Picture to Page at Pakenham

Hello Everyone

Crafters Cupboard will be at the Picture to Page Show at Pakenham this weekend. Come along to the Cardinia Cultural Centre and see us on Stand 14 if you are handy.We will be demonstrating our usual ranges that we stock with some new ones as well.

We are especially excited to have found a range of substrates which are super fine and fabulous for using in all projects - they add dimension and texture to art journal pages, tags, canvas's, cards. scrapbook pages - everything ! and without the bulk and thickness of regular chipboard pieces. The range is huge - we will have samples and a selection for customers to buy and try and we will be using them in our demos throughout the weekend.

All your favourite Paper Artsy products will be on the stand along with the latest releases as well as many of your other favourite brand names.

For those who don't live local, sorry we won't see you on the day, but here are a few sneak peeks of some of the samples made especially for the show:

Whimsical faces by Danni - If you've always wanted to learn how to draw a face, she's doing a Whimsical Face Workshop on the 27th June at Crafters Cupboard. You can book here now under our Classes & Workshops tab. Danni has already done a couple of these classes with us and the feedback has been amazing 'I didn't realise how easy it was to draw a face' ; ' Danni made it so easy - I'm amazed at what I have done - I love my face'; 'Danni is the best tutor for whimsical faces - she's amazing' 'I've struggled in the past to draw a face I was happy with - under Danni's expert tuition, I now have the confidence to work on faces in my art journaling'.

At the workshop you'll start by learning the theory then progress into your own creation. Check it out - well worth doing, and I'm speaking from personal experience.

If you are at the show, you can see these samples and book in for the workshop while you are there, or alternatively, go on line to book.


Mini Board and tags from Kerry -  Kerry is a talented artist and we look forward to working with her more in the future.Here are some samples of her work that will be on our stand during the show and we will be showing you how you can use the new substrates that she designs in your art work. Classes coming soon !

Looking forward to seeing some of you at the show. Have a good weekend everyone - now the wet, cold weather is upon us, what better way to spend the weekend that crafting !!

See you soon,

Jennifer

An ANZAC tribute from Danni

Hello Crafty Peeps,

It's Dannii here again with a tutorial with an Anzac theme

April was a crazy month but hopefully you'll think this tutorial is worth the wait. 

Once again I have created a double lay-out in my Dyan Reavely ranger journal. I love this new journal. The pages are so beautiful, thick and smooth to work on and can really hold the wet, and the best thing there's no gluing pages together. You can buy them HERE

Now anyone who knows me, knows my oldest son has recently joined the Australian Army. This year was his First Anzac day as a service man and I am truly proud of him. Also being that this April we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC's in Gallipoli landing I decided that my page should be a tribute to our Anzac hero's past and present.

So I decided to sketch on the right side of the page an Anzac solider. This was drawn in grey lead pencil

Once I was happy with the sketch I went over the drawing with a waterproof fine liner.  This helps me to keep my basic line drawing when I start painting.

 I made a few adjustments to the portions on the face and then when I was happy with the drawing I rubbed out all my grey lead sketch lines.

Now was the time to start splashing some paint around using Southern Skies Fresco paint and a credit card. I blocked in the background and then using Tinned peas, I quickly blocked in the uniform and slouch hat. I then used SEMCO flesh paint from my stash to block in the face and neck area

Once again, I pulled out my trusty fine liner and went over the facial features again and blocked in the eyes with fresco paint chalk and then started to paint in the shadowed areas with Fresco chocolate pudding

Once the shadows were dry, another layer of Semco flesh paint was applied over the whole face and neck

and then I painted in the Iris with the chocolate pudding fresco paint.

Once this layer was dried I pulled out my Derwent ink intense pencils. I lOOOVVVE these pencils and I think they are a must have for any serious art journaler.They can be purchased at Crafters Cupboard

I like to use the earth tones in the ink intense pencils to build the shadows and flesh tones.

 and then activate the pencil's with an aqua water pen. The pupils were then painted in and lips coloured

At this stage I really just liked to keep working and building the flesh tones and building up the features on the face with the ink intense pencils and aqua water pen.

I really enjoyed this process and kept adding colours until I was happy with the finished face

More shadows were added with the purple red tones

and then toned down with a touch of flesh paint

The slouch hat band and hat badge were painted in

Then the final details were added to the hat badge and chin strap and details added to the shirt.

Once it was completely dry I added white highlights to the chin, nose, checks neck and forehead with a white charcoal pen and white possca paint pen

I was now happy with the finished details of the face

and it was time to start on the other side of the page.

I started with stamping and masking a poppy stamp from my stash

along the bottom half of the page

The poppies were then painted with silks paints and pit pens

Once the poppies were finished I added the 'lest we forget' ode.

