Industrial Grunge Clock Decoart/Stampendous Blog Hop

Items Used:

Decoart Media Fluids.

Decoart Media Texture Sand

Andy Skinner Stampendous Stamps. Curiosity, Steampunk

Stampendous Stamp Vintage Note

This week Stampendous and Decoart have come together for a week long blog hop celebrating the Andy Skinner stamps new and old and the Decoart Media Line.

Here is a list of the people participating today.

Stampendous Blog

Jamie Martin

Louise Healy

Mark Gould

Ursula Wollenberg

DecoArt Blog

I am lucky enough to be on both design teams and have taken this opportunity to share a new class I have put together with a new faux Pitted Tin technique and a little rust thrown in as well.

A couple of close up pics to show the textures created.

This is a grey board kit from Tando-Creative and measures 12 inches x

I cant wait to teach this class and I am so excited that the first place I will be teaching it is on my return trip to California this May 5th/6th when I visit It's All About The Scrapbook in Dixon CA.

If you have some time it would be great to see you stopping by the the other hoppers pages and leaving some love, you never know, you might be selected as one of the winners.

Head over to the Stampendous or Decoart blog for details of the generous prize pack. xx

Decoart Mixed Media Blog Tutorial Post - Painting and working with Acrylic

Today It's  my turn to share a little tutorial post over on the Decoart Media Blog and I have gone for a Vintage Circus style tag using one of the Acrylic Media Boards from Tando Creative and stamps from Carabelle Studio.

If you follow the Decoart Link it will take you straight to the tutorial post xx.

Hope to see you there. x

Simon Says Stamp are having a 'Use your favorite tool' challenge this week. My fave tool has to e the heat gun, I am an impatient crafter and always turn to my heat gun to help things along when I can, I have also used it for one if it's more traditional uses on my tag for some heat embossing.

California Dreaming Road Trip

Wow, What a 2 weeks that was ;)

I am not long back and only just getting over the jetlag but wow, what an amazing trip, We (better half and me) had such a fun filled and welcoming trip adventure for my first trip to teach in the USA.

I gave 3 classes teaching my Mixed Media Tag and Tag Storage box class and in between teaching we managed to squeeze lots of touristy stuff in too.

Sorry there will not be a lot of finished craftyness as this post is more about what we got up to an where and is a good place for me to keep track of events in a time line xx.

First of I need to say a huge thank you to Laura from Stampendous and here entire family who bent over backwards to make us feel at home and Laura pretty much made this trip happen for me, So Thank you again xx

Also a big thank you to my Craft friend Glo and her hubby for putting up with us for the first weekend of our trip xx.

There are lots more thank you's that need to be dished out and I hope by the end I have not forgotten anyone ;)

So the trip started with my first class in America being held at It's All About The Scrapbook with Andrea and her lovely group of ladies that took great care of me and eased me in to teaching in the states.

The following day we had a day out in San Francisco visiting a bucket list attraction for me, Alcatraz.

Managed to get some nice rusty texture pics here ;)

the island

An external rusty door

Close up of a cell door

Close up of an old sign on the island

Cellfie 

After San Francisco we headed a little south to Orange and managed to fit in both Disney and Knotts Berry Farm theme parks.(we did the Knott's Scary Farm halloween night as well)

This was my first Disney experience and I loved the park, everything is over the top but in such a fun way, the rides were great fun but the general feel of the place was just so much fun.

Inside the Hanted Mantion

From the Pixar Parade at California Adventure.

And from Knott's Scary Farm.....

Now this was fun, I love Halloween and we were so lucky to be in the USA for Halloween, Knott' Farm open in the evenings and go full out with hundreds of actors roaming around the park in full halloween dress scaring the you know what out of everyone, as well as the rides being ridden in the dark they also have several horror mazes (loved these) and a live show by the amazing Elvira.

One of the actors roaming around on stilts in the Day of the Dead section of the park

The Ghost Rider roller coaster,  best roller coaster I have ever been on, I have always wanted to ride one of the old wood frame coasters and this I think is the largest on the west coast of the USA. It was even better riding in the dark ;)

For our second weekend we headed down to San Diego where we went on a guided tour of lots of haunted buildings and had an amazing meal at a restaurant called C Level, This top pic was our view from the table.

Sorry, couldn't wait to get started before taking the pic of my dinner.

Saturday I was at the Stamp Addict run by the lovely Roxanne, Another big thank you to Roxanne and her Hubby Walt for taking care of us xx.

And on Sunday I headed to Westlake Village to Deb at Scrapbooking Forever.

Scrapbooking Forever marked the end of my classes and I want to thank all 3 shops for having me and to all the ladies that came along, you made me feel so welcomed and I loved every minute of being there, It was wonderful to finally meet some of my facebook and blog following friends xx. Hopefully Ill see you all soon ;)

The last few days were filled up with a trip to Universal studios....

And one of the crowning glories was the Guillermo Del Toro exhibit At Home With Monster hosted at Lacma.

I pretty much ran my phone battery down taking so many pictures here, there was just so much to see from his personal collection, Film Props, costumes from his movies, Art Journals from several of his films as well as a huge collection of other horror items that have inspired his works.

I have included a few just to give you an idea but this was an amazing couple of hours walking round soaking in all the creativity.

Thanks for sticking with my rather long drawn out post.

And Again, I can't thank everyone enough for all they have done for us this trip, It was so good meeting friends from online and making so many more.

I can't wait to return to sunny California.

xxx.

Stampendous! 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop Door Hanger.

Morning all, I am back sharing a second make for Stampendous as they take part in the 31 Days of Halloween blog hop.

Stampendous Products Used:

Stamp: Andy Skinner Shabby Chic

Embossing Powder: Deep Impressions Seasonings

Other Items:

Decoart Media Fluids and Modeling paste

Tando Creative Door Hanger

Today I have decorated a door hanger from Tando-Creative using modeling paste through stencils to create texture and Media Fluids to add colour.

After a base coat of Tinting Base to give a nice clean white surface to work off of colour was added using greens and yellows to create a blended look some dashes of orange and purple were also applied for some contrast.

I applied the embossing powder around the edge randomly and on top of the raised areas to help add balance to the embossed Pentangle.

The Pentangle was gifted to me a few years ago from my crafty buddy Lisa, can't believe it's taken me this long to use it ;)  and thank you x

The Pentangle was dabbed into an embossing ink pad and the powder applied. I love the variation in tones and colour that the Stampendous aged embossing powders have.

The door hanger was finished with a coat of Triple Thick Varnish which gives a high gloss almost lacquer like finish. The pentagram was glued in place to finish things off.

Thanks as always for stopping by. Remember to check the stampendous blog for all the details of the 31 Days of Halloween blog hop, Stampendous have even put up a prize pack for those that comment throughout the hop xx.