Book of Secrets!

I've been doing something new! I've never taken part in an online workshop before but I'm currently doing Andy Skinner's Book of Secrets one and having fun! Andy gets some fantastic finishes on his projects and steampunk is way outside my normal comfort zone so I decided to sign up and see what I could learn.

This post is a bit picture-heavy - sorry!

Andy uses a wooden box as the base for his tutorials but I decided to take the "book" part of the workshop title literally and I've used a real book as the base for my project. The people who owned our house before us left behind loads of "books by the yard" and we've never done anything with them. I chose one that looked extremely unlikely to have any financial or cultural value and set to work!

One of the things I struggle with on steampunk is the "more is more" aspect. I find it difficult to add lots of stuff and still feel happy with the overall composition. I think I did OK here and I didn't go for a straight copy of Andy's sample (trying to copy something is always a recipe for disaster at my craft table!).

The "power indicators" (flat back gems) were something that struck me as a fun addition to the mechanical components.

Andy adds dates to his large compass with metal punches. I liked the idea but didn't have the punches to achieve it. What I did have was an embossing tool with interchangable tips that my dad picked up for me at a car boot sale (thanks Dad!). I used it with a hammer to add detail right round the inside of the compass. I think it works quite well.

The spine has been given a leather-look makeover. It's not easy to tell that the book started life as a blue cloth-bound hardback and I think this would probably look quite convincing lined up with other volumes on a shelf!




I carved out a niche inside the book for the inner workings of the machine. I thought a butterfly would provide a suitably unexpected power house for a steampunk contraption and the light/bright colouring makes a nice contrast to the industrial tones.

Lessons for niche carving - be prepared to even up the right hand side once the pages are glued together as there's a surprising gradient on the pages of a closed book!  The slope on the left goes towards the spine and can't be seen but the slope on the right obviously goes into the niche itself.

Here's a detail of the texture on the cogs - nice and rusty!



Supplies:
Old book
Tand Creative chipboard shapes (Compass Duo and Cogs grab bag)
Die cuts
Cardstock
Lamp black, Burnt umber, Burnt sienna Americana Acrylic paints by DecoArt
Texturizing medium by DecoArt
Brads, googly eyes, flatback pearls and gems
Sun charm (saved from a freebie chiffon scarf)
Wings stamp set (Darkroom Door)
"Engine" and number from a retired B&O Railroad set (CHF)
Ranger Perfect Pearls
Copic markers

This is not quite complete yet - I need to do the back and as the niche only goes about half way down the depth of the book I've stuck together some pages so I have a couple of surfaces to decorate. I got distracted into trying a second project though, I'll share that soon!

The Book of Secrets workshop is running again at the end of the month - details of what it entails are here if anyone would like them.

Thanks for stopping by!

Postcard extras!

I may have got just a little carried away with postcard making when I got going on the Bubbly Funk swap! I did an extra couple with the same sort of look and feel as the first but different compositions.

I used old music paper as the base layer on this one rather than using the music stamp as a background which has made the colour slightly different as it was a more yellowy base under the Bundled Sage ink.

I thought the ornate italic font of the sentiment went well on here!

Bubble border, butterflies and Copic colouring as before.

For the third one I wanted to mimic the vertical lines of bubbles that appear in the forum header. I made dots with a Versamark pen and heat embossed with white powder  before inking the background.

I used the same trick as I did on the original card of stamping with a Copic cap and tiny rubber washer  to make bubbles and then stamped the sheet music background and wording randomly over the top.

Stamps:
Wings set (Darkroom Door)
Bubble Border (Lost Coast Designs)
Aged Sheet Music Scrapblock (Cornish Heritage Farms, retired)

Paper:
Cryogen white
Old sheet music

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Bundled Sage)

Other:
White embossing powder 
Copic markers

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a lovely weekend!

 

Bubbly Funk postcard swap

My long-time favourite crafty forum is Bubbly Funk - great bunch of crafters and a lovely community feeling. We're having a postcard swap and I set the theme. I used the forum's header for inspiration and gave people the choice between:

1. Use any combination of butterflies, lace, bubbles and music
2. Use at least three from light green, pink, grey, black and ivory

I combined the two using all except ivory in the colour scheme and everything except lace for the images. I floated bubbles up out of the stamped border by using the cap off one of my Copics and a tiny rubber washer pressed into the Bundled Sage ink pad. I added some shading to a few bubbles with Copics and some Stickles to a few for sparkle.

The focal butterfly is coloured with three shades of pink Copic and the rest are grey. Aged sheet music stamped tone-on-tone adds some background interest (I masked the big butterfly but not the others and aimed for a hit-and-miss coverage with the stamp for a slightly shabby look).

Stamps:
Wings set (Darkroom Door)
Bubble Border (Lost Coast Designs)
Aged Sheet Music Scrapblock (Cornish Heritage Farms, retired)

Paper:
Cryogen white
Black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Bundled Sage)

Other:
Copic markers
Stickles (Frosted Lace)

I'm sending to Wendy, hope she likes it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuneful postcard?

It's nearly the end of the month and that means we're approaching the deadline for the August postcard swap on UKStampers. Sam wanted us to take inspiration from a favourite song this time.

I struggled with this as I don't really have a favourite song. The thing that kept coming back to me while I tried to decide though was Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez.

I picked up on a few lyrics (brown leaves swirling all around, eyes bluer than robins' eggs and the opening line for the printed text) and the title. Full lyrics are here if anyone is intrigued enough to want them.

I embedded the gems in loads of Glossy Accents and spread some Stickles around as well so I'm hoping they'll make it through the post intact! I was tempted to cheat and just go with the diamond shape of the embossing folder but decided that bottom corner really did need something. I'm still  not really happy with the balance overall but I'm not going to have time for another attempt so decided to live with it - hope the recipient doesn't regret my decision!

Stamps:
Falling Leaves (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous)
Nest (CHF, retired)

Paper: 
Cryogen white,
Tim Holtz kraft core

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by  Ranger (Wild Honey, Tea Dye, vintage Photo)
Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)

Other:
Copic markers
Tim Holtz Texture Fade embossing folder
Gems
Glossy Accents
Frosted Lace Stickles

Tidbit of the day - the ex to whom she's singing the song is Bob Dylan (he also wrote a song about their relationship - Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands if I remember correctly)

Thanks for stopping by!

Sun, sea and sand

The Design Team at Tando Creative is going seasonal this week and being inspired by "sun, sea and sand".

I've made a simple ATC using one of the white board shapes as a base. I love the fact they're really sturdy so they're easy to handle and you don't need to stick anything on the back of your work to make it feel stable.

Small stamps are perfect to create "holiday snapshots" in the film strip cells and I've added a paperclay starfish that has been in my stash for years - I made it in a polymer clay mould that was created from a real starfish that was in a bowl of decorative shells I picked up in a charity shop.

Supplies:
Chipboard ATC (Tando Creative)
Seaside stamp set (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)
Black card
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)
Versafine ink by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Adirondack ink by Ranger (Espresso)
 Filmstrip die (Tim Holtz Alterations/Sizzix)
Copic markers
Paperclay starfish

Thanks for stopping by!

Inchies necklace

We're using metallics as our design inspiration at Tando Creative this week.

I seem to be on a bit of a jewellery kick at the moment! I've used three inchies and gently round the corners (I do love that tiny ⅛" on the newer Corner Chomper!) as well as punching holes with a Crop-o-Dile.

Each inchie is done with a different metallic finish. I used three coats of silver UTEE on each square and a layer of Perfect Pearls on two of them (both from the Metallics kit - one Gold, one Bronze). I pressed a stamp into the warm UTEE for texture. I've then glazed them with Decoart Triple Thick - the last time I tried this I used Glossy Accents and it really didn't work (it didn't dry evenly and it split apart in several places so the piece ended up in the bin). I was impressed with the Triple Thick in this regard, it dried evenly and with no problems.

I added jump rings to each piece, filled with more Triple Thick and then finished with a contrasting metallic colour once dry.

The inchies are joined together with jump rings and attached to a necklace chain through a little piece of aluminium tubing superglued to the top one.

The surfaces are shiny enough that it made photographing it a bit of a nightmare but I hope you get the idea!

Supplies:
Chipboard inchies (Tando Creative)
Silver UTEE 
Silver acrylic paint
Crackleglaze background stamp (Indigo Blu)
Perfect Pearls by Ranger (Gold and Bronze)
Jump rings
Aluminium tubing
Triple Thick glaze by Decoart

Thanks for stopping by!

Button necklace

The challenge for July over on Tando Creative Challenges is to use texture of some sort on your project. Lots of samples have already been posted this month - I'm part of the rear guard action!

I used a big chipboard button from the grab bag, coloured it black with a Copic marker and created texture with an embossing folder for this pendant.

After embossing, the surface is dabbed with Versamark and I've added Perfect Pearls in three colours (Gold, Copper and Bronze - all from the Metallics kit) and used a length snipped from a bamboo skewer to secure a chain through the button's holes. It's simple to do - just thread the chain from the back of the button through the first hole, wrap round the skewer (I went round twice) and back down through the hole. Come up through the second hole, wrap round the skewer and go back down through the hole. Juggle the two ends as necessary by easing through the holes and round the skewer so you get even lengths of chain each side.

