Cold Porcelain Recipe

Hey guys! Last week I told you that I had made my first batch of cold porcelain and I can't say enough about how amazing it is to work with. I have been using it for all sorts of creations. The large project that I have been working on is not quite finished. It is a mixed media assemblage of sorts. It is taking allot of time between drying times to get it actually assembled. That being said, wow, the cold porcelain is amazing to work with.

I had tons of left over clay so I decided to do some testing to see what the finish looked like using various mediums. I used tattered angels glimmer mist to colour one bunch of clay, I used distress inks on some and tattered angels glimmer glaze on others. I was really surprised by the different effects.

The cold porcelain is so much easier to work with than regular polymer clay. I have quite sever arthritis and I noticed a huge difference. Also, you don't have to bake the clay when you are done. This is huge for me as I have burned the faces off more than my fair share of cameos. I admit it. The no baking means that all the crisp edges that you get from the mould stay that way. That is a big plus when you are working with detailed moulds.

These are a few of the cameos I made. You literally just put some corn starch or baby powder in your mould and push it full of clay. Pop the item out of the mould and let it sit overnight to dry. I flipped mine about half way through the day so that it did not curl. The next day it was ready to play with. I mean decorate!

The top three are coated in the Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze. They looked like they were fired in a kiln with a glaze coat. They are really spectacular. The two bottom ones have distress ink as the base and then a white wash of diluted acrylic paint. I love both sets and could see them fitting on different types of projects. I found the glimmer mist did not have enough colour to be effective because you had to use allot which made the dough gooey. I am wondering if the high impact inks from Tattered Angels would work better? I will try that next time.

Here is a link to the vintage recipe card that I made for the cold porcelain. If you find it is too sticky or too hard just add more cornstarch or a bit of baby oil. Have fun and be sure to post your creations for us all to see.

March First With the Gecko Galz

Can you imagine, March already. I have already started my countdown to camping. Spring is by far my favourite season. The warm breezes and return of green grass lifts my spirits. It is also my favourite time to be a crafter. All the challenges become focused on soft palettes and flowy themes, My kind of themes.

Here is my sample for the March Customer Challenge on Gecko Galz: Shabby Chic Easter. Be sure to visit the blog for lots of inspiration and then enter your own creation to win a F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S prize.

I decided on a tag, mostly because I only had one of this particular colour of rolled flower left and wanted to use it. I made a whole bunch of rolled flowers a couple of years ago so that I would be ready in case of a crafting emergency. That is my standard practice though, if I am cutting out die cuts or leaves or anything I always cut a few extra for future use. It has served me well over the years as I am able to quickly put together a card for a forgotten event in lightning speed.

Gecko Galz Pink and Blue Colour Challenge Sample

When you hear pink and blue do your thoughts immediately run to nursery decor? Once I got past that thought it was a pretty simple palette to work with. Gecko Galz has allot of vintage images that fall into that category. The challenge really was choosing just a few.

For this card I used the background paper from Bygone Days. I loved the soft flowy feel of the design. The two focal images came from the Beautiful Birds Collage sheet. Finally the sentiment is from the Close To My Heart stamp set "A bit of thanks".

Jane Austen Inspired Valentine Card using Gecko gals Digital Stamps and Ephemera

This is my absolute favourite project so far this month. The soft colours and imagery are so me. The lovely girl in the stamp caught my attention because she reminds me so much of Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. I don't think you would be shocked to know that it is my all time favourite movie. The first time I saw the movie (the A&E version with Collin Firth) was somewhere around 16 years ago. It was playing on A&E at some ridiculously late hour and they were in fact playing it like a true mini series. I ended up missing a couple of the chapters but fell in love with it none the less. I ordered the DVD series right away at a whopping $80 US plus way to much shipping to discuss in polite company. It arrived on my birthday and I sat down and watched all 5 hours in one shot. Then I invited my girlfriend over a couple of days later and we sat up and watched it again. It is now my birthday tradition to watch the entire 5 hours of this wonderful show. My husband has been a sport some years and sat up with me to watch it. My daughter has watched with me a few times. It is that special thing I look forward to every year. If you have a chance try to watch this classic and definitely read the book. They don't make love stories like that anymore (especially not in shades of neutral colours ;) )

To Make This Card You Will Need:

tiny pink rosebuds
sheer ribbon
white paper doily
5x7 card base
Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Tattered Rose and Victorian Velvet)
Graphic 45 stamp from Mon Amour
Gecko Galz Ephemera, Digital Stamp and Digital Design Paper
Glue or double sided tape

How To:

1. Ink the edges of your card base using the tattered rose distress ink
2. Print off your digital paper and trim it to 4 3/4 x 6 3/4
3. Ink the edges of the design paper
4. Using a length of ribbon just longer than the paper, adhere it to the lower third of the card and fold over and tape to back of the paper.
5. Adhere the paper and ribbon to the card base.
6. Ink the white paper doily and adhere it just to the left of the card centre and slightly closer to the bottom.
7. Adhere the pocket watch image slightly askew.
8. Colour your focal image using alcohol markers and then distress the edges with the tattered rose ink. Go back over the very edge of the image with the Victorian velvet to create some shadow.
9. Adhere the focal image just over the corner of the pocket watch.
10. Glue on the rosebuds and a bow to finish off the embellishments.
11. Stamp the sentiment on a piece of cards stock and ink the edges with both colours of distress ink.
12. Adhere to the bottom right of the card.