Luminescent Specimen Cabinet - a PaperArtsy Project

 Servus, hi and how's everyone doing these days?! I hope you are all fine and enjoying Spring and (finally!) warmer temperatures! 

Over at the PaperArtsy Blog they have just started a new topic - "Specimen Jar". You can tell I loved that one right away! I immediately thought about all the specimen neatly aligned in the beautiful vintage glass cabinets in Vienna's Natural History Museum. I could look at these for hours and just feel happy and soothed (I guess not only because I love studying fossils, insects and other small specimen but also looking at something so intriguing to me being displayed in such a neat order and large numbers). 

My aim with this project was to capture the feel of a cabinet from the Victorian era and also re-create an effect from a display box from Salzburg's "House of Nature" where they show some fish of the deep sea that make their own light down there. You press a button and their lights turn on - how cool is that?! So, yes, you're guessing right - I also used some mini-lights with my cabinet (and that was great fun). 

Just a few pictures to lure you over to PaperArtsy's blog. 

Find out more about the how-to and products used and meet me there! 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

New Year , New Paths, New Hopes and a New Steampunk Challenge

 Hi, servus and thanks for stopping by my quiet creative corner! I hope you've all had lovely holidays and I wish for us all that 2021 will bring everything we've been hoping for! 

Those who have been following me might already know that I have been struggling hard with health issues (mainly caused by menopause in combination with my chronic thyroid illness) during the last twenty months or so - panic attacks and nervousness with shaky hands having made crafting almost impossible at times. I am now trying to tackle that differently (after having tried different ways of medication during the last months which turned out to cause severe side effects instead of improving health) by seeing a therapist (so much better than flooding the body with chemicals it obviously cannot take) and I believe that things will get better step by step - maybe slowly but for good and with a lot of improvement on the personal side. 

That will very likely also lead to new, different ways of living and expressing my creative side I guess...my main goal with this is that I will get back to enjoying the creative process - free from any pressure or struggle with shaky hands and nervousness. During the last months I have already cut back when it comes to design team work, but luckily my favourite design teams I am on are very understanding and wait for me to return! 

Speaking of design teams - our first challenge for 2021 has just launched over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges and there are some changes there as well: due to Corona pandemic DecoArt cannot send out prize bundles for now. As requests on certain products have exploded during Corona pandemic, they had to adapt to that and cut back on other specific product lines - one of these being our prize bundle paints and products. DecoArt and I have decided to switch to two-months long challenges until everything is back to normal (which we all hope will be in or around April) and prizes can be shipped out again as usual. We will of course draw prize winners for all our challenges, but ask our DecoArt prize winners to be patient as their prizes will be sent out later this year. 

My mojo is still on vacation - not only because of my health issues...but also because I am currently busy with moving in our newly bought holiday home at Lake Atter in the beautiful Austrian Salzkammergut!!! My husband and I were incredibly lucky to find and buy our dream house in our dream location this autumn - I am still pinching myself! It's not a big house - but it has everything we need and is a modern house made totally of wood! I love that! And it offers everything I had wished for - located close to a lot of hiking trails and even a skiing piste, just a two minutes drive from the lake, with forests and mountains and the view at the lake (and the very top of the amazing Dachstein glacier) just around the corner! 

But back to mojo and challenges - I am sharing this older steampunk project to inspire our steampunk challenge players; one that hasn't been shared via the challenge blog but on the Calico Craft Parts blog - HERE. There is a full tutorial to find there as well as loads of images and a list of products used. 

It's a notebook I've made using one of Eileen Hull's cool book dies and Calico Craft Parts. The metal and weathered effects were created using DecoArt and DecoArt media paints and products (more info on these in the blog post over at Calico Craft Parts). 

The covers were die cut from heavy grey board and I found some little journals that fit perfectly as signatures (so I do not need to make my own). 

Well, that's it from me so far! The team over at SASPC are waiting for your visit and entries! 

Make sure you check out the different rules that apply for our two-months long challenges (Maura, your current challenge host for January and February, explains everything in the blog post)! Good luck and joyful crafting!

Hugs and a successful, healthy and happy 2021!

Claudia

xxx

Snarky Cat's Dapper X-mas - for SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Winter Special Challenge 2020

 Hi, servus and thanks so much for stopping by! 

