Decoart Glass Stain Key Chain Tutorial.

Hi all, thanks for stopping by, Today I am trying something different, this is my first tutorial, I have been thinking of having a go for a while and a couple of weeks ago I made some key rings using Decoart Glass Stains and thought they might be a good place to start.

I hope you don't mind the waffle and a whole load of pics.

Here is what you will need.

 Decoart Glass Stains
Decoart Triple Thick Glaze
Tim Holtz Fragments
Glossy Card
Distress Ink
Key Chain's (you can use pre made, I have some with the Tim Holtz clips and some made from scratch using parts from the Bead Shop in Brighton )
Any type of charms.
Fine Sand Paper/Sanding Block
Pliers
And of course a selection of stamps.

You can find a list of Decoart Suppliers HERE

 1) The first step is to take your glossy card, I cut my sheet into half but you can go as small as quarters depending on how many you want to make and your colour choices.
I have found it best to use three colours to get a nice blended look.
Squeeze the Glass stains out randomly and quite generously across the piece of card, I have used red yellow and orange here.

 2) Take the other half of your paper and place it face down on top of the first piece, slide the paper around making sure you push the stains into all the corners as much as possible, I rotate the paper a little between my hands as well to get nice swirls of colour mixed. Do not worry too much about any small areas of white card showing through, they can be dealt with latter on.Once you have mixed them together enough you can either peal the top layer off, this leaves a more textured finish to the Stains or you can slide the top sheet off leaving a much smoother look to the blended colours.
Set the sheets aside to dry, they will probably be workable in about an hour and if you are careful you can help them along with your heat gun.

   This one has been made using Green Yellow and Blue Glass Stains

And this has Blue, Brown and Black Glass Stains.

 3) Now you get to break out your stamps,I have used black Archival ink for all my stamping and found this to give the best results. You will find some stamps  work a lot better than others, I found the stamps with finer lines gave the best results rather than larger areas of rubber. If you look at the Gent, his body is quite patchy, When you stamp on top of the Stains it is almost like stamping on to glass or acetate, be careful the stamp does not slide and the larger areas of rubber sort of suck when you peal the stamp away lifting off some of the ink. (I hope that makes sense)

 If you are not keen on the white patches of card showing through the gaps now is the time to grab some Distress Ink, The piece of card in the top left of the picture has had some Mustard Seed applied. The Glass Stains act as a resist to water based inks so can be wiped back with a wet wipe or damp piece of kitchen towel.

It is also amazing that you will pick out stamps you may not have used in a while or maybe have never used as you will only see part of the stamp.

 4)  Roughly cut the pieces of card to size, I have laid the Fragments on top of the card to give an idea of what they will look like when finished, It also helps you decide what part of the stamped image you want to use. I'll list the stamps I have used at the end, recognise many?

 5) When you have the card cut down to a manageable size grab your Triple thick. you will not need a lot for each key ring.

Apply a small dollop to your image, grab the fragment that you want to use and push the fragment down firmly making sure all the triple thick is squeezed to the edge and all the air bubbles have gone, do not worry too much about the excess that has squeezed out, you can use a cocktail stick just to pull it away from the fragment but this is also easily tidied up a little later. It is a good idea to use a cocktail stick just to clear some of the Triple thick from the fragments eye hole, this will make it easier a little later when you attach the key chain.

 Leave all your fragments to dry, it is best to leave them over night although  3-4 hours will probably be enough if like me you are impatient ;)

 6) When dry use a craft knife to cut around the Fragment as close as you can, do not worry  if there are little bits sticking out as they will go in the next step.

Grab some fine sand paper or your sanding block and get rid of those rough edges, this also helps get rid of any Triple thick that is sticking to the sides.(It is worth remembering to sand towards the fragment, if you sand away from it you run the risk of tearing the card stock.)

 7) You should now have all your Fragments ready to be added to your key chains, for some I used the Tim Holtz Key chains, I just opened the bottom loop and attached the Fragments closing the loop after, I then added some charms to the top loop, I used some of Tims Word Sticks and other tokens but you can use what ever you like.

The other Key Chains were made from scratch, the chain was cut to length, rings added to the top and bottom with the Fragment and the Key Ring clasp added as well, the charms were added in the same way.

Here are all the key chains I made from my card stock. I still have several sheets left from this make, I used one sheet of each colour.

The other sheets are ready for either more key chains, Journal Pages like THIS or for ATC's like the second one in THIS post.

I have had great fun playing with the glass stains on card, not just glass. Here are the key chains finished.with details of the stamp used.

