Rub-on Resist Technique

I've had great fun today, with my entry for Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2013 May challenge. So much so, I made two tags!  I ordered some of the rub on stickers, which landed on my doormat on Saturday, but I had to wait to try them as I was out demonstrating all day, and as Sunday was so sunny here (a huge surprise), we made the most of the day and went out.

The rub-on's are extremely easy to use, I hadn't tried them before, and the rub-on's I remember used to take half an hour to get off the backing, and then leave a dent in the page you were putting them on!  Not with these, they came off easily with the rubbing stick supplied, and a quick pull of the backing paper left them neatly on the page.  There was no problem avoiding the bits you didn't want, but if you were worried, you could cut round the images first, and use them individually.

 Just place the image where you want it on the page, and rub with the provided stick, and there you are!







When you have the images where you want them, you can then dab your distress stains on to your craft mat, and swipe the whole tag through the colours.  Don't worry if it doesn't completely cover the tag, you can fill in later.



Dry the tag slightly, then spritz with water to further react the distress inks and get a nice mottled effect on the tag.

 

Now you can stamp the tag with your main image, in archival ink.  And if you wish, stamp further around the tag with complimentary images.  You can stamp over the rub-ons, and either leave it there (dry with a heat gun to seal image), or rub it off to make the stamp look like it's behind.

  

 

 

I stamped my main image which is from the Tim Holtz Visual Artistry clear stamp range, called 'Lost and Found'.  I then added picket fence distress paint accents with a bottle lid, and cut out the 'Not all who wander are lost' sentiment and placed it up the side of my stamp, as I didn't have the tags used for the challenge.  As I didn't have the enamelled tags either, I used a bezel, which I put the rub-on clock in, and the poison skull sticker as a centre.  I covered these in glossy accents to give the enamelled look.  I did try to 'batter' a brad into submission, but it didn't want to seem to dent for me, perhaps I shoud of toddled down the shed for a better hammer.

 

 

For the film strip, I didn't have the tape, but I did have the acetate already printed from the top of the stamp set!  I cut that up as I store my stamps in cd cases anyway, and it was perfect.  I attached it with pinflair glue, as it's clear and doesn't show.  The butterfly in the centre is on top of the acetate, and the rest are underneath.  I put a little key brad through the film as an added touch.

 

The pen nib was added on top of the orange, it's another rub on, but there just seemed to be a little space needed filling. .

 

The ribbon is coloured with the same distress stains, spiced marmalade and squeezed lemonade, to finish the tag.

 

Here is this tag finished: 





 

And here is the second tag, same technique, just different colours, and I used Tim's metal flower embellishments with the alcohol ink technique on this one.  I used the film strip rub on, and cut out and layered the sentiment, and coloured the ribbon to finish the tag.

 

  

 I can't make up my mind which one I like best, now which one shall I enter?  I missed the tag challenge last month, can I have two this month? 

 

Pop across to Tim's challenge to see which one it is!

 

 Have fun creating!

xx



Working with Polymer Clay.

Polymer Clay.  An absolutely inspiring medium, if you thought it was just for children, think again.  You can do so much with it, make buttons, Art work, Card toppers, sculpture, jewellery, miniatures, beads, and the list goes on.

I first discovered Polymer clay at the age of about 14, and used to make jewellery incorporating real fossils, which I sold through the fossil shops along the Heritage Coast in Dorset, and did local craft fairs.

When I left school and moved away from home, I stopped making things from clay, and moved in different directions with my crafts, including cardmaking and bead jewellery, which I still do, as well as Resin and mixed media.

It's only in the last three years that I've been working with clay again, and I'd forgotten how much fun it is!

Yesterday I attended the Midlands group of the British Polymer Clay Guild, which meets once every two months at Curborough Craft Centre.  I've been going for a while now, and we've had some fabulous tutor's, including Sarah Shriver, and Birdy Heywood in recent months.

Yesterday we voted to have a 'play day', as for various reasons there were fewer of us than usual, so we sat down to play, and very kindly, Rachel my friend from Silverfusion taught us a different technique that I hadn't tried before.

This was her sample piece:

Excited wasn't the word!!  I am not a bead maker.  I have trouble making them round, putting the holes in without squishing them, and just generally making a mess of it normally.  But this was different, a technique where we wrapped the clay round wooden skewer's, so the holes were already made, and cut the beads after cooking while still warm, so they sliced evenly!

Natasha made some lovely examples, including
pendants from her leftover clay which matched the beads perfectly.




















