Altered Notebook...

Hello lovelies!

Well today I have another tutorial to show you. I have made this to enter into the challenge over at

 THAT CRAFT PLACE CHALLENGE BLOG 

The theme is 'No Cards'.

As I love notebooks and stationery, I knew this was the perfect thing for me to alter. I will use it for my creative ideas!

My finished 'Altered Notebook'.

Here is how I made it...

Ingredients used...

From THAT CRAFT PLACE 

Hearts Stencil, Live Laugh Love Stencil, Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Glue, Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Paint Pink Plum, Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Paint Tarnished Silver, MDF Cogs, MDF Butterflies, Greyboard Key.

Other ingredients used...

Blank notebook, 1 sheet of Kraft card, Wicker White Acrylic Paint, Glitter Glaze, Crafters Companion Journal Jottings Stamp Set, Paper Artsy Crunchy Waxed Kraft Paper, 3 brads, Crafters Companion Textures 8x8 Embossing folder Leaf Vein, Acrylic Metallic Paint Plum, Gesso, Texture Paste, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Dusty Concord & Picked Raspberry, Embossing Ink, Cosmic Shimmer Ultra Thick Embossing Crystals Tropic Violet, Silver Spiders Web, Skeleton Leaves, Pink Satin Ribbon, Silver Satin Ribbon, Lilac Satin Ribbon, Pink Twine, Purple Twine, 3 fabric flowers, 3 wooden buttons, String, Flower Trim, Paperstraw, Pink & Purple beads, Flower, Butterfly & Key Charms, Pink & Purple Flocking Powder, Pink & Purple Glitter.

The Torso embellishment I already had in my craft stash. I made this by melting Ultra Thick Embossing Crystals in my melt pot, then poured it into a mould.

The Fimo embellishments, again I already had in my stash. I made them using pink and purple fimo. I rolled out the fimo, stamped into it using a swirl stamp, then cut out small circles to create swirl embellishments.

The flat swirl embellishment was made by stamping into Ultra Thick Embossing Crystals.

Method...

Use the folder to emboss your kraft card.

Layout your notebook.

Plan what you would like where. Tear the embossed card in half and lay in the bottom and top corner as shown. Lay your other elements roughly in place. When your happy with the layout, glue everything into place. Leave to dry.

While waiting for the glue to dry, cut random circles from the wax paper. I've layered 7 sheets together. 

Put a brad into each centre.

Manipulate each layer of wax paper by scrunching until you have the result you like to create a paper flower. 

Continue until you have done all 3.

Put the paints, glitter & flocking powder into foil trays.

Dip one flower into purple paint, then dip into glitter and flocking powder. Do the same with the other two flowers, using the other paint colours.

Dip one of the MDF butterflies, and 3 of the fimo swirls into the paints, glitter and flock. Leave to dry.

Lay your book with the dried elements on your work surface.

Paint over the whole book with the Gesso. Leave to dry.

Lay the heart stencil over the centre of the book. Paint over the texture paint.

Lift away the stencil and leave to dry.

Add the purple, pink & silver paints into the foil tray. Add some more into the other 3 sections of the tray, add wicker white and glitter glaze into these and mix together. 

Now start to apply the paints over the book using  brushes and sea sponges. Build up the colour until your happy with the result. Leave to dry.

Tap the embossing ink over the butterfly and the key. Sprinkle over the crystals. 

Heat with your heat gun until they are melted. Repeat twice more.

Cut 3 lengths of ribbon and 2 lengths of twine. 

Attach to the back inside cover of the book. Tie the 3 charms to the twine. This is now your page marker.

Lay the hearts from the Live Laugh Love stencil over the top corner.

Sponge over the distress inks.

Stamp the journal page onto white card.

Write your text onto this and cut out. Sand the edges and ink.

Stamp the circles stamp over a couple of areas of the book.

Finally add the embellishments and flowers to finish of the altered notebook.

I glued the beads into the middle of the wood buttons and sprinkled over the glitter.

The painted textured hearts.

The finished altered notebook.

I love this book, pink is my favourite colour. I will be using this for my 'Creative Ideas'.

