31 days of Halloween ; day 1

Welcome to day 1 of the 31 days of Halloween, blogroll is in the side bar :-)

Thought it was about time to play again in the 31 days, I know it is insane to do this but hey.....we all know I am crazy LOL

To be honest I started in august to prepare all my 31 days post because otherwise there is no chance I can make something everyday and write a blogpost, so I made a junk journal and will show you the pages through the whole 31 days madness.  I will add some extra projects, I can;t promise there will be 2 projects everyday but I will try to get as much in as possible (gotta go to work and sleep in between all scary fun too you know)

So for day one we start with the cover (duh!)

Deco Art Media fluid Acrylics in :Pyrole Red,   Deco Art Media Antiquing cream in Carbon Black. , Deco Art Media  Crakle paint,, Deco Art Media Gesso, Deco Art Media  Crackle Glaze, and  Matte Varnish Deco Art Americana Weathered wood, . Deco Art Metallic Lustres in Silver Spark, Black shimmer

The cover is made of cardboard, I gessoed it and painted it red, gave it a layere of Wheathere wood and when that was dry a layer of crackle paint, This makes the giant cracks . Next put a layer of matte varnish on and use Crackle glaze to get the small crackles, rub antiquing cream into the small cracks and remove some of it till you like the result, Protect with matte varnish.

Next I used the Skull stamp from the Morte set by Rick St.dennis, it's no longer available in rubber but there are lots of digi skulls available here,  The other stamps are clear stamps by house of three,

I used metallic lustres on the spider webborder (Martha stewart punch) and the metal book corners.

Tomorrow the back side of this cover :-)


And here is my second project, fridge magnets made of dominoes, it's easy to do, the hardest part is to get the stamps on in a good way without smudging.

What you need is some dominoes, these are plastic and I used Alcohol Ink to give them some colour. Next use Stazon in jet black to stamp the images and protect the stamping when dry with 2 layers of Deco Art Triple Thick Gloss Glaze, it gives them a great shine and creat depth. Glue some magnets on and you have some nice Halloween decoration for your fridge (or memoboard)

see ya tomorrow for day 2, have fun hopping and thanks for your comments, I love to read them :-)

Skull and Roses

For the Dare to Create challenge by Andy Skinner and Tracy Weinzapfel I made a spread in my Dylusions Art journal.

Deco Art Products used : Americana Acrylics in Lamp Black, Titanium White and True Red. Deco Art Media Gesso and Ultra Matte Varnish. Americana stencils: Pixelated and Short Circuit.

 First I Gessoed the page and let it dry.  Add a thick layer of white paint and before that has fully dried start adding black,  wipe over the paints using a baby wipe creating a stripey grey/white/ background.

Next you should start stenceling but I forgot that part because I could not wait to paint my skull (yah impatient I know).

 So I painted my skull and realize I forgot the stencils , it can be done after painting the skull you just have to mask the skull a bit :-)

I did the black paint and the pixelated stencil first and next the white paint with the short circuit stencil.

I never expected the skull painting to work ( I am pretty new at painting) so I was afraid to ruin it when painting the rest. I fixed that by adding a  few layers of ultra matte varnish, this protects the background and makes it possible to wipe away paint when making mistakes without getting the paint in the backgroud off the page.

Then the Roses had to be done, I used black paint to outline them ( no I did not sketch them first using pencils I went strait to the paint), the barbed wire I did in white.

Next is painting the roses red (Queen's orders, roses have to be red, so you better paint them if you want to keep your head), add some shadow using a bit black and make the leaves grey.

paint the barbed wire using black and add highlights to the roses and white to the leaves

Add the details and shadow to the leaves and around the roses.


Stamp the quote and paint over the stamped letters using black paint. Protect the finished page with utra matte varnish

I like how the skull turned out the roses needs more practise but for a first timer I am pretty happy with the result :-)

Show the world your sparkle

This is the first time I worked in my big Dylusions Journal , the size was a bit daunting because I am used to workning in the small journal :-).  So I just started and kept working on it till I liked the result

Deco Art Products used :  Americana Decoupage matte, Americana Acrylics in: Sweet Mint, Electric Pink, Sea Breeze, Baby Pink, Tangerine, Lamp black, Snow white, True Red and Coral Shell. Americana Multi Surface in Lemn Zest. Deco Art Media Matte Varnish. Glass paint marker in black.
The stencil is by Pronty (fasce A4), I also used som home made stencils, made using die cuts from Sizzix

I started with some decoupage papers, tore them apart and glued pieces on the page using the decou page, The decoupage paper had butterflies and some text on it and I wanted it to get more into the background, so I added paint using a sponge and used some stencils, before I used the face stencil 

and then it loolked like this, I liked the crisp black stencilling of the face but I did not like the pattern of the decoupage papers showing through that much. So I used Coral Shel americana acrylic as a skin colour to paint the face. That helped camouflage the butterflies but now it needed some more colour on the eyes and the hair.

