Wednesday 28 March 2018

Gift Wrap & Tag Lesley Styley

Hey everyone....hope you're all well!
So.......the twins came home with a last minute party invite .......Now, i always have presents stashed away.....but i had run out of gift wrap. Not a problem, i thought......I'll just make some!


I took a large piece of good old brown parcel paper, and a selection of paints in bright colours. 
I used a stencil from my stash and randomly placed it over the sheet. 
I then took one of the plywood primitive heart shapes and used it to stamp randomly over the sheet. 


I then added another layer of stamping, then to finish i flicked drops of ink over the entire sheet. Obviously a present needs a tag and handily enough......the shop now does them! Yahoo!



The tag was treated with the same colours as the paper......in addition i added a couple of the plywood hearts and "with love" create your own words. 


And course.......not forgetting to decorate the back of the tag!!


Hairy string was used to finish the pressie off. 
A simple idea.....but very effective! Of course any shape from the shop can be used to stamp onto the brown paper.........an easy, cheap and oh so very different way to make one of a kind gift wrap!
The present was well received by the twins friend.....who didn't want to open it as it looked to pretty!

Thanks for reading
L.x

Ingredients used

Sunday 25 March 2018

Persephone's White Rabbit, Springtime Tag - by Julie Ann

Where I live it seems that each time Spring makes a few tentative steps to escape the Winter, he comes roaring along to put a stop to her efforts! I hope that by the time this tag can be viewed, after all the false starts, spring will truly be making her presence felt where you are!



I decided to have a go at hastening Spring on her way by creating a tag with a difference! I love the different shapes, styles and sizes of MDF tags Helen has recently added to the Calico shop. I couldn't wait to create this tag for Easter/springtime and as you can see I went to town with lots of cheery spring imagery including an Easter Bunny!



It seemed a fun idea to combine one of the new tags with some doll parts to create my own Persephone. When we move Persephone's arms we can see where all that sweet singing is coming from - a tissue napkin bird singing his heart out against the blue skies.



The inspiration for Persephone's white rabbit came from a scrap of Chiyogami paper featuring a little white rabbit. I thought he would be perfect for Persephone's bonnet, which reminds me of the top of an egg.



Working on the tag itself was lots of fun. I built up layers using mark making, stencils, stamping and craft tissue.



Can you just spot the blue sky through arches in the top corner?



Here is Persephone under construction. She isn't yet cradling her white rabbit, but she has gathered some beautiful daffodils.



I used my Dremel to pierce holes in the tag and fixed the doll's arms with little brass effect brads.



Persephone's head is fixed after I've threaded some blue and white twine through the hole in the tag. She could be part of an imaginatively wrapped Spring or Easter gift or used as a hanging on Easter branches surrounded by downy chicks and mini painted eggs. Her Spring bonnet is embellished with a scrap of Dresden trim and a golden sequin.



May the sun shine on you this week and may you be surrounded by blossoms and birdsong as you create.
Calico Craft Parts Used
MDF Classic Tag 125 mm x 62 mm
Standard Jointed Art Doll Kit Style 1 - Medium
Daffodils MDF Wood Corner Embellishment style 22
Wild Flowers Patch Border
Sheet of Mini Rabbits

Thursday 22 March 2018

Lace and Ribbon Holder by Jennie



Hello ! and welcome to another really useful project! It will not have escaped your notice that we have some wonderful new boxes here at Calico Craft Parts. The ATC and Tag Display Boxes are I am sure going to be very popular and Claudia shared her wonderful ATC project with us the other day.

However, my mind went down a completely different route and I thought lace and ribbon holder! And so here it is - a different take on the ATC Display Box!


The kit is very easy to put together and after I found these gorgeous papers the other day decided to cover mine with the paper rather than mixed media products.


I painted the inside with chalk paint but before glueing it all together I traced around the ends and the back so that I had my papers already cut out for glueing later rather than having to size them on the completed project.


Everything glued together and remembering to add the little ribbon spool !


Before adding the papers I blended a little vintage brown ink around the edges to age it.


No matter how well you trace and cut there will always be a little edge of paper, so rather than cutting this off I normally sand it down and then blend more ink around the edges.


The empty box with the addition of an appropriate word element .....


..... and one of the new beautiful little tags which nicely covers up where I had to join the papers!


The lace and ribbon cards were die cut using a fancy edged die. I cut them first in light board before covering them with the paper to make them nice and sturdy.


This little bottle makes a lovely container for some small pearl buttons.


I hope this gives you some ideas for using this wonderful little kit - I am sure there will be others !

Thank you for joining me today.

