On Your Wedding Day by Liz

  Hi guys, I'm back today with another project using one of the awesome MDF windows from

Calico Craft parts

The first time I looked at this window I thought it is perfect for Weddings or Christenings, I'm sure other uses too but this is what it said to me, lol

I didn't want to lose any of the fine detail on the window, so taking a little white Gesso onto a piece of sponge, I simply dabbed it over the front, it left this look which leaves the detail but adds a little texture to the window too,

When dry I went around the edges with a little vintage photo distress ink,

I also used these adorable MDF hearts, well it is a romantic themed card isn't it? and they go perfectly with the window,

Calico craft parts make these fantastic word elements, they have the same style with different words on and one that comes plain, of course I used this set because the sentiment was again perfect,

I finished off my card with some spattered white Gesso which also gives the impression of confetti,

Window - stone mullion double gothic window arch

Word Elements - Occasions

Mini hearts 

Check out all the wonderful MDF and plywood pieces available from Calico Craft parts, 

Hugs Liz x

From Me To You by Liz

  Hi Guys, I want to show you a MDF Trug from Calico Craft Parts that  I've put together which I think would make a lovely gift for anyone special,

I put it together then gave it all a coat of white gesso, when dry I went over with two layers of acrylic paint,

I took a stamp from my stash and randomly stamped a little text here and there on all four sides of the Trug,

I then took a Rose flower head stencil I have in my stash and with some transparent medium stencilled the Rose heads here and there too,

When all the media was dry I added this lovely MDF Ashleaf and twig keeping it in it's natural colour as a focal point for the front,

MDF - Trug 

MDF - Ashleaf and twig 

Happy Crafting!!

Hugs Liz xx

We're All A Little Mad Here/ Liz Marsden

  Hi guys, I saw this fabulous Mdf Journal book on the Calico Craft Parts website, you can buy it with inner sections for 5 different layouts, I chose the one with 2/ 4 sections this time, these I glued together and adhered into the base inside,

I will start with the outside front cover, which I painted with some acrylic paints in a couple of shades of blue, I painted the lighter shade first, then when dry went over here and there with the darker one, I let these dry completely, I painted the inside sections at this stage too,

I wanted to make the journal with an vintage Alice in Wonderland theme of which I had in my stash some images and a stencil, so taking the stencil and some modelling paste I stencilled through the word stencil placing it towards the top so I could adhere an image lower down,

I also used a hearts and clock stencil at the opposite corners of the journal front to balance it up,

when all the stencilling was dry I went over the top using some waxes in blue and gold, this highlights the stencilling, and kept the vintage look,

I then added these fabulous small Fleur-De- Lis hinges on the front,I kept these in the colour they came in to match with the book spine which I had left as it came too,

The journal comes with a piece of Mdf you can use to close the journal with, I haven't used it this time though as instead I used some stretchy string to go around the cover and back,

I cut down a scene of the Alice papers I had in my stash along with some Emphemera which I adhered onto the back of the front cover, this gave interest with out being to bulky,

I gathered together some more die cut images, flowers, another saying and a bottle which I had filled with glitter to look like the Potion Alice drinks, then on one of the sections I used the adorable caddy kit add on in small, for the mdf Tea, teapot and cups which of course fit brilliantly with the Alice theme, these I again kept in their natural colours as the inside spine to make it all mix and match,

These are so useful !!!and can of course be painted etc if needed,

I created this for my Granddaughter who loved it!! 

Calico Craft parts:

Journal tray 

Caddy Kit add on sheet - Tea Set

Hinges - Fleur-De-Lis

Do check out these and lots more Mdf and Plywood products at reasonable prices,

Happy Crafting!!

