Heroes - a DecoArt Project

Servus, hi and thanks so much for taking the time to stop by my little (quite quiet) creative corner.

I haven't posted much lately as I am having to take a break from some of my already few design team commitments - due to health issues that I can no longer ignore.
I am in the middle of a struggle with a panic disorder that has obviously built up during the last fifteen months (being caused by menopause having hit hard last year) and has now struck me full blow.
Shaky hands and panic attacks caused by just sitting down at my craft desk and trying to tackle (even far away) deadlines are a nasty thing to have - especially when it concerns a hobby you think (or thought) you love. So obviously I will need to find new ways to go on with being a creative (which I have no doubt I am). Gladly I am in the very lucky position that some of my design team terms have just ended and that I am also on design teams where members are being cared about; so special agreements could be made. This way I didn't have to completely leave them all!

Sounds worse than it is actually (or maybe it doesn't) - but there's no need to feel sorry for me. I've already hit rock bottom and finally accepted my current situation - so the only way from now on can be upwards again. ;)

But there are of course also better days when my muse seems to be around and when I obviously manage to not be fixed too much on a deadline or the needed perfect (uh oh! Killer!) result of a project. So this week is going to bring you even two new projects and tutorials instead! Today's post is the invite over to the DecoArt Blog, where I am sharing a little altered mixed media tray that was a true pleasure to create.

It originated during my attempt to do a bit of tidying up in and around my craft space - which I find often sparks ideas for new projects (I guess because it is definitely more fun than a proper tidy up). I was right about to store away the little tray (the post on the DecoArt Blog reveals what it held in the first place), when I saw the drawer with my hoarded Tim Holtz paper dolls....and there it was!

The quote and melancholic feel to it were inspired by Peter Gabriel's fantastic cover version of David Bowie's wonderful "Heroes" - a song that never fails to deeply touch me. I have obviously heard it lately (I think it was used in a TV series or documentary or so) and it seems it was still spinning round in my head and needed to come to the surface.

As always there is a detailed tutorial with lots of steps images to find on the DecoArt Blog. Simply click HERE to get to the blog and check it all out. I hope to see you over there soon! And don't forget to pop by tomorrow for another project and tutorial!

Hugs and happy summer 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

Dreaming Myself Away Creatively in Times of Corona

Hi, servus and how is everyone doing these days?

Austria is taking first steps at getting back to a "normal" everyday life; "normal" meaning as normal as possible with the Corona virus still out there. Face masks, keeping one to two metres distance to everyone who is not living with you in the same household and special time tables for school kids will be staying part of that "normal" life (with schools and kindergardens and shops reopening again) for quite some time I guess. No one knows how summer holidays will look like and if these can be spent the way we usually do....

...so I decided to at least do some fantasy holiday travelling creatively on my desk and go to the beach!

Using one of Calico Craft Parts' printer's tray kits and other craft parts from their amazingly wide range of maritime and seaside themed wood shapes and combining these with stickers and designer papers and some DecoArt media goodness was great fun and creating my shadow box was a lovely relaxing time spent in my studio.

To see which Calico Craft Parts I have used and how I made my Beach-Holiday-Tray simply click HERE to get to the according blog post.

Stay safe and keep creating!

Claudia 

xxx

What to Make From Left Over Gameboard Token Chipboard Frames - a DecoArt Mixed Media Project

Servus and thanks so much for stopping by today!
This is another invite over to the DecoArt Mixed Media Blog, where I am sharing a project done using a left over chipboard frame that came with one of our numerous board games our friends, my husband and I love to play.

Most of these games have a lot of tokens and these come pre-punched but still in their chipboard frames for safer transport. I like to keep the frames as these are usually made from very sturdy chipboard and often they make for perfect frames to create little display trays from. Perfect for a collector of all things small and wondrous like me ;)

So this was how the frame looked before...

...and this is a sneak peek of how it looked after I had used some of my favourite DecoArt media products and paints on it.

There's a very detailed tutorial with loads of steps images over at the DecoArt Mixed Media Blog and I hope you will like it (and the finished project of course) ! I have already put it up on my wall as it displays some of my favourite shells and fossils. They have been stored away in a drawer for way too long - now I am happy that I can look at them every day. And as I am quite happy with how the tray turned out I am happy to look at that too. ;)

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

How to store and display tiny treasures at the same time - a Calico Craft Parts Project

Hi, servus and thank you for stopping by, dear creative friends and followers!
It's once more time to invite you over to the Calico Craft Parts blog to find out about my latest project I have done with some of Calico Craft's latest craft parts!