Supplies:
Chipboard button grab bag (Tando Creative)
So Trendy M-Bossabilites folder (Spellbinder)
Black Copic marker
Versamark (Tsukineko)
Gold, Copper and Bronze Perfect Pearls (Ranger)
Bamboo skewer
Chain

I've made my first ever tutorial video to demonstrate the process - constructve criticism very welcome! If you'd like go through to YouTube instead of watching it embedded here, the description area has a "checklist" of the steps involved that you can copy and print if you want to have a go yourself and would like a reference on hand.

There's still time to join in the challenge and be in with a chance of your name being pulled out of the hat to win a great prize at the end of the month - check out the blog and add your link if you'd like to play along!

Thanks for stopping by!

Steampunk circles

We're going round and round at Tando Creative this week,  taking our design inspiration from"circles". Lots of possibilities with this one! I've used one of the jewellery shapes that's based around fused circles and gone a bit steampunk with it, adding cogs that are circular too!


I started by colouring the frame (including the edges) black with a Copic marker and then gave it a couple of coats of silver UTEE, leaving that "orange peel" effect you get when you don't aim for full coverage. I used a bit of black acrylic paint to further highlight that texture.

I added text papers from an old book to the base piece and knocked them back a bit with a smudge of gesso. A stamped clockface stuck to a glass pebble fills the largest circle and I added a stamped swirl plus some holeless beads with some silver paint (to mimic ball bearings) to the one above. I punched a hole through the top circle for a pendant cord and added a few more fake bearings.

The teardrop shape is fill with Glossy Accents and has some tiny cogs embedded in there. They were mostly black plastic so they've been treated with silver acrylic paint. The one that hangs over the edge of the frame has a watch winder with a tiny blue gemstone stuck in the centre.

Supplies:
Jewellery Circle Pendant Straight (Tando Creative)
Silver UTEE
Black and silver acrylic paints
Old book
Gesso
Stamps from Inchie Style (CHF, retired)
Tiny cogs
2mm holeless beads
Glossy Accents
Glass pebble

If you're looking for Tando stockists you can find a list here.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Childhood memories

The theme for this month's postcard swap on UK Stampers is "childhood".

If anybody picked a random day in my childhood and took a peek, they'd probably see a little girl with slightly red hair, pale skin and her nose in a book. I'd be surprised if there were many days that didn't involve reading somewhere along the line.

So I picked one of my favourite Crafty Secrets stamps and, inspired by a memory of a make-over by Sophie LaFontaine, I turned the little boy into a little girl!

I started with a page from a story book stuck to some card and lightly covered with gesso. There's a local business that sells packs of paper ephemera, mostly pages resuced from books that are not fit to be sold on in their entirety - this is a page from one of those packs.

The wording and swirls are stamped directly onto the page, the little reader was stamped, coloured, cut out and stuck on. I used watercolour crayons to add some background colour in the doodled circle - I thought the colour could represent the colourful world of the imagination bringing the words to life.

Stamps:
Story of Me (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)
Big Inspiration and Storybook (both CHF, retired)
Paper: Book page and smooth white
Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Other:
Copic markers
Gesso
Neocolour II watersoluble pastels
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Big Buttons

In keeping with the haberdashery theme I mentioned last time, I decorated some chipboard buttons from the grab bag. The large buttons are a good size and I think they'd make lovely one-off embellies on scrapbook pages, frames, memory boxes etc - you could knot a ribbon through and add a stick pin and charm for a unique embellie cluster!

I embossed the square ones with a Cuttlebug folder (Textile Texture is good for this because of the small scale pattern) having coloured them red, white and blue first. I then used a tiny amount of gold acrylic paint on my finger tip to highlight the textured pattern before triple embossing with UTEE.  

Supplies:

Tando Creative chipboard button

Distress Fired Brick, Adirondack Stonewashed and Versamark inks

Cuttlebug Textile Texture embossing folder

Gold acylic paint

Clear UTEE

I think the white round button is my favourite of all of these! For this set, I stamped the swirl and embossed with white powder and then used Distress ink to colour the buttons (using the embossed pattern as a resist). Again, they're finished with three coats of UTEE - the original embossed pattern gets encapsulated in the thick clear coating.

Supplies:

Tando Creative chipboard button

Distress Fired Brick and Antique Linen, Adirondack Stonewashed and Versamark inks

Ornamental Beauty stamp set (CHF)
Detail white embossing powder
 Clear UTEE

Thanks for stopping by!