Steampunk Birthday Tag for SanDee&amelie's June 2020 Steampunk Challenge

Hi, servus and welcome to the launch of our June challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges! Over at our challenge blog a new challenge and some new inspirational projects by my wonderful design team are awaiting you!

The theme is as always "Anything Goes - Steampunk/Industrial" - so just enjoy some steampunk or industrial style fun the way that makes you feel best and play along! As always we will give away two prizes from our generous sponsors DecoArt and boozybear - so don't miss the chance to win one of these! ;)

My make for June is a birthday tag with loads of delicious crackle and a special mechanical heart!

I had been given a lovely dies set to create a steampunk heart with loads of cogs and gears quite some time ago and now it was finally time to play with it!

A lot of paint layers, dry brushing, toning down and highlighting again went into my steampunk heart and I really loved building my own mechanics by die cutting some of the gears several times and combining the many different parts in a playful way. Next time I use this heart it will for sure have a different mechanism ;)


I started by die cutting the heart's base and all the cogs and gears from heavy black cardstock. To make the heart even more sturdy I cut another heart shape from some cardboard packaging to glue it behind the die cut heart.

I used the "Foundry" 3D embossing folder to add some texture to the die cut heart before I glued the sturdy back to it. Then I started building "clusters" of cogs and gears. As some of the pieces were really tiny, I used diluted DecoArt matte Decou-Page and a detail brush to apply the glue and to fix the small bits to their proper spots.

This is how my finished heart looked once it was ready to get painted:

I started by dry brushing on layers of DecoArt premium Titan Buff and Burnt Sienna acrylic paints.

Then I went for a rusty, brown-ish look and added more dry brushed layers - this time I used Titan Buff, Burnt Sienna, Quinacridone Gold Hue and Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide.

I actually liked that, but I wanted to go for something a bit brighter - so I decided to add a bit of "patina" by dry brushing some spots with Cobalt Teal Hue.

I loved that version too...but for this particular tag I had a background in mind that would need something more contrasting and bright...so I decided to try a third version (isn't it a good thing that you can paint over acrylics again and again?).

I toned everything down with a subtle dry brushed on layer of Carbon Black and then kind of started anew - though the layers that were already there were definitely adding a lot of depth to the end result - so these weren't done in vain.

This time I started by dry brushing the centre of the heart with Titan Buff first, letting the intensity of the layers fade out towards the outer edges. I added about three layers of Titan Buff this way, making sure they all faded out nicely and turned the very centre brighter and brighter. Next I made the centre the brightest spot by adding Titanium White and not spreading that too much. That was the base for the colours to follow: mixes of Titan Buff and Diarylide Yellow, Diarylide Yellow and Vermillion Hue, Vermillion Hue and Pyrrole Red but also the pure colours in between to achieve a kind of blend with the most intense red in the centre.

Yep! I definitely liked that and it was perfect to contrast the background colour I had in mind for my tag. But first I added DecoArt Metallic Lustres Black Shimmer and Radiant Red here and there using my fingertip.

My tag (which was die cut from very thick grey board) first got a thorough layer of DecoArt Americana Lamp Black acrylic paint and one that had dried I applied a generous layer of DecoArt Weathered Wood. I made sure I changed direction while brushing on the crackle medium - this way I would get nice variations of the cracks' directions.

Once the Weathered Wood had dried to the touch I used a very soft wide flat brush to gently apply a layer of DecoArt Chalky Finish paint "vintage". I didn't cover the tag's edges so a black border would remain visible.

The crackling happens so fast that you shouldn't work over the same area twice! 

I definitely liked the result! The very tiny cracks where there is only a very thin layer of paint - and the larger ones where the paint was applied thicker.

To repeat the red from the heart I sprinkled some drops of red DecoArt media Mister to the tag.
I also applied some Black Shimmer Metallic Lustre around the tag's edges.

Next I toned everything down with a very thin wash of Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide media fluid acrylic paint.

The background was still missing some interest - so I added a bit of stencilling  using some of Andy Skinner's DecoArt stencils and DecoArt Americana acrylic paint French Vanilla.

