For the Girls

For the Girls

Hi There!

Good to have you with us

today and you won't be

disappointed......

Craftyfield is here with a

gift we'd all love to

receive.....

"The best thing about the Art-C products 

is the ability to customise an item entirely 

to the person you are creating a gift for. 

Colours, textures, and even features such as

 drawer inserts can be made exactly

 how you want!

The construction of the box is self explanatory 

but I suggest you first lay down all your pieces

 according to the notice to avoid errors later.

 The pieces of the box slot into each other 

and hold together well in the finished item 

but a bit of glue is required. 

The above photo is showing where I apply

 the glue (in the recesses) but really it's a 

matter of looking at the contact points and

 spreading a bit of glue at these points.

There... much easier than an Ikea flat pack! 

I gave my box 2 layers of Gesso to provide

 a blank canvas for my rice paper 

and possibly my stamping, stencilling etc...

I cut the paper to size and used gel medium

 to stick down, immediately covering

 with gel medium on top.

In the end, the paper looked so good I 

covered all sides and the drawers! 

Still, I had to add a bit of stamping... For this,

 I used some Starlight paint in Dark Orchid, 

applied to the stamp with a piece of 

Ranger Cut N Dry foam. 

And yes, as the picture suggests, I use the 

WRONG side of the foam, because the right side 

has a tendency to deliver too much paint 

to the stamp, spoiling the details.

A bit of Metallic lustre on all ridges... 

[Cosmic shimmer Gilding polish or 

Treasure gold will work too].

At this stage, I varnished the box with 

2 layers of DecoArt Ultra matte varnish.

 For embellishments, I made corners die-cut

 from recycled metal and "molded" around 

my box before glueing down with gel medium.

 For earrings (the kind for pierced ears),

 I made a drawer insert with a piece of 

styrofoam covered with découpage paper. 

I'm still mulling over how to make 

cylindrical cushions to hold rings...- 

all suggestions gratefully received - 

but, in the meantime, I just lined the drawer 

with a piece of the same decoupage paper.

More pics for you:

The back

The side

and the front again

I hope this has inspired you to make 

gifts for the girls...."

Supplies: 

Art-C Masonite Shelf with Drawers kit:
Gesso:
Imagination Crafts Rice paper:
Matte Medium:
Kaiserkraft stamps:
Imagination Crafts Starlights :
Gilding wax:
Decoupage papers:

Absolutely gorgeous Craftyfield

and you make it all look so

easy to do too  Thank you

Now come on Everyone..

who wouldn't want to 

receive such a beautiful gift.........?

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Paper Mash Up

Paper Mash Up

Hallo All

Today we have another

use for those bits of paper

we can't bear to throw

away but still we are not

using.

Angela Radford is going

to show us how she

manages all those bits.....

"Hi all. 

Here to show you something I've 

made with some left-over 

background papers.

When looking through my stash I noticed these..... 

I must have made them a long time ago and was

 made with Mica stains and rubbed over with

 treasure Gold wax. 

I thought they would make great paper beads. 

So here goes!

I've drawn the measurements on the back 

of the paper to make it easy for you.

And here is a larger view. Top...

and bottom. 

Next you need to cut along the lines.

Using a wooden skewer, roll the paper 

starting with the widest strip (3/8"x3/8")

 then go onto the next (3/8"x1/4") 

which will narrow at the end ready to 

take the third piece (1/4"x 0") 

which ends in a point. 

You will see that I've added glue along

 the length of the strip.

You should end up with something like this.

For the long bead I used two strips (3"x3" and 3"x0") 

and then repeat the process with these.

Close-up of the measurements.

 At this stage I used a glue to seal the beads

 on the outside which also has the effect of 

hardening them.

And here is one of the round beads 

wired and ready to be completed.

Now I hadn't planned to do a tutorial for the

 background paper but it seemed a shame not

 to show you how to make this so start off by 

putting about three to four puffs of Pixie Powder

 into a container and adding about three tablespoons

 of water. Mix thoroughly and you're ready to go.

Apply with a paint brush onto a sheet of A4 paper.

 Allow it to dry just a little and then 

screw up tightly while damp.

Open it up, flatten out and allow it to dry.

Take your Gilding wax of choice and rub it 

over the creases with your fingers ........

and yes, I am wearing gloves... Wimp!

 When complete you get this which is just lush! 

Obviously you can flatten it out more if you wish.

Had to show you the handbag charm in situ.

 Sorry it's a bit lengthy today but hope 

you enjoyed watching. 

Happy crafting, Angela xXx"

Products used :

Pixie Powders

Gilding Wax

Glue

Sealant

Paper

Jewellery Findings

Wooden skewers

Thank you for a super project

Angela and not to mention

the bonus background tutorial

I had forgotten just how

effective paper beads can be

and with the Gifting Season

coming ever closer .........

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Rice Paper

Rice Paper

Hallo Everyone!

Loving the lighter evenings now

although there's still time for

crafting............

Louise Thomson is with us

today to start the new theme 

with a useful door hanger 

"Today I’ve been having a play with beautiful rice paper. 

It’s so versatile, you can add it to pretty much 

any alterable item to make a beautiful gift.

Start with an alterable door hanger

and give it a coat of white gesso

front and back

Next gild the edges with green gilding wax applied with a soft cloth

I chose a garden print rice paper and 

selected some of my favourite parts to 

start decoupaging together.

Don’t worry about having overhanging edges – 

these can be tidied up once you’re happy with the arrangement. 

I found little bits of foliage and flowers could be used

 to soften the edges between joins.  

Fix the paper down with a decoupage glue, 

or alternatively use a 50/50 mix of pva and water. 

Once it is really dry, sand the edges in 

downward strokes to get a neat finish. 

There happened to be a wodge of sandpaper 

on my desk but a sanding block would be the

 ideal tool for this

Blend a selection of distress inks on to 

smooth finish card. 

I used bundled sage and pumice stone. 

From this, die cut the lettering you require.

Paint a little fresco paint on to your door hanger in patches 

where you wish to add your lettering. 

I used nougat which has a lovely opaque finish 

but you can still see some of the print through the paint. 

Once dry, glue on the lettering.

Stencil on some more distress ink to tie the whole theme together.

Here is the finished front....

..... and the back"

Project materials:

MDF door hanger

White Gesso

Rice paper

Fresco paints

Adhesive

Distress inks

White smooth finish card

Sandpaper/Sanding block

Alphabet letter dies

Green gilding wax

Stencil

Thank you Louise - such a useful way 

to let the family know where to find you

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx