Mechanical Blooms

"Bloom where you are Planted"

I think that the idea behind this saying is very fitting for our current time, the covid-19 situation has placed us all in uncharted territory on some level, be it working from home, not going outside or meeting the people you love. It's all so confusing, but the best we can do is keep positive and try to make the best with our time.
Like many artists and crafters I found that I have more time to experiment, play around with materials without really thinking or aiming for a specific outcome. The project I'm sharing today came about as I was experimenting with different techniques, I'll try to break it down a bit.

The background brick wall texture was made using a variation of the Distress Glazes & Crayons technique Tim Holtz shared in his (now becoming regular - yay!) Saturday demo about two weeks ago that focused on Distress Crayons. I used it over Texture Paste applied through a brick stencil and I love the results! (I was asked to make a tutorial for this brick wall variation, you can find the video in my Facebook page here). I cut out the brick texture to the size I wanted and adhered it to my background, in the final stages I added a bit of moss 💚 

The flowers were actually inspired by a stamp image of a flower made from metal plates. If you follow me on social media you know I've been making paper flowers for a while (usually tiny ones), I thought why not try make a metal-paper flower? I used embossing folders for the petals and electric wire for the stem of two flowers, the third I just nailed down 😂

I'm still working on this idea, but for now - definitely like these whimsical blooms!

I wanted to add a message, but when I put down a sentiment strip it just didn't fit, it felt too detached from the quirk-celebration going on, so I decided to play with it :)
I cut the sentiment in gold letters and then cut a whole lot more letters in black and scattered the letters of the message between random black letters. The message is still readable, but you might need a moment to piece it together, so it becomes more a part of the background than a focal point. The black letters are barely visible at first, but it's surprising just how much these kind of details add to the final piece.

I'm not sure I covered everything, it's a small piece (20x15cm) but there's a LOT going on! If  missed something - feel free to ask! ^^

I'm entering this project in two challenge blogs: the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog that has a texture theme this week, and the Sandee & Amelie Steampunk Challenge Blog that extended their March challenge to give us all some more time to play :)

SASPC Blog

  

SSS Monday Challenge Blog

Hope you enjoyed this project, keep safe and keep that smile on your face :)

xx

Naama

Tale-ing Fragments #6: She Dreams + Varnished wood tutorial

"She dreams of faraway places and daring adventures.

Her eyes gleamed with the first step in the journey"

It's been a while since I made one of these fragmented story-collages, I had so much fun! Part of the fun in this particular project was the combination of using older technique-testers and the accidental discovery of a new technique - a yummy varnished wood look! (tutorial below).

What started me going was a Steampunk theme challenge in two blogs, the SanDee&amelie's challenge blog and the Simon Says Stamp challenge blog that also had a Steampunk theme (I actually missed the deadline for the later, so will be entering this work to the Anything Goes theme challenge Simon has on their Weds challenge 😅).

Like many of us these days, I've been at home a LOT, and I used some of this time to play with craft supplies, so I wanted to incorporate some of my trials in this piece. The large mosaic-like image in the back was done with the distress crackle-paste + embossing glazes technique shown by Tim Holtz & Stacy Hutchinson a couple of weeks back. The nautilus piece below is from playing with alcohol ink lifting. I did not expect them to work well together, but it's always a great surprise when that happens. I then picked a paper doll and found her story in my mind - doesn't she look like she'd be a great adventurer? Not the flashy kind, a clever time-traveler that can go, observe, learn and come back without causing a mess.

Clearly she needed a Steampunk\time machine.
My association of Steampunk includes, beside the industrial grunge, also the slick decorative Victorian style design that had polished wood and glass elements beside the iron and steel. I was thinking of how to get that polished wood effect when my eye caught my Distress embossing glazes - would it work? It did! I was so excited with the results I had to share them and some kind fellow crafters asked me for a tutorial - challenge accepted! And embedded below, but first, a few more details of this lovely adventurer and her machine:

I love how the stained gear fits with the nautilus pattern, in some angles it almost disappears!

Now for the promised tutorial:



This is my first attempt at making a video tutorial, so I hope it's clear enough...
If you have any questions about the video or anything else in the project please feel free :)

If you're looking for more inspiration take a look at these wonderful challenge blogs, they always have amazing inspiration and treasures in the entries

SASPC

SSS Wednesday Challenge

  

For now, a shiny farewell

xx

Vintage-ing a LED Lantern

 Hi all ^^

This was a fun little project I thought I'd share, it only took me half a day or so (including waiting for paints to dry - so very quick!) and it's such a HUGE difference.

