"Funky" Craft Apron

Hi Everyone, today I am sharing with you this lovely craft apron that I was working on. I have decided to enter it into the Paper Artsy "Wearable art challenge" that can be found on the PaperArtsy blog


I thought that wearing a plain apron to craft shows wasn't as much fun, so being inspired by some of the gorgeous wearable art that I have been seeing, I decided that a new  "funky" apron was needed for shows and demo days.
 

 

 



I am extremely lucky that I can come along and work in my all time favourite craft shop, on a voluntary basis, and the extra bonus is that they specialise in the gorgeous "Paper Artsy" products.



My apron is painted solely in Paper Artsy "Fresco chalk" paints. I love, love, love these little bottles of paints. So versatile and 72 plus beautiful colours in Opaque, Semi Opaque and Translucent.



I started with a blank apron, then mixed some textile medium into the Fresco paints, following the instructions on the textile medium bottle for appropriate quantities. I then applied these paints, using an old credit card to scrape the paints over the fabric, adding layer upon layer, heat drying each layer as I went.
After reaching the desired background I  hand drew the Sun/Moon and stars, the paint pallet and brushes and the owl. The fun really started when it was time to paint all my sketched work using the Fresco chalk paints. Next was time for some stamping and again I went for Paper Artsy stamps, I love the crispness and clarity of these stamps. I stamped on some flowers and leaves, again colouring these in with Fresco paints, colours of my choice.

Flowers - Jofy stamp set Jofy 14

 

Leaves - Dylusion's stamp set "Further Around The Edge DYR-34421

For a finishing touch, using my Rangers Archival Ink, I stamped some script, circles and other shapes randomly on my apron. Stamps used on the apron were: Flowers - Jofy stamp set Jofy 14, Leaves - Dylusion's stamp set "Further Around The Edge DYR-34421, Script - Paper Artsy Minis MN26, Circles - Paper Artsy MinisMN56, Wire shape from the Jofy set Jofy 12, and the Diamond and Chevron shapes from Paper Artsy's Eclectica stamp set EEV07.

After I was completely satisfied with my apron, I decided that it needed some hand writing, to show some of the different types of products that can be bought from my favourite craft store "The Crafters Cupboard" in Berwick. Here is a link to this store. http://www.crafterscupboard.com.au/



For further inspirations of wearable art, then please visit the link below.
https://www.pinterest.com/leandrafranich/blog18-wearable-art/

Hello fellow crafters, today I would love to share with you this cute little gift box. This would make an ideal name place on your festive table, especially when it has some hidden treasures in it for your dinner guests.

I started of with an A4 piece of card stock and drew up the outline of the box, then  cut,  score and fold your little box as per the following instructions and proceeded to decorate.

I then cut out two rectangular pieces of card slightly smaller than the large rectangles of the box. With these I first applied a layer of "Paper Artsy Snow white Fresco chalk paint" then I sprayed both pieces of card with Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains using the following colours. After this was dry I distressed the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink pad "Black Soot"

With some scrap cardstock and using some more lovely Paper Artsy Fresco paints, I stippled on a mixture of  Guacamole and Cheesecake, let these dry then dry stippled on some Cherry red
I then stamped the on the stippled paper using the new Hot Picks stamp set HPXM06EZ. I cut out this stamped piece using one of my Spell Binder dies. 


 

 

To personalize my little box I printed out a computer generated  name, using stippled card stock, then cut this out again using one of my Spell Binder dies and mounted it on a piece of black card stock in the same shape as the name tag.

 

 Using the  Eclectica stamp set ELB10 I stamped out a bauble and the holly branch, coloured them using some Faber Castell Pitt pens from my own stash. One the sides of my little box I stamped out the little Christmas tree from the Eclectica stamp set ELB10.

Using a hole punch I punched 8 holes in the marked area (use your template for this.)

I then assembled all the pieces together, added a little piece of Christmas ribbon from my own stash. I also went over different bits of my embellishments with Kindy glitz to add some sparkle.

 It is now time to join the side and the bottom of the little box. I used the extra strong red tape for this but you can use liquid glue if you choose.