If you have any questions leave a comment xx

Thanks for stopping by x I hope you managed to stick with it. ;)

These are both from Paper Artsy

Lynne Perrella 003

Lynne Perrella 022

 De Stempelwinkel Dali
 De Stempelwinkel Diamonds and Decorations

De Stempelwinkel Dali
















Tim Holtz Papillon

This one Is a design from Rick St Dennis and is part of his first rubber set for Smeared Inks Rubber Club
















Again Thank you for stopping by, I hope this was not to painful, I think I shall be trying more of these in the future so I am sure I will be able to fine tune the waffle ;) You can find this tutorial and many more by some amazing crafters on the Pinterest page Mixed Media and Altered Art Tutorials, Hosted by Andy Skinner.

I would like to enter these into the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp And Show, their challenge is Ode to Sunshine. I think the colours of the glass stains are so vibrant and summery x these would also make great end of term gifts for your kids teachers ;)

Fun With ATC's Kitsch

Morning all, Hows things?
 We are starting a new challenge over at Fun With ATC's
the theme this fortnight is Kitsch. Now to be honest this was a tough one for me, Kitsch is one of those words that you kind of know what it means until it comes do create something Kitsch. A quick look at the definition and I was still struggling with what to make.Kitsch basically translates as something tacky but with some sort of iconic or mass appeal. Think of all those posters sold in shops like the G store or athena etc.
 I decided to go for an Icon of my childhood, The A team was my favourite tv show for years, I still like it now to be honest so I found an Image of Mr T on the net.
 I made 2 ATC's both using the same image but just changing the backgrounds.
 The first one uses the paisley stamp from tim holtz, It was coloured with distress markers and Mr T was glued down, the edges have been darkened and then the whole thing has been clear embossed twice.
 For the second ATC the background has been created from a blank ATC that I used to mop up some Dylusion sprays, I just dabbed it into the over spray and stored it till I found a use for it.
 Both back grounds put me in mind of those tacky 80's style posters you could get.
 Hopefully I have got somewhere near our theme of Kitsch, It would be great if you could come along and join in just to show me how it should be done ;)
you can enter HERE

Thanks for stopping by, Ill be back tomorrow with my first Tutorial style post. xx

The Artistic Stamper - Shabby Box final GDT piece

Good morning all, Today I am sharing my last piece as the guest designer over at The Artistic Stamper, I have had an amazing month creating my pieces for Jennie and the team and need to say a great big thank you to them for asking me. xx

My last make is a shabby chest, head on over to see the finished piece and a quick what's what.

Thank you for stopping by. 

Ill be back on Tues with a new challenge for Fun With ATC's

Smashing Pumpkins journal page - Musically Challenged.

So how is everyone doing? It has been amazing here weather wise although It has been a tad to hot for work :(
I have been having great fun playing with my Dyan Reaveley journal again and have come up with this, Its my entry into the new challenge over at Musically Challened, they are a fairly new challenge blog where every couple of weeks they pick a new song or artist to provide inspiration, this challenge the artist is The Smashing Pumpkins.
 Lily of The Octopode Factory is sponsoring the challenge and is offering a $10 prize for the winner. Being part of the DT we were asked to create something for some inspiration for the challenge, I used Chris Chriss The Pumpkin Kid from the Gloomsville set.

This page started when I had some left over modeling paste from another project, I had coloured the paste with some Decoart traditions acrylic paint and instead of wasting it I grabbed my Andy Skinner  skull mask and laid out the three images onto the page.
The back ground colour was made by applying Decoart Traditions translucent paints to the page, I used a wet brush and just randomly applied the colour starting with the yellow, then green and finally red just blending and brushing out the colour randomly as I went, I quickly took a baby wipe to the skulls to wipe the paint away.I also flicked some paint across the page as well.
 I coloured Chris with Copics and fussy cut him out, gave him two coats of clear embossing powder and glued him to the page where I wanted him.
I used a new Paint pen from Decoart, links for the pens HERE I can now say I
LOVE these, I used the black for my page, The coverage is so smooth and even and the flow is just right, no blobbing etc, I must get them all ;)
I drew the door way for Chris so it looks as though it is behind the skulls,and added the boarder, the white is a white gel pen as it is a little finer than the decoart nibs.
Next came the part I normally shy away from as my hand writing is appalling as you can see. As it's a smashing pumpkins theme I wrote all the tracks from The Smashing Pumpkins album 'melancholy and the infinite sadness'

Thanks for stopping by, all your comments and visits are very much appreciated.

There is still one week left of this challenge so plenty of time for you to let the inner rocker loose and take part.

De Stempelwinkel - Time Travel ATC and UK Summer ATC sneak peak

Just a quick post today, Its once again my turn to post over at De Stempelwinkel and I have a couple of ATC's to share, head on over to see the full pics and a what's what of what I did xx

Thank you for stopping by. xxx

Haunted Design House - Chunky ATC Challenge

Well it's time to get your freak on over at Haunted Design House, we are starting our new challenge, Chunky ATC's. The clue is in the tittle ;)
It's your basic ATC, only fat, the dimensions vary depending on where you look but it is roughly
3.5 x 2.5 x 1.5 inches.
 This ATC is also part of HDH Throw Down team, the Throw Down is hosted by Smeared Ink and is a challenge for all the different Design Teams out there, Part of a team? the more teams playing the better, head on over and sign up.