I am sharing my make (and tutorial) for our annual two-months-long Winter Special Steampunk Challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges and as you can see I am already in Xmas swing. 

I recently bought a cheap Christmas themed dome kit and decided to customise it by using one of the absolutely adorable and fun cat stamps from the Tim Holtz "Snarky Cat" stamp sets (in this case I've used one of the cats from the "Snarky Cat Halloween" set). 

And of course I wanted to have lights - so I used one of Tim's Tiny Lights as well! 

Snarky Cat had to dress up for the festivities on Christmas Eve (as is the custom in my family...well, not for the pets actually, but for the human family members of course) - so I decided to give it a dapper hat and bow tie (from the Tim Holtz "Distinguished" stamp set)! 

You can tell from his look that he obviously doesn't like wearing a hat and a tie, but there is a little present for him under the tree - so it is worth the little suffering, right? Or maybe he is already planning on some climbing the tree with its temptingly dangling baubles and the shiny star at the top and doing what most cats love (or would love) to do at Christmas ;) 

Our Winter Special Challenge at SASPC will ("Same procedure as every year, James!")  be open from 1st November until 31st December and instead of the usual three entries each player is allowed up to five this time. Two more chances to win one of our two prizes!!!! And if you need some inspiration, there is a link to the challenge blog at the end of this post, so you can hop over and check out my teamies' fabulous makes too! 

I've created my Christmas tree using an older Tim Holtz Bigz die - the "Evergreen" one (which is still my favourite tree die to be honest). As a base I die cut one tree shape from thick grey board. That was going to be mounted to the dome's base by cutting a wood slice (found at the home decor section of a Dollar Euro store) in two and gluing the finished tree between these two. 

Then I cut two more tree shapes from a piece of white card stock that I had first coloured using Distress Inks, Distress Oxide Inks and Distress Oxide Sprays and Tim's technique of creating this kind of beautifully splattered backgrounds with loads of lovely depth. (Make sure you die cut one of the two tree shapes with white side face down and the other with the coloured side face down so you get two different tree shapes for the front and back sides!)

I added a bit of Distress Glaze on top to preserve the colours and speckles and to intensify them. 

Finally I glued the coloured trees to both sides of the grey board tree using Tacky Glue. 

Next I die cut my dimensional star for the tree top using my beloved Sidekick and the smallest die from Tim's "Dimensional Stars" Thinlits dies set. 

I then folded the little star into shape and glued it to a piece of left over white card stock. Only AFTER I had painted the star with DecoArt Extreme Sheen "Vintage Brass" acrylic paint, I cut off the excess! This way the small star was easier to hold while being painted and my fingers stayed clean. 

Snarky Cat was stamped onto white card stock using black archival stamping ink and then I used my coloured pencils to colour him (as I find it easier for me to use these instead of Distress Inks and a watercolour brush). 

I also coloured the bow tie and dapper hat and then fussy cut all my shapes. Snarky Cat also got his tail chopped cut off - which explains the look on his face I guess. 

But he got to keep it of course - I just needed it to stick out at a different angle. 

So far, so good. 

Time to prepare the decoration for the tree! I used more white card stock, Tim's "Deck the Halls" Colorize dies set, his "Festive Things" dies set, Distress Oxide Inks and the ink blending tool on my media glass mat. 

I also added a generous amount of DecoArt media Liquid Glass on top of the baubles (to give these a dimensional and glossy look) and put everything to the side (on the central heating to be more precise) to dry naturally while I went on with decorating the dome kit base. The inner platform got a coat of DecoArt Americana Arbor Green acrylic paint, while the edge was painted using DecoArt Extreme Sheen "Vintage Brass". 

I die cut some cogs in different sizes and shapes from white card board, painted these with more Vintage Brass (on both sides) and glued three of them to the back and one as a front piece around the base. 

I also added a self adhesive gold foil trim around the base that was die cut using Tim's 

"Star Trim" 3-D Impresslits folder. 

To create a stand for the Christmas tree, I sawed the wood slice in two (but first I made sure the tree would still fit into the dome when being put between the two pieces) - the smaller wood slice piece pointing towards the back. Next I used my rotary tool to drill two holes - one into the smaller wood slice piece and another through the base (at the exact same spot where the wood slice hole was going to be). 