Some of you already know that I love to go fossil hunting! Sadly most of my found treasures had spent the last two years stored away in closed boxes, wrapped up safely, but this way also hidden away from sight.
I simply didn't have a cabinet or other display to store them in AND have them at display at the same time...until Helen came up with the new tray kits in many different styles! They're just perfect and I will definitely be making more of these!

If you have some tiny treasures too that you want to store "museum style", my tutorial over at the blog might be the one for you!
I hope to see you over there! Have a good start into the week!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

With a Song in Your Heart - April Challenge at OCC

Alison (aka butterfly) is hosting this month's challenge over at Our Creative Corner and of course she chose a word related theme - this time connected with song lyrics you are to use and display with your creations:

With a Song in Your Heart!

I have always been very much drawn to songs because of their lyrics and there is an album I really never tire of listening to: Nik Kershaw's "15 minutes" from 1998. 

Honestly I really couldn't decide for some days which song to choose for my DT project as they are all together just brilliant observations on daily life issues and "being too human" in many situations, relationship problems or even philosophical reflections on life in general and the journey we are all on. 

I finally decided to go for "What Do You Think of it So Far?" as it matches some of the new Tim Holtz "Found Relatives" images so perfectly.

The song's chorus says 

"What do you think of it so far?

Do you wonder there might be something better?

Do you think about where you are?

Do you wonder where you're going?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD9LTPa_tDs

and these are simply the most essential questions there are to life, aren't they?

You will find that I didn't put the single phrases in their order of appearance in the song but I assigned them to the appropriate stages of life shown in the pictures. Which gives the questions even more meaning as if I would have done one after another.


The words in the metal labels at the bottom of each compartment on my tray are meant to express some outer or more general view on that stage instead of the one person's view who's life stages are shown. I believe that we are never completely free from seeing "us" and "our lives" from society's (or other peoples') point of view too. Which sometimes makes it hard for us to stay true to our very own believes and goals.

 Taking time to rethink our lives can be a good thing! And I am definitely not talking about quarrelling with all the bad things that happened to us in the past. I am sure we all will find things we are proud of or which made us happy and things we'd rather leave behind if we looked back at our journeys so far. Maybe this helps with recognising that mistakes are an essential part of the process and of life in general. We are meant to make them so we can learn from them and find out about ourselves: what we really love to do and where we are only following a call that hasn't been ours from the very start. We don't have to be perfect and we will never be - but we can try to find the perfect balance between our very own duties and dreams, wishes and responsibilities, between loving and letting go.

I know - the question seems rather selfish or even harsh when seeing it combined with the great "quest" of successful marriage ;)
But we have to make a lot of decisions during our lives that we have (or at least think we are meant) to stick with for almost the rest of it. So wondering if there might be something better often prevents us from getting lucky I suppose...waiting for the better thing to come and letting slip a good thing from our hands.
But "love" makes this question vanish, doesn't it?

I remember my son asking me about two years ago why he was born at all and what he is meant to do, fulfil or become "here on earth". The one big question above all the others! And rather difficult to answer....
I told him he was here to make of his life everything he thinks might be good for him and which will make him happy and feel meaningful. And that mankind is here because of some kind of "accidental" evolutionary process (just like all the other creatures and plants on earth) and that it is not our duty to live up to some unreachable higher noble goals or having to follow any of society's actual ideas of living a "successful life".
Well...he surely didn't like my answer as it didn't help him then, but it was the best I could come up with and I believe that I said the right thing. ;)
I really hope for my son that he will be able to live a life that will make him happy!

 Children still are able to trust. And have to have someone and something they can trust in. So the question to "do you wonder where you're going?" might rather be a "no" at that stage ;) When we are children we feel the world is lying at our doorstep and just waiting to be conquered! (Sadly we loose most of this feeling almighty and being great conquerors while growing up).

I made my tray from thick corrugated card (that was a left over from the packaging of our new kitchen's fridge and furniture) and old book pages scraps which I glued over some washi tape using matte DecoArt Decou-page glue and sealant. After all had dried I gave the tray some washes with Ranger Distress stains "vintage photo", tea dye" and "antique linen".

The chorus was printed out on heavy copy paper,  blended with DI "vintage photo" and glued in place. The metal labels were fixed to the images before I glued them into their compartments.

