Saturday 30 June 2018

Gift idea - I'm 'Out of Order' - by Kerstin

Welcome friends!


 It's summertime! Time for vacations and wanderlust!
The yearning for a cool place for a little peace and relaxation is stronger than ever. 

 Not everyone can go to the sea and many of us make holidays in their gardens or on balconies. But when you spend your holidays at home, 
you don't always have the peace you want.  
People always want something - no problem if it's friends, 
but sometimes I'm simply OUT OF ORDER - especially when the last bits of patience have gone. 

That was my idea behind this project. It's a gift and you can use it as door hanger
 or as a mood barometer, so others know if it is safe to disturb ;-).




 some steps images that show how I did it




and suitable for my idea 
some beautiful things that make you think of sun, summer, beach and sea:


 

 more details


 I used a white crackle paste from Decoart for all the letters and words. I generously applied it with a palette knife to make the surface look like a foaming sea.


Some acrylic paints for the umbrella and a little bit texture with white paste for the chairs 


a color mix for sand toys and for a realistic feeling 
beach sand, deco sand and shells
Thanks for your visit!
Happy crafting!
Kerstin

Wednesday 27 June 2018

Sun, Sea and Fun by Jennie

Hello and welcome to a little bit of summer fun!


With the Scottish school summer holidays looming I thought I would make a little ATC to celebrate what I hope my grandchildren will enjoy over the next few weeks - Sun, Sea and Fun!


You can never have too many of these lovely blank ATCs and I love how they are so solid to work on. I have created a summery blue background and then crackled it with DecoArt Weathered Wood. To make it a little more rusty I have added Quinacrodine Gold around the edges. I had weathered beach huts in mind!


As soon as I saw this new Seahorse and Seashell Collage I just wanted to work with it. The medium size sits perfectly on the ATC.


I am not a great painter as some of the Calico Craft Parts DT are but I have watered down some of my chalk paints and basically "coloured in".  I added a very watery layer of Gesso first so the colour sits on top and the lovely detail is not lost.


Finally I added my summer sentiment with some of the Mini Copperplate letters.


A simple but effective ATC which brings some summer colour and fun to the craft room!

I hope your summer is filled with Sun, Sea and Fun too!

Happy crafting!

Jennie x


Calico Craft Parts used:


Monday 25 June 2018

Anchors Aweigh! - by Claudia

Hi and servus! I hope you are enjoying lovely summer holidays! I definitely am, spending a lot of time each day riding my beloved kayak across the lake. I love boats in general - especially ones I can row. My grandma taught me how to row a boat when I was about four - I still needed a bit of help of course back then, but I have been loving being on a lake rowing a boat ever since. It's something that calms me and makes me happy. 

The gorgeous MDF Boat & Oars Kit makes me happy too, as it is perfect to create a little keepsake or shrine with. I do not often get to the seaside, but I love the sandy shores, the gentle noise of the waves and the long walks along the beach, always in search of treasures like sea glass, shells or driftwood. 

I also love what's underneath the waves - the beautiful reefs with the amazing fish and corals and other fantastic creatures down there. I dream of making a sailboat trip to magic places one day...anchoring at peaceful bays...so my little boat shrine is to remind me of my dream. Maybe I will get to make it become reality one day. 





For my little seaside boat shrine I also used the following Calico Craft Parts:



I assembled the boat kit using matte DecoArt Decou-Page, which I also used to cover all the sides and edges of the assembled boat with cut to size designer papers. I simply used the boat's shape and sides as a mask and traced the according outlines with a pencil directly onto the designer papers. 


The coral and anchor were painted using DecoArt Americana acrylic paints. Once these had dried I loosely applied some DecoArt media Texture Sand Paste with my fingertip to the anchor.

The Texture Sand Paste becomes white once dry. In this case that was more than welcome, because this would make my paint washes pop from the dark blue background. I added washes of DecoArt media Quinacridone Gold and Yellow Oxide fluid acrylics until I was content with the look.



The anchor was fixed to the boat with thin wire. I inserted the wire through a hole on the top and formed a loop as a hanging device. The loop at the bottom holds the anchor.


The edges of the boat were darkened using a piece of blending foam and dark brown archival stamping ink.




The back was covered with designer paper too. 