I am also entering this into the challenge over at 

THAT CRAFT PLACE CHALLENGE BLOG 

for the 

' No Cards ' theme.

I have really enjoyed making this, and showing you how I did it. I hope you have enjoyed reading how I altered this.

Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate your visits.

Happy crafting,

lots of love

Nicola 

XXX

Steampunk With A Pretty Twist...

Hello lovelies!

I have made a card to enter into the challenge over at the 

Sugar and Betty Challenge Blog 

The theme is

'Anything Goes or Layers'

I chose to make a card, with a lot of layers.

I used a gorgeous new stamp from 

That Craft Place  called Steampunk Betty.

I absolutely love this stamp set.

So, here's my Steampunk With A Pretty Twist...

I coloured her with Letraset Promarker's in shades...

Skin Tone: Putty, Oatmeal, Almond, Dusky Rose

Hair: Tan, Caramel, Sandstone, Cocoa, Burnt Sienna

Clothes, boots, hat: Denim Blue, Blue Pearl, Pastel Blue, Cool Aqua, Duck Egg, Antique Pink, Salmon Pink, Fuchsia Pink, Cerise,

Flexmarkers: Soft Aqua, Cloud Blue

Ingredients from That Craft Place...

Steampunk Betty Clear Stamp Set

Creative Expressions Frames & Tags - Piereced Flags die

Capsule Collection - Wild Rose by docrafts Papermania

MDF - Cogs and butterflies (I've covered these in the paper)

Watch embellishment

Flowers

The rest of the ingredients...

Tim Holtz Gadget Gears die

Memento Ink Pad Tuxedo Black

Distress Ink Picked Raspberry

Pins, Straws, Lace, Ribbon, Linen, Cheesecloth, Stickles Diamond, 

Kraft card blank 7" x 7"

Spotty paper from a scrap pad. 

Crafters Companion Spray & Sparkle Pink Iridescent glitter spray (sprayed the flags)

Brown sketch pen to create faux stitching.

I love these colours together, such a lovely contrast.

So, this is my entry into the challenge over at the

Sugar & Betty Challenge Blog 

I hope you like my card.

Thank you for stopping by today. I always appreciate your visits.

Have fun and happy crafting,

lots of love

Nicola

XXX

Wall Hanging Tutorial...

Hello lovelies!

I have made a project especially to enter into the challenge over at the

That Craft Place Challenge Blog 

The theme is 'Alter Something'.

So, I have made a wall hanging using beer mat's. I've created a tutorial too, to show you how I made it. I also wanted to make my project technique based, so I chose seven techniques to show you.

My wall hanging

I've broken the ingredients list down into segments, as this is the pile altogether.

So, here we go!

Ingredient's to prepare the beer mat's...

Beer mat's x 7, craft knife, sanding file, small brush, decorative paper, cosmic shimmer acrylic glue, ruler, pencil, cropadile big bite, heat resistant craft sheet, paper towel.

Method...

 Peel the blue design away from the beer mat's very carefully using your craft knife. 

Use the file to sand away the loose fibres. The mats won't be smooth, but I think this just adds to the texture of the project. Use a small brush to brush away the dust.

The backs of the mats do not need to be peeled.

I have covered them with decorative paper. Cut paper to size first, then glue in place.

On each mat, measure 1cm from the top and 2cms in. Mark with pencil. 

Where the pencil markings are, punch holes size 3/16.

Now the preparation is complete, the next part is the techniques to make the backgrounds.

Technique 1 - Stippling Method

Ingredients - card stock, acrylic paints Raspberry Wine, Raspberry Sherbert, Rose Garden, Metallic Bronze, Live Laugh Love Stencil from That Craft Place.

Add paint using the stippling brush by pouncing the brush up and down on the mat. Dab excess paint off on the paper towel. 

Move the torn card down, then use two more contrasting colours and stipple.

Alternate your layers until the mat is covered. Leave to dry.

When dry, lay your live laugh love stencil over the mat. Positioning the LOVE at the bottom.

Use the metallic bronze to stipple over the love word, set aside to dry.

Technique 2 - Direct to Paper

Ingredients - Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Tea Dye, Rusty Hinge, ink applicators, paper towel.