This is my kind of beadmaking!  We even distressed the beads by using household salt before cooking, which meant no polishing or buffing afterwards, this is HEAVEN to me!

Needless to say, I made quite a few beads. . . .

And this is my finished jewellery:

 

I have absolutely tons of beads left to make more with (I went a bit mad on this technique), and I now need to try it in lots of different colours. . .

If you are in the Coventry Area this weekend, pop into Hobbycraft at Central 6, as I will be there all day demonstrating for Staedtler with Fimo clay, which is what these items were made from.  I think I will be showing this technique as I love it so much!  There will be lot's more to see as well!

Now, where is the salt?  . . . . .

Best Wishes,

Nikki

 

Get Crafty with Creative Connections!

Hi all,

I've been a member of the Creative Connections Design Team for the monthly challenge for a while now, but we now have an exciting new blog to play on!

Each month will bring a new challenge, open to all to enter,  May's challenge is 'Weather', and you can see the Design Team's interpretation's here.

Not only is there a monthly challenge, but the Design Team will be contributing to the blog with ideas, stories, tutorials, musings, and much more.

If you haven't heard of Creative Connections, it is a huge online community of like-minded people, we promote each other, have events pages, classifieds, swap shops, and the fabulous Creative Crafting magazine, all free for you to join and browse.

From Creative Connections comes the amazing Craftfest, the biggest online Craft fair, that runs for a whole week.  The next 'Fest' is on 29th June to 6th July 2013.  You can come along just to browse or buy, or book your own stall. Just click on the 'Craftfest' link above.

You won't regret joining this great team of people, they are all about supporting each other as small businesses, and some of the nicest people I have 'virtually' met! 

And if you are a shopper, you will experience great customer service, attention to detail, and an individuality unrivalled on the high street. 

Well this was my DT piece for the May challenge, do you like the way it matches my nails?  It's a vintage image, printed on high quality matte paper, sealed, and set in jeweller's grade Ice Resin, in a gunmetal adjustable ring blank.

Especially appropriate for the beautiful sunshine we have had over the last two days, I must admit to being slightly beetroot around the arms, I was responsible with the suntan lotion, just obviously not enough. . .

I'm off to walk the dog in the last of the evening sunshine, have fun everyone.

xx

 

'Colour'

Today I wanted to share something I made for myself, and it's a work in progress.  My first little Art Journal.

I painted the chipboard pages in white gesso, and on some of them, swirled the end of a paintbrush in the texture to make some patterns that show when they are covered in paint.

I mixed some acrylic paints, to make a bright orange, pink, and yellow, and painted the pages with my fingers.  (Yes - finger painting!)

The cover has the lovely lady from the 'Mr Darcy' Stamp set from Indigoblu, coloured with distress inks and pan pastels.  It is then stamped with bubble wrap, lids from bottles or sprays, and something like credit card edges to ground the image and add interest to the page.

The 'Art' wording is also from Indigoblu, and I then added some chipboard flowers, cut out text, and stick on pearls.

The techniques used are from watching the wonderful Kate Crane's dvd's,  I was inspired to have a go myself, I love the bright colours and way everything pop's off the page.

The little castle is a charm I took the ring off, it just added a little something to the page.  Some of stamped rings on the page are highlighted in gold paint,  and the little dots in white are from a uniqlo pen. 

The word ART, is stamped with flitterglu, and foiled with 'peacock feathers' from Indigoblu.

Here are two of the internal pages.

 

 These pages are similar to the cover, with bubble wrap stamping, backgrounds, doodling, stamping with household objects, and finger painting.  They are blank and ready for me to add journalling when I am ready to.

If you haven't tried it since you were a child, finger painting is one of the most relaxing ways to get lost in your craft (and the cheapest!)

I thought I would enter this for the 'Colour' challenge over at 'Simon Says Stamp & Show'

If you fancy having a go, you can get Kate's dvd's here:

I know I had fun!

Best Wishes,

Nikki
 

Torn and Tattered. .

Over at Craft Stamper Magazine there is a new 'Take It, Make It' challenge, where you can win fab prizes and if you win, see your work in the magazine!  The inspiration for this months challenge is by Helen Chilton, and it's her Terrific Tearing article which is on page 78 of the May issue.

I immediately sprung to life when I got my copy, as there's nothing more fun than a bit of ripping and tearing to make you feel great, especially if it's allowed!