On top of that I added another thin wash - this time of English Red Oxide.
To finish off my tag I added a word sticker that I shaded in using my Stabilo All pencil and a wet brush. The heart was fixed to the tag using very thick sticky foam pads for additional dimension.

Done! 

Some detail shots: 

I hope you like my tag! There are a lot of different dies sets out there to create this kind of layered steampunk heart - so I am sure you will find the one you like best. And of course the techniques shown and the design can be used on any other kind of theme.

I hope to see you over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges soon! And I promise you will love the team's inspirational projects this month!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

Mistaken for a Flower - a Calico Craft Parts Tag

Hi, servus and welcome back after the summer holidays!
I hope you have all enjoyed a great time outdoors and could cope well with the extreme heat!

Today's Calico Craft Parts project was done while I was at Lake Atter, enjoying our usual stay at our favourite summer resort. I had taken a tool box with me this year - filled with some of my favourite go-to media, paints and products, some prepared die cuts and substrates and a box of paper scraps of all kinds to chose from. I also knew that I would receive one of my Calico Craft Parts design team parcels there, so I had ordered some plain MDF tags and plaques in various sizes for whatever project would cross my mind during the holidays.

What would you pack for a five weeks holiday away from your studio?

It's really hard to decide, isn't it?  In the last years I always felt I was forced to leave too much good stuff at home, so I didn't take anything at all with me and focused on knitting or crocheting instead. But there were always moments when I was so inspired to do a specific project only to find that my studio with all the stuff I wanted to use for it was far far away and out of reach.

But this summer things were different due to a special item I bought last autumn....and I also found I obviously had packed a real good combo of stuff that worked pretty well for me - if you want to know more about that specific item and the other things I took on hols this summer I have a list and some pictures about that over in today's Calico Craft Parts blog post as well. ;)

This sneak peek already gives away some of the stuff I obviously had in my tool box...but what to use to create a butterfly's feelers from when you do not have any thin wire at hand? Well, this secret will be revealed over at the Calico Craft Parts blog too and of course there's a little how-to as well. 

Mostly it is found objects that spark creative ideas and during the summer holidays we spend a lot of time out in nature - mainly in the forest and on beautiful hiking trails around or up on the mountains there. We also go hunting for fossils and already have some favourite spots to go to. But this year an old big rusty nail which was a find right in front of the farm house where we spend our holidays in inspired me to create a tag and I hope you will love it as much as I do, once you have checked it out over at the Calico Craft Parts blog. Simply click HERE to get taken to the blog post there. 

Hope to see you over there!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

Skeleton Key - a Mixed Media Assemblage with DecoArt media

Hi, servus and welcome to a short post today, in which I would like to invite you over to the DecoArt Mixed Media Blog, where my latest DT make has just gone live.

I love collecting ephemera and found objects of all kinds. Beautiful pages from old dictionaries make fantastic backgrounds, but also offer beautiful vintage words to use in your art. Assemblage art is the perfect way to use some of your treasures and turn them into a piece of art that will beautifully display them and give them new meaning. And with the aid of one or the other DecoArt media product you can fuse all your treasures into one piece of assemblage art that tells stories of beauty and decay.

Some of you may remember that I have shared this detail shot on facebook (and maybe instagram too) a while ago...

...now I can finally show you the finished project:

To find out how I did it and which media I used simply click HERE to get taken to the DecoArt Mixed Media Blog post. Hope to see you over there!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

"Steampunk City" ATCs for SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges

Servus, hi and welcome to the mid-month projects share over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges!


The challenge theme is once more "Anything Goes - Steampunk/Industrial" - so you are free to create whatever makes you happy (as long as it meets our few challenge rules of course).

Team B - which I am part of - have again put a lot of love and labour into creating some awesomely inspiring projects for you! And we already have a lot of amazing entries from our wonderful players (not to forget about the fab makes of Team A)...so there's a lot to find and check out over at our challenge blog (and I am so proud of what the small challenge blog that Sandra and I set up four years ago has become!!!)