I am really pleased with my finished page and hope you all enjoyed my tutorial.

I hope I have done our old Digger's proud and I know

it is by far my favourite page.

Till next time,

enjoy your art journaling

 

Ice Resin with Bri

Hello everyone, Bri here. 

 This month I have been playing with Ice Resin.  Crafters Cupboard stock this product - if it's out of stock, let them know you want some by emailing customer service@crafterscupboard.com.au - they will be happy to order it in for you !    

First up, safety. Ice Resin is an epoxy chemical, what ever brand you use it is essential that you follow the manufactures instructions when using resin. Please make sure you read the instructions, visit the manufacturers web site and do your research first before using this product. It's not hard to use but you must be careful. Ice Resin is one brand of epoxy and the material safety data sheet for Ice Resin can be found here.

The Ice Resin that I used comes in a handy syringe that contains the epoxy and hardener, which makes measuring a breeze. You must use this product in a well ventilated area and you must wear gloves. I personally have very sensitive skin but did not have any issues with the resin where I got a little on my hands. 

I found I had about 30 minutes "working" time before the resin started to become unworkable and dries clear and glass like within 24 hours (depending on the temperature). 

Ice Resin can be used on all sorts of materials from paper, metal and fabric to dried flowers, wood, feathers and mica powder, buttons, glitter, leaves and more. 

Now for the fun creations, I found a box of wooden domino's at the second hand shop and drilled a small hole at the top. 

I covered the domino's with several layers of gesso. I then covered them with a range of mediums from Treasure Gold, Fresco Chalk Paint, Acrylic Paint to Alcohol Ink. 

Treasure Gold

Fresco Paint

Once the domino is covered in a medium you can then decorate (I do apologise for the quality of this photo). If you use any paper on your domino's you need to ensure that the paper is completely sealed using matt medium, otherwise the resin will be absorbed by the paper making the paper discoloured (which may be an effect you might want) Secure any metals, beads, buttons etc with matt medium as it dries clear.

    

For my next project I took a bottle top caps and after a bit of trial and error I flattened them through my sizzix machine. You will need to experiment with your embossing / die cutting machine to figure out what plates to use, I used plate 2 on my machine and got a nice rolled edge. In the centre of the bottle top was a plastic seal which needs to be removed once the bottle cap was flattened.

    

Next I used a piece of scrap paper from a recent journal page I completed and stuck it into the centre of the  cap. I then stamped an image from a new stamp set by Paper Artsy (Jo Firth-Young, Jofy Plate 31) onto tissue paper. There are four stamps that fit perfectly into these caps. Secure the image with matt medium and give 3 or 4 coats of matt medium to ensure it is sealed completely.

    

Lastly, before mixing up my resin I grabbed some scrap paper and made some paper beads! Oh my goodness .. straight back to my childhood! I just cut some paper and rolled it around a bamboo stick, securing the finished bead with matt medium. Remembering that paper is porous I sealed the beads with clear embossing powder (you can also use clear nail polish). 

  

I was now ready to cover my projects with resin.

Mixing Ice Resin (instructions from the Ice Resin web site):

1. Work surface: Non-stick craft mat or plastic garbage bag (not a grocery bag).
2. Twist off the cap from the center tubes.
3. Wait a moment while the air in the tubes reaches the plunger top.
4. Apply equal amounts of pressure to both tubes with your thumbs as you push the resin into the craft cup.
5. Gently mix for 2 minutes with a craft stir stick, carefully scraping the sides as you mix.
6. Allow mixed resin to sit for approximately 5 minutes to allow any bubbles to dissipate.
7. Use the same craft stick and drip resin into the bezel or pour resin directly from the cup until you are satisfied with your dome.
8. You can use your craft stick to skim off the top any bubbles that form.

Ice Resin is quite thick and will hold itself when poured. I found that I could get good coverage over the dominos even despite how flat they are and that there were no "edges" to contain the resin. Pouring into the bottle caps was very easy. 

I had some resin left over so I covered several different types of paper (dictionary, napkins, scrapbooking paper) using a sponge, covering both sides of the paper.  You can leave the papers on your craft mat to dry and they peal off when cured / dry. 

    

Once the resin is poured your projects will need 24 hours to cure / dry, I left everything on my craft mat, it all peals up when dry and only takes a quick scrub to remove any left over resin. To finish my pendants I secured both the bottle tops and dominos with jump rings and attached them to pre made 43cm necklace cord's. 

 

Here I used my dictionary paper beads in a bracelet.  

Ice Resin is such a wonderful product and I have loved using it in my craft projects this month. All my left over resin paper will be used in art journals and cards that I create.

Until next month .. happy crafting everyone. 

 Bri    

Awesome Altered Bag from Danni

Hello Peep's

It's Dannii here with another monthly tutorial for the Crafter's Cupboard.

My mum came for a visit last month and we spent a day shopping together. She's such a sweet heart, she brought me a gorgeous hand painted  leather handbag of an Owl. This got me thinking about painting my own type of handbags.

So, whilst out shopping this week I came across these cheap tote bags and figured it would be the ideal style to give handbag painting a crack. Using some of my new Paper Artsy fresco paints and Jo Sonja's textile medium (thanks Jennifer for letting me know about this medium) for fabric painting,  from my stash  I mixed 2 parts paint, 1 part textile medium making sure I mixed well with a palette knife.

Then I used a credit card to swipe the paint using Paper Artsy Fresco Jade over the front of the  bag

Then using a fan brush I stippled the paint around the edges, so the background didn't look too blocky.
Using a soft grey lead once the paint was dry, I used a ranger heat gun to speed up the process and quickly sketched out a face for the front of the bag.

Once I was happy with the sketch. I used my flesh coloured paint mixed with textile medium to block in the face  and paper Artsy Fresco Prawn to block in the hair.

Making sure I gave the face quite a few coats between drying.

Once I was happy with the coverage

I used a Paper Artsy stencil  PS016 and Paper Artsy fresco paint Little Black Dress to decorate the background around the face.

I also used a piece of bubble wrap to stamp and a Paper Artsy Electica stamp set EEV06 to decorate the background.
Once I added the background I used paper Artsy chalk and my flesh paints to add highlights to the face.

Then Irish cream and cinnamon were added for shadows.

A touch of Prawn and Flesh was added to the cheeks, lips and throat for blush

and the eyes were worked on with the Cinnamon and Irish Cream Fresco Paints

Once I was happy with the flesh tones

more work was added to the eyes using Jade for the Iris

and adding more highlights to the face and hair using paints, ink intense pencils and pitt pens

The face is nearly completed at this stage just a few more details to the eyes adding highlights

and brighter colour to the lips using Posca pens and pitt pens

Once I was happy with the over all look of the face. It's back to the background

stamping with prawn and chalk and adding a butterfly from Dina Wakley stamp set

 Scrbbly insects - MDR44499

 to the hairline and colouring it with silks

which is also ideal for painting on fabrics

I am pretty happy with the out come of the bag and the textile medium was great to work with as it kept the paint wetter longer so I was able to blend well with the paints.

The paint (with the help of the textile medium) has stuck down well and appears to have set in to the fabric. I don't know if I will give it a coat of mod podge or not -  I really don't think it's needed.  I have given it a good scrub and wiped it down with a wet sponge with no paint peeling or lifting. So hopefully this tote will be quite useful for carrying my products to art journal class as well as being an original and pretty bag to look at.

All the materials I have used can be purchased from Crafter's Cupboard here

I am off to the shops now to buy a  few more of these bags. They're going to be great presents for family and friends

Give it a go -  this was really an easy project to make

I hope you enjoyed it and don't forget to leave a comment

I love to hear from you all

Until next time

get out there  play, create and enjoy with mixed media.

 

A tag from Julie

Hello Everyone

This month I have created a large tag using items from Crafters Cupboard and some from my stash.
I hope you get some inspiration -  the Dina Wakley paints are a full body acrylic paint and you can get those lovely paint brush lines with ease, you can also use a wet brush to avoid these if a smooth effect is what you desire. 

Supply List 
Archival Ink Jet Black 
Archival Ink Forget me not  
Stamp Dyan Reaveley - Strength 
Dina Wakley Acrylic Paints Lime Night White Magenta 
Tim Holtz Distress Spays Pickled Raspberry Peacock Feathers 

Stencil Artistcellar Quasi Stencil, Script Stanp, Timber Tag and gesso from my stash. 

Step 1 Apply a coat of gesso & dry.

  

Step 2 Using Dina Wakley Acrylic Paints Lime, Magenta & White and a dry brush apply Magenta & White and a dry brush apply Magenta to one side and Lime on the other use the White to blend.

 

Step 3 Place stencil over the top spray, remove your stencil and roll over with paper towel to remove excess then repeat the process with your other stencil and spray. This avoid bleeding and running of the sprays.

  

Step 4 Using a stamp block & black archival ink stamp your image & dry, the with the forget me not stamp some script on the edge & dry.

   

 Step 5 Using the midnight paint lightly dry brush the edge to frame.

   

 Hoping you all find some time to create, play & enjoy your craft. 

 Julie