set, Eclectica 18 by Emma Godfrey.  These were added with glue and pads to give dimension.  

I hope you like my inspiration, and can hop over to the Challenge blog to see the rest of our amazing team's work, and enter for yourself!  

Craft Stamper magazine is available in magazine format HERE, and also available digitally, in easy to read format on your tablet or pc or phone, check it out HERE.

Best Wishes,

Nikki

xxx

Caution!

Morning all,

Well it was going to be just a quick post today, just wanted to share a fun card I made recently.  I had an idea when I saw Andy Skinner's Toxic stamp set.

But before that... I have some news....

I'm so proud and happy to say I am now a Decoart Helping Artist, I had confirmation last night from Decoart and I'm absolutely made up to be part of the scheme.  You'll notice a shiny new badge on the side of my blog.  So I will be bringing you a lot more projects and ways to use Decoart products, in my usual style of course, and will be getting out there with workshops and demo's too.

I'm currently doing a 'happy dance', so it's probably just as well this isn't live or on video....

Now back on to my 'quick' make..

The background was created using Andy's rust technique (No 3), but to create the cogs, I used a stencil, and Decoart modelling paste, to make the cog background.  I then coated the background and some of the cogs with Decoart Texture sand paste, to give a rough feel, and made some of the edges higher with my fingers.  The rust was then applied.

The layer behind the rust, is plumber's aluminium foil tape, applied to a square of card slightly larger than the rust piece.  I then passed it through an industrial style embossing folder, to make the metal effect.  It was too shiny, so a few layers of carbon black were applied and wiped back with a baby wipe, to age the metal.

I painted another piece of card with a mix of primary yellow, and pyrrole red, to get the vibrant orange colour used for the Caution sign.  That was stamped in black Versafine.  I also stamped the scratches stamp from the same set over it, to age it slightly.  It's cut out and layered onto the rust background.  The rest of the sentiment was computer printed, I just thought it worked well.  I aged it with raw umber before glueing to the card.

The outside frame is just a lovely washi tape I had, and fitted with the industrial feel of the card.

Have a good day,

Best Wishes,

Nikki
xx