I love the look of rust and barnacles on the anchor! 




Thanks for stopping by! 


Enjoy your summer holidays!
Claudia
xxx

Sunday 17 June 2018

Where's the Garden Twine? Tiny Spool House by Julie Ann.

Hello! It's lovely to be back at the Calico Craft Parts Blog, where today I'm sharing a miniature project with a practical purpose.I love summer days spent among the fragrant roses, philadelphus and geraniums in my garden, listening to the hum of the bees and the birdsong as I weed and dead-head. I like to use bright, colourful twine in the garden, so I decided to create a very distinctive spool that would ensure I could always lay my hand on it. Please meet Flora who always reminds me of the jobs that need to be done in the garden.



Like me, Flora is drawn to the window by the sounds of birdsong and the scents of the garden wafting in on the early morning breeze. She can sit for hours watching the grass blow, or the bees visiting their favourite blooms.



To make Flora's garden home, I glued together one of the mini Calico Craft Part Block style tall house kits and applied a coat of Gesso to an antique style spool. I like to leave the roof open, either for storage or for adding interesting bits and pieces inside.



The next step was to create Flora using pretty floral, Chiyogami papers and some of my own artwork.



Here she is after her edges have been filed and I've added some definition to her face using water-colour crayons and fine graphic pens. I've also drilled a tiny hole in the bottom of the house and threaded some copper wire through. This is for one of Flora's bees to hover and fly when the spool is moved.



I wanted my project to look as interesting from the back as the front, so I chose these Calico windows. The Chiyogami paper behind this one gives a lovely, warm glow. We can't see Flora through this window, but I expect she is inside flipping through seed catalogues in the lamplight.



The turquoise paintwork on Flora's windows has crackled a little with the years, but they still remind her of bluebells nodding in the spring-time breeze.



To create the bumble bee hovering among the swishing grasses, I sandwiched the end of the copper wire between two bees, liberally coated with crafting glue. Here you can see that I painted over the Gesso on the spool with some green acrylic paint and dry brushed with a touch of peacock blue.



What I really needed here was a video so that you could see how the bumble bee does his  'waggle dance' among the grasses.



Moss helped to create the impression of a garden around the house. Little white brads made great door handles. I took apart some of the Calico Craft Parts - the branch and the hive from the MDF sheet, some fern fronds, grasses and the songbirds on a branch - to create the impression I wanted. Although they are very delicate and detailed, the craft parts break cleanly and look very effective when they are secured down in different arrangements.



Thank you for stopping by today and meeting Flora, my garden helper. If you have some spools in your stash, why not give them an individual look with a Calico Mini House? Wishing you sunny days and refreshing rain in the weeks to come.

Calico Craft Parts Used in this Project
Block Style Tall House Kit, Mini
Window Style 16
Window Style 17
Sheet of MDF Bees and Beehives
Songbirds in Spring Branches
Wild Grass Wood Shape
Maidenhair Fern Wood Shape

Saturday 16 June 2018

Photo in a Jar - by Kerstin

Welcome!

I'm absolutely happy and proud, because I'm the newest teamie

on the amazing design team from Calico Craft Parts :-).


I'm a big fan of their MDF shapes, because they have an individual design with exquisite contours and shades which give them a very unique and personal touch.

Thanks so much to the team and Calico Craft Parts for your heartily and friendly welcome!

"A picture is worth more than a thousand words" - a well-known saying
that reflects me and my attitude towards life.
If something is unclear, you can always ask me and I will always try to help you.

Today I want to share with you an idea for a home decoration piece,
which is also perfect as gift for a beloved family member.

It's very simple and made quickly - you only have to pay attention to the size of the individual parts, so they fit through the narrow neck of the bottle. The easiest way is to work with tweezers.


 I used a transparent glass bottle and poured a lot of Baltic Sea sand into it. Then I cut a beach chair from a photo. The newest Seahorse & Seashell Collage (Size M) was so awesome for me, because I love seahorses in all types and sizes.

different side views






some details


 I didn't want to paint the Craft Parts at first, because I was afraid of destroying the fine contour lines.
That's why I decided to rather use Antiquing cream; a water based tinting medium from DecoArt in Titanium White, Patina Green and Raw Umber. For the seahorse I used a little bit orange water colour. Also in some places I glued on Decosand using Heavy Gel Medium.





 Calico Craft Parts MDF shapes used:

Thanks for your visit!
Enjoy your weekend!
Kerstin

Wednesday 13 June 2018

Home by Jennie

Hello and welcome to a quick little project using one of my favourite Calico Craft Parts pieces - bespoke wood words! 



A friend is returning home after spending some time travelling and rather than send a welcome home card I thought I would make her a little hanging.


I have been marvelling at some of the broken bird egg shells in the garden (following hatching!) which are a most beautiful blue and wanted to try and create something similar. So not quite a duck egg blue base but soft enough to show through the white crackle. I have used DecoArt Weathered Wood for the crackle and applied it thickly in places to get a more open crackle.


I have used the Coventry Garden Font for this four letter word. There are a good selection of sizes so you can always find one to fit your project. I have kept it simple and just painted it white.


And then the simplest of flower embellishment - soft colours to match the background but with a little bit of blush pink to lift it all.


A quick and easy project but which I think will be appreciated for longer than a card.

As always thank you for joining me today and happy crafting!

Jennie x


Calico Craft Parts used:


Sunday 3 June 2018

The Fairy Dust Theatre - Calico Punch and Judy Booth Kit

Hello Everyone! I hope you've been enjoying sunny weather where you are and that you've managed to fit in a visit to the seaside, or maybe you plan to soon? When I was small, my favourite part of a trip to Brighton or Hastings on the South Coast of England, was the anticipation as I watched the Punch and Judy man set up his booth on the seafront. Although I found the character of Mr Punch terrifying and I didn't enjoy seeing poor Judy beaten black and blue, I loved the bright colours of the miniature theatre and the details on the puppet's costumes. I always hoped that perhaps, this time, the puppets would have a happier tale to tell!



Once I was home with my collection of sea-shells and the salty sea smell still in my nostrils, I would create my own little theatres from cardboard boxes and make puppets from paper and card. Seeing the Calico Punch and Judy Booth kit took me back to those days, so I decided to let my imagination run free with one of the small, plain kits!



I wanted to transform the Booth into a Mixed-media theatre of magic and dreams. Red and Gold are not colours that I often work with, but they seemed suitably theatrical. The decorative flourish at the top of the booth reminded me not only of Mr Punch's hat, but also of that of the Joker in a pack of cards. I used my own artwork of a face and hands to suggest the Joker/Puppeteer bending over with the marionette's strings at the ready as we wait for the show to begin.



The MDF pieces that make up the kit don't need Gesso; but I like to give them a thin coat before collaging with tissue and adding some rubber stamping.



A wash of translucent blue gave me a background to work upon. It suggested to me the sunshine and blue skies of a perfect childhood day and the layers of memories and stories that shape us.



You can see from this shot of the back of the kit that I used embossing paste through a stencil as my final 3D layer. Green wooden beads provide the finials on the 2 rear corners.



I used a harlequin stencil and gold embossing paste to continue the playing card/Joker theme. What fate awaits the characters who prepare for the drama to unfold? At the moment their only audience is a tiny wren, but I expect the sea-gulls are gathering over head too! The sun faces on the bunting echo the stamping on the background.



And here is the seagull's eye view as he swoops down to watch the show!



Perhaps the clowns and minstrels who sing and dance to attract their audience are also the puppet actors in the show. Once you have taken your seat and you are settled with the wren and the seagulls they will vanish and re-appear in costumes that seem to have been sprinkled with fairy dust.



Will the Lion Minstrel put on the royal robes of the enchanted Beast?



Will the Sad Clown become The Happy Prince?



Will the Little Clown who thought she was no more than a funny dreamer become a Princess?




Buy your ticket and see!



Thank You so much for stopping by today. I do hope you will be inspired to create your very own puppet booth. You might want to keep to the traditional Punch and Judy. If you do, the kits come with their own Punch and Judy plaque. This can also be reversed for your own signage if you wish. You might want to create tiny puppets to appear on the miniature stage or try out the larger size booth. Whatever you create and wherever your summer travels take you, have a wonderful week.
Calico Craft Parts Used
Punch and Judy Booth Kit (small, plain)
Sheet of Wooden MDF Garden Birds