Start with the lightest colour and apply by tapping or dragging the ink pad directly to the mat.

Continue layering the colours, working from light to dark. Also use ink applicators to apply in random areas. Use the paper towel to rub lightly over the surface to blend the effects. Leave to one side.

Technique 3 - Sea Sponge Technique

Ingredients - Acrylic paints Rose Garden, Raspberry Sherbert, Bronze, Antique Gold, sea sponge, spray bottle, Pearl Ex pigment powders Sparkling Copper, Sparkle Gold, Antique Copper, Super Copper, heatgun, perfect pearls brushes, heart stencil from That Craft Place.

Spray sponge with water. Sponge the paints onto the mat, in a dabbing motion. 

Use heat gun to speed up drying time. Use your brushes to dab the powders randomly onto the mat.

Use a clean piece of sponge, spray lightly with water, dab over the pearl powders. Dry with heat gun.

Lay the heart stencil over part of the mat.

Sponge over with Antique Gold paint. Set aside to dry.

Technique 4 - Sanding

Ingredients - Gesso, Acrylic paints Coffee bean, Maroon, Huckleberry, paint brush, sanding files.

Paint the mat with Gesso. Dry with heat gun. 

Sand the edges.

Apply acrylic paints with brush. Dry with heat gun. Sand around the edges and in the middle.

Apply another layer of paints.

Dry with heat gun. Sand roughly all over and around the edges. Leave to one side.

Technique 5 - Tea Dyeing

Ingredients - 10 teabags, 250ml boiling water, brush, heat gun, Tim Holtz Collection Bubble Stencil, Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

Put the teabags in the boiling water. Leave until the water is room temperature.

Remove the teabags before using. Brush the tea dye over the mat. Dry with heat gun.

Paint a few more times, drying each layer with heat gun, until your happy with result.

Lay the bubble stencil over half the mat, use the Vintage Photo ink and apply with an applicator.

Leave to one side.

Technique 6 - White Glue Crackle

Ingredients - White glue (pva) , acrylic paints Raspberry Sherbert, Antique Gold, brush.

Paint the mat with a thin layer of glue. Let dry until tacky.

When tacky paint with the two colours.

Now leave this to dry naturally.

Soft crackle effect.

Technique 7 - Peeled Paint

Ingredients - Bristol Board, acrylic paints Coffee Bean, Rose Garden, Petroleum Jelly, paper towel, brush.

Cut a piece of Bristol Board to fit the mat. Mark the holes and punch. Glue to the mat.

Paint with the Coffee Bean. Allow to dry.

Add petroleum jelly randomly, using your fingers.

Paint the Rose Garden over the mat. Let dry.

Use a paper towel to rub the paint off the jelly.

The finished backgrounds.

Time to embellish...

Ingredients - Stamps - Home is Where Your Heart Lives by Hampton Art, Dream by Inkadinkado, Butterfly Collage by Hampton Art, Hearts and script by Anita's, Stazon Inks Rusty Brown and Timber Brown, 3 dominoes, Alcohol Blending Solution, alcohol inks Butterscotch, Caramel, Cranberry, Ginger, Red Pepper, Copper Mixative, Blending tool and felts, 

Crafter's Companion Words of Wonders stamp sets 1 & 2, Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Frayed Burlap, Love Key and Heart Key from Tim Holtz finding, Various metal findings.

Method...

Use the alcohol inks to create coloured backgrounds on the domino's. This is a very random technique. Leave to dry.

When dry use the dream, butterfly and hearts stamp using the Stazon inks over the domino's.

Stamp the Home is where my heart lives stamp on the first mat.

Use some of the word stamps on the mats and embellish with the domino's and findings, using glue to fix everything in place. Leave to dry.

When dry, thread brown satin ribbon through the holes to create the wall hanging.

I have really enjoyed making this project. I hope you have enjoyed reading how I made this. It is now hanging in my craft room.

I am entering this into the 

That Craft Place Challenge Blog 

with the theme

'Alter Something'.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my tutorial. I really appreciate your visit.

Have fun and happy crafting,

lots of love

Nicola

XXX