Stamping with Gesso

This afternoon I thought I'd have a little play with gesso on some left over die cut shapes.  I spread some white gesso on the carinkin with an old credit card, not to thick and not worrying to much about it being perfectly smooth, and left if to dry al little bit, probably only for 10min as I'm impatient!

I then spritzed some stamps with water before pressing them into the gesso, the water means the stamps release from the gesso easier (or at least thats the idea!).  For the square piece of card I spritzed it with water with some perfect pearls mixed in but this didn't really show as the stamp lifts off the gesso rather than leaving ink behind.

The oval piece looks ok but I think to square one has a bit too much gesso or I should have left if a bit longer as the stamping came out a bit splodgy.

I then tried stamping on the plain part of the oval card with the gesso which I am really pleased with, to do it I just smooshed some gesso on my craft sheet (using the trusty credit card) and then 'inked' the stamp from this. I haven't had time to try inking over all of this but will report back when I do.

Wallace & Gromit Birthday Card

Made this straight forward card and thought it could use a little something else.

As luck would have it, our tin opener broke yesterday so I quickly took it apart and pinched the workings to try and replicate them with my Melting Pot.  I am just waiting for utee the melt properly, I really don't think my Melting Pot gets hot enough!  Here are my makeshift playdoh moulds ready to go.

When I poured the utee in it didn't run into the edges so have made another mould that is deeper. 

As you can see it still didn't really work, I think this is down to the utee being coloured with normal embossing powder making it too think.

Toddler Dress

This is my first go at sewing a garment and using a sewing machine, I was helped a huge amount by my Mom so I can't really take all the credit.  Also I got so excited at the prospect of sewing that I forgot go take pictures as we went along, but I just had to blog it anyway!

We found the pattern first then chose some yellow gingham to make the dress with.  We worked using my Great Grans sewing machine, which looks very retro cool, but only does straight stitch.

I learnt what all the markings on the pattern mean, about cutting fabric, tacking, taylors tacks, gathering, doing hems, adding elastic and just practiced actually using my machine.  Its a whole new world to me!

Here is the finished dress.

Here are the matching panties, that I need to check for size then finish off (on my own!).

Butterfly Card

Having been asked to make a 70th birthday card I decided on a butterfly theme.  There is a pink A5 card base, with turquoise polka dot paper layered with a strip of pink paper embossed with the daisy Cuttlebug folder.  A die from the Spellbinder Damask Motif set was used to cut out four shapes in the pink paper, these were layered at the top and bottom of the pink strip.  The join is hidden by some lace.  A butterfly design pyriamage from Hunkydory is placed on the top of all of this with a die cut butterfly in one corner and a die cut sentiment printed from computer and coloured with promarkers.  

The insert was designed and printed from Serif Craftartist.

Coloured & Embossed Card

For our craft club home work we were given a white piece of card that had been run through an embossing folder and told to use it in making a card.  I coloured the embossed piece of card with promarkers for a sort of faux letterpress look.  

Also using promarkers I coloured a Holly Hobbie stamp and cut it out with a scalloped oval die, and inked the edges using the die as a stencil.

Three different floral papers were cut to size stuck on a 6x6 kraft card blank and stitching drawn around the edges.

The three embellishments in the bottom right corner are made using the Melting Pot, small cookie cutters were placed over patterned paper and clear utee was poured into the cutter.  I think I poured a bit too much in as its quite thick, also as the utee had been in the Melting Pot for quite a while it has yellowed.

I think I poured a bit too much in as its quite thick, also as the utee had been in the Melting Pot for quite a while it has yellowed.

Just a quick tip for the Melting Pot (or maybe its only me that's daft enough to have this problem), don't pour all your left over utee into a tall cookie cutter, because its really hard to get out once it cools down!