 I have been wanting to make a chunky ATC for an age now ever since seeing some of the master pieces created by Anne.
 I knew I wanted to try something a little different with my Chunky so I set about making a 3d frame to house my angel.
I started by cutting several ATC out of mount board using the Tim Holtz die and then cutting the centers out with a cratf knife, I soon realised this was going to take a while so I swapped out the card for some foam sheets I had, this made life much easier in the cutting department.
All the pieces were ten glued together, once dry I gave the whole ATC a good coating of Gesso just leaving the back clear so I could stick the acetate down.
Our Throw Down piece needs to include a stamped image so I stamped the kneeling Skeleton from De Stempelwinkel and has been stamped with Stazon, the acetate atc was glued to the back of the chunky with some pinflair glue.
 Now the fun could start, for the top of the ATC I used a technique from the Book Of Ruination on line work shop by Andy Skinner and for the bottom I used one of my fave crackle mediums from Decoart, their texture crackle paste. When dry I used Decoart acrylic paints for both sections, using both washes and dry brushing techniques.
 The angel has been made from Tim Holtz's creepy little dolls, I kind of love them and hate them all at the same time, but I hate them for the right reasons lol.
I cut her legs off so she would fit inside, the wings are also from Tim Holtz and have been glued to the angel with pinflair glue. Once dry the angel was base coated with black Decoart paint and then dry brushed with grey.
To finish off I added the spikes, who doesnt love spikes? ;) These were found on ebay.

Thanks for stopping by, I would love to see you join us in the dungeon over at Haunted Design House

Head on over to see what some of the other DT members have created for this challenge and for the Throw down, I am sure you will not be dissappointed, there will be more from the DT next Monday so keep checking back xx

The Throw down is open to any Design Teams, you just need to sign up and register with Smeared ink, but the forum is open to anyone and is a very friendly place to hang out.

And the result of the DT challenge is in the hands of the members so head on over and get voting ;) xx

I would like to enter this into the challenge over at the Bloggers Challenge, their theme is things with wings.

Octopode Factory - Be Inspired By The Written Word

 Hi all, hows things? I would like to say a big welcome to my newest followers and a big thank you for those who are coming back ;) x
 We are starting our new challenge over at The Octopode Factory and the new challenge theme is Be Inspired By The Written Word, pretty easy right?
 I have been inspired by the classic Gothic/Horror writer/Poet Edgar Allen Poe.
 I have made another journal page in my Dyan Reaveley Journal (totally loving it)
The back ground has been crated by first painting the back ground with some light grey Decoart american acrylic paint, I then used some weathered wood crackle, also from Decoart and when dry added a layer of Crocco Crackle glze in purple, I then used Andy Skinners Skull Mask made by Tando-Creative in the top corner.
Ok I did not like how this looked so covered it all in Antique White from Decoart, I then added a wash of Quin Gold to give an aged effect.
I then swiped over the texture with some Distress inks in vintage photo and walnut stain, I also added a little black to the skull.
 The 'Poe' are from a wooden alphabet set, they have been grubbed up with some Distress stains to match and added with pinflare glue.
The two pages are from my collection of Poe stories, I felt so bad ripping them out but soon got over it ;)
 They were first distress by dabbing distress inks onto my craft mat and spritzing with water, I used gather twigs, the pages were ran through the wet ink a few times and a little walnut stain re inker was dripped in places, whilst wet they were ironed dry, this gives a great vintage look to the pages.
They were stuck to the page and wrinkled, when dry I added some more Quni Gold as a wash and when that was dry added some distress inks to the wrinkles.
The little pen quill was made by using one of Tim Holtz pen nibs and a feather charm.
The main image is of course Edgar Alen Poe from The Octopode Factory. He has been coloured with Copic's and fussy cut and finished with two coats of clear embossing powder.

We would love to see you over at The Octopode Factory taking part, it would be great to see what literary talent inspires you.
Thanks as always for stopping by. xx

De Stempelwinkel - Holiday Tag

Morning all.

It's my turn again to post over at De Stempelwinkel, here is a sneak peak ;)

head on over to see the full pics and a what's what. xx

Thanks for stopping by.

Fun With ATC's - Set Of Three

It's once again time over at Fun With ATC's to start a new challenge, this fortnight we are asking for a little extra work and are looking for a set of 3. 3 ATC's that fit the same theme/style, the choice is yours.
 I seem to be in a very colourful phase at the moment, it must be all the sun we are having here.