I carefully pinched in the sides of the box at the top to form a partial valley fold, threaded some ribbon through the holes, then tied in a bow.

Now for the lovely pleasure of making another 18 little boxes to use on our Christmas table. I am going to fill my boxes with some Christmas candies.

I hope you enjoy making this little gift box. It is also an ideal project for your children / grandchildren  get involved in.

Happy Crafting
Cheers
Anne






Products used from Crafters Cupboard were:
Paper Artsy Fresco Paints
Hot Picks stamp set HPXM06EZ
Eclectica stamp set ELB10
Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains


Crafters Cupboard web link is  www.crafterscupboard.com.au/   

Hello fellow crafters, it's Anne again with another fun project to try.

Today I would love to share with you a little note book that I have made. This charming little book is an ideal gift for a special someone, or a little note book for yourself. For all products please visit

www.crafterscupboard.com.au/   

I started off with a piece of very heavy card (from my own stash), measuring 11 1/4" (28.5cm) x 7 1/2" (19cm.) Then using my score pal, I scored the card at 5 1/4"(13.4cm) and again at 3/4"(2cm) creating a cover for my notebook.  For reinforcement of the spine, I added a strip of masking tape to the spine area. I then covered both inside and outside of the cover with gesso.

After the gesso was dry, I  had a marvellous time spraying the inside of the cover with "Rangers Distress Spray Stains" in various colours. After letting this dry, it was then time to have fun with these wonderful spray on the outside of the cover. When all was dry, I then sealed the whole cover with a spray of "Helmar Crystal Kote" fixative.

 

 

 

Time for the fun part and decorating the front cover. I stamped an image on the front cover using the Jofy stamp set JOFY24, then coloured the image using Silks Acrylic Glaze Paints. Added a metal charm from Prima's - Finnabair Mechanicals metal findings - 961181 and coloured the charm with Treasure Gold

 

              

 

 

 

 

I then stamped a quote on the back cover using the Squiggley Ink stamps set Bricks and Mortar 2 SIBM2

For the inside of the book, I made the pages by cutting 12 sheets of A4 - 300GSM paper down to 10" x 7".  I folded these in half, giving me 24 pages that measured 7" high by 5" wide. At the fold of every page I made pin prick holes at 1", 2", 3", 4", 5", and 6". I then sewed two pages at a time using "Bead Thread" (from my own stash), until I had 6 sets of pages. With these, I joined three lots of the pages together by stitching them. I found it easier to connect the sewn pages to a strip a thick card measuring 6" long by 3/4" wide. This made a good base to connect the pages to the spine of the book.

 

  

 

 

Using some waxed leather thread, I then resewed the pages to the book cover, using the leather thread as a decretive addition to my book spine. you can then add some beads, ribbon and charms to the back of the spine for added decoration.

 

 

 I also highlighted some parts of the stamp work using a white Sharpe pen to make little bits of it "Pop"

 

 

Total making time:- Approximately 6 hours.


Products used were:

               Ranger Distress Spray Stains:- Antique Bronze, Black Soot, Seedless Preserve, Wild

               Honey, Faded Jeans, Picked Raspberry and Brushed Pewter.

               PaperArtsy stamps - Jofy Stamp set JOFY 24

                                              - Squiggley Ink stamps set Bricks and Mortar 2 SIBM2

               Silks Acrylic Glaze Paints - Emerald, Ginger Peach, Yellow Rose, Sky Blue, Pixie Pink,

               Raspberry Wine and Snap Dragon.

               Sharpie Pen - Fine White

               Treasure Gold - Royal Amethyst and Rose Quartz

               Bead Thread for sewing

               Charms, beads and ribbon from my own stash

               Prima's - Finnabair Mechanicals metal findings - 961181

Excluding products from my own stash, all other products can be purchased at www.crafterscupboard.com.au/ 






I hope that you all have as much fun making this little book as I did.


Until next time, Cheers for now.
Anne

Birthday card for a friend

Hi all, and welcome back.
Today I would like to share with you a birthday card that I have made for a friends birthday back in July. (Last card is still on holiday somewhere)


I started the card with a piece of 12" x 6" teal blue Bazzill card stock. Folded this in half to make a 6"x6" card.

