Calico Craft Parts: February 2022

Thursday 24 February 2022

Beware of fairies and mushrooms! Deathly Fairy Pendant by Kat Hazelton

The dangers of a fairy ring! Poem by Kat Hazelton.

Nine times around the ring you step, when the moon is full.

To travel to the magical realm this is the golden rule.

But do be warned I need to impress.

Don't step one more, nor step one less.

For this is the fairy's way.

Those will perish if they disobey!

There are hundreds of folk stories about fairies, mushrooms and fairy rings. Some are whimsical and fun depicting beautiful or childlike friendly fairy folk sitting on pretty toadstools or dancing holding hands around rings of mushrooms. But many more tales tell stories of mischievous sometimes malevolent creatures gathering in and around rings of mushrooms. Often these rings were places of magic and portals to other realms beyond our own. One tale says if you step into a fairy ring it will transport you into the fairy realm, never to return! Other tales say that if you step in and out of a fairy ring without permission on returning home you will find hundreds of years had passed!

There is also various similar tales that say that to enter a fairy ring safely you have to run around the mushroom ring nine times under a full moon. But warning is given that if the runner did not pay attention and did a tenth that evil would befall that runner! Sometimes in the story the poor victims outcome was either madness or death!

Personally because there are so many stories warning humans away from fairies, mushrooms and fairyrings it's best if you spot any on your travels to just admire them from a distance! It's not, in my view, worth the risk of upsetting the fairyfolk! 😉

To make this Deathly Fairy Pendant inspired by the stories of fairies, mushrooms, magical portholes and fairy rings you will need.

https://www.calicocraftparts.co.uk/skeleton-mdf-wood-shape-style-3.html

https://www.calicocraftparts.co.uk/plain-round-bauble-frame-mdf-wood-shape.html

https://www.calicocraftparts.co.uk/mushrooms-fungi-mdf-wood-shapes-set-5.html

To add a touch of steampunk I used cogs from this mini mdf sheet.

https://www.calicocraftparts.co.uk/sheet-of-mini-mdf-steampunk-motifs-style-4.html

Acrylic paints, metallic paints or mica powder, paint brush, water.

Sculpting paste and sculpting tool.

Insect or fairy wing rubber stamp, ink and water colour paper.

Metal steampunk cogs, assorted Gothic charms and tiny beads.

Glitter.

Gloss Varnish.

Glue, I used both tacky glue and superglue.

Sharp scissors.

Paper flowers.

Wording either bought or writen with pen onto cardboard. It needs to be some sort of warning to keep humans away!

String.

To add some details to the mdf mushroom I used sculpting paste, adding lines and grooves with a sculpting tool. Once I got the look I wanted I left the mushroom to thoroughly dry over night. I then painted it with a combination of brown and pink metallic paints. One dry I added an additional coating of brown mica powder which I watered down with water. The mica helped to add a shimmery effect.

I then painted the MDF ring and 'Fairy' Skeleton with an wash of watered down white acrylic paint and brown mica. This gave both pieces a more grungy steampunk appearance.

Using stamp and ink I created two wings. These were stamped onto smooth watercolour card. Once the ink was dry I cut them out, using sharp scissor, then painted them with acrylic paints. To finish them off I painted on a layer of gloss varnish sprinkled with assorted glitters to add a touch of magic.

I positioned and glued on my mushroom and 'fairy' skeleton with the wings tucked behind the fairies back.

I then glued on all my charms, flowers and wording.

I also added some tiny beads to the wings.

And finally finished off my pendant with a length of string.

My pendant is now ready for hanging up.
I hope you enjoyed another 'Kat Make'
If you have any questions please feel free to ask. I will be happy to help if I can.
I shall be back again soon with another make.
Until then 'enjoy crafting'
Kat 😊

Saturday 19 February 2022

Fabric Art Collage - Waiting for Spring by Kerstin

Welcome creative friends!

Love working in mixed media style, you can combine and try so many materials,

new impressions and inspirations are always created.