I got the lantern in Ikea, this is what it originally looked like:

Cute right? It's actually pretty nice for a piece of plastic, but I saw immediately that it had potential for so much more ;)

The first thing I did was cover all the black parts in Collage Medium, even though it's a glue it works great as a primer for sleek\non-porous surfaces. Then I started adding details to make the lantern look more authentic.

I removed the string from the top and replaced it with wire, then I drilled a hole at the top of each side-handle and added a long wire handle. I also wrapped a wire around the lamp part, which I connected at the bottom by drilling two small holes and inserting the edges. the wires are all a bit crooked, but hey - it's supposed to look vintage right? ;)

The last wire detail was a small lever that I inserted at the bottom part into another little hole I drilled. next to it I glued die cuts of numbers. I cut them from black cardstock to save on painting them, but really it can be any color.

On the other side I added a little knob. This is supposed to replicate the opening where they'd add oil, and it's was the hardest detail to find. I tried a lot of options and ended up using some rubber part I got from an old computer I took apart (I think it was meant to keep some parts in place, but not sure...). I think it looks pretty good, but it so funny when you touch it and realize it's rubber 😂

The lantern already looked pretty authentic once everything was glued, and I could just leave it in black, but I really wanted to rust it up ^^
I added Finnabair's metallic waxes to the black to create a metal base and then used her Rust Effect Paste trio - I LOVE this stuff! It took some layering and playing (and waiting), but finally I was happy with the rust illusion.

To finish it, I added some highlight with the waxes and a bit of patina with Tim Holtz's distress paints in blue and green. It was barley a drop of paint on the whole thing, but it's amazing what difference it makes!

I liked the results so much I decided to add it to the SanDee&amelie's March 2020 Steampunk Challenge, there are some seriously amazing works there so do check it out!

Hope you enjoyed this little project! Now excuse me while I go look for other things to 'rust-up' ;)

Have a great weekend and take care xx

Memories are Cracks in Time

Hi everyone, hope you've had a lovely weekend ^^

One of my favorite ways to try out new ideas and techniques is taking part in a craft challenge, there's just something about a theme thrown at you that gets the creative juices flowing. Simon Says Stamp have a couple of great challenge blogs, and in this week's Monday Challenge the theme is 'crack it up' - no way I'd skip that! YUM
It was one of those cases when one idea sparks the next, and I had a lot of fun experimenting and playing along.

The challenge title gave me several ideas for techniques and mediums I could use - from stencils to crackle paste - and I ended up combining most of them in the background. You can see the stenciling in two corners. The large 'crack' was done by stamping into the wet texture paste, then I added some crackle paste. I really like how the two pastes combined as they dried and the cracks appeared. I then added some color with sprays and some shading with markers.

For a focal image I immediately thought of this awesome broken pocket watch stamp by Visible Image. I decided to give it some dimension by stamping it a few times, then cutting out and layering pieces in different heights, I even glued some of them at an angle to give the feel of movement, as if the watch had burst from the inside out. To add texture and shine to the watch I selectively clear embossed some of the the base to create depth, and on the shards I brushed some Nuvo crystal drops for subtle shine and used the same drops to create a raised shiny border on the frame and metal ring. I added some Distress Mica Flacks here and there to emulate broken glass. I finished it with a couple of clock hands for Tim Holtz's Idea-ology.

The combination of the clock image and the challenge title brought the idea of memories as cracks in time. I really like it because a) it's sort of true and b) it gives an interesting twist to the often negative associations of 'crack'. I'll definitely come back to this idea in future projects, it really got the wheels turning, but for now - hope you like this little experiment!

Floral Pipelines

Hi Everyone! How is 2020 treating you so far?

I'm trying to keep up with my promise of posting more regularly this year, and though I'd share my latest project. It was a long while in the making, partly because I had to put it aside for a bit in favor of other more urgent projects, and partly because it took me a while to figure out exactly how to get the idea in my head out into the world hehe But here it is: the Floral Pipeline flower vase/canvas!

I owe the inspiration to my awesome neighbor, he has a gift of having plants in surprising places in his home, it's absolutely lovely and seeing it sparked the original 'what if a flower vase was a part of a painting?' thought, which led to the 'how?' and after much thinking and planning - voila! Painting\vase!

The idea was that the canvas would work just as well without flowers\plants (as any good vase should!), so I placed a flower image right at the top of the vase-tube that works as a backdrop for any flower or plant you'd put in it. I think it would look pretty with a draping vine of some kind, what do you think?
I built the background by combining Tim Holtz's Collage Papers and ephemera pieces with crackle paste and paints, and then added an industrial vibe with the pipes and tube.

