Helllllloooo Molding Paste!!!

Boy, did I have fun today. I played with molding paste, metallic watercolors, paint and home made spray inks. 

I belong to a group on facebook called Stampin and Taggin Place.  The swap this month is rolodex cards.  I've always wanted to alter rolodex cards so I thought this would get me started.  There are so many different ways you could do with them.  It's kind of like ATCs.  I picked up my rolodex at a thrift store for $1.99.  Yay! Those things are like $30 in the stores.

1.    The first thing I did was to use my home made spay inks to make a bright colored background. I used orange and yellow.  I just sprayed randomly, trying not to be very neat about it. 

2.  I used a pallet knife to spread a thin, even layer of molding paste on the card.  I didn't spread it over the card completely.  I then picked out a rubber stamp and stamped the image in the molding paste and then let it dry.  Be careful if using your heat gun.  The molding paste will bubble if you get it too hot. 

*Tips - if you spread the molding paste too thick, your image will not stamp well.  Also, if you are stamping several items like I was, make sure to clean off your stamp every 3 or so stamps so the molding paste does not build up on the stamp and again give you a poor image.

3. The next step is to paint the image.  I used craft paint and metallic watercolors.  I started by painting the center of the flower image with craft paint.

Next I used a light color craft paint to paint the flower pedals and then went back in with a darker shade of the same color and outlined the pedals. 

I then used my metallic watercolors to go over the pedals with the same color to give it some shimmer and blend the colors together.  Additionally, I added more watered down craft paint to the center and painted the leaves in the same way, craft paint, then a hint of watercolors.

The last step was to paint the rest of the molding paste in the background of the flower with a light yellow or blue watercolor.  I also gave them all a spritz of glitter spray.

Just keep fussing with the colors and adding layers until you are happy with the coloring. 

Here are some more close ups of the finished product. 

I really enjoyed this project and hoped you did too. As always, let me know if you have any questions on the tutorial. I'd be happy to help and would love to see if you have done any projects altering rolodex cards.

MiMi

About a week ago, I posted a couple tags I made, a vintage woman tag and a fairy tag.  One of my readers had never made a tag and the post inspired her to make a couple.  I wanted to share her tags with you.  She did a beautiful job.

Barbara has her own blog, Glitterarti...Cards by Barbara Daines.  Her bio and links are below.

I have been crafting all of my life....well, since I was 4 years old. I love  days when I can get out of bed, not bother with make-up, or housework and go  straight into my craft room. I live in a beautiful part of England, just outside  of the 'World Heritage' city of Bath, with my OH, Alan and our German Shepherd,  Finn. I have 2 wonderful grown-up sons, Nick and Adam, and 1 gorgeous new  daughter-in-law, Emma. I consider myself very, very lucky indeed.
 
Barbara makes beautiful cards. Please take a minute and check out her blog at:
http://glitterarti1.blogspot.com/.

MiMi

I love to use recycled materials, things around the house or things you would normally thow away for crafting.  I love to upcylce, go to thrift stores and clearance stores and see what I can find.

I was making a paper bag mini and messed up the gluing and where I punched my holes so instead of throwing them away, I made flowers.

I love how they turned out and will for sure be making these again.  Here's some quick instructions on how I made them.

1.  Cut open your paper bags, paint them and then dry.  I used craft pain and some home made sprays.  I used metallic paint on one and some glitter paint on another.  I also left part of the paper bag as is and didn't paint every single part of the bag.  I like the craft paper look.

*You can use lunch bags or grocery store bags.  These are lunch bags. The grocery store bags will be thicker.  You will have to spray a little more water on them when scrunching them up.

2.  Cut 5 different size circles. I used decorative edge scissors. 

3.  Spray them with water, scrunch them up and dry.

4.  I then used hot glue to glue all 5 layers together.  I glued the first layer onto a 1 inch circle as a base.  I glued them really quickly and used a fair amount of hot glue.  When all 5 pieces were down, I pushed the center down and pinched it together.  This gives it more dimension.

*Be careful to not burn yourself.  You could use a pair of tweezers to do this. I just used my fingers. They are like leather from years of being burned with hot glue so it didn't matter to me.  :)

5.  If you want to add a center, go ahead and do that. I used glitter glue and some bling on a couple and on one I didn't. I just scrunched up the center more. 

I hope you like this project.  Let me know if you have made some paper bag flowers yourself or decide to give it a try. I'd love to see what you've made and post it. 

MiMi

I had so much fun participating in this swap with some of the women in Artsy Addicts.  Here's the one I made for my swap partner.

I printed my vintage woman image on card stock and really distressed it up before attaching to the tag.  I added a dryer sheet flower I made and a few other embellishments.  There is quite a bit of glitter on the edges of the tag and on the flowers she is holding.  Some lace on the bottom and fibers on top to finish it off. 

Here's a couple of close ups:

My swap partner was Nancy Johnson.  Here is the beautiful package she sent me.

She made a bag to hold the two tags.  The tag on the right is an additional tag she made with a stamped image on it.  The main tag in the middle is made of heavy weight chipboad.  She has totally blinged it out.  It's simply beautiful. I loved it.

I also participated in another tag swap with some of the women in Artsy Addicts.  This time we did a Fairy Tag.  Here's the one I made for my swap partner.

I made the tag out of glitter card stock.  I added some rose trim at the bottom. Isn't that stuff so pretty? I love it.  The border and the doily heart were painted with glitter paint.  The top has some lace trim.  I tied pink ribbons and attached a couple beads with a silver ring that I colored with alchohol inks to match.

The fairy is a stamp I had. I l colored it and glittered it up.  There are tulle wings attached to the back of the fairy and she is stuck down with pop dots.

I really like how this turned out and once again, I had tons of fun.  When I receive my fairy tag from my partner, I will post a picture.

I sure had a fun time with these swaps.  The women of Artsy Addicts are very
talented and inspire me.  I have a link in the right side bar if you are
interested in checking them out.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you I have inspired you.

MiMi