I also engraved a notch into the bottom of the base - leading from the drilled hole to edge right at the centre of the three glued on gears at the back of the base. I made sure it was wide enough to hold the thicker part of the Tiny Lights' cable. 

Then I glued the wood slice pieces with the tree pinched between them (and more glue) in place and after that had dried I inserted the string of Tiny Lights. 

I used my small hot glue gun to glue the thicker part of the cable into the notch and to fix the Tiny Lights chain to the wood slice in some places. As it got wrapped tightly around the tree it stayed in place pretty well and I only needed two glue spots to fix the lights chain to the wood slice base and one at the tree's back. Snarky Cat, his present and the stamped quote got glued in place using little pieces of MDF left overs at the backs as little stands. 

Before I filled the dome with "snow" (from the kit) and glued it in place permanently, I checked the lights of course. Then I added glue around the dome's edge and put the base with the tree face down in place (otherwise the snow would fall out from the dome) and let that dry. 

Finally I added four pieces of self adhesive felt floor protectors to the base. 

Done! 

Our steampunk/industrial style challenge is open until the end of December - the team and I hope to see you play along with us! Simply click HERE to get to the challenge blog with the actual challenge post. 

Stay safe, enjoy the advent season, merry Christmas and a happy new year! 

Claudia

xxx

Brave Little Robot - Tag - for SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges

Hi, servus and welcome to the start of our October challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges! Once more it is time for a little steampunk crafting fun - and who knows...maybe it is you who will win one of the two prizes we're giving away each month! Please, check out the rules and details - alongside the teamies' fantastically inspiring makes - over at SASPC! 

I've created a fun tag this time - playing around with DecoArt media fluid acrylics and Crackle Paint, Seth Apter's Wow embossing powders, some steampunk and industrial themed dies, background papers, Calico Craft Parts and the cute "Robot" stamp from Aall & Create. 

Using stamps with sketchy images is a bit tricky as you cannot fussy cut the stamped images without losing a lot of character from the design - so I decided to stamp the image onto some acetate with StazOn ink and paint the back white - using an acrylic paint marker. 

In a final step the acetate got fixed to the finished tag background using small black sticky foam pads that I covered on the top with some Calico Craft Parts screw heads. 

The background was done first of course - using a designer paper from my holy paper stash (yes, I am trying to use up my long hoarded stuff....lol). That was glued to a sturdy Calico Craft Parts MDF tag with matte Decou-Page glue, trimmed and finally inked around the edges with black archival stamping ink. 

The die cuts were cut from sturdy white cardstock and then got painted using DecoArt media fluid acrylic paints in a watercolour-y way. I layered Burnt Umber, Quinacridone Gold and English Red Oxide quite randomly. Afterwards I partially heat embossed one of them using Seth Apter's Weathered Gold embossing powder. 

In addition to that I spread a little white DecoArt media Crackle Paint here and there on the tag with the very tip of a palette knife. 

To repeat the white from the stamped image and crackle paint I then also used the left overs from one of the die cuts - the white numbers - and added them to the background with DecoArt matte Decou-Page. 

The acetate got fixed to the tag - done! 

I hope my little "brave robot"-tag has put you in the right mood for some steampunk crafting! I promise; the makes of my teamies over at our challenge blog will add even more fantastic inspiration! I hope to see you play along!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

Trash to Treasure Mixed Media Tray - a DecoArt Project

Hi, servus and how's everyone doing these days? I hope you and your loved ones are well and not affected too much by these crazy times!

I would like to invite you to check out my latest DecoArt project that went live last week on their DecoArt Blog (not the Mixed Media Blog). I have upcycled a fruit crate this time and gave it an industrial style make over. Now I have a small inspiring tray to carry my paints and crafting stash to places other than my studio desk in case I want to do a little painting or crafting on my balcony for example (or on the not-crammed dinner table ;).

Just with the use of various DecoArt Americana, premium and media paints and products and some of my favourite Andy Skinner stencils and some stamps I turned this...

...into that: 

There is of course a detailed and fully stepped out tutorial with the list of products used and loads of steps images. To check these out simply click HERE to get to the blog post on the DecoArt Blog.

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx