Creative Paperclay DT Tryout

Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog.  Today, I am trying out for the Creative Paperclay design team.  Creative Paperclay® is a non-toxic modeling material that can be sculpted, molded or shaped, and air dries (no baking!) to a hard finish that can be carved or sanded.

The idea for my project was inspired by Terri Sproul's weekly live show, Mix It Up With Terri Sproul, at http://www.linqto.com/rooms/terrisproul, where she teaches new techniques each week.  She is teaching us about the basics of Zentangle, and we are all encouraged to play along and try this fun art form in our own art journals.  I have tons of mixed media type paper pads, so I decided to make my own art journal. But, I needed a special embellishment for the cover. Hmmmm......   what to do, what to do?

I did not want the whole cover done in Zentangle, but instead, I wanted something representative of Zentangle.  Then I got this wonderful idea to make a focal piece for the cover using Creative Paperclay.  I am so excited to share this with you.  I call this my faux zentangle technique.

How perfect is this for the cover of my book of Zentangle patterns?

1.  Using the plastic packaging from a 7Gypsies embellishment package as a mold, I pressed Paperclay into the largest opening.

2.  Remove the Paperclay from the package and trim with a craft knife.

3.  Make tiny tick marks around the circumference using a toothpick or skewer.

4.  Remove the ink cartridge from a ballpoint pen and use the empty tip to make circular indentations just inside the tick marks previously made.

5.  Make more textures, as shown, using various metal texture tools.  (Note:  Cake making tools, as well as clay tools, also work well for this.  Let your imagination lead you.)  Allow Paperclay to dry.

6.  Spray piece with Glimmer Mist colors.  You can speed up the drying time with your heat gun.

7.  I am crazy for weathered copper.  I love the greenish blue patina color that develops on the metal.  That is the look I was going for.  I achieved these colors by lightly applying Copper gilder's paste with my finger, just highlighting the high spots.  Next, I used a water brush to apply Black Soot distress stain, then dry brushing Tarnished Brass distress stain over the top.  There is no real recipe.  Just play with the colors until you like it.

Voila!  My focal image is finished.

Now, I need a book to adhere it to.

8.  To make the book, I cut two pieces of heavy duty chipboard to measure 8-1/4" x 8-1/4".

9.  Cover both sides of each piece of chipboard with printed papers.  Distress edges with Aged Mahogany distress stain.

10.  Cut drawing paper to 8" x 8".  Cut as many pieces as you want for your book.

11.  Follow the directions on your binding tool to punch holes in the chipboard and pages to bind your book.

12.  Die cut pearl gold specialty paper using lacy oval die.

13.  Adhere oval to center of book cover.  Center and adhere Paperclay focal piece to the center of the oval.  I added a light coat of 3D Crystal Lacquer to the top of the piece, which gives it this nice shine and a deeper color.

14.  Add trims, flowers, leaves, and gem flourishes to embellish the cover as desired.

Supplies Used:

Creative Paperclay air dry clay
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (Dragonfly, Mistletoe, Crushed Shells)
12x12 Printed Scrapbook Paper (My Mind's Eye)
MercArt metal embossing tools (clay or cake making tools can be used)
Empty ball point pen
Toothpick or wooden skewer
Copper Gilder's Paste (Baroque Art)
Distress Stain (Black Soot, Tarnished Brass, Aged Mahogany)
Water brush (or paint small brush)
Lacy Oval die (Spellbinders)
3D Crystal Lacquer (Sakura)
Chipboard
80 lb Drawing Paper (Strathmore)
Binding Tool (WRMK Cinch)
Red O-Wires (WRMK)
Alphabet stickers (Prima)
Various trims, flowers, leaves, and gem flourishes from Prima, Paper Studio, Michaels

I hope you have enjoyed my faux zentangle technique using Creative Paperclay.  This is such a fun product and so easy to use.  There are so many wonderful things you can make with it, and you are only limited by your imagination.

Thanks for stopping by, and remember to come back tomorrow, April 12,  for The Daisy Days blog hop, sponsored by The Robin's Nest.  Each blog will be giving away a Daisy Package worth $15, and there will also be one grand prize worth $25 from The Robin's Nest online store.

Have a wonderful, creative week!

Barbara

Sin City Scraps Design Team Application

Hello everyone, and welcome back to my blog.  Once again, I am throwing my hat in the ring and trying out for the Sin City Scraps Design Team.  I am so excited to be trying out for such a wonderful company because I truly love their stamps and all of their other products. Did you know that some of their stamps are designed to coordinate with select Lifestyle Crafts (aka Quickutz) dies?  Did you also know that Sin City stamps are designed, pressed, and packaged in-house, enabling them to charge less than their competitors.  Isn't that fantastic!  

So, without further adieu, here is the project I made, and how I made it.  It is one of my favorite forms of altered art, a Triptych.

Cut two strips of Tyvek from a postal envelope approximately 2" x 4-1/2" and glue between the three chipboard pennants, forming a hinge.

Leave a gap between the chipboard pennants to allow for hinge movement.

Paint all edges, including the hinges, with black and brown acrylic paint.

Cover each chipboard base with a 4" x 6" piece of the Prima printed paper.

Front side of Triptych

Reverse side of Triptych

Triptych Panel 1

Die cut chipboard dress form, paint with brown and black acrylic paint, then dry brush metallic olive paint over that.  Stamp mannequin onto manilla card stock, color with colored pencils.  Add 3D crystal lacquer to grass and butterfly images.  Let dry.  Attach stamped image to chipboard dress form.  Trim excess chipboard.  Add charms, as shown.

Dust a red velour metal flower with Red Pearl Mixer.  

Glue to Panel 1 over wing charms.  Add Prima Junkyard Findings zipper pull, as shown.

Stamp "Treasure" onto a piece of linen burlap trim.  Attach snap and charm, adhere to panel, as shown.

Triptych Panel 2

Paint a wooden doll house window with brown and black acrylic paint.  Adhere black plastic gutter guard to back of window.  Glue to center panel 2.  

Adhere Prima flower vine and metal bird nest charm, as shown above.

Stamp two bird images onto Specialty Stamping paper using black archival ink.  Add color using both distress inks and colored pencils.  

Cut out each bird and glue to window, as shown.  

Triptych Panel 3

Color wooden flourish with distress inks and glue to panel, as shown above.  Attach metal gear and flower charms to the flourish, as shown.  Mix a tiny amount of 3D crystal lacquer with a smidgen of Red Pearl Mixer to make a paint and apply to edges of metal flower.

Stamp small clock image onto manilla card stock.  Color with distress inks.  Coat with Crackle Accents and let dry.  Adhere to panel, as shown.

Stamp into Creative Paperclay that has been rolled out to approximately 1/4".  Trim around the image with a craft knife, and smooth edges with fingers, if needed.

Poke a hole in the center of the Paperclay, and apply Red Pearl Mixer (powder) to the Paperclay.  Allow the Paperclay to dry. You can use your heat tool, carefully, to speed up the process a bit.   However, the paperclay will probably take 24 hours or more to dry thoroughly.  Apply a coat of Luminarte Metallic Olive Green paint to the Paperclay, and wipe off excess paint with a wet wipe or wet paper towel.  Continue adding and removing paint until you like it. 

Stamp image again onto a piece of specialty stamping paper using black archival ink, dry ink with heat tool.  Add distress ink colors to the image and fussy cut the woman and tiny balloon images.

  

Adhere to the same areas in the Paperclay.  Insert a brad through the Prima clock hands and through the hole you made earlier in the center of the Paperclay.

Whew!  You're done.  In case you forgot what the finished piece looks like, here it is again.  

Finished triptych laying flat

Products Used:

Sin City Scraps sc5 - Mannequin Tags 2

Sin City Scraps sc3 - Clocks and Birds

Paper Accents Arched Chipboard Pennant

Wooden doll house window

Prima Romance Novel papers

Prima Flowers-Pixie Vine-Almanac

Prima Junkyard Findings 

Maya Road Linen Burlap Trim

Creative Paperclay

Terri Sproul Mixers (Red Pearl)

Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer

Kaisercraft wooden flourishes

Ranger Crackle Accents

Luminart Metallic Olive Green Paint

Ranger Manilla card stock

Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper

Black Archival Ink

Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations die - Sewing Room

Bead Landing Beads and Charms

Black plastic gutter guard

Black and brown acrylic paints

Distress Inks (various colors)

Lyra colored pencils

Tyvek postal envelope

I sure hope you enjoyed my project today.  I had an awful lot of fun making it, and I am very pleased how it turned out.  I absolutely love my stamps from Sin City Scraps, and I encourage you to check out their online store to see for yourself.  Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope you will visit often.  

Tips and Techniques Thursday

Hello again, and welcome back to another Thursday edition of my tips and techniques.  Today I  am concentrating on a technique, as promised from my post last week.  I showed you that you can take your plastic packaging from some of the embellishments you buy and use them to make more.  You just need to look at it and see if you think it will work well.  (See my post from last Thursday).  In the photo below, you can see some of the pieces I made from packaging plastic, with the exception of the flower.  I used a Vintaj Arte Metal flower as my mold.  I used Paperclay to make the pieces.  It is an air dry clay and very easy to work with.  Just follow the directions on the package.  Drying time also depends on your weather.

The first piece, pictured below, is the one I made using the Vintaj Arte Metal charm.  I first colored the flowered with Amethyst Vintaj Patina.  

Next, I used Gold Leaf Rub n Buff and Copper Gilder's Paste, which acted as a bit of a resist when I added the Onyx Vintaj Patina over the entire flower.  I was attempting to tone down the color a bit.  

I used a soft cloth to remove the black color, and much to my surprise, some of the rub n buff and gilder's paste came off as well, revealing the amethyst color once again.  I was very pleased with this outcome.  

My next piece is the cute little owl.  I first colored him with Clay and Quartz Vintaj Patinas.  I removed some of the Quartz color and then added Onyx Vintaj Patina, with just a tiny dot of Quartz, to color his eyes.  I still wanted to shabby him up a bit, so I put a thin watered down wash of Onyx Vintaj Patina all over him and then quickly removed it.  It was just enough to make him look old.  I think he looks like he was carved from a piece of wood, and then left in someone's barn for awhile.  What do you think?

My last piece was also made using the plastic packaging shown in my last week's post, but it broke while I was working with it.  I first added Gold Leaf Rub n Buff, Verdigris and Copper Gilder's Paste, then a heavy wash of Onyx Vintaj Patina.  I removed the Onyx color, and again, much to my surprise, the pastes were acting as resists, and their colors shown through once again.  As I buffed the piece with my cloth, the shine started showing up, and it began to look more and more like a piece of metal.  

Even though the piece broke, I was able to salvage it by gluing it back together and covering the break with a gem stone.  I planned on using one in the middle anyway, so this just turned out not to be a big deal.  We can fix a lot of our mistakes if we just put our minds to it.  

I hope you enjoyed this week's edition of tips and techniques Thursday.  I will be going on hiatus for a few weeks to take care of some things, as well as get my studio back in some sort of order.  I will still be posting as usual, just not my Thursday tips and techniques for a little while.  

I will, however, be back soon enough, and until them, please come back often and see what I'm up to.  

Many crafting hugs to you all,

Barbara