Sepia colouring with Promarkers

I am quite new to Promarkers and this is my first attempt at a sepia image.  The stamp is a Holly Hobbie character I got free with the Card Making & Papercraft magazine. Its not great and I'm more than happy if anyone wants to leave some pointers in the comments.

S

I used the Flexmarker Skin Tones Set 1 and the Coral Promarker.  I did struggle using the Skin Tones as they are all so pale I found it difficult to get any shading, hence using the Coral Promarker as well.  Although I'm not sure the Coral worked particularly well.  

I will keep on trying!

Heating & Colouring UTEE

What with all this sunshine I haven't had chance to do much crafting (too busy in paddling pools and sand pits), but I can report back on some experimentation I've done.

Firstly, colouring.  I wanted to try using acrylic paint to colour clear utee in the Melting Pot.  When I added it the mixture did bubble a bit and maybe I didn't leave it quite long enough as when I poured it out there were some air bubbles.  Colourwise, I added a teal kind of green paint but the utee went a darker forest green and didn't dissolve into the utee leaving a mottled/grainy look.  However with it being green it gave the finished product a Jade look which I quite liked.  I will try other colours to see if they have the same effect (I did take another colour to craft club with me but it had solidified in the tube!). I will up load some pictures in a little white.

Green acrylic paint and the coloured utee.

Jade effect rose.

You can see all the bubbles in the mixture.

One thing I've been having issues with is when pouring out the utee is it seems to cool too quickly and come out 'stringy' rather than in a nice gloopy puddle, but as I was using my Melting Pot at craft club I got distracted (gossiping!) and left it melting much longer than I normally would and the utee poured out much better than it has done before, so I think maybe I've just been too impatient.

Tea Time

It's Thursday, which means Craft Club, which means homework.  This weeks theme was Tea Time.  I must confess that this week I've been playing with my Melting Pot a lot! So I put this card together this afternoon. 

It's patterned background and large topper are from a Hunkydory die-cut sheet.  The background is layered on to silver mirrorboard and then on to the main A5 card body.  A scalloped oval was cut from vellum using a spellbinder die and inked with Victorian Velvelt Distress Ink.  A teapot motif is stamped and heat embossed in white on the oval, with two card heart buttons that have been glossed with clear embossing powder hiding the glue and silicone thats attaching the vellum.

Will be experimenting with my beloved Melt Pot tonight so will report back.

Colouring utee with embossing powder...or not

This afternoon I thought I'd try again at colouring clear utee with normal embossing powder. Last time I tried it the mixture went too thick and gloopy to pour out properly. This time I used metallic powders, bronze and gold, which seemed finer. The mixture didn't thicken too much but the powder didn't dissolve properly leaving the utee with a mottled look.  I will continue testing different makes/colours of powder, so far I have tried bronze and gold by Heat it Up and sunlight yellow by Hampton Art Stamps.

Here is the colour I ended up with.

Vintage Pendant with UTEE/Melting Pot

Here is my first attempt a piece of jewellery using the Melting Pot.  Below you can see the bronze effect pendant blanks I started with, these were less than £2 from ebay for five.  

Other items I used are some glass beads, some patterned paper and a cheap multi pack of earings (I also plan to use these to make some playdoh moulds).  The penny, I used to draw around so the paper would fit in the pendant blank. The pliers are to remove the backs of the earings so that they sit flat.

Once I'd gathered all my bits it was just a case of sticking the paper in place and using a tiny bit of glue to hold the beads, pearl and flower in place. Once the clear utee had melted in the melting pot I poured it on to the pendant trying to get it into all the nooks and crannies.

To be honest it looked a bit rubbish at first, the corners hadn't filled up and there were whispy bits all over the rose and pearl. But then I remembered my heat gun, a quick zap with that remelted the utee and the "air"  from the heat gun sort of let me direct where the utee went.  I am really quite chuffed with the end result and just need to pinch a jump ring from somewhere to put it on a chain and wear it! Will be desperate for someone to comment on it so I can say, I made it!