Jennie x

Live The Dream

Calico Craft Parts Used

Monday 19 March 2018

Set the Stage for your Tags and ATCs! - by Claudia

Hi, servus and welcome to the Calico Craft Parts Blog today!
Claudia here to bring you a new project for your inspiration.

I have recently re-recovered my love for small formats - especially ATCs. Actually I don't know why I had almost forgotten how much I love this special tiny format - you can do so much on them (like on this ATC HERE or this ATC set HERE) and for me they totally stand up to a canvas or any other larger format! So I was very excited when I found that Helen had added some awesome ATC storage and display boxes to the store!

I immediately knew I had to alter one of these, so I would finally have a proper ATC storage and display stand for my studio desk!




But of course I have to show you the empty storage box ('cos this isn't about the ATCs I've made) , so you can see how it works. There's a larger compartment in the back for storing ATC and tag blanks and a thinner one in the front for displaying up to 3 ATCs side by side. These are held in place by a thin bar, that divides the two compartments at the same time. There are display kits for only one, two or three ATCs in the store! Just click HERE to check them out.



Calico Craft Parts used:

- Birch Ply & MDF ATC/Tag Display Boxes



I would like to encourage you to pick your very own colours (and/or style) for your display box so it matches the colours and styles of your ATCs and tags. Maybe browse your tags and ATCs to find out which are the colours and patterns you use most. 

It isn't that important to make the display visually match your ATC and tag art, because once the ATCs and tags are put into the box, they will cover up most of the design of the box anyway, but the outsides and some areas from the inside still will be visible (the more the less you put into the display box) and you don't want to have the "wrong colours" from the box make your little works of art look misplaced or contrast them in a disturbing way.





These are the pieces of the display box...


...and I have started altering mine by applying a thin coat of DecoArt Chalky Finish Paint "rustic" to both sides of each piece. As the paint dries really fast, there's almost no drying time. So this was done really quick (using a soft wide flat brush). 


Then I picked the DecoArt Americana "Classic Quatrefoil" stencil and Cobalt Teal Hue Americana premium paint for my next layer. I placed the stencil onto the MDF pieces, then I brushed the acrylic paint onto a piece of cardstock. After that I quickly placed the painted cardstock upside down on top of the stencil and rubbed with my hand (like I would do using a gel printing plate. Only that part of the paint gets transferred to the MDF this time and not the other way round).  


After I had covered the inner sides of the box pieces this way, I brushed more DecoArt Americana premium paints (first Diarylide Yellow and after that Titan Buff) onto cardstock using a flat bristle brush. This time I placed the painted cardstock directly onto the MDF pieces and rubbed to transfer the paint. If you use a worn bristle brush you will get lovely streaks from the brushed on paints being  transferred to your piece! This effect can be created especially well with the DecoArt Americana premium paints as they are quite smooth and liquid - so the brush strokes on the paper keep their texture from the different lengths of the brush's bristles. 


Build up more layers as you go. I added Vermillion Hue premium paint to my layers mix. Some of the paints I brushed onto still wet left over paint from the previous layer - so I got even more colours as they mixed directly on the cardstock (for example the Diarylide Yellow on top of Cobalt Teal Hue - which gave a beautiful green). The slight transparency of the premium paints add to this look beautifully! 

I also made sure I moved my painted cardboard sheets each time I added a new layer, so I got different directions of the scratchy pattern from the brush strokes on my pieces. 


Next I took a fine tip palette knife and scraped on some premium Titan Buff here and there.


As I also wanted to make my display box match this tag sample box HERE, I added Americana Chalky Finish paints "treasure" and "heritage" with the palette knife too. 


The final layer of paint was added by sprinkling on some Diarylide Yellow premium paint with a splatter brush. 


Time to add some texture by stamping in black archival ink. I went for some circles and a bit of text - but only partially stamped on the images for a worn look. 


Then I was ready to assemble the display box! Matte DecoArt Decou-Page (as always) did the job perfectly (I love the short drying time!). 


I needed to slightly sand the ends of the thin bar (that holds the ATCs in place) so I could insert it into the openings in the sides (as I had painted over the ends so they got a bit too thick). 

I thought that the painted box was a bit too "noisy" for my liking, so I created a glaze by mixing DecoArt Americana premium Gloss Medium with some drops of DecoArt media fluid acrylic Raw Umber to tone down the outside of the box. 


Here's the inside of the box - still untreated so you can see the difference: 


I thinned the glaze with water to just slightly tone down the inside as well. 



Et voilá!

From the side...






...and from the back:


And some detail shots of course:










I hope you like my ATC display box and I can't wait to see your designs on this kit - and of course also the other fab display box kits from Calico Craft Parts!

Hugs and happy crafting!
Claudia
xxx