Dream by Jannet

If I did dream and I never do, I think I would dream of being floated up and away in my wheelchair by a cascade of butterflies. Wouldn’t such freedom be wonderful ! I decided to portray this imaginary dream onto a mixed media board to hang on the wall. 

After applying 2 coats of white gesso onto my mixed media board, I began mixing water, washing up liquid, and acrylic paint in a bowl. Using a straw I blew into the bowl creating a mass of colourful bubbles which overflowed the top of the bowl. I scooped them onto my board, and let them pop naturally. You could also lay your board onto the bubbles, but the scooping method worked best for me.I made up a separate mixture for each different colour.  

I sketched a lady in a wheelchair, and after giving her some colour I fussy cut her.

The cascade of butterflies came to life with some simple water colour paints, and a white pen. My design was simply, but you could make them as detailed as you like.

I glued the butterflies in place and attached each one to a fibre which flows down to the young woman's hands. I sprinkled a few tiny stars amongst the butterflies for her to make her wishes upon.

Thank you for visiting, and may all your dreams come true xx

Calico Craft Parts used

• Mixed Media Board
• Mini Butterflies

Shadow frame - Create your own idea by Kerstin

Hello creative friends!

Today a new inspiration for you,
it's a under the sea fantasy inspired shadow frame in mixed media style.

side view

 Tips & Tricks

 Most important thing in being creative is to find an idea and have fun and joy in the process and maybe afterwards to be proud and happy to put the project on the shelf or to give it to someone who appreciates it. Today I would like to show you how I found the idea.

Everyone of us has topics and stories that are close to his heart,
and I like to tell fantastic underwater stories. 

So I looked in Aquatic & Marine Wood Shapes,
here I found a lot of fabulous coral, sea creatures and
in the Nautical & Seaside Wood Shapes section anchors and ships.

I found a very big coral

Coral - MDF Wood Shape Style 8

 actually too big for my project, but I thought you can easily cut them into pieces and so I made a coral 5 pieces 

which I used as hanging seaweed.

At the moment I'm also burning for working with moulds, I love these three-dimensional effects and like to combine them with the flat calico parts. Here I used a silicone mould, it's a door, where I only used the outer frame as pillar gate.

Now a simly plastic frame with a corrugated cardboard behind, I imagine what could be there. On top of that an old sailing ship that has dropped anchor, a little mermaid, a jellyfish passing by, a ray and a sea fan coral, thats my main elements.

... and the idea was born!

some close up's

Mermaid MDF Wood Shape - Style 1

  diluted Antiquing Cream 'Titanium White' as basic, some splashes and stains with Chalkboard Glimmer Mist 'Evergreen' (Tattered Angels), I added some mini artstones on the tail and highlighted hair and tail with 'Dark Patina' metallic acrylic paint (DecoArt)

Galleon Boat MDF Wood Shape - Style 5

firstly crackle medium 'Weathered Wood' as base for the sails, a thicker layer of white acrylic paint on top, blach acrylic paint  for the hull, poles and flags as contrast  and finally some brush strokes with Chalkboard Glimmer Mist 'Evergreen' (Tattered Angels)

 

Jellyfish MDF Wood Shape Style 3

 diluted Antiquing Cream 'Titanium White' as basic, some brush strokes with Chalkboard Glimmer Mist 'Evergreen' (Tattered Angels) and with 'Dark Patina' metallic acrylic paint (DecoArt) onto some places

finally some Mini Artstones with Heavy gel medium

 

Anchor & Rope Silhouette

 crackle medium 'Weathered Wood', white acrylic paint (DecoArt) and
 Chalkboard Glimmer Mist 'Evergreen' (Tattered Angels)

 shadow effect

Calico Craft Parts used:

Coral - MDF Wood Shape Style 8

Mermaid MDF Wood Shape - Style 1

Galleon Boat MDF Wood Shape - Style 5

Anchor & Rope Silhouette

Jellyfish MDF Wood Shape Style 3

Stingray

Coral - MDF Wood Shape Style 15

 

Thanks for your visit!

Happy crafting summer time!

Kerstin

Summer Garden by Jannet

A quiet Summer spent at home, is my inspiration for my little project today.

I began by making my base, with some book pages which I had left over from a previous project.  For the  first layer I used almost the full size page, for the next layer I tore the length a little shorter and the final piece a little shorter again. I glued them down so I ended up with a slightly stepped base.

I painted the house before assembling it. A heart made a perfect door to my summer house and a little bead became its handle. I adhered it along with the windows to the front of the house. I had kept some raffia which came wrapped around a bunch of  flowers, which was useful to cut into strips to adorn the roof. I outlined the house with some art stones. I adhered the house to the base, and used pressed rose petals to make a path to the door, so visitors would be welcomed with the scent of gorgeous roses. 

After painting the tree, I added some moss to the branches to represent the leaves. Using a craft knife I cut a slit into the book pages for my tree to nestle in with some glue. I added some tiny dried flowers around the base of the tree, and also around the house. 

For summer garden days you definitely need a deck chair to sit out in, so I painted two chairs with acrylic paints. I used a pokey tool to make small holes in the book pages for the chairs to stand in with some glue to hold them in place. I adhered a row of little flowers along the back of the garden.

I may add some additional features to my garden later, but for now it is a peaceful, tranquil garden to sit in and relax. 

This could be a fun project to make with children this summer. You could replicate your own garden or create a garden of your dreams, there are lots of Calico Craft parts to choose from in all different styles and sizes. 

Stay safe xx

Calico Craft Parts used

• House Kit 
• Mini Windows
• Primitive Mini Hearts
• Mini Nautical shapes
•  Tree

Day at the seaside - Homedecor with shelf by Kerstin

Welcome!

Today I am sharing a new inspiration suitable to the season. Live summer feelings on the beach with roaring sea waves, salty healthy air and long walks on the beach until sunset.

Seems someone is having a longing for the sea. ;)

 

Shelf in shabby chic look

When I saw the amazing corner

MDF Wood Corner Style 18 - Ship's Wheel

I thought  this was a perfect right angle with two support surfaces, which could well function as a shelf.

I used two corners from the smallest size and a 

Rectangle Shape with Notched Corners - MDF Mixed Media Board size 100 x 50 mm

 With the help of wood glue it was attached as shown in the picture above, the label underneath was initially intended to serve as additional stabilisation,

but as I found out later, there was no need. 

 

Calico Craft Parts used:

Tudor Arch Shape - MDF Mixed Media Board

 

MDF Wood Corner Style 18 - Ship's Wheel

Rectangle Shape with Notched Corners - MDF Mixed Media Board size 100 x 50 mm

 

Lighthouse MDF Wood Shape Style 8

Beach Chairs and Umbrella

Wild Grass MDF Wood Shape - Style 1

 Word Elements - Summer & Seaside

 

The sun will come!

... and with it the sunshine :-)

Can you spot the difference??? 

The resolution will be clarified in my next project :-)

Thanks for your visit!

Happy summer time!

Kerstin

Box full of tags - by Magda

Hello,
I hope you are all.
Today I want to show you a little box for tags and notes. I’m a person who notes everything on small pieces of paper. Most of them I can find without problem but some strangely disappear. I’ve created that box mainly for putting my notes there. A little tags for keeping everything organised.

I used:
Apothecary Jar Silhouette
MDF tag shape
Sheet of mini MDF tags
MDF cube storage box

 Magda :)

House Journal - a Start - by Claudia

Servus, hi and thanks so much for stopping by!

Claudia here again to share some inspiration on how to use your Calico Craft Parts in your art journaling this time.

I had ordered five 200 x 160 mm sized House Shapes already months ago with the idea of creating a kind of sturdy concertina fold journal by hinging the single houses together with fabric ribbon or some garden fence pieces maybe, so the journal can be put up on a shelf and all the different houses, filled with different people and lives (and universes), can be visited and displayed.

Then I got interrupted by a different project, then distracted by another one (and another one), then I wasn't sure if I would be able to get the journal to look like I visioned it, then I found I had lost hold of the vision and idea,...well, I guess some of you know the story...

...but as I have been dealing with a lot of hormonal chaos during the last months I have now developed a kind of anxiety or stress disorder that forces me to practice self-care and listen to my actual needs closely...and that brought me back to the creative plans and things I really love - one of these being my forgotten house-journal-project!!!

At the moment I try to take pressure and high expectations out of the game wherever possible - and focus on the process instead of a specific result. Creatively spoken this means I am trying to get back to the techniques, media and topics I really enjoy (sometimes you just lose track a bit of that when you are mainly focusing on design team work) - and I allowed myself to just let the creative process take the lead.

So I decided to finally start my house-journal and fill the houses one by one - without a uniting theme, but rather with the concept of making them journal pages, where you simply indulge in creative play instead of trying to put a lot of meaning into everything on the pages. So here is page house No. 1 -
the result from a joyful session with my beloved book pages and other scraps, yummy texture and the media I feel most at home with:

I happily rummaged through my large scraps box and put together a little pile of scraps that spoke to me most (either because of their colour or because a specific pattern caught my eye) - even the black frame is a left over from some die cutting, but I thought it was a perfect fit for House No. 1. - which is actually Persistence Lane, No. 706.

Calico Craft Parts used: 

- House Shape - MDF Mixed Media Board
- Sheet of Mini MDF Label Holders Wood Shapes
- Sheet of Mini MDF Hardware Wood Shapes
- Ornate Scroll Decorative Hinge MDF Wood Shape
- Shields - Mini MDF Wood Shapes
- Spider Web - MDF Corner Wood Shape


Before I started the collage, I primed the MDF house shape with DecoArt "lace" Chalky Finish paint that I scraped on loosely with a palette knife. For gluing scraps of book pages, tissue and designer papers to the base I used matte DecoArt Decou-Page - my go-to glue and sealant.

The back of the house was left untreated for now - I will start another house on this side whenever I feel up to it and it does not have to be thematically connected to the other side.

I used a sanding block to remove any excess from the glued on scraps.

Next I blended the house's edges with black archival stamping ink to create a black edge that repeats the black from the text and imagery.

Using the very tip of my palette knife I spread some white DecoArt media Crackle Paint here and there and especially on the black frame that forms the focal piece.

More inspirational rummaging - this time in my box of smaller Calico Craft Parts! I came up with some screw heads, label holders, a mini shield, a hinge and a spider web corner from a previous taken apart project.

Before gluing these in place, I decided to paint a smudged brown outline around the house shape in Raw Umber media fluid acrylic paint.

To repeat the yellow-ish tint from some of the scraps I sprinkled on some Primary Yellow from a media Mister. That was followed by more sprinkles done with a Carbon Black media Mister.

I had found a portrait of a French writer on one of my dictionary page scraps and used that on the Mini Shield Shape that was to go right under the roof top.

The label holders were toned in using Titanium White media Antiquing Cream. In the meantime I had also added some haberdashery to the frame for a bit of dimension and interest.

The shield with the portrait of Monsieur Charles Nodier was given a thick coat of DecoArt Triple Thick after it had been glued in place.

Finally I toned down the white crackled areas on the black frame using a wash of (which means heavily diluted) Carbon Black media fluid acrylic - that made the frame stand out from the background and much more visible. At that point I also changed my mind and painted the previously white hinge black.

Voilà!

Some close ups:

Hope to see you again in two weeks!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx