Thursday 30 April 2020

Teapot coaster by Magda

Hello lovely people!
I hope you are all well and healthy.

I'm addicted to mixed media boards. I love all sizes, they are so versatile!

For this little project I used Teapot Shape - MDF Mixed Media board. It's perfect as a coaster.

Take care!
Magda

Monday 27 April 2020

"Dreaming Myself Away to a Sandy Beach" Printer's Tray - by Claudia

Hi, servus and so happy to see you here again on the Calico Craft Parts blog. Thanks so much for stopping by again to check out my latest design team project for your inspiration! I hope you are all well and safe!

By the start of May over here in Austria we should get new information from our government on first steps of slowly loosening Corona related restrictions, but while I was creating this project (about two weeks ago) and scheduling this post we were still in the middle of "stay at home, practice social distancing and wear your masks" and all the other things that have turned everyday life upside down.

Booking holidays is still not an option as no one really knows when travelling to places outside your own country will be possible again...so I decided it was time to dream myself away to a calm, warm and sandy beach by creating a printer's tray with Calico Craft Parts, some beach finds from my personal collection and some designer papers and chipboard pieces from an ocean themed paper crafting set.

The advantage of a "dream holiday" is that you are independent from seasons - so why not go for a walk along the beach to collect shells, watch the sea gulls and sailing boats, listen to the waves crushing gently at the shore and feel the sand between your toes in early April?! ;)

Calico Craft Parts used:

- Printer's Tray Kit and Frame (can be bought separately and combined just the way you want to)
- Sheet of Mini MDF Nautical Motifs - Style 2
- Ships Wheel Compass - MDF Wood Shape
- Striped Beach Hut with Flag - MDF Wood Shape
- Sheet of Mini MDF Wood Birds - Seagulls
- left over oars from the smallest MDF Boat & Oars Kit

I first glued some designer paper to the tray's back panel and sanded off the excess once the matte Decou-Page had dried.

In the meantime I had already dry brushed the frame and the smaller Craft Parts with DecoArt media white Gesso (using a bristle brush).

Once that Gesso had dried, I scraped on some white DecoArt media Crackle Paint here and there with the very tip of my palette knife and let that air dry.

Next I glued the printer's tray frame in place using the matte Decou-Page again as it dries really fast.
Then I painted the primed Craft Parts and the crackled frame with mostly washes of DecoArt media fluid acrylics Phtalo Turquoise, Cobalt Turquoise Hue, Titan Buff, Titanium White, Cadmium Red Hue and Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide. In some spots I used the paint as it comes in the bottle to have an opaque layer of paint.

On top of the already once crackled and wash-tinted frame I applied more white Crackle paint with the tip of the palette knife to get the impression of clouds on top and whitecaps at the bottom of the frame.

I used matte Decou-Page and in some places sticky foam pads to put the stickers, chipboard pieces and Craft Parts in place. I also glued a piece of driftwood to the frame's top and added letter cubes to the bottom section of my tray.

Finally I added two tiny spools as feet and some small shells and corals to my printer's tray - this way I have even something that reminds me of my real trips to the Caribbean which I enjoyed so much and will always remember. :)

Done!

Some close ups:

I hope you liked my little dream travel and maybe will dream yourself to a beautiful holiday spot too by creating your own printer's tray!

Stay safe!

Claudia

xxx

Wednesday 22 April 2020

"Stay Home" altered plaque - by Lesley

Hey everyone. Lesley here with some altered art for you.

I've been pondering for a while now whether to do a piece about what we're all going through at the moment, and this is what I came up with.

I started out with an oval media board which I covered with old sheet music. I used various spray inks and paints over the top and texture paste through a stencil. I finished off with a date stamp.

The next layer was a trefoil border mixed media board which had more ink and paint slung at it.

I then used art deco foliage shape. I cut off the top bits and then enamel embossed it all.
The doll is an old cake topper! She was given a concrete look with textured paint. I used wire to attach her to the foliage shape.

I gave her a mask. Old fabric, rusted up of course!
And finally, I added a blank word element which I added the words "stay home" to.

Thanks so much for reading. Please take care and stay safe.