This time my April project was done using stuff from my latest Tim Holtz haul. ;)

There's a lot of traffic going on on my "Steampunk City" ATCs! Zeppelins are floating by and shiny metal dust flakes from the many factories cloud the air. Gear shaped drones are monitoring everything that happens down in the narrow streets...these are adventurous times for tough steampunk explorers! 

These are actually altered playing cards but very close to ATCs regarding their size and format...

The playing cards were first covered with old book pages on both sides (so they do not warp!) and then blended with various Distress Oxide inks and spritzed with water to activate the oxidizing process.

The Zeppelins (a flonzcraft design) were stamped onto the cards and partially coloured with a white gel pen. 

The "Cityscape" skyline was die cut from Kraft card that I had used the Distress Oxide inks on as well but then had to darken it with walnut stain to make their silhouette pop from the background.

They were glued to the background and outlined with a white gel pen and a black permanent marker. 

I added some of the fab new Tim Holtz "Aristocrat" design tapes to the bottom. 

Then I stamped on some gears (that are meant to be "drones") and doodled on them with the white gel pen too. Afterwards I sprinkled on whatever metal spray inks and paints I had - from gold and "brushed pewter" to opaque white. 

The cards' edges were darkened using black archival stamping ink and a piece of cut'n dry foam. Done!

After seeing the finished APCs I found that it would also have been a cool effect if I had stamped the Zeppelins across the touching cards so they would float by from card to card...guess I will have to do some more... ;)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you over at our challenge blog soon! Please, visit my teamies' blogs and leave them a little love if you are able to spare a second or two!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

Hip to be Square

I finally managed to not only have a wonderful messy time at my workdesk but also help myself to one of Seth Apter's wonderful workshops - an online one of course because I am one of approximately ten mixed media lovers in the whole of Austria - so the really good live workshops are all too far away. lol

But there are several pros to doing workshops online (as long as you don't feel the urge to be part of the hype and among those who are the first to try and show the actual styles and techniques) - one I especially appreciate is that you can do them at your own pace and also use different materials or simply adapt techniques you learn to your own work (which isn't something you manage to do in a live class).

[edit - you can buy and download his workshop by clicking HERE.   ]

I learned some really awesome techniques watching Seth Apter do "his thing". Seth - being a recognized artist - definitely knows what he is doing and it is such a joy to listen to him and his ways of explaining art and how to approach it.
And as I recently managed to get me some of his (also older) dies and stamps I decided to finally jump right in and play around.

And this is the result after several days of playing with paint, mono printing technques and arranging pieces:

There isn't much to explain - as that would mean giving away workshop content - but I can tell you what I used to create my mixed media board:

I used DecoArt Americana Chalky Finish paints, Viva Decor Rusty Paper and Patina, DecoArt Dazzling Metallics paint, DecoArt media black Gesso, dark brown and black archival stamping inks, a Kaisercraft stamp, Seth Apter stamps and Spellbinders dies and matte Decou-page.

The squares I used were blanks to make your own "pairs" game (or "Memory" as it is called in German).

Some close ups:

and once more the finished project:

and my desk as it has been looking during the last days....

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you are all doing fine! 

Hugs and happy crafting,

Claudia

xxx 

Altered Playing Card with DecoArt Media Crackle Paint

Hi and servus!

I have another DecoArt tutorial for you today that will go live on the DecoArt Mixed Media Blog (or already has...I never really manage to calculate time zones properly *rollingeyes)! Did you know that when you use DecoArt Media Crackle Paste you can create dimensional projects in no time? Well...check out my project and tutorial!

Here's an image of the finished project, so you know what awaits you over at the Mixed Media Blog:

If you have some left over embellishments you would like to use up, if you want to create but only have little time or if you simply want to get messy (in that specific good, creative way), this is the perfect project for you! I hope you will like my tutorial!

Hugs and happy crafting,

Claudia 

xxx

The "Geistesblitzgenerator"!

Servus, hello and welcome back to my little creative spot!

I am glad you stop by and before I continue I want to thank all those who have been taking the time to leave their comments with me since I started this blog - I really appreciate that a lot and they also mean a lot (of encouragement) to me. So thank you very much! (We all know that comments are what keeps us going, don't we? ;)

Well, here's my new invention! The "Geistesblitzgenerator" - which is German for "flash of genius-generator". By sharing this project with you today I want to invite you to take a look at or even play along with our actual "Anything Goes - Steampunk/Industrial" challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges.