MDF shapes complement also fabric collages wonderfully,

especially love the filigree and wooden look here.

I was inspired to create a fabric collage in vintage style.

It's a mix from various ripped fabric leftovers, cutting dies and photo cut outs.

First the fabric scraps were attached to sturdy paper

and then adorned with a few decorative stitches

to create an interesting background in shabby chic style.

I used here only a few MDF shapes as 3d effect and eyecatcher,

sometimes less is more.

They were only lightly primed with white gesso and highlighted

with some glitter paint (gold, green) just a little,

but it gives a wonderful effect when the sun shines on it.

some close up's

used MDF shapes from Calico Craft Parts

Sheet of Mini MDF Window Wood Shapes

Ancestry MDF Wood Font - Create A Word - Max 4 Letters

Hope

Bluebells - MDF Floral Wood Shape Style 48

Ivy Leaf Swag

Thanks for your visit!

Hope I could inspire you!

Happy crafting!

Kerstin

Tuesday 15 February 2022

A Dive into the Subconscious - Tag - by Claudia

Servus and thanks so much for stopping by!

I have taken quite a long break from regularly crafting - mainly caused by moving and adapting to having two studios in two different parts of Austria (which has the benefit of getting to enjoy the beautiful city of Vienna AND the wonderful nature of Austria's beautiful Salzkammergut district). I found that the "new life" also changed a lot of habits - one of these being my former crafting routine. I re-discovered a lot of stamps that I had bought in my early crafting times, when I had just started to dive into the world of rubber stamps of all kinds and special stamping inks, embossing powders and a lot of other cool techniques and crafty miracles.

So one of these stamp sets was what sparked the idea for this tag and for a new (or maybe old...but in any way different) approach to using the many Craft Parts that I still have in my stash. I also had to find new ways to get back to enjoying a bit of crafting besides developing new routines with the two spots I am now living in - so I am now trying to focus more on experimenting, doing smaller projects or simply not finishing a larger one in one go as I used to. This tag emanated from some very spontaneous and joyful play with what I had at hand mostly...some really cool Calico Craft Parts, a re-discovered stamp set and beautiful and inspiring book pages and collage paper scraps.

I picked the Craft Parts that spoke to me most and that I felt corresponded with the stamped focal image in a way that the tag could evoke stories in the beholders' heads...stories from the Subconscious. I definitely followed my subconscious when creating this tag. ;)

Calico Craft Parts used:

- MDF Tag Shape - Rounded Rectangle (150x75mm)

- Crucian Carp MDF Fish Wood Shape (small)

- Word Elements - Art & Journaling

- Mini Star Wreath (medium size)

- Star Shape - Mini MDF Wood Plaques

- Sheet of Mini MDF Hardware Wood Shapes

- Sheet of Mini MDF Label Holders

I started with tearing and gluing some book pages to the MDF tag. For that I used matte DecoArt Decou-Page as it dries fast and does not wrinkle the paper too much. I primed all the MDF Wood Shapes I wanted to use with a thin almost dry-brushed on layer of DecoArt Beige Chalky Gesso. Then I painted the fish with a very thin wash of DecoArt media fluid acrylic Prussian Blue Hue, the single star with Titanium White media fluid acrylic and the star wreath and label holder with DecoArt Americana True Red acrylic paint.

You can also see the fussy cut stamped image of a young woman and pair of wings in the picture, as well as a golden German Dresden Scrap crown that was a perfect fit!

I had decided to have my stamped fairy queen sit on a Word Element and have a fish swimming in the ocean underneath (=her subconscious). I found this old black and white gel plate print and tore off a scrap to use it as my "deep sea" background.

The bright gold of the crown got toned down using DecoArt media Carbon Black Antiquing Cream and DecoArt media fluid acrylic Metallic Gold was used to paint the two screw heads and the jump ring that I used for the fairy queen's necklace.

I like how the random black and white patterns of the ocean background repeat the irregular black and white patterns from the fairy queen's face and sleeve! Using more Prussian Blue Hue I painted some ocean waves on top - mainly to repeat the blue from the carp. More blue was added by using the thin washi tape above the Word Element band.

