Velluminaries!!

Happy New Year!

For the second time today!!

Yes, the new Artistic Stamper challenge started at midnight (check out my Past and Future ATCs here), and I'm already back with the next one...  Talk about kicking off the New Year with a bang!

Artistic Stamper want to see New Beginnings, and the new theme at Country View Challenges - which is what we're here for now - is to Use Something New To You.  Are you spotting a pattern here?!

I know it won't be new to most of you, but I've never played with vellum, and I finally got my hands on the Tim Holtz Wallflower Vellum pack.

Well, you know me... give me something translucent and my thoughts turn to candlelight.  We have to have something to lighten the dark days of January.

(I always think it's a shame people have lights up already in November and then rip them down straight after Christmas.  It's in January and February that we need the illumination, when we haven't got the fun to look forward to!)

So here I give you my vellum luminaries.  Or shall we just call them "Velluminaries"?!










Rather than going for the full-on, layered, mixed media look (if you saw my Destination Inspiration luminaries you'll know what I'm talking about), I've gone for a sleek, minimalist style with these.

And we're starting the New Year with some recycling too, which always feels good.










The two smaller holders are plastic - they were the pots from some Chai Panna Cottas (I didn't like'em!).

And the large luminary is a simple glass vase.  It can still be used as a vase, of course, since I've sealed the vellum with multi-medium (and anyway, the idea is generally to keep the water on the inside of the vase).










Nothing complicated about the making... some measuring and cutting, some sticking and some trimming.











I haven't quite managed to get a completely smooth finish - especially on the glass one - but with the natural motifs of the design, the wrinkles look like tree bark, so I'm fine with that.  Next time...













I know the big one will go down very well with my small nephew who is fascinated by bugs of all sorts at present (he thinks leeches are "cute" - I can think of other words for them).












And the flowers and vintage adverts on the smaller pair please me greatly.













Two short(ish) and sweet posts today... could this also be the beginning of something new here at Words and Pictures?

Don't bet on it!










We'd love to see you Use Something New To You, so come and play along this month at Country View Challenges, and you could be in with a chance of winning the prize generously sponsored by Country View Crafts (and shopping for more new stuff).

And if you've time to check out my Past and Future ATCs, maybe you'll be inspired do the double with the Artistic Stamper theme.

And suddenly you know: It is time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.
Eckhardt von Hochheim, known as Meister Eckhart

Sparkle and Shine

Hello all!  I'm back with my second sparkly and shiny offering of the month to inspire you to play along with Doreen's Sparkle and Shine theme over at Country View Challenges.  It's a tag trio full of mixed media textures.  We're photo-heavy today, so grab a cup of coffee!

I cannot tell you how much fun I had with these tags! I may have trouble remembering the ins and outs of their creation though, as it's quite a long time since I made them - late July, I think.

I had to get them done before setting off for New York the first time.  I tried to take photos as I went, to remind myself as much as anything else, so here goes…

I was inspired by these fabulous tags by Aida - owner of the very cool Polish 13Arts store.

I suppose mine are a combination of the two sets in the post I've linked to, but since there was no step-by-step, I had to sort of "reverse-engineer" my version - pretty much making it up as I went along to create something similar.










I started with three standard tag backgrounds, stamped with some of my favourite Tim Holtz meadow grasses and a flourish, and then inked with Distress Inks.














Over that I painted a thick coat of multi-medium and then pressed the tags against one another to create waves of texture in the medium.

As well as the texture, the medium "seals" in the Distress Ink colours, so they won't run during any of what follows.













While the medium was still tacky, the next step was to add some more dimensional textural elements.












So at this point I glued down some cheesecloth, some tiny beads, and also some white paper roses as I knew they'd take the inky sprays well once I got going.










I added some glass bead gel medium too for extra sparkle.













While the tags were drying, I stuck some green glass pebbles to some book text.

I was quite precise about picking the words to highlight - I wanted lots of sparkling positivity!












Once dry, the medium gives you these fabulous transparent ridges over the inked, stamped background.












Time to glue down some more embellishments.

I added some buttons and some wooden ornaments, and I also tried out the positioning of my glass pebbles.











I quite liked the arrangements even in the "naked" version, but I was after some more shimmer and sparkle, so it was time for some spritzing.













(I hadn't glued the pebbles down yet, though everything else was stuck in place.  I took them away during the spritzing so that their surfaces would stay free of any inky splatter, keeping the words clearly visible.)













As well as Dylusions and Ranger ColorWash for intense colour, there are various sprays involved: Perfect Pearls Mists, Tattered Angels and Cosmic Shimmer - basically anything that was to hand which would add a touch of mica sparkle.











I was really pleased with the effect of the ridges of texture… 













… so I highlighted it by rubbing some Silks Acrylic Glaze and some Treasure Gold over the top.













And I love how the glass beads took the colour differently from the background so that they stand out.