The idea originated from several days of mojo-less suffering - trying to figure out what I could create for our steampunk challenge. I knew that I wanted to use some of the awesome steampunk chipboard pieces from our second prize sponsor "boozybear"...and I knew I wanted to arrange them to give a machine-like impression. But which kind of machine?

The final kick off needed came from our short trip last weekend when we visited one of my favourite places - Castle Bernstein in Burgenland. There is a small museum at the foot of the castle hill that shows old mining equipment and machines and I took a picture of this little digger:

I loved the rust working through the coat of yellow varnish and all the rusty texture!

And my plan was to recreate this exact look - but I still didn't know what kind of machine I would want to "build"...well...as usual when this happens I decided to simply start and find out where the project might take me...as long as there was yellow and rust and loads of gears...

So here's what I used:

parts of three packs of boozybear chipboard pieces

and a lot of DecoArt Media Fluid Arcylic paints and mediums: 

I started with playing around with the "mechanicals" and "lightbulb" chipboard pieces until I had found the "right spots" to make them look  a bit machine like. Then I glued them to the wooden block (a find from the sales section of a home decor shop) using matte DecoArt Decou-Page.

Next I gave everything a thick (stippled on) coat of Raw Umber heavy body acrylic paint. After that had dried I stippled on two layers of DecoArt Americana "Primary Yellow" acrylic paint.

After that had dried, I applied DecoArt Media Texture Sand Paste in some spots - using my fingertip and a small palette knife.

I let that dry too and then started dry brushing the piece with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics "Raw Umber" and "Dark Grey"

I also added first shades of English Red Oxide - dry brushing it on and also applying a light wash.

Then I built up layers of paint - dry brushing them mainly onto my piece - using an old bristle brush and a soft flat brush. 

Paynes Grey:

Quinacridone Gold:

Paynes Grey again:

I also added mixes of  Quinacridone Gold, English Red Oxide, Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide and Diarylide Yellow here and there for more depth and richness in colour.

I painted some drip lines too and toned everything down with a wash of English Red Oxide.

Next I needed the icy blue spark that jumps from the lever to the light bulb. I used a little bit of wire and applied some matte Decou-Page to it with a soft brush. Then I dipped this piece of wire into various sorts of glitter and let that dry:

I drilled a tiny hole into the chipboard and inserted the wire into it - fixing it with matte Decou-Page. Once that was dry I added some dashes of Primary Yellow to blend my spark in.

The ramifications were painted directly onto the lightbulb using a white gel pen and a light blue marker. 

I still needed a sign though. As I didn't have a stamp that matched, I searched the internet for a stencil font I liked, mirrored the word on the computer and printed it out in matching size.

I used DecoArt Americana Decor Image Transfer and applied it to both: my prepared substrate (cut from foam board and painted with acrylic paint) and the front of my cut out word. Then I glued the word face down onto the substrate and made sure I applied thorough pressure so there would be no bubbles. 

After that had completely dried (best wait for several hours) I used a soft sponge and added clear warm water to my "sign" to soak the glued on paper. With soft pressure and rotating motion I rubbed off the paper with the soft sponge to reveal the letters - voilá:

Then I used the same paints I had used on my machine to "age" my sign:

I fixed it to my wood block using two short pieces of rusty wire that I inserted into two drilled holes at the side.

I added a bit of matte Decou-Page (using a fine tip brush) to the holes and wires to make sure everything would stay in place.

 Done!

Now I will never run out of good ideas! Yay! And I can outsource a lot of brain activity (or rather replace missing brain activity? lol)...

Here are some more close ups, if you like. But first I will give you the link to our challenge blog - over HERE. ;)

I hope you enjoyed your visit today! And I hope I will see you soon over at our steampunk challenge blog! My teamies have prepared the most stunning inspirational projects for you! So make sure you check them out! I promise you will get a bundle of fantastic steampunk inspiration! 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia 

xxx