I ended up doing a bid of a Warhol look, using bright colors, I used the face stencil again forto get the hair color in the same spot as the black, and next painted the eyeshadow and the lips and the eye it self.

Painting made the black stencilling look a bit messy (it 's kinda hard to paint inside the lines lol)

so when all color was added I used the stencil and black Americana acrylic paint agian to freshen up the outlines of the face.

Then it looked like this

I liked the look of the faces but it needed something more, and I just couldn't think off what to add, because the page allready was pretty busy. I  added a layer of matte varnish so the painting would be protected

In my journals I like to use quotes, but I just couldn't find one that seemed suitable for this page. Meanwhile the journal was lying in my craftroom and I started some other projects, because I was just stuck.

Then I found the quotes/words I wanted to use and handwrote it on the page, I used a white glass marker (those are supposed to be used on glass, duh!!...but they work great on acrylic paint as well)

Anyway it just did not look good, it looked messy and the idea to write the word sparkle in glitter glue turned out horrible.

So back to the drawing board lol, how to fix this???

The fix was easy, I used got some designer paper and cut it into strips that were just big enough to cover my handwriting and used alphabet stamps and some handwriting (this time all in black ink to get some unity) and I just left the pink handwriting at the bottom of the page as it was.

This is the end result and I am quite happy with it :-)

Pumpkin Demon journalling

I made a page in my Small Dylusions journal, the Demon Pumkin by Rick St.dennis is one of my favorite Halloween images and I know it is a bit early but in my world it's Halloween all year long :-)

Deco Art Products used:  Americana Matte Varnish, Deco Art Media Fluid acrylics in Cadmium Orange, Burnt Sienna, Diary Yellow, Cobatl Teal Hue. Deco Art Media antiquing cream in Raw Umber and Patina Green. Deco Art Media Gesso, Crackle Glaze, Matte Medium. Traditions Opaque White. Andy Skinner stensil Skullduggery. Deco Art Glass paint marker in white

use a brayer and the cobalt teal hue and burnt siena media fluid to make the background, add some water to the paint and roll the brayer through it next brayer over the page going in different directions

next add some stamping (with paints ) and senciling before you use the skull stencil, let dry and add a layer of varnish

when varnish is dry add crackle glaze, let dry and add the antiquing cream. Rubb it into the cracks (i use my fingers) and let dry. Clean with a moist cloth till you like the result

protect with matte varnish again. Cut out the digi and use matte medium to glue on on the page

add varnish over the image (2 layers) when dry add crackle glaze . Use Atiquing cream on the dried crackle glaze and use antiquing cream in raw umber over the digi. Let dry and whipe back till it has a nice aged look.

Write the senti using a white glass paint marker

some canvasses

I made some more canvasses like the Eiffel ower one of this post here

Products used:
Deco Art Americana acrylics in :Driftwood, Traditional Burnt Umber, Antique White, Sea Breeze. Electric Pink Deco Art Americana Matte Varnish, Deco Art Dazzling Metallics in Renaissance Brown. Deco Art Media Gesso, Deco Art Media Crackle Glaze, Deco Art Media Matte Medium, Deco Art Media Antiquing Cream in Raw Umber, Deco Art Americana Decor Stencil Distressed Harlequin,
Stamps used: Andy Skinner Industrial set by Stampendous and The French Market Clear stamps set by Tim Holtz. Prima Marketing Built a frame clearstamp set 2, Ranger Archival Jet Black Inkpad and  Walnut Stain Distress Ink by Tim Holtz.
Lace, charms, old dictionary page, piece cardboard and a canvas. Derwent Inktense pencils.

Thought it was fun to have a series of these, and since the canvas of the other blogpost is for a special friend I thought to make a new Eiffel tower canvas to, how I made it is described here

a bit closer look

Eiffel tower canvas

I have been working on this canvas and have been doubting about adding the ribbon or not, so I kept changing it and finally decided it still needs the ribbon :-) So here it is (after takingthe lace of, and putting it on again) the final piece :-)

Products used:
Deco Art Americana acrylics in :Driftwood, Traditional Burnt Umber, Antique White, Sea Breeze. Deco Art Americana Matte Varnish, Deco Art Dazzling Metallics in Renaissance Brown. Deco Art Media Gesso, Deco Art Media Crackle Glaze, Deco Art Media Matte Medium, Deco Art Media Antiquing Cream in Raw Umber, Deco Art Americana Decor Stencil Distressed Harlequin,
Stamps used: Andy Skinner Industrial set by Stampendous and The French Market Clear stamps set by Tim Holtz. Prima Marketing Built a frame clearstamp set 2, Ranger Archival Jet Black Inkpad and  Walnut Stain Distress Ink by Tim Holtz.
Lace, Eiffel tower Charm, old dictionary page, piece cardboard and a canvas. Derwent Inktense pencils.

