Amulet and Brigitte

I've got 2 things to show you, an Art Journal page and a card.

The devil image is a Rick St.dennis digi called Amulet and he can be found here, the background is a Gelli plate using Americana Acrylic paints by DecoArt ( colours used: Tomato red, Ocean Blue and Snow white)

The quote is from a song called "thanks for the memories"by the Fall Out Boys (I changed it a little bit to fit the page), I got the idea while I did my run, this was one of the sons on my running app. When I heard that part of the lyrics it made me think of Amulet LOL

Amulet was coloured using pencils

I will enter this in the following challenges:
http://leftofcenterchallenges.blogspot.nl/p/loc-1st-anniversary-challenge-starting.html

http://leftofcenterchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/challenge-28-ribbon-andor-flowers-with.html

http://sugarcreekhollow.blogspot.nl/2014/03/83-make-your-own-background.html



next is the card

I used a rubber stamp called Brigitte from I Brake for Stamps, it's one of the Randi Dandi images by Rick St.dennis.  It's just a simple card, hope you like it anyway

The image was stamped using Archival Jet Black ink and coloured using pencils.

I will enter this card in the following challenges
http://www.dreamweaverstencils.blogspot.nl/2014/03/march-madness-week-4thinking-outside-box.html

Left of the Center Challenge blog anniversary day 20

Left of the Center is one of the blogs I play if I have the chance, the challenges are always non cute, so I guess that's why I like to go and play there LOL. This month LOC has an anniversary challenge, it lasts whole month and there a great prizes to be won and lots of inspiration to be seen, so go check it out.

Maureen, (usually Mo, but a bit confusing, so we talk to each other as "the other Mo" which I guess doesn't make things easier) asked me if I wanted to do a GDT project for the first anniversary, sure, why not....so here it is,.... my offering for the LOC anniversary is an Art Journal page using the Rick St.dennis MFA Vampyr Masquerade digi

 the background used is a gelli print as base and added some stenceling, the stars, and the funny looking plant, and the circles on the edges. Paints used are all DecoArt Americana Acrylics, colours used: Red alert, Spiced Pumpkin, Winter Blue, Purple Pizzazz, Carousel Pink, Sour Apple, Moon Yellow.

The Vampyr Masquerade image is coloured using Derwent Coloursoft pencils, the senti says: "I love the night, it's the only time I feel really alive.

Thanks Mo for asking me and a happy anniversary to LOC


I will enter this in the following challenges':

http://leftofcenterchallenges.blogspot.nl/p/loc-1st-anniversary-challenge-starting.html

Macabre Monday # 184 Skullduggery

Our new Macabre Monday theme for the next two weeks:

SKULLDUGGERY

The word 'skulduggery' is a noun,
meaning underhanded or unscrupulous behavior; trickery.

Notice how we purposely misspelled it with two "l"s?
We're looking for SKULLS, but if you can manage to work
both the definition, and the skulls in,
then you have a win, win project on your hands! 

So, just to be clear, we want to see skulls. Lots, and lots of skulls


Also a new Minion in the Dungeon, Fiona Randall, go check out her awesome work

sooooo skulls it is, I made a skull shrine

Deco Art products used:
Dazzling Metalics Venetian Gold
American Acrylics, colours: Mocha, Sable Brown, Sand, Lamp black, Traditional Burnt Sienna
Americana Gesso, Weathered Wood Crackle Medium, Dura Clear Matte Varnish, Glazing Medium
Elegant finish Metallics  in Renaissance Brown and Emperors Gold Metallic Lustres in Iced Espresso, Copper Kettle,  silver spark,  Black Shimmer.
Texture Fierro  Iron Green
The skull  is a Smeared Ink digi
The rubber stamps are from the Stempelwinkel, the skull/cross bone is a clear stamp, brand unknown
the shrine is made using the vintage cabinet card die and card board, and the fence is the die in the pic

I die cutted (is that a word?) the vintage card 6 times, 2 were given the same treatment as the Dragon Book, see how to here (as a matter a fact I die cutted those 2 from my test piece. I tried this aging  technique on the cardbord first before using it on the book. So glad I saved it cause it saved me a lot of work for this LOL)
The 4 other vintage cabinet cards were glued together. I glued one of the ages cards on the top (aged side up, doh!). Cut the hole out using a ruler and craft knife, safe the aged piece you cut out.
glue the other aged card on the back, (aged side to the back, so you see both aged sides)
see pic

the square aged piece you cut out the first card will be glued in the hole, aged side up, now all sides have a nice aged look and only the sides have to be aged (inside the hole and around the card) but first stamp all the skullies.

