Decoart Winter Wonderland Challenge - Jack Frosts Ice Wand Tutorial

I certainly hope you all had a great Xmas. all had plenty of time to unwind? well now you are all relaxed it's time to see what the Decoart Media Team has been up to, we have been very busy you know ;-)

It's time for us to go live over at the Decoart Media DT with our Winter Wonderland Challenge.

Here is the blurb for whats what x.

Are you ready for another DecoArt Media challenge? This challenge will be a winter theme full of blue and purple hues and maybe even some snow! Our Mixed Media Design Team has been busy creating some great inspiration pieces that we will be featuring daily, so get ready for some fantastic project ideas starting December 28th. We can’t wait to see where all your creative ideas take you! 

The challenge will open for entries on December 28th and close on January 29th. The winner of this challenge will be chosen by the DecoArt Media Design Team on February 1st and announced here and on Facebook February 2nd. The winner will receive a DecoArt Media prize package valued over $120 so you will certainly want to submit a piece or two! Don't forget to share with your friends so everyone can join in the fun!

And of course, this challenge is open to everyone no matter where you are from, Decoart have a better delivery system than dear ol Santa ;-)

So on to my project, and after much thought about what I could do for a winter wonderland theme I decided to create Jack Frosts Ice Wand.

Here is a list of what was used:

From the Decoart Media Line: White Gesso                               Tinting Base

                                                  Texture Sand                              Modeling Paste

                                                  Prussian Blue Hue                      Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide

                                                  Raw Umber                                 Quinacridone Gold

                                                  Gold                                            Carbon Black

                                                  Quinacridone Burnt Orange       Satin Varnish

                                                  Matte Varnish                             Antiquing Cream Black

Other Decoart Products:           Triple Thick Spray Varnish        One Step Crackle

Other Materials:                        Plastic Straw                               Shower head Handle

                                                  Glass Tv/Radio Valve                 Hot Glue Gun

                                                  Leather Shoe Lace                       Graphite Pencil

I will start with the step by step pics and process and then finish with a collection of close up pics xx.

Once I figured out how my wand was going to fit together the pieces that needed to be glued into place like the straw and handle were hot glued together. The straw I used was a thick sturdy drinking straw not one of the thin plastic straws like you get from Mc d's.One of them may have melted or not stood up to the weight of the modeling pastes etc. 

The Valve was left off to make painting easier and  fortunately it clipped/wedged straight onto the end rather conveniently.

Once the glue had set everything was given a couple of coats of white Gesso, This gives everything the same nice even base to work from and removes obstacles like chrome pipe and Plastic that would be a nightmare to try and paint straight over or add different product to.

Both the point of the wand and Glass Valve were given an uneven coat of modeling paste applied with a pallet knife.

The Pipe work was given a coat of texture Sand. I find to get the most amount of texture once the texture sand has been applied, just stipple the surface with a stiff bristled brush and leave to dry.

When I am ready to add colour to a project I like to give everything a base coat of tinting base. It just leaves a nice crisp white finish so any light or translucent colours will not look dirty.

Some One Step Crackle was added to the handle. This product self levels so doesn't need to be over worked with a brush, just make sure you get a good coverage. How thick it is applied generally determins the size of cracks you are left with, I wanted fairly large cracks so just poured a little on to the handle, pushed it around with a brush and left it to dry. The handle was done in two goes, top and bottom so as to allow it to dry properly.

Don't heat dry the crackle glaze no matter how tempted you are, it will halt the crackle process and just leave a nice thick glaze over the surface. x

Back to the handle for the rust effect.

Blend over the Texture Sand with some Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide and some raw Umber.

I like to apply both colours at the same time as this allows me to get subtle changes in tone which will help with the overall rust effect.

A couple of coats of Quinacridone Gold over the top leaves a nice wet rusty look. If the Quin Gold is applied thin you may need to add another coat or two, just keep going till you get the result that works for you.

Also when it dries you will notice the Quinacridone Gold has a gloss finish, This is to do with the type of pigment used and as the Decoart Media Fluids have no Bulking agents etc you will find subtle differences in the finish of the different pigments.

Don't panic, this is perfectly natural and one of the reasons why the varnishes in the Media line are so good.

I like to finish my rust off with a coat of Matte Varnish, this removes any of the gloss finish in the paint pigment and leaves a nice flat rusty looking surface.

To finish the rust effect off grab a graphite pencil and bring out the high points by rubbing the pencil over the top, It leaves a dull/worn metal type look.

Once the One Step Crackle is dry apply some black antiquing cream all over and leave to dry.

The antiquing cream range has been designed to remain forever water reactive, Just dampen a clean lint free cloth and start to wipe away the excess antiquing cream, work on small areas at a time and once the cream has been loosened just wipe away with a clean bit of the cloth.

The tip of the wand was painted just with Prussian Blue Hue and some tinting base.

I started at the base with straight Prussian Blue and faded the colour out towards the tip by adding some tinting base to the colour.

adding more tinting base to lighten the Prussian Blue even more I started to dry brush the wand point to bring out all the texture and detail.