 For a finish I embellished my tray with some goodies I mainly got from Sandra (SanDee1899) and Brigitte (coutureuse)! Thanks again, girls, for all the lovely stuff you sent me! xoxo. I chose of course embellishments that partially are meant to work as symbols with the images and texts they are combined with.

The DecoArt Decou-page holds them  in place perfectly well! I used the gloss version for the fractured doll to add some porcellain effect to it (as it was a plaster done in a mould).

I hope you like my tray and give Nik Kershaw's fabulous song (or even album) a listen! Hope to see you entering the "With a Song in my Heart" - challenge at Our Creative Corner soon! I will love to hear some new songs and see your interpretations! There is a prize to win, the chance to become the challenge winner and therefore get a guest designers spot or the chance to make Alisons's Top3! So get your favourite songs out and start creating! :)

Hugs and happy crafting,
Claudia x

"metamorphosis" - Tray

I have been wanting to do a configurations box for quite a while now, but they are not easy to get here in Austria and shipping costs (even from Germany) are rather expensive due to the size.

As we will get a brand new kitchen at the end of May, we have been browsing through our kitchen cupboards to get rid of everything too much (which was quite a lot to be honest). On this occasion I found a wooden box that once held three knives. I thought it to be the perfect size for a wall hanging configuration tray (or whatever one should call it).

I made the compartments using glue, thick corrugated card and Tim Holtz tissue tape. Then I filled the compartments with Tim Holtz papers cut exactly to size and covering all five sides of each single "box". The outside was covered using a dictionary style washi tape.


At that stage it looked way too clean and
neat (even though I chose the TH

papers for a rather grungy look) - so I gave the whole tray a rough treatment with Mr. Huey's color mists opaque white and dark calico and a lot of dapping and whiping, adding colour here, taking some off there. (I admit I really was afraid of spoiling hours of work with that step - but it worked out - even better than expected! The tray looked pretty grungy and timeworn by then.

I created a wire hanging for the tray trying not to be too exact with bending and curling.

There - my wall hanging tray was ready.
At that stage I still did not know what to fill it with. Maybe a lot of TH goodness? Or do some heavy embellishing with tickets collected on our various holiday trips? Hm.

I started to browse through my beach findings again and then the idea just hit my mind: I have been collecting fossils, stones, shells and nature finds in general since I can think and my son does the same now. In his room he has two showcases filled with self gathered "nature treasures" and "loaned" finds and more treasures from me and my husband.

I decided to use some of them for my wall hanging. And voila!

I very much enjoyed translating Ovid's "Metamorphosis" in school and have been loving the meaning of this word ever since (and use it quite often to be honest ;). So I enter SSSS's "quotable" challenge with this project. I also enter Country View Crafts' challenge "Pick and mix - anything goes" and also Simon Says Stamp challenge "anything goes". 

Most of the treasures were collected during our hiking trips, some of them were bought at the annual fossil show and some are very special "specials" :)

For example the stone my son painted when he was maybe four or five years old, trying to make it look like an insect enclosed in amber:

Or the beetle I collected in the
lovely Wienerwald.

Except the big trilobite all the fossils are "self-found"! We have a great spot near Vienna where one can find them quite easily.

The shark tooth and the pearl are from a geological museum site a bit up the Danube, where a huge prehistoric mussel bed was discovered which proves that there once was ocean nearby our place! Kids can filter shark teeth and pearls in a huge sandpit there.

The deserted cocoon in the upper right box is from a Death's Head Hawkmoth we found as a huge (really huge!) caterpillar when cutting our hedges. We took it home with us and prepared a container with some soil and leaves from the hedge and it dug itself in after two days of feeding. It spent the whole winter this way stored on our bedroom's window sill as this is the coldest room of our flat. We could see it at the very bottom of our container, twitching from time to time. One day in spring (when we had stopped to believe that it had survived) we had a really beautiful big hawkmoth sitting in the container. I learned that Death's Head Hawkmoths appear quite rarely at our regions and travel far distances from Africa to southern Europe.

Just HAVE to show you the image! Isn't he beautiful (and big)?
As we found the caterpillar in our garden on the very first day we entered it and this is such a wonderful thing to remember I hope it will be okay if I enter the Craft Room challenge "In Our Garden - Anything but a card" with this project.

Back to the wall hanging: I stamped some words that came to my mind while watching the filled tray onto card that I had given an aged look in advance, cut them out and glued them to the frame.

Done!

Some more close-ups which I hope you will enjoy:

I hope you will forgive me my picture- AND word-heavy post this time! Thank you very much for stopping by!!!

Hugs,

die amelie x