The vase itself is a large glass tube that I wrapped with thick wire. The edges of the wire are attached to the canvas under the pipes. To keep it in place, I attached a large nut to the canvas, the hole is perfect to hold the rounded bottom of the tube.
I love these Pipeline dies (also by Tim Holtz) and thought that a water pipe theme would work great with a flower vase. The different pipe parts were cut out of chipboard for dimension and covered with gold embossing powder for a metallic finish. I love the imperfections in the finish 🖤

I added a bit of Seth Apter's Patina Baked Texture on some of the pipes for extra interest and Finnabair's rust pastes to add the effect in some places - I just love rust colors, in fact I like the so much I used them for some of the flowers as well! It's hard to see in the photos, but it also gave them a bit of extra texture :)

st

I really like this idea and will probably make more versions in the future, hope you'd be interested in seeing them 
I'm entering this piece in two chalenges: the SanDee&amelie's February Steampunk challenge and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. If you're not familiar, the SASPC blog has a monthly Steampunk themed challenge that always has amazing steampunk\industrial entries. Simon Says Stamp has a couple of challenge blogs, this week's theme on their Monday Challenge is Floral Frenzie. Both challenges have amazing entries every time, I always find them so inspiring! I definitely recommend checking them out ^^

As always - I'd love to hear what you think :)
xx

Re-emergence and Journaling

Hello again, it has been a while (ages, more like it…). I hadn’t planned for such a long break, but well – life happened, you know how it is… But here I am, stretching my creative mind\fingers again and hoping to share some of my ideas with you.

I usually don’t share things from my shop, but lately my mixed media experiments made their way there and I thought some of you might be interested in the process, so here we are!

Today I’m sharing my latest launch: journals.

They are basically altered notebooks and I just LOVE making them! There are endless possibilities and each one comes out completely different.

There’s Night Shimmer, that has a lot of texture and dimension and a dreamy quality thanks to the metallic gleam and sleepy moon.

The cat lover in me (oh, about 120%...) melts before this curious kitty, and I do love the colourful background, makes me think of the Cheshire Cat, even if it looks completely different from the familiar imagery.

The Golden Mandala journal has lovely texture and metallic sheen. Though it may not seem so, all the elements on the cover are paper, it’s amazing what die cutting and paint can do.

Vintage Rust is… well, rusty. I love the texture on this one, and the colours, there are so many layers I’m not sure I remember them all... It was so much fun making the little closure belt, it went through a LOT to get that used look... LOL

And finally – Faery Dance. I’m not a glitter girl, but a magic journal needs some glimmer, it’s the rules. The background texture was created with a mixture of glitter paste and paints, and I have to admit I really love the result. It subdues the glitter a bit, giving it a dreamy quality, but there’s still enough shine coming through and it catches the light beautifully, changing colour in different angles. I tried to catch it on camera a million times, but no luck… The leafy frame is a die cut and I like the fact that the shape can be understood as an opening in the greenery or a magical mirror showing the little fairies enjoying the night.

I used a whole selection of products: Distress Oxide inks, Finnabair waxes and molds, Nuvo pastes, dies from Tonic, Tim Holtz and Birch Press Design, some stamps from Visible Image and Hero Arts, among others. The list is quite long, but I’d be happy to give more details if you’d like.

One of my favorite things about making these journals is thinking how people would fill them: notes from lectures? Bullet journal? Art journal? Poems? Dreams? Recipes? Memories? 

I do love a pretty notebook. It gives a special air to whatever you write inside, even if some of it are shopping lists... ;)

Till next time 

xx

Tale-ing Fragments #4, Timan Chronicles 1: Brief Meetings Minutes, log entry 267

“there’s time”

he said

“if you so choose”

And vanished.

Do pictures whisper stories to you? They do to me. 

Usually it’s photographs, but this guy, oh – this guy has SO many stories. But he keeps them on the low, let’s out a sentence here, and image there. I’m not sure what it is, the way he does and does not look at you, the way he does and does not smile, the sketchy feel of the image, but I can’t stop staring at him (I have the wood-mounted stamp AND a stamped image I colored on my desk. We star at each other a lot). And every now and then – a whisper.

Expect to see him again.


The details on this one are a bit crazy.
I've taken it as an opportunity to try a whole bunch of new things and because it was in the working for a while kept adding more. And more. And MORE. I'm still not sure if I went overboard or not quite far enough, one thing is sure - I definitely had fun with it ;)

I've entered this work to the Simon Says Stamp 'Grunge it up' challenge on their Monday Challenge Blog. I'd just love to hear what people think :)
Too much? Not quite there? Somewhere in between?

Till next time *blink*