Easter Decoration using Gecko galz Ephemera

Do not be surprised if you see this adorable little guy on several projects this month. I think he is just the cutest little bunny ever. No offence to the other bunny I am working with for my March Feature project. I seem to never tire of colouring this sweetie. 

How to:

I printed the image from Gecko Galz on regular white cardstock then coloured it with my Spectrum Noir markers. You will remember that you have to be careful when colouring inkjet images with alcohol markers (for my technique see the post about my art journal found here).

I cut the Christmas wreath using my Cricut and then covered it with leaves and flowers from the Flower Shoppe Cartridge. I cut the leaves out in green bazzil cardstock and then added shading using my distress inks and Spectrum Noir markers. 

The ribbon was lighter than I would have liked but I am giving up buying craft supplies during Lent. My husband wishes Lent would last all year long.

The adhesive backed "pearls" were a Dollarama buy. They come attached by glue in long strings which is handy when you are making flourishes etc. By the time I had separated them I had to use a bottle of glue as they were no longer adhesive backed. My studio table was sufficiently covered in the adhesive though. 

Finally,  I added a bit of green glitter glue and a hand written sentiment. Nothing feels finished until it has a bit of glitter! 

Share Your Creativity Photo Contest

Sometimes it feels like I am posting all about me." Look at what I have learned.""Look at what I have made." Blech. I wanted to find a way to tell you all thank you! For the millions of things you have all created that have inspired me, instructed me and even made me stretch out of my creative comfort zone.

I wish I had a huge multinational company so that I could send a thank you gift to each of you. Unfortunately, that is not the case....yet ;) So instead I am hosting a contest for you to show off your favourite papercrafting creation. It's ok if its a card, scrapbook page, tag, atc, canvas,,,,you are all inspiring to me. So grab your camera and get a shot of your work and submit it to the gallery link that I will post below. Next, share the heck out of it on all your social media. You will have until the end of March to get votes. The winner will receive a $25 Gift certificate to use at My Grandma's Teacups Craft Supply.

Here you go:Papercrating Photo Challenge

Gecko Galz Feet Challenge

I laugh even now as I am typing that title. I wonder how many hits this post is going to get from people with medical issues with their feet? I assure you, all the Gecko Galz are in fine shape. Just in case you are here looking for foot advice, you may want to try The Mayo Clinic Page.

Ok enough of the silliness, this crafting business is serious stuff. Well, not really, but I need to get to the point of the post before you all think I am totally off my rocker.

This was my sample for the February Gecko Galz Challenge featuring Feet! Yep, Feet! Mine likely won't qualify as I can't honestly say that there is a foot in this boot for sure...but I thought it was as close as I wanted to get to having a foot as the focal point of a design.

This ATC was created using kraft cardstock with archival black ink and a finbair stamp and then going over it with tea dye and rusty hinge distress ink. I then adhered the lovely vintage boot from the Ephemera Fun Collage sheet. I have a bucket of vintage buttons and these two made me think of the buttons that women used to have to deal with on long boots such as these. I attached a metal corner flourish, the buttons, a mulberry flower and a bit of glitter to give it a finished look. I stamped the sentiment using Colonial White ink and a Close To My Heart stamp. Voila. My ATC was complete. I hope you like it. Be sure to go and join the Gecko Galz Papercrafting challenge group. It is a great place to put your 'BEST FOOT FORWARD" get it...sorry that was sad.

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.