To age the sides I used Texture Fierro, apply using a palette knife. Let Dry and add some Elegant Finish Metallics
The flower is also a Tim Holtz Die, same as the ones I used for the Dragon Book, this was a left over from that I explained how to make them here.
The skull is printed twice , cut out and layerd using foam tape to create some dimension, distressed with glossy crackle accents and walnut stain distress ink.

that's about it, go check out the other minions blogs to see the amazing skull projects they made

I will enter the following challenges
http://leftofcenterchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/p/loc-1st-anniversary-challenge-starting.html

Dragonbook

Another Steampunk project to show you, made for Just Steampunk magazine vol 5.

A lot of pics to show you , this project needs a lot of drying time in between aal layers of paint and varnish,  prepping the book will take some time too.

It's best to start with the inside of the book and add all decoration on the outside last

 Making this book took several days, just so you know this is not a quick and easy project to make.

It's a lot of fun to use all the different techniques (thanks Rick for giving some aging tips, you're the best),  you will need some patience :-)

I will try to explain what I did

Supply List

Digital dragon image by Rick St. Dennis MFA

Deco Art products used:
Dazzling Metalics Venetian Gold
American Acrylics, colours: Mocha, Sable Brown, Sand, Lamp black, Traditional Burnt Umber
Americana Gesso, Decoupage, Weathered Wood Crackle Medium, Dura Clear Matte Varnish, Glazing Medium
Elegant finish Metallics  in Renaissance Brown. Metallic Lustres in Iced Espresso, Silver Spark, Copper Kettle, Black Shimmer.

An old book (I used a new one, the one in the pic above, but any book will do) Ruler, Craft knife, Achival Jet Black stamp ink. Gear stamps, I used rubberstamps by Kicostamps (Steampunk plate 1 and 41), embossing pen, Alphabet stamps, Walnut Stain Distress ink, Kitchen towel, old tooth brush, black cardstock and thin card board (cereal box will do fine)

Foam tape, Metal foil tape (hardware store), Ranger Crackle accents, Sizzix Dies; Hardware Findings, Gadget Gears, Elegant Flourishes.
Cuttlebug embosing folder Textile texture, Sizzix Alterations embossing folders Diamond Plate and Riveted Metal

How to:

The dragon (a Rick St. Dennis MFA Digital stamp)

Print the dragon image on sturdy paper, colour (make a laser print colour copy cause you will need the head on the front of the book, and this way you don't have to color it twice)  and cut it out add foam tape to the back and attache it in the shadowbox, (I used distress ink to give the dragon the same aged look as the book after colouring it)

The outside of the book.

First gesso it till you can't see what was on the cover of the book, you need a white background to start with. Let dry.

First layer paint is the gold, when dry add weathered wood crackle medium. Use  Mocha, Sable Brown, Sand acrlic paint and a kitchen towel (make a puff dabb in all three colours and dabb it on the cover to create a marble look) as the top layer for the crackles. Let dry and add 2 layers of Matte Varnish, when dry , make a glaze using traditional burnt umber and Glazing medium, add the glaze on the book using a brush and dabb it off using kitchen towel (make a puff again) next layer is the glaze but use the kitchen towel puffs to add it this time. Keep doing this till you like result. Let dry.
Next add some lamp black to the glaze and use a tooth brush to splatter some of the glaze on the book, carful use a fine spatter. Let dry. Add 2 layers of matte varnish (let dry in between layers) to protect the paint.

Die cut all the gears and other parts using the card board, emboss them and paint them black, then use metallic lustres to give them a metal look. Take the piece of black cardstock cut to size to be able to make a frame and emboss, use the metallic lustres to age.
The colour copy dragon, cut out the head in a way it will fit in the frame you made. add glossy accents crackle to the dragon image, let dry, age with distress ink. Use foam tape to adde the frame to the dragon image and make it a bit more sturdy by adding it to a piece of cardboard, use foam tape to attache to the book cover. Add the embellisments (gears, flowers, hinges) Decorate the hinges on the spine with some pearls or rhinestones.

The inside of the book

there should be some pages on the side oposite to the shadow box that will be cut out of the pages of the book. decide howmany you want on that side, glue the pages where you will be cutting the hole in on the 3 sides of the paper using Decoupage, make sure the pages stay together when drying use clamps for that.

do the same with the pages on the otherside of the book

When glue is dry and pages stick together start cutting out a hole to to create the shadow box, use a ruler and craftknife.
when done glue the pages on the inside of the hole same way as you did on the outside

 use metal tape on the pages to create a metal look, use ruler and embossing pen to make the riveted metal look, when done add lampblack acrylic using a sponge, not to much, go for a mottled look by dabbing the sponge on the metal tape. Let dry.

Stamp the quote using Archival Jet black and paint them over using lamp black acrylic paint, when dry stamp the border using the gear stamps.

