Hello and Welcome to our first Sponsor Spotlight of this new challenge month of February. We are very happy and honored to have-
-as our Sew and Sew Challenge Sponsor this month! Darkroom Door is generously awarding one of our randomly chosen Sew and Sew Challenge participants with a Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set ($31.95 AUD value)! The Sew and Sew Challenge is open until February 28th--plenty of time to bring your sewing related creations over.....
Now, without further ado, OCC DT Member-Extraordinaire Candice (aka Tincan Crafter) is here to showcase some amazing creations she made with one of Darkroom Door's fabulous Rubber Stamp Sets--
I have had a fascination with Japan and Asia since I was a little child. In my twenties I was fortunate enough to spend about 7 years over in Japan in Nagasaki and Shiga. So whenDarkroom Door generously sponsored me with the awesome Kimono Vol. 2 Stamp Set - I was thrilled and decided to draw on that experience to do these.
The Collection as shown above, consists of two Kimono clad ladies, the "Kanji" for Love, a sakura laden tree branch, a fan and three "Mon" (a crest typically signifying a family clan). I decided to play around with every element in the collection to create a set of 4 multi-purpose cards.
Here below, are the 4 cards with a little explanation of what I used from the collection--
Kimono First Lady
The focal point of this card is the lovely Kimono adorned lady who is looking behind her. I stamped her onto card stock and coloured her in with ink. I stamped the Kanji for Love onto a wood tile and heat embossed it. I layered the image onto various mats of washi paper, added a few brads and some twine to finish it off.
Fan Box
I stamped the fan from the collection in three different shades of Archival Ink onto Flower Print Origami Paper and fussy-cut them out. I used gold ink to create contrast along the edges of the fan. I used a genuine piece of washi fabric to mat the fans in a vertical 3 pattern. I drew in some branches and punched out tiny sakura flowers out of the same origami paper to adorn what I intended to look like a sakura tree branch. The card is a window box card - the idea was that it looked like the shrine corner in Japanese Houses.
Sakura Lanterns
Using the Sakura branch stamp and two of the "mon" stamps - I came up with a lantern type card.
I cut out a big circle from silk print cardstock, stamped the Sakura Branch onto it. I then coloured in the image with an assortment of Sakura Gel and Glaze pens. To make the base of the lantern - I cut out two rectangles - rounded off the edges and used Walnut stain distress Ink to colour it. For the smaller lanterns - I die cut round tabs from the Cricut line of dies. I stamped on two of the "mon" images.
Leafy Kimono and Lanterns
I used all the "mon" stamps and the Love Kanji on the square lanterns. I made those by die-cutting rectangles, rounding off the corners and running the big rectangle through a crimper. I also stamped the Lady in the Leafy Kimono and coloured her in with Sakura gel and glaze pens. I cut a window out of some cardstock and embossed that with wood grain design. I glued on some Washi paper on the reverse side to create the effect of the lady entering through a washi door.
I hope Darkroom Door will be happy with what I have envisioned and created with this beautiful collection of stamps
I am having serious problems with internet connectivity right now so I am unfortunately unable to show you a photo-play-by-play on how I created each card. However I do hope that you have enjoyed these cards and that you will head over to Darkroom Door and pick up this awesome collection as well as see what other amazing collections they have.
Thanks for stopping by to have a look at these. Please leave me a comment if you would like better details or explanations of anything that you would like to know more about, in the event that you wish to recreate it.
Happy Crafting everyone!
(aka - Tincan Crafter)
Did you know that you could go on over to Nicecrane Designs, a company with oodles upon caboodles of digital designs and choose your favourite, download it and use the image to do whatever you want with it? How cool is that?
I am telling everyone that asks that these unique make-up organiser babies are designer pieces from the Nicecrane Design Collection! They look suitably impressed that I have "designer" home accents, and I reckon it might seem completely plausible that this might be the case ;) because these are among other unusual print decor items I have in the same design.
To be perfectly straight with you, I have never really thought about the potential of this option until I went on over to the site and the design penny dropped! You could customise just about anything with your favourite design (for personal use only ofcourse).
Let's think about this for a second. The accessories in your living room might need a bit of an update, you have been to the mall and scoured the decor shops looking for something you like, but nothing grabs your fancy or they might have the design print in one or two items like a cushion cover and a table runner, but that is all and you want the theme repeated on everything!!! You could even want that design hanging as art on your walls.
This I believe is the genius of buying a design off of Nicecrane Designs. All you would have to do is buy the image once, and then you could use the same image over and over in different applications. Technically you could makeover your entire room in the design of your choice. You could have the design printed on block canvas, you could transfer the design onto cushion covers, table runners, curtains, candles, guestbook covers, decoupage it onto trays and vases. Do you see? This is an amazing way to decorate on a budget.
What I have decided to do is sort out my horde of make-up. I needed something that would stay within the slightly steampunky vintage brown, black and cream theme I have going on in the room that I do my make-up in. I no longer felt okay about digging through the piles of lipstick, eyeliner, mascara etc in the big bucket I had it in. I wanted something a little more organised, in something cuter and in keeping with the theme. I am in the process of decoupaging every pot, holder, container in the same designer theme, including upholstery but I thought I would share with you one quick project that I made with one of the awesome Nicecrane Designs.
So to begin with I went over there to choose a design - quite a task because the collections are amazing and it was hard making a choice.
I bought 2 MDF blank letter/mail organisers that looked like this to begin with
I smoothed out a layer of Dala Stencil Glue onto the unfinished blank. Dala Stencil Glue is my favourite glue because its super tacky, super strong and yet also simultaneously liquid enough to slide things on. It can also function as a repositionable glue - all in all, a really versatile all round glue.
*design
*modpodge
The last thing I