Hugs Liz xx

Quirky Themed Phone Stand by Liz

 Hi guys, Gosh it's gone chilly again as I'm writing this, I hope the sun returns soon,

to cheer myself up I altered this fabulous Plywood phone holder from

Calico Craft Parts

The holder fits my phone easily and even has space for the charging lead to go through while it's sat there, Lol

I have a small tutorial on how I got this look,

I glued the sections in place by placing the back section through the pre cut slot on the front as shown,

I then painted a fine layer of white Gesso over all the sections, when dry I took some benders with three colours of Distress oxides and randomly added colour to the sections, going over the other colour where it meets to blend it in, I used Blue Lagoon, Twisted Cirton and Fossilized Amber, next to stop the inks coming off I lightly sprayed the surfaces with a cheap hair spray, let dry,

I then stamped onto the sections, using Versafine Clair in Verdant, this went with the colour's I'd chosen but still showed,

As you can know it already has the back stand attached, so to make it easier to stamp and do the rest of the media on it I took a mixed media tub I had in my stash, (any tub will do as long as it's roughly the same height or a little bit higher as the back stand, but it needs to give a firm surface to be able to place your stamp on, (so the front surface is flat to work on)

This is the stamp pad with the ink I used to stamp onto the surfaces, I didnt add my stamp to an acrylic block so I could press my fingers on the back of the stamp to get it into smaller sections too, this gives a variety to the stamping too as some are more defined then others, (this adds to the effect) let this dry as the ink will remain wet for a while, you can use aheat tool lightly over the top, but be careful not to burn the plywood,

Next I took a star stencil with some Modelling paste, this I randomly spread through the stencil here and there, again some parts missed or were thinner layeres, I wanted this effect as it gives the quirky look and lets a bit of the colour show through,

Leave to dry naturally, if you use heat it could make the stencil paste bubble, I didn't want this as I wanted it kept flat,

I had stamped coloured and fussy out out the bird images, then adhered them onto the front over some of the stencilled stars as shown, again I kept these flat to the surface of the phone holder, I decided I wanted a little more stamping at this stage so using a smaller text stamp and Versafine Clair Nocturne ink to make it stand out a little more I randomly placed it here and there, again I used just my fingers for the stamping to add small sections,

I used another stamped bird facing the opposite way, placing it lower down on the holder, glued in the same way,

I fussy cut out a sentiment on a separate piece of card, then glued it in the middle again keeping it flat,

And there is my finished quirky themed phone stand,

Just the thing to brighten up a dull day!! lol

Calico Craft Parts

Birch Plywood Smart Phone Stand

Happy Crafting!!

Hugs Liz xx

Wish We Were Here/ by Liz Marsden

 Hi guys, I'm here again for

Calico Craft Parts with my second GDT spot for this month,

This time I couldn't resist this awesome MDF boat, it comes in a few sizes with or with out a shelf too,

As you can see I chose with out, after taking the pieces out, I glued them together, when set I then painted it inside and out with some white Gesso, leave aside  to dry,

 

Meanwhile take the section of the left over MDF and draw around the shape onto a piece of card,  here I drew around the outer edge, but I should have drawn around the inner, so do that, he he

You should have a shape like this, then fussy cut it out,

Next score some lines along the length of the boat shape, here I went every 1cm,

but you could do less or more if you wish, this balanced nicely though,

Fold them on the crease lines so the edges are pronounced,

Take an ink pad and holding it lightly go down the length of the scored lines so the ink catches onto the card here and there,

Then go over the same way with another colour of Ink pad, this time I used an oxide ink pad and it did  spread a little easier, to finish it off I lightly swiped here and there with this ink too,

Hopefully you get a worn wood look to the card,

(I got the idea for this off Tracy off the intenet who has fabulous tutorials and ideas), 

Now for the next fun bit, here I used the Calico craft parts mini Seagulls and Mini Nautical style 2 wood shapes, these I applied white gesso as before then when dry I went over with some Texture paste, love this stuff, it gives feather effect to the birds and a rusted effect to the anchors,

For the Anchors when dry I then went over with some wax in Old Silver, you can see another mini piece from the sets which I gave the wax treatment too to,

Going back to the boat I painted the whole boat with a light greyish blue to keep in with the colour theme,

So fun part 3!!

I glued the piece of card I had created to look like worn wood to the base of my boat, 

I decided to make my boat part of a scene, this could have been created as a stand alone scene which would look just as fabulous or as I decided to do in a exploding box so it can be given as a gift,

I made the base of my scene, with watercolour card stock, which I painted with yellows and beiges for the sand, and a couple of blues and greens for the sea, when dry I glued this in place on my box,

Next I built up around it, by gluing one of the Anchors in front of the boat, a log effect piece I have in my stash to one side onto which I added the finished seagull which I painted over with a little yellow acrylic paint for it's beak and white for the feathers, some shells and other bits, then I added some mini Art Stones to finish it off,

Now for the rest of the box, I downloaded some digi print papers and glued them in place, these kept to the seaside theme,

On the back piece I glued some more of the seagulls, looking like the're flying around the coast line looking for fish, (not a chip in sight) Lol

I created a tag out of  the papers and simply added the oars and a shipswheel on the bottom, I kept this just coloured in the white gesso so the natural wood bits showed through, again for a weathered look, they would look fab coloured in bright colours too if that's more your thing!!

Here you can see the Binnoculars I had coloured with the wax in the previous picture, I painted the beach hut in light colours again going for a weathered look, and added one of the adorable little Anchors to the top!!

I love this compass styled one, which I painted with colour then went over with white to soften it, it went brilliant with the background images,

So of course a box has to have a lid!! so I used the same papers for this as inside just using the wood look ones,

Creating another tiny scene of the top, Again using one of the fantastic Anchors, another piece of my wood embellishment, shells and mini art stones, and another of the Calico Craft Parts compass but this time I left that in its natural colour to give a little pop to the neautral colours of the others,

Well I hope this has inspired you , do check out all the fabulous products Calico Craft Parts sell,

Now for some exciting news!!

I have been asked to be a full time member of the design team for

Calico Craft Parts,

 so watch this space for more projects from me, Lol

Calico Craft Parts used:

Mdf Boat with Oars

Mini Birds wood - Seagulls

Mini Nautical style 2 wood shapes

Check out the fabulous projects on the Calico Craft Parts Blog

Happy Crafting!!

A Touch Of Steampunk by Liz Marsden

 Hi Guys, I'm here with a post today as Guest for

Calico Craft Parts

for this month, I wish to thank Louise the blog co-ordinator for the honour,

I have always admired Steampunk but never had the nerve to try it for myself, well looking at the fabulous MDF products on the Steampunk  theme that Calico Craft Parts have in store I couldn't resist,

I created a hat for the MDF embellishments along with some items from my stash,

So here is the unadorned hat which I have coloured with some waxes,

I then started to decorate this,

These are how they come to you with plenty of scope for you to play/work with, lol

So after carefully removing the pieces I needed for my project I added some of the waxes I'd used on my hat,

I also decided to add another colour of the wax too, simply adding bits of the coloured wax here and there,  blending them in with my finger,

I love this MDF piece, which is  listed below and as you can see I added some small clock hands from my stash to the design, again keeping in the colours, Total fluke I happened to have these (lol) but of course I could have used the waxes over instead,

When completely set I then hot glued some chain on the back,

I then glued this to the right hand side of my steampunk hat,

Meanwhile while this dried, I glued some tiny clock cogs in metal onto the hat along with a slightly larger metal cog and one of the MDF ones, this made a firm base for the Air balloon and the other end of the chain glued behind in the same way as before to attach too,

I also added a MDF piece on the brim of the front of the hat, which I had coloured with the waxes as before, I then added some of the same colour here and there to the hat,

I Loved the finished hat but I stll had lots of Steampunk themed pieces left, so I decided to create an exploding box for the hat to sit in,

I simply created the box to be a little wider and a little taller then the hat so it fit onto the centre part, It could be glued down however I haven't done so, so it can be removed if wanted,

After adding some steampunk themed paper I created some tags using Steampunk themed images to tie it all in,

Again my pieces were coloured in the waxes and I also added a metal cog here too,

Here I simply used various sizes of the cogs, keeping some in their original colour for contrast,

Here as well as the cogs I added the lovely little pipe still in it's original colour too,

Then lastly the fabulous Glasses and and another awesome time piece from the mini set style 3,

For the lid of the exploding box I used more Images off the Mini style style 3 set, using the same colours as inside,

Calico Craft Parts used:

Steampunk Mechanicals Clockworks style 14

Steampunk Mini Motifs Style 3

I will be back later this month with another project for 

Calico Craft Parts to share with you,

Do check out the awesome products they have for you to play with!!

Happy Crafting,

Hugs Liz x