Age the sides of the book using lamp black and Metallic Glaze in Renaissance Brown

this was the dragon before it was cut out and distressed


I will enter this book in the following challenge

http://toptiptuesday.blogspot.nl/2014/03/challenge-metal-or-faux-metal.html

http://digisketchchallenge.blogspot.nl/2014/03/fantasy.html

http://www.theartisticstampercreativeteam.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/march-challenge-letters-words-and.html

http://lejdesignschallengeblog.blogspot.ca/2014/03/lej-designs-challenge-for-march.html

http://alohafridaychallenges.blogspot.ca/2014/03/aloha-friday-challenge-19-things-with.html

http://eclecticpaperie.blogspot.ca/2014/03/eplay-challenge-alter-book.html

http://leftofcenterchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/challenge-27-favourite-books-with.html

http://www.vintagejourney.com/2014/03/challenge-1-anything-tim-and-dt-call.html

http://rheddscreativespirit.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/march-challenge.html

http://leftofcenterchallenges.blogspot.nl/p/loc-1st-anniversary-challenge-starting.html

challenge 184 Let's play a game at HDH

Theme of the new challenge at Haunted Design House is " Let's play a game "-use a game piece or inspiration from the Saw franchise.

I didn't have a Jigsaw image so I drew this one,  and coloured it using Derwent Coloursoft pencils. The background is a blood splatter stamp, the text is "I want to play a game" and I wrote that using a black marker.the frame is a Gorjuss stamp. The puzzle piece is painted using DecoArt Americana  acrylic paint in lamp black. Jigsaw is written in glitter glue, there is some glitter glue a long the edges also.

For more inspiration visit the other minions blogs, hope to you will come and play with us in the Dungeon.

If you'd lke to use Jigsaw in your project, here he is, enjoy :-)

I will enter the following challenges

http://leftofcenterchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/p/loc-1st-anniversary-challenge-starting.html

http://ikesworldchallengeblog.blogspot.nl/2014/03/ikesworld-challenge-12-movie-madness.html

http://incywincydesigns.blogspot.nl/2014/03/black-white-plus-one-other-colour.html

http://lovetoscrapchallengeblog.blogspot.nl/2014/03/ltscb-25-back-it-up.html

http://sweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.nl/2014/03/be-inspired-by-song-film-or-book.html

http://craftylittlefairieschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/song-or-film-title.html

Steampunk canvasses

I had the idea to make some mixed media canvasses in Steampunk style, I thought to make gears on the canvas as a background using modeling paste and stencils. The only problem was I needed a steampunk couple to ads to the canvasses, so I asked Rick if he could draw me a steampunk pair, and he came up with this wonderful couple (thanks Boss, you're the best). These 2 are so gorgeous and they are so much fun to colour. BTW there are a lot more steampunk images in Rick's zibbet shop.

 I will try to explain what I did.

supply list2 canvasses 20 x 20 cm

Digital stamps by Rick St.dennis MFA : Jocasta and Jarrod

DecoArt products used: 
Elegant finish Metallic Glaze (Renaissance Brown and Olde World Patina)
Americana Acrylics : Lamp Black and Antique Teal
Dazzling Metallics: copper
Metallic Lustres: Black Shimmer, Iced Expresso, Copper Kettle
Modeling Paste
Acrylic Gesso


Imagine Crafts stencils: Elemental, Cameo Cog, Mr. Sprocket
Tim Holtz Alterations die : Gadget Gears
Aluminum tape from hardware store, piece of cardboard, black cardstock, Feathers and embellishments, ruler and embossing pen, foam tape and glue. Tim Holtz embossing folder : riveted metal.


How to:

First gesso the canvasses, it makes it so much easier to work on.  Use the stencils and modelling paste to make the bolts and gears on the canvas (use a pallete knife for that) , when dry, paint canvas Renaissance Brown and use the Olde world patina and the copper paint to create an aged look.

  Cover the piece of card board with the metal tape and use ruler and embossing pen to make the metal pattern. Age the metal tape using lamp black, Antique teal and copper paint (start with the balck let dry a bit not completely and whipe it of using a babywhipe till you have the effect you like. Let it dry and then add the other colours with a sponge or paint brush, very little paint , sponge or brush should be almost dry, this way you can create the oxide look by dabbing the paint on).
Add this faux metal piece to the canvas using foam tape for dimension.

 Colour the digital images and cut them out. Use foam tape to attache them to the faux metal piece. Die cut the gears out of black cardstock (emboss the cardstock first using riveted metal folder and embossing machine). Use the metallic lustres on the cardstock gears and all embellishments to make them fit to the canvas look. Add all gears and embellishments to the canvasses.
That's about it.

The fun thing is that this will be published in Just Steampunk Magazine Vol. 5

I wil enter this in the following challenges:

http://leftofcenterchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/challenge-26-die-cuts-with-ikes-art-and.html

http://www.frillyandfunkie.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/stencils-and-texture.html

http://simplysteampunkchallenges.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/march-5th-challenge-create-your-own.html

http://flourishes.org/2014/03/timeless-tuesday-261-maskuerade/

http://deliciousdoodleschallenge.blogspot.se/2014/03/challenge-78-anything-but-card.html