The page came from my  Dutch to French dictionary I used in school, the paper was allready yellowed but I thought it needed some more aging. To make sure the paper would not bleed when using stamps, I added a few layers of Matte varnish. Stamped the corners and coloured the stamps with inktense pencils.

Added the sea breez acrylic in the middle of the page and stamped the Eiffel tower.

Added some more matte Varnish to protect the stamping and colouring and when dry I added the Crackle glaze.

When Crackle glaze is dry rubb antiquing cream in the crackles and over the page, whipe back again when dry till you like the result and protect with matte varnish.

Gesso the canvas and the piece of carboard (I gesso both sides of the cardboard so it won't warp)

Paint the canvas Antique Linnen and let dry, make a wash of Traditional burnt umber and  water and age the canvas using a kitchen towel.

Paint the cardboard in Sea breeze and Driftwood using a sponge. When paint is dry use the French Market clearstamp set to create the back ground. Next use the Industrial stamps by Stampendous to age the background and give it the same wash as the dictionary page.
Use Matte Varnish to protect it

Use the distressed Harlquin stencil on the canvas using the Deco Art Dazzling Metallic in Renaissance Brown, and  add some on the edges of the page and the charm.

Distress the edges of the carboard using a small paint brush and traditional burnt umber paint .

age the lace and make a bow. add the charm to the bow .

Glue all parts togehter, I usse matte medium to glue the page to the card board.

Sit back and relax (oh....no ... first clean paint brushes and stencils lol, Stencil and paint brush cleaner will make it easier tho)


I will enter the following challenges

http://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.nl/2016/07/happy-holidays-5th-july.html

http://pinspirationalchallenges.blogspot.nl/2016/07/pinspirational-challenge-169.html

http://welove2create.blogspot.nl/2016/07/challenge-14-anything-creativemixed.html

Time waits for no man

Hi all,  back again from my vacation in USA and I had a great time, meeting friends and seeing so many beautiful things. I did miss my craftroom a bit tho,  life has been a bit busy last week an a half since I've been back, plus a nice jet lag to deal with the first few days. I did want to enter Andy Skinners Time challenge so started yesterday evening on a last minute project. It was kind of a struggle cuz things never work the way you imagined them, but made it on time :-)


Ok here the products used, all Deco Art ofcourse, I love there paints and mediums :-)

Americana Matte Varnish, Americana Acrylic paint in Lamp Black and True Red. Americana Decou-page matte, Deco Art Media Carckle paste, Deco Art Media Texture Sand and Gesso, Deco Art Media fluid acrylics in Quinacridone Gold (love the paint, hate the name, breaks my tongue lol), Cobalt Teal Hue, Carbon Blac, Burnt Umber.  Deco Art Media antiguing cream in carbon black.  Americana Weathered Wood.

I found the hourglass last Friday in a shop called Hema  (Dutch shop that sometimes has real cool stuff) it was on sale for 1 euro :-)   but ofcourse brand new and shiny. Fixed that..., using a mix of Decoupage and burnt umber acrrylic fluid and a bit water, used soe quin gold for accents, I think it turned out great, was an experiment LOL, any way it started out like this

and now I altered it into this ;-)

The skulls are palstic beads and I put them on the sticks (the ones you use for plants in the garden if they need support no idea what they are called) and gessoed them and rusted them.

The circle parts they are attached too are made of a cardboard box, just cut out a circle shape and some cardstock circles to do the painting and stamping on the cover the cardboard

They are duble sided ofcourse because both sides are visable and because you have to turn the hourglass, the bottom part needs to be the same as the top :-)

I used weathered wood and crarckle paste to get the aged effect . the All Seeing Eye (my fave stamp of the Curiosity set) was stamped using Archival jet black ink , the other side is a clear stamp of a clock, no idea what brand it is.

The glueing everything togehter was a bit hard but it worked :-)  I like the result anyway.

I will enter this in the following challenges:

http://andyskinnerorg.blogspot.nl/2016/05/time-challenge.html

http://leftofcenterchallenges.blogspot.nl/2016/06/challenge-135-tic-tac-toe-and-two.html I went LOC