L.xx

Ingredients used

Art deco and nouveau foliage shape. style 54

Trefoil border mixed media board

Oval shape mixed media board

Word elements, blank

Rectangle shape mini wood plaques

Monday 20 April 2020

Tree House Escape by Jannet

Wouldn’t it be nice to have your own little tree house to escape to! I decided it was time to build myself a miniature one. I used the cube style house kit, a twig, and some bark which I found in my bag of natural goodies which I have salvaged over the years from a nearby forest.

I began by painting the inside of my tree house, and then gluing the sides together. I wanted to add some pictures, so I snipped some little twigs to create a tiny frame around my chosen picture.A thicker piece of twig became the stand for a table, which I stood on a mat, you need to be comfy in your little tree house! There are lots more little whatnots you could make to go inside your house, I was tempted to add a phone or an iPad, but resisted.

I covered the roof with twigs.

I covered the outside walls with Decoart texture paste. When dry I painted over it with acrylic paints.A tree house always needs some colourful bunting, and I hung some up in red, white and blue.

It is all very nice to have a tree house, but how do you get up to it! A ladder was urgently needed and some simple string came to the rescue.

I used some modelling clay as a heavy base to hold the twig upright, and moulded it into a shape to fit inside my piece of bark. After painting some little birds and rabbits I glued them onto the tree and the bark. I finished by adhering my house onto a twig branch.

Wishing you lots of fun creating your personal little tree house.

Calico Craft Parts used

Saturday 18 April 2020

Steampunk & Sea by Kerstin

Welcome, creative friends!

I'm an enthusiastic Mixed Media designer and Steampunk & Sea is always a very fascinating theme for me.

Some days ago I got a wonderful gift from my friend Claudia 😍

thanks sooo much!!!

I'm totaly in love with this awesome Maxi Mould 'Seaworld' from Stamperia. I have already used various casts for some mixed media projects and was very thrilled to experiment and find out if you can combine this big seahorse (made with modeling clay) with some filigree MDF wood shapes from Calico Craft Parts.

I created a mixed media frame in Altered Art style. Before that it was just a simple plastic frame from a Euro shop.

Have you already seen these awesome letters in steampunk style in the Calico Craft Parts store???

MDF Letters & Numbers - Steampipe Font

You can choose various sizes for the letters and you can build your very own words as you can order each letter separately.

I used two different sizes of the

Dotted Peacock Weed - MDF Seaweed Wood Shape Style 3

together with some natural elements and a sea star (made with a mould as well).

The magnificent hair of my steampunk sea horse was made using the
Crab MDF Wood Shape - Style 3

Probably the hairdresser had just closed here too

but luckily some strong hair gel was still there ;-)

The dorsal fin was created from the

Spider Web Flourish MDF Wood Shape

I used some embossing powders and Metallic Wax for some shiny metallic effects

.... one of my favs from our latest ATC frames collection - the

Plain ATC Wood Blank with Cogs & Steampipe Frame

with a very special embossing powder 'Burnt Copper Leaves'

Two wood shapes used in layering technique:

an MDF Wood Cog - Style 1 in between a clocks cut out and
Steampunk Mechanical Clockworks Motif Style 24

Do you also love to combine different ideas and materials? Then maybe you would like to give this a try.

Thanks for your visit!

Stay safe everyone and take care of yourselves and your loved ones…

Kerstin

Monday 6 April 2020

Easter Wreath by Jannet

This is the time of year, that I start thinking about decorating our home for Easter/Spring. This year I thought I would make an Easter/Spring Wreath.

For my base I used a circle of thick card which I cut from packaging, with another circle cut in the middle to create an aperture. I covered the base with moss, which can be purchased from floral and craft shops.

I selected beautiful spring daffodils, and a cute Easter bunny to paint and adorn the wreath. After I took this photo a hedgehog and squirrel came out of hibernation, and wanted to be painted too. So they could also jump onto the wreath.

I adhered all of the wooden pieces into the wreath adding a few dried sunflower petals around the Easter Bunny. I finished by punching a whole into the top of the wreath and threading yellow yarn through it to hang it up with.

To make the wreath I used the following Calico Craft Parts

Saturday 4 April 2020

Gift idea for Easter Decoration by Kerstin

Hello creative friends!

It's a difficult time for all of us and everyone is grateful for a little joy and distraction. One must also see and hear something different than just the latest news and try to discover the positive sides of this crisis.

I was inspired to create a small THANK YOU gift for a very helpful friend. It's a little Easter egg for spring home decoration. It can be set up individually or arranged in an Easter nest.