Pimp It Up - Chopstick Wands

 

 

Over on our Challenge Blog the theme for April was Pimp It Up and I was just in the process of pimping up something myself so thought I would share




One of our customers told me about these and as we had just had another family trip to the Harry Potter Tour, could not wait to give it a try. They are really simple but very effective. They also cost next to nothing to make as I used all existing materials from my craft stash that I already had. The chopsticks were found in a kitchen drawer and the box was an old wine glass one (from the 1960s)

 

 

The main texture comes from your glue gun. Hold the chopstick and run glue down - you can roll it or make blobs or drips. I placed them in a chunky piece of polystyrene to hold them to dry after I painted them with DecoArt Acrylic paint

To give more texture, I put on a ring of glue around a couple of the chopsticks and pushed in some beads, I added different Tim Holtz ideology embellishments to make them all individual

I painted them all so they had 2 coats of paint and then started with some Treasure Gold

 The old box was already covered in an old cream paper with gold metallic flowers on. I used one coat of Wilted Violet Distress Paint and you can still see the flowers

 I downloaded a couple of Harry Potter Ollivander's labels and printed them off on some adhesive labels. I used antique linen ink pad to give an aged effect and cut them out to put on the box

 I used some purple tissue paper in the box

 Thank you for looking :0)

Susan

 



We can't all be kings!

Hello! I found a fabulous quotation and wanted to make a quick journal page to use it! I sprayed Fresh Lime and Cut Grass ink sprays. I then used a stencil and sprayed water and let it dry.

I added a number stamp and a dots stamp in Shabby Shutters to complete the background.

I stamped out three circles, a border and a crown and used Shabby Shutters to colour them. I left the crown uncoloured to stand out in the final piece.

I added the pieces to the page along with a Paper Doll. I typed the quotation We can't all be kings...someone has to clap when I walk by on my trusty typewriter and cut them out. The circled then become bullet points.

I hope you find a quotation that inspires you to make art.

Gabrielle x

Attitude Tag - Spring is Sprung

I know these aren't Spring colours but it's just how it evolved as I was making it.

Cover a tag with old book paper.

Scrape some black and white gesso randomly over the surface using the flat side of a palette knife creating some lovely flat textures.

Stitch on some vintage book/music paper or some of your favourite patterned papers. Leave the threads hanging (it's all the rage).

Take a stencil with a small pattern and with a black pen trace the shapes and colour them in. I used one of the Artistic Flair tab stencils and a black sharpie pen.

Cut some of Tim's Wildflowers from white/cream card and blend the edges with ground espresso distress ink and black archival ink. 

Adhere them to the background and finish with a word from the big chat stickers and blended ground espresso round the edges.

I managed to keep some of the book words showing that are perfect for this time of the year.

I think we have all got a bit of this ......

Thanks for coming over to see what I am sharing today if you click on the products in the text they will transport you over to the shop so you can see them and the amazing prices Susan has.

hugs Brenda

www.bumblebees and butterflies.com

Card with wine blueprints by Tim Holtz

Hello everybody,

it's Monika here with a wine card.

On my blog, you can find the story of this card,

and here you can have a detailed tutorial.

1. I stamped the mini wine blueprints onto a watercolour paper (300gsm) with Ranger Archival Jet Black ink.

2. With using a ruler I made little images with distressed edges.

Here are my images:

3. I cut out two squares (two top layers) and a folded card from kraft paper.

4. I distressed the edges of the squares.

5. When I realised, I couldn't use all the images on my card, I decided to stamp the corkscrew onto the top paper.

6. I coloured the images with Ranger Distress markers and I used a wet brush to achieve a watercolour effect.

7. I poked holes in the corner of the images and I put tiny brads into the holes.

8. I inked the edges of the images and the card layers with Ranger Distress Antique Linen and Vintage Photo inks.

9. I adhered the images with foam tape adhesive onto the top card.

What I used:
Stampers Anonymous, Mini Wine Blueprints by Tim Holtz (MB028)
Ranger Archival ink pad, Jet Black

Tim Holtz Stamping Platform
Ranger Distress markers
Ranger Distress ink pads, (Vintage Photo, Antique Linen)
Tim Holtz Paper Stash, Dapper 12x12"
Tim Holtz Idea-Ology, Mini Fasteners

I hope you like it!
Thanks so much for stopping by!!! xx

MentésMentésMentésMentés

Homemade Rock!

Hello! I had a day trip to the seaside over the Easter holidays and saw lots of stones on the beach which gave me an idea! I wanted to see if I could make my own!

I started by forming a ball of air dry clay. I used some Cut-N-Dry foam to help smooth the edges.

Then I misted a PaperArtsy stamp with water (g for... Gabrielle!)

Then simply depress the stamp into the clay and... wait overnight for it to dry!

I then sanded dry 'rock' and painted the letter. I was so interested to see if this would work that I made a few more:

(stamps: heart, cloud, star, pop Paints: London Bus, Little Black Dress, Caribbean Sea, Gold, Banana, Tango)  

They're not perfect but I know I'll get better at making them! I think I'll add some magnets to the back as they weigh nothing! 

Hope you try something new too!

Gabrielle x

Card topper or journal panel - you choose

Hi it's Brenda here today with a small panel or topper meaning you can choose how to use it OR just re-create the steps onto larger card for a laeger page or card blank.

Take a piece of media card and scrape some gesso over it and dry. Then take some of the mini Artistic Flair tab stencils - these are so cute and great for small projects - with a palette knife again scrape gesso through it creating random areas on the card.

When dry spritz little areas with water and with a brush dip some of the Amsterdam  Acrylic Ink Cool Grey into it, tip the card to let the colour swirl into the recesses etc. Dry and repeat with Burnt Umber.

Put one small drop of the Burn Umber ink onto a craft mat and smooch it into a smudge shape and quickly before it dries drag the card through it and the colour will transfer randomly.

Distress the edges and blend in ground espresso distress ink. The gather some little bits for a collage or add embellishments of your own and use as a journal panel or a topper for a card. I used a photo booth pic and a type charm with some of my collage scraps.

If you like this design you can find another made in the same way over on my blog - Bumblebees and Butterflies.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx