Heavy Metal At SanDee & Amelie's Steampunk Challenges. . . . . . And Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

Still trying to get back properly into blogging! I think I need to start at the beginning again and enter challenges just for fun and to see the work of lots of other crafters. I found this worked for me before and I'm hoping it will do so again.

So. . . .I had no trouble finding a challenge of challenges which appealed to me and the first one is  'Heavy Metal' at SanDee & Amelie's Steampunk Challenge blog. I always wonder how to describe Steampunk and I just hope that my project does fit that title!

The second challenge I'd like to enter this project for is  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which this week asks you to be inspired by the word 'Five'. I've chosen to use five different elements to produce my tag:

Stamping; Die Cutting; Acrylic Paint Techniques; Modelling Paste through a stencil and using Distress Markers to colour an image.

I do like this kind of challenge which can be open to interpretation in a variety of ways - great fun!

Here's what I've made with some details to give you an idea of construction:

I loved the challenge title and if you have visited here before, you will know that I love creating faux rust finishes on anything that stands still long enough! I hope that the tag base looks fairly authentic.

The first stage of the rusting process was to seal the surface with two coats of gesso.  Next came DecoArt Modelling paste through a stencil which was left to air dry. Once dry, several coats of various DecoArt Traditions paints were applied in order to create the 'rusty' look. I can't be more precise because the technique was developed by Andy Skinner (my paint guru!!) but you can attend a class or do an online workshop and learn these amazing paint effects. Just click on Andy's name above and you'll find information about what's on offer.

The large washer in this image is a 'found' object and needed no transformation! The Idea-ology pointer was scuffed, crackled and a little acrylic paint rubbed into the cracks to highlight them.

The balloons have rusty wire attached. Two of the balloons remain tethered to the hand in the corner which is part of the original stamped image. An idea-ology hitch fastener is being held in the hand and the wires are tethered to it. The hitch fastener has been given the same aged look as previously described. I just had an idea for the quote and two tethered balloons signify limited freedom whilst one balloon is flying free. . . . . . . it worked for me anyway!
The quote label is handwritten then crackled and aged with acrylic paint as before - I wanted to achieve the look of old porcelain or aged enamelled metal

Die cut cogs (meant to be wheels) were given the rust treatment and held together by faux screw brads which were treated in the same manner as the pointer in the previous image.

Close up to show the edge of the tag which hopefully looks like rusting metal!

The balloons were part of a larger La Blanche stamp. They were stamped with archival ink onto card and cut out. Colours were applied using Distress markers and a waterbrush. A 'crackle' type image was stamped randomly over the balloons using archival ink. The little compass 'wheels' were leftovers from a previous project. They were stamped onto vintage book pages backed with card and cut out. The needle was coloured using the distress markers and waterbrush again.

I had so much fun making this tag. No hardship when you choose the theme and work on something which is right up your street!

Thanks for looking and thank you to those few people who have stayed with me despite the lack of activity here. I really do appreciate it.

Sponsor Spotlight At Our Creative Corner. . . . .

Good morning all. Thought I'd give you a couple of little sneak peeks of my post at Our Creative Corner today, using some amazing stamps from Crafty Individuals. If you haven't seen our new challenge yet then click here to go to the blog and see all the inspiration from the DT and details of a fab prize from Crafty Individuals who are our sponsor this month.

Love Those Left Overs At Our Creative Corner. . . . .

Hello everyone. It's time for a new challenge at Our Creative Corner and the wonderful talent that is Linda aka the 'Funkie Junkie' has set the challenge. Linda is asking us to use up our left overs to make a new project.

We have launched this theme previously but due to a short blog closure, we were unable to complete the challenge. Well, this time we're all set and each of us has made a new piece which we hope will inspire you to raid your scrap box! You may use any items from your box but do let us know which pieces they are on your project. As usual, all the DT will be showing their work today so do go over to Our Creative Corner - (I'm working with a group of hugely talented ladies as you will probably know if you read a blog written by a certain Tim.)

Like everyone else, I keep all kinds of left overs. I make more items than I need for a project and keep them for another time. I even keep paint/ink covered card and paper just because I love the colours and can't throw it away. We're all the same aren't we?!

Unfortunately, I was so eager to use my scraps that I'd cut into one of them before I'd taken a photo but I can show you the scrap left from the left overs. . . . . confusing I know!

I was inspired by Easter when making this project so I hope you don't mind my celebration of the event being a little late.

Here's what I've made:

An Easter basket with a rusty wire hanger. I fitted a medium sized egg in it but it could be used to collect small eggs on an egg hunt.

The 'basket' was made from the top section of a an empty chocolate box.

My scraps included two flowers leftover from a previous project (one shown above), a piece of paper used to clean my brayer during a gelli plate session and in the next image . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . some die cuts made for a previous project but rejected. This image shows the original finish on the die cuts which I put inside the basket out of sight. The other side of the die cuts were given an alternative finish which is shown later in this post.

The original flowers had a silver brad in the centre but for this project I painted and crackled them. The larger flower is on the side of the basket.

This wonderful butterfly image was stamped onto the brayered paper, stuck onto card and then cut out. Crackle followed to comply with the grungy look. Some rusty wire is used for the antennae as I broke the card ones off!

The chocolate box was painted with gesso, two coats of acrylic were added followed by some modelling paste through a stencil (all paint and mediums by DecoArt). Lastly, the piece was finished with acrylic paint and a sponge followed by the usual crackle. More acrylic paint was used to antique the surface.

Using the same stamp but choosing a different coloured area of the brayer paper makes the image look slightly different. I also cut it out slightly differently just to avoid repetition.

This image shows the 'rivets' on the top edge of the basket.

To ensure the die cuts toned in with the stamped butterflies, similar colours were applied to one side of each die cut using a brayer. Crackle and a little extra acrylic paint followed. I love how these turned out and  really didn't see the need to change the original design on the other side as it wasn't really visible.

Holes were made in the box in two places and rusty wire threaded through to act as a hanger. The ends were twisted up the hanger to complete the look.

You can just see the edge of the larger flower on the left of this image! I forgot to take photos of the scraps before starting so I do apologise.

Your turn to go through your scraps and see what you can make! There is a full copy of the challenge over at Our Creative Corner along with one or two rules we ask you to follow. Will you be our winner and in the Spotlight? Don't forget to see the Sponsor Spotlights over the coming month from some members of the design team. There's also some exciting news about other things happening this month - don't miss it!

Thanks so much for visiting today and do leave a comment if you'd like to let me know what you think.