My original idea was to use the whole bright red star wreath around my queen's head, but that covered up too much of the crown and other lovely detail, so I had the idea to cut the wreath in two and only use one half on top of the tag...for me these are all the shining brilliant ideas emanating from the fairy queen's thoughts...or maybe her reign is under more than just one good star...

Final touches were added using a white Sharpie pen (the tiny dots border around the tag's edges). The hand painted ocean waves got a white outline too and the fairy queen's cheeks needed a bit of pale red - done!

I am sure the tag will tell you a different story than the (not too precise) one I had in mind when creating it - or at least different in some aspects. But that was what I wanted - to give you some visual "hints" that will let your minds run free and evoke your own stories. I hope you'll enjoy them (and the tag of course)! ;)

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

Thursday 10 February 2022

👑 The Frog Prince!

The Frog Prince sat by his pond.

The Frog Prince is a German fairy tale collected and first published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812.

The tale of The Frog Prince has varied over the years but the basic story circles around a beautiful, if spoilt, princess who drops a golden ball into a pond where she meets a frog. In exchange for giving back her golden ball she reluctantly promises the frog friendship allowing the Frog to eat at her table, even to eat off her own plate and to sleep in her bedroom on her pillow. Eventually the Frog in the story turns out to be a handsome Prince who was cursed by magic spell to become a frog by a wicked fairy. In the more romantic versions of the story the princess kisses the frog and he turns back into his human form! Though earlier Grimm editions have her throwing him against a wall before he becomes a handsome Prince! Not so romantic! But whatever version they both seem to have a happy ending together!

To make a Frog Prince pond scene you will need

https://www.calicocraftparts.co.uk/crown-mdf-shrine-kit-style-4.html

https://www.calicocraftparts.co.uk/sheet-of-mini-mdf-wood-crowns-style-1.html

https://www.calicocraftparts.co.uk/common-toad-mdf-wood-shape-style-3.html

https://www.calicocraftparts.co.uk/toad-mdf-wood-shape-style-2.html

https://www.calicocraftparts.co.uk/stone-mullion-double-gothic-arch-window-mdf-wood-shape.html

Acrylic paints.

Pva glue.

Moss, sticks, dried leaves from the garden or local walks.

Dry culinary mushrooms bought from supermarket.

Glitter and gem stones.

Liquid Pearlised drops or metallic paints.

Mirror card.

Plain card.

Acetate sheet either coloured or clear.

I started off by painting all the sections to make the shrine. I used a vibrant green acrylic paint and painted them both sides. For the pond base I painted on blue and added glitter for watery sparkles!

I then cut a piece of mirror card to fit behind the beautiful Gothic arched window. I left the arch it's natural colour and glued on some glitter 'ivy' to add a magical sparkle. I then started to put together the shrine gluing it with pva glue.

I glued on the Gothic arched window in the centre of the back panel of the shrine. I also added the Princesses golden ball, this was made from a circular cardboard shape painted gold with acrylic paints. I then added foliage gluing on moss, dried leaves and twigs. To add mushrooms I cut real dried culinary mushrooms in half and glued them onto my twigs.

Frog Prince wearing his crown! 👑

I then painted my frog with acrylic paints and added a crown! Well he is a Prince!

Then I added a sheet of yellow acetate. You can use clear but I wanted my scene to look more stagnant pond!

I then glue on the front of my shrine. Adding glitter, Pearlised drops and gem stones to the crown to make it fit for Royalty!

Little extras I added an additional Prince Frog to the back of the shrine. I used the left over feet which came with the shrine kit to decorate around him to represent the Princess golden ball.

The Frog Prince scene is now done. Let's hope his princess gives him a romantic kiss soon!
I hope you enjoyed another 'Kat make'. If you have any questions please feel free to ask, I will be happy to help if I can. I shall be back again soon with another make.
Until then 'enjoy crafting' .
Kat 😊

Saturday 5 February 2022