To finish the tip was given a coat of Satin Varnish.

A wash was added, this helped even the tones up and make the colour shift on the shaft look more subtle.

I like to work with a spritzing bottle close by when playing with washes. If for some reason I apply my was and its not wattered down enough I can give it a quick spray to dilute the paint and I can start over if needed.

Just play around with the ratios of water to paint on your projects, Just start with a thin wash and build up the intensity in colour till you are happy.

The same process was followed for the base/Power Source of the wand.

The tarnished metal was painted gold and then given some washes of Carbon Black and Quinacridonr Orange.

I have used the Decoart triple Thick spray on the Power source part of the wand, I wanted the look of a glowing stone. You can really see the difference in finishes, the rust has had the matte Varnish applied and the power source is a high gloss almost lacquered finish.

Thank you so much for stopping by and joining me and my fellow Decoart Dt members as we kick start our winter Wonderland challenge.

Keep heading back to the Decoart media DT to see new projects and tutorials from our fab DT throughout the month of Jan and of course we would love to see you enter the challenge and take part.

There are some great Decoart Goodies up for grabs so stay tuned xxx

And Of course, a great big happy new Year from me xx.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge are having a Winter Wonderland challenge over the xmas break. I would like to enter the wand x.

                                                  

A Fond Farewell - De Stempelwinkel

Mornig, It's a busy day for me in blog land today, Ill be back in an hour kick starting the new Decoart Media Winter Wonderland  Challenge with a full tutorial post, so I hope you pop back in a little while.

Before that though a post on a slightly sadder note, It's my last post on the De Stempelwinkel Blog, after a fantastic run I have decided to step down so I can have more time to just play and see where the crafting takes me.

I have made another acrylic fat book page available from That's Crafty and have used my fave De Stempelwinkel stamps.

You can see the full page on the De Stempelwinkel blog x. 

Acrylic Alice In Wonderland Fat Book Page - De Stempelwinkel

Morning. A little tease pic today for my project over on the De Stempelwinkel Blog, I am still on an Alice In Wonderland kick at the moment and have just done my first page in my new Acrylic fat page book.

The pages are a new item from That's Crafty  and are 6"x6" and 4mm thick so they are nice and sturdy and hold up to heat embossing and products like Stampendous Stamp n Bond that I have used for the silver leaf.

You can see the full page and find out a little more about what has been done on the De Stempelwinkel Blog xxx.



Acrylic Alice In Wonderland Tag - De Stempelwinkel

 

Just a sneak peak this morning of my make on the De Stempelwinkel blog today.

I have been playing around with some more acrylic and used a blank from That's Crafty.

Some silver leaf using Stampendous's Stamp n Bond and lots of Decoart media goodness thrown in as well ;)

You can see the whole tag and a little run down of what's what on the De Stempelwinkel blog, xxx

Thanks for stopping by x.

 



The Grinch Does Christmas

Afternoon all, sorry for the two post day, it's boom and bust round here at the moment.

And as most of you probably know, I'm not really one for the traditional Xmas stuff, Que grumpy old man syndrome ;)

I have decided to go against my baser instincts and give into a little bit of Xmas.

I started with three plain white baubles that I picked up at B&Q.

I have used Decoart Media Fluids and products to decorate my baubles.

This one was given 3 or 4 coats of Quinacridone Magenta to get a nice rich colour built up.

A Heavy dry brushing with Prussian Blue Hue brought out all the edges.

I finished off with a couple of coats of Satin Varnish.

This Baubles was done with the Media Misters. I started the Baubles spinning slowly on its string and built up the layers by lightly misting the spinning ball from all directions. Just make sure you . I mainly used Yellow, Red and Orange with a little black thrown in.

I sprayed each colour whilst the previous colour was still wet, this layering of colours gives a really nice blending effect and I built up enough colour to get the misters to run. Constantly spinning the bauble and giving it a blast with the heat gun to set the paint before repeating the process till I got the effect I liked.

I used the Decoart Triple Thick aerosol spray to finish the Bauble, the triple thick gives an almost laqured finish and a high gloss that makes the colours come alive.

My final Bauble was first painted black.

The ridges were swiped with some Versa Mark ink and some Stampendous Stamp n Bond was applied so I could add some Gold Leaf. The stamp n bond is like an embossing powder but acts like a glue for things like gold leaf.

A generous coat of Decoart Crackle Glaze was added, this was tricky as it wanted to run of so I had to keep turning the bauble and spinning it. Whilst the Crackle Glaze was still wet I added droplets of Decoart Interference paints. you will see the paint disperse into really cool patterns and they meld around each other. over the black back ground you can really see the colours in the interference paints pop and it leaves a nice effect as it plays in the light.

All the strings were replaced with thin black leather cords.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my little Xmas cheer ;)

Simon says stamp are having a Christmas challenge this week.  



Create Art Canvas - De Stempelwinkel and Mixed Media Mayhem Craft Retreate April 2016

 

A little tease post today for my make over on the De Stempelwinkel blog. I have painted a 12" canvas using Decoart Media Products and Stamps from De Stempelwinkel.

To see the full piece and more photos it would be great to have you join us over on the De Stempelwinkel blog.

 

And I am so happy to announce that I have been asked to be one of the tutors on the New Mixed Media Mayhem Craft Retreat in Cumbria on the 23/24 April 2016 Held by Sharon of Rowan Tree Crafts.

I will be giving my mixed media atc class and I will be joined by the Lindsay mason who will be the other tutor for the weekend.

If you fancy a weekend of Decoart mixed media craftiness you can find all the details on the poster below.

 

Fri 22nd eve

Sat 23

Sun 24

April

 

Gold and Silver Leaf Pen Pot - De Stempelwinkel

 

A little post today as I am over on the De Stempelwinkel Blog with a CAS pen pot using some gold and silver leaf and a few favourite stamps.

 



Gustav Klimt Card - De Stempelwinkel

 

Morning all. Another quick post today for De Stempelwinkel and I have made a Media Board card using Tando Creative media boards, Decoart Media Fluids and stamps from De Stempelwinkel.

You can see a couple more pics and read a little about what I did on the De Stempelwinkel Blog.

If you have time It would be great to see you over there xxx.



Doodles and Driftwood - De Stempelwinkel

 

Morning all, A quick post with a pic for my make over on the De Stempelwinkel Blog.

Thanks to a lovely gift of some drift wood from a craft friend Neil Walker I decided to finally do something with a couple of pieces. I wanted to try  something a little different for me and I love the bright colours people like Kate Crane use.

Thanks for stopping by xx



Mixed Media Tags. Decoart Media and Carabelle Studio Stamps and a little Brett Weldele

 

 

A post today just because.

I have recently discovered a stamp company called Carabelle Studios and are available from That's Crafty and to say the speak to me is a little of an understatement and I just had to get painty straight away.

As most of you know I love making tags so I sat down with some Tando-Creative  media boards and got started.

As always I have used Decoart Media Fluids to create my backgrounds.

 

The first two tags I have finger painted. Just add a small spot of paint to your craft mat and then get dirty.

I applied colours allowing the paint to pretty much dry but whilst it was still a little tacky so I could get a subtle blend of colours, with the translucent colours I mixed them with a little of the tinting base just to make them opaque.

 

For an added touch I added some gold leaf to this tag.

I used a product from Stampendous called Stamp n Bond, it's basically an embossing powder that turns into a glue. Stamp your image with Versamark ink, apply the Stamp n bond like an embossing powder, tap off the excess and use your heat tool to activate. The Stamp n bond turns clear so you know when its ready to use.

The gilding flakes were added and and tamped down and after a little drying time the excess was brushed off revealing the stamped detail.

 

The back ground for this stamp was created with colour washes and then layering up stamped images with different archival inks.

Some stencilling was added, this is also from Carabelle Studios and I used the tinting base to add a little pop of white.

All my tags have been coated with a couple of coats of  Decoart Media Satin Varnish. I find this really makes the colours stand out and gives a more finished look than just leaving it painted.

 

 

This Atc has been made from an Acrylic Atc blank from That's Crafty and I have used Stazon ink for the images.

 

 

I shared this Tag a couple of days ago on facebook and it's using one of Brett Weldele's latest images. I made this for my daughters birthday as she is a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, the image could not be more perfect.

 

Thanks for stopping by xxx.

 

 

Sandee & Amelies Steampunk challenges are having an Anything Goes Industrial/Steampunk challenge...... I would like to enter my Tags and Atc as they have a bit of a Steampunk flavour about them even if the colours are a little non traditional. ;-)

 

Craft Stamper are having an Anything Goes With A Stamp Challenge. I would like to enter my tags x

 

 

Cherub Atc's - De Stempelwinkel

 

Morning all, I am sharing a couple of Atc's over on the De Stempelwinkel blog today and I have used the tragic events that unfolded in Paris to inspire my Atc's.

I have done two Atc's with the aim of swapping one with someone that leaves a comment on the De Stempelwinkel blog saying they would like to swap.

If there is more than one person wanting to swap with me I will randomly select someone from the comments next week.

 

I have used MDF Atc blanks from That's Crafty, Stamps from De Stempelwinkel, Decoart Media Products and some design paper from 7 dots studio.

You can see the pair of Atc's on the blog as well as a little of what I did. xx.

 Hope to see you over there and if you would like to swap remember to say so in the comments x.



De Stempelwinkel - Concertina Card and Some Class Pics.

 

Thanks for stopping by. Today I am sharing a sneak peak of my make on the De Stempelwinkel Blog This is my take on a mini concertina card. You can find the full card on the blog with a little about what I did xx.

I have used Decoart Media fluids and mediums for the card and stamps from De Stempelwinkel.

 

Now here are a couple of pics from my new class Mixed Media ATC's.

 

 

 

 

Sadly I didn't get any pics at the end of the day But I have grabbed this one from Janette who attended from her Face Book page.

 

 

I'll be sharing dates for a couple of classes soon. xx

Thank you for stopping by xxx.