This is my finished card for the challenge, it uses Papermania Kraft Basics 12 x 12 papers, and Papermania Urban Stamps (Bird Print).  The number's paper is called Mackenzie by Kanban, and was from the lovely Pink Tulip Creations.  The embellishments are all from Indigoblu (cogs, wire heart).  I have used Tim Holtz Distress ink in Black Soot around the edges of my torn paper.  And the glitter is from http://www.glittermagic.co.uk/, it's anti-static and a really lovely glitter to use, it doesn't stick to the stuff you don't want it to! 

I stamped the central image on white cardstock, and distressed it slightly.  The frame was torn, and I added a peeled back 'door' with fastening.  The cardstock is all distresssed, the flower's are printed with music from the same stamp set, and the main large flower is hand torn and layered.

There is still plenty of time to enter as the competition has only just started, and you have two months to enter, so pop across to Craft Stamper and have a go yourself!

Best Wishes,

Nikki xx
 

Happy Accidents!

Hi all,

I just wanted to share this little birdhouse with you, and the process I went through to get it looking like it does now.  I love the saying 'There are no mistakes in Art', as it is so true!

I'm not the neatest of crafters, have been known to drop my inkpad face down on my work, or get ink up my arms then lean on something, but it just goes to show that you can make something of your mistakes, or 'Happy Accidents' as they are known in crafting.

After painting with gesso, (Gee So Good) I mixed my own green acrylic paint colour, which actually started off more like a luminous yellow.  So that was the first layer.  I then added some white to the green, and painted again.

I used the fabulous Kroma Crackle on the roof, which goes on clear and dries white.  This toned down the green beautifully, so I realised I needed to do the rest of the house again, so mixed some gesso with water, and painted over it for a fourth time.

I used IndigoBlu's Crackle stamp, in Memento London Fog ink, to add extra distress to the sides and front.  I then stamped the sentiment in Stayzon on the front RIGHT (yes, the right), of the birdhouse).  I didn't press hard enough....

Have you seen my handmade flowers? .  . . I did buy some paper flowers, which are then stamped with text script, and distressed, but the red circular large flower's are handmade, just by taking three circles of card, making each slightly smaller, and torn round the edges.  If you crumple the card up, and put a brad through the centre, it makes a lovely flower.  And hardly costs a penny.  I distressed the edges of each petal on one flower, and left the other with just the text.  The brads are just some I had in my collection, but I had to get a little steampunk in there somewhere. . .

There is another 'accident' under the flower's on the roof, I stamped a postage stamp upside down. . .

The lovely lace border is one of my favourite stamps from Indigoblu and is in their latest collection.  I stamped it in brown ink, and distressed it with Forest moss distress ink.  The house is edged with Inka Gold, which is rubbed on, to give a gilded aged look.  I also used the forest moss distress ink to just rub over the Kroma Crackle again, and the sides of the house, to age it even more.

The swallow's stamp IS my favourite, it's on the 'Mr Darcy' set, and I use it quite a lot for a small stamp!

So you see, if you think you have made a mistake, or aren't happy with your project so far, just keep going, paint over it again, or make it into something different.  Just let your creativity take over.  You will learn from your mistakes, what mixes with what (and what doesn't!), and you will know what looks good.

Tomorrow's blog...... The wonky clock! 

Bye for now - Happy Crafting! 

Nikki
x

 

More pictures. .

Hi everyone, hope you all had a lovely Easter Sunday.  As I took pictures in the dark nearly last night, I thought I'd upload a couple more of the tag I made yesterday, so you can see the distress ink technique better and the resin.

 

Can you see the lovely pattern using Dettol spray on the distress ink left?  It was funny, I couldn't find my water spritzer and as I was working in the conservatory and not my workshop upstairs, (I seem to be spreading out around the house), and so the Dettol was the first thing I could find with a spray nozzle in the kitchen.  It sort of raised itself on the tag, and almost bleached out some of the colour. 

You can see the shine on the Ice Resin in the lovely fob bezel, and the detail in the tiny tag and key.

IndigoBlu are recommended distributors of Ice Resin in the UK, if you fancy having a go with it, it's a brilliantly clear resin, jewellers grade, and is easy to mix and to use - don't be frightened by the thought of using resins, it's not like it used to be.  It's very low odour, and non-toxic.  It's a tiny bit sticky when you spill it, but hey, we all make mistakes!

 

Well, hope you like the tag, I certainly had fun making it.  I have a little birdhouse project on the go at the moment, and will be back this week with progress pics, but I'm not quite sure what I want to do with it, I have the base colours down, but I've got a little stuck. 

 

 



 



I'll explain the techniques and products used soon!   More to come on this one, not sure what to stamp next. . .

 

Have fun whatever you are doing, see you soon. x