My ATC's have been coloured with Distress inks, heat set and then stamped with the script stamp from the Tim Holtz Papillon stamp set, I think this is one of my fave sets from Tim Holtz. I stamped using the pad that comes with the perfect pearls. I then brushed some silvery/blue perfect pearls powder over the whole atc with a very soft brush, Once it dried I brushed off the excess and stamped with black archival ink using the butterfly stamps.To finish the ATC's off I gave them two coats of clear embossing powder. The mica powder still shimmers and glints through and the coating brings out the bright distress inks even more.
 It would be great to have you play along with us over at Fun With ATC's, head on over to see what the rest of our DT have created.

Thanks for stopping by xx It's great to have you here xx

Octopode Factory, Alice is no longer in wonderland

Well we are well and truly baking our buns off over here in the UK, I hope where ever you are the weather is treating you well.

Today I am sharing an Art Journal page with you. The DT over at the Octopode Factory were asked/challenged by Lily to use some of her Alice images but to use them in a different non traditional way to show some versatility.

Head on over to Lily's Octopode Blog to see what the rest of the DT have come up with.

This is the first page in my new Dyan Reavely Journal and I am pleasantly surprised at the quality of the journal and how well it takes paint with out curling to much etc.

I used THIS ALICE image available from the Octopode Etsy shop and have coloured her with Copic's fussy cut her and clear embossed her twice befor sticking her to the bg.I also added a bit of bling to her hair clip, yep I have bling, just don't tell everyone ;)

The back ground was created using a technique I saw on Andy Skinners Blog and it's an Acrylic paint dripping technique, I love the effects you can get with this.

I used a mix of Decoart acrylic paints, a mix of the Traditions translucent colours and some of the Americana solid colours.

For the first time I tried stamping with paint instead of ink and am really pleased with the results.I started with the circles, they are just from a couple of different sized glass jars, the leaves are from Dyan Reavely and the barbed wire is from De Stempelwinkel's Hardware findings 1 plate and the letters are from their Stencil 2 Alphabet.

The little white dots were added using a white gel pen.

Im not sure how far away from Wonderland I managed to get, Maybe more like one of her nightmares?

Thanks for stopping by xx

De Stempelwinkel - Key Chains

So hows everyone doing?

I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine where ever you are? Its been fantastic here.

It's my turn today over at De Stempelwinkel and I have made a couple of key chains, to see the full pics and a quick what's what follow the link x

Guest DT Spot The Artistic Stamper

So hows your Sunday going?

It's time for my second Guest DT make over at The Artistic Stamper, here is a sneak peak of what I made.

It would be great if you have time to pop on over and have a look. x

Haunted Design House - Freakers Free For All

 Wow, it has been damn hot here and my fat page today sort of fits in with the weather we have been having here in the UK.
The Fat page has been made for our new challenge over at Haunted Design House The theme is a 'Freakers Free For All' Basically anything goes as long as it is on the creepy side.
 I have used one of the new Gloomsville characters from the Octopode Factory, There is still time to take advantage of the 15% discount on all Halloween digi designs.
The Lil Devil has been coloured with copics and clear embosed, he has been raised up and stuck to the BG with sticky pads.
 For the BG I used glossy card, stamped the sentiment with the October Crow alphabet stamps from De Stempelwinkel with stayzon ink. when dry I used orange, red and yellow Decoart Glass Stains. to finish of I swiped the edges with black archival ink and mounted the glossy card on to a 6x6 inch piece of mount board.

You have two weeks to take part in our challenge and we would love to see you get your creep on. Head on over to Haunted Design House to see what else our DT have created and head back next Monday for some more inspiration ;)

Octopode Factory Challenge, Halloween in July

Well it's that time again over at the Octopode Factory to start our new challenge,The theme is Halloween In July, Its also the perfect time to take advantage of Lily's Halloween In July offer to celebrate the release of her new images in the Gloomsville collection, A whole host of new Halloween images.Lily is offering 15% off of all her Halloween images.

The shop can be found HERE

I used the new Gloomsville Witch,, she also comes with her Gothic cat Cesar, I also used the new Gloomsville Pumpkins. All three images were coloured with Copics and have been clear embossed. The pumpkins were printed straight onto the tag and the witch and cat have been fussy cut. The Back ground of the tag has been coloured with Distress inks, I used Shaded lilac, a little Dusty Concord and some Festive berries, As the Pumpkins were clear embossed I could colour the BG straight over the top of them as the embossing acts as a resist.

The Boo has been cut from mount board using the Tim Holtz die and has been embossed with some frantage  powder.

I coloured the ribbon with some purple and yellow Dylusion sprays and added the witches hat charm.A little black soot distress around the edges.

You have two weeks to take part and we would love to see you join us. You do not need to use an Octopode image but your name will get entered twice into the prize pot for some images.x

Here are the new images x