The last step was to add the ChitChat stickers - again lots of positive thoughts about the adventures to come (New York being still ahead of me at that point).  So there's hope…














adventure… 













and possibility…














… to go with the positive glass pebbles: remember (which I'm not good at - I definitely live in the moment!)…

beautify...

and amazement.

See - I knew those roses would look good all inked up - and the glitter still works through the new colours!












The loose woven ribbon at the top was something I picked up somewhere along the line - it was already a vivid shade of lime green so I added some Distress Stains to give it a multi-shaded tint.  I like how it echoes the cheesecloth on the tags.










I'm really pleased with how the colours of the cheesecloth vary so widely, from a bold vivid green to the softer blues.

And I'm very happy to finally have pressed those beads into action!












The same goes for the wooden ornaments which soak in the ink for a matte finish.  I considered glossing them up with a coat of glossy accents, but I decided we had enough sparkle on the go...

… though I will admit there are touches of Treasure Gold just about everywhere, giving a gilded finish.



So that's my sparkly trio for you - I hope you like them.  I certainly had a ball getting really inky and messy, and even getting into the swing of Sparkle and Shine.

I hope you'll come and play along with us at Country View Challenges this month.  There's a prize generously sponsored by Country View Crafts, and you still have two weeks to get sparkly!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I'll see you again soon.

Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars.  Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait.  The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.
Henry Ford

Tea Dye and Rusty Hinge

Hello all... a process post today.  

If you saw my recycled Stampotique tag, you'll remember all the rusty loveliness involved, and I promised to show you some pictures of it all being created... and with the more recent Coffee Guys, as well as the Words, Words, Words tag, some of you are champing at the bit to know how it's done - well here you go!

I have to admit, it's no great technique on my part... just a really, really good product.

My real plan for the day was to do some tea-dyeing (with some coffee thrown in for good measure), the rusting was an afterthought.  But they add up to a pretty good post title, no?  (Tim Holtz Distress Colours if there's anyone out there that doesn't recognise them...)




It was on a day a few weeks ago when I was feeling a little low on mojo.  I knew I wanted some more tea/coffee stained tags for an upcoming project, so it seemed like a good day to do that.

And I thought I'd experiment with the Crafty Notions Rusting Powder while I was at it.

I'm happy to say that all the messing around gave me a good shot in the arm mojo-wise too...

I added a couple of tea bags as well as a spoonful of instant coffee to a bowl of boiling water and put in the tags to soak for a few hours.  

Once that was done, I added some seam binding, a bit of lace (in a slightly strange peach colour that I couldn't see me ever using) as well as some white satin ribbon that I got ages ago, and is just too shiny and boring for my liking, so I thought I'd see if I could shabby it up a bit.






Very happy with the tags - you've already seen them used for my reluctant Christmas tags - and with some of the ribbons.  

The satiny stuff barely took any colour - they do now have a very delicately off-white appearance in places.  




Lying in a big bundle, they look quite good, but as soon as you cut a bit off and use it, it pretty much just looks white again... ah well, back to the drawing board with that.

For the rusting, I used Crafty Notions Rust Powder and, having lost the instructions that came with it, I consulted this very useful post from the brilliant Kim Dellow.

(The banana is not a necessary ingredient.)














I didn't remember to do very comprehensive "before" pictures on the first batch, but I did get one of the peachy plastic roses which, I think, are one of the biggest successes.

And I love the rusted material - you've seen that too already, on Rough Around The Edges, and as the tag topping for the Words, Words, Words tag.  

Watch this space for it playing a major role on a project coming later this week...









But I've got before, during and after for the second go...

Here it all is, awaiting the powder.  

Annoyingly, I forgot to soak the muslin before starting this time, so the material itself didn't work quite as well this time around.

Then, after applying glue stick or multi-medium to the surfaces, I sprinkled the grey powder over everything, or dipped the things into a small bowl of it.  

Bit mucky, but isn't everything that's fun?












I put cheap white vinegar into a little spray bottle and used that to spritz everything.  

Interesting smell... probably a good idea to do this somewhere well-ventilated!

I love how quickly it starts working... though I actually left it to dry overnight.

And I'm really happy with most of the results.  

I probably didn't get quite enough glue onto the the washers, so some of them are only partially rusted, but I quite like that too.

And the Idea-ology flowers and bookplates look completely yummy...

And those peachy plastic roses - how cool are they now?!

As you can see, I've rusted quite a lot of stuff, so you can expect to see it popping up every now and then!





Thanks so much for stopping by this week, and all your lovely comments - as always, every single one is so much appreciated.  Happy Crafting!




Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.
Joseph Addison

A sword, a spade and a thought should never be allowed to rust.
James Stephens

Oh, and for anyone who missed my Pink and Girly blip a couple of weeks ago... you can catch up with it today over at Artistic Outpost!