I then cut a piece of dusty blue card stock 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" distressed the edges using a distressing tool. When I was happy with the amount of distressing I then distressed the edges using some Rangers Stormy Sky distress ink.

From my Tim Holtz stash I then cut a piece of triangular print paper to fit over the dusty blue cardstock. I again distressed the edges with both the distressing tool and the Stormy Sky distress in

I machine sewed the print paper to the dusty blue cardstock.


For the words I printed them of on my computer, cut them into single words, distressed the edges and used mounting foam to adhere them to the print paper.

Once this was done I stuck the top layers of card to the teal blue card.
I then added some black "Bling" swirls to the card, and added some paper flowers and small beads through the flowers.

I am quite happy with the end result and knowing that my friend loves the distressed look, I am sure she will love it.

 

Hi all, welcome, this is my first post as a member of the design team for the Crafters Cupboard.

Today I would love to share with you an "Art Journal" book that I have made for myself using a blank cover that I had in my stash.

I started of by covering the whole cover in gesso.

 

 

From there I applied some Paper Artsy grunge paste through various stencils which were TCW287s (Mini /burst), TCW436s (Mini Skyline), TCW467s (Mini Love, Live, Laugh) and THS018 Doily  from the Tim Holtz collection. I also used some other stencils from my stash for two of the words on the front cover (the Journey) and two words on the back cover (travel journey)

Stencils front cover TCW467s. Spine THS018

Stencils back cover TCW 287s & TCW436s

After  adding the stencilling I then applied a light covering of Paper Artsy Fresco Paint "Stone" then I applied some "Very Berry." I then decided that it need a bit more, so using a stipple brush I applied a liberal coat of  "Stone, Very Berry and Claret" until I was happy with the overall effect.

After heat drying I then used Rangers Distress Ink "Black Soot" to  distress all the edges. I also used one of my favourite mediums which is "Treasure Gold" using the colours "White Fire and Spanish Topaz" to highlight all the stencilling and edges. When I was happy with the effects of the distressing and application of treasure gold, I added some stamping. I used the stamp set "Hot Picks HP1301EZ" from Paper Artsy.

From there I distressed the inside of the cover with "Black Soot" distress ink.

When I was happy with that, I added a bow to the front cover using some matching coloured ribbon from my own stash.



I cut out some printed paper from my Paper Artsy paper collection "Thordon Hall." I  then applied a light covering of "Victorian Velvet" distress ink, scrunched the paper a little to age it, and again lightly applied some "Black Soot" distress ink to highlight all the creases in the paper. I also re applied the "Black Soot" distress ink to all the edges. I heat dried the distress ink before I applied some more Treasure Gold to the edges.



Inside cover

I re-stamped the butterfly using the same stamp on the front cover, cut it out and coloured it in using the same colour paints used for painting the cover.After all of this was done I attached my butterfly over the butterfly stamp on the front cover using pop dots to give a 3 dimensional look.

 

 

I then cut out a bundle of 190gsm paper to make into the pages for my mini art journal.

I hope that you enjoy this "Mini Art journal" as much as I  have in making it. I'd love to see any creations you make using this great idea for creating n Art Journal Cover.



Until next time,
Cheers,


 Anne















Welcome

Hi all, and welcome to my new blog site. I am very excited to be able to finally get a blog up and running (I hope). It is now late on this cold Tuesday night but who cares when we have lovely crafting to do.

As a trial run I am going to share with you a book that I made for my wonderful husband for our Anniversary. I had heaps of fun making this know too well that I get to keep it in my craft room.

This is the front cover of my little book. The lace trim is a piece of spare lace that I had over from my wedding dress and the pearl jewel on the top is similar to the one that was attached to the neck of the dress.

This is one of the pages from the book. Inside the pocket is a little "Love" letter written to Neil in German.

Under the letter "N" is a fold out page which contains another envelope and in this envelope is another letter, this time I have written it in French. Got to keep the man thinking. LOL

This is the inside back page of my little book. There are 8 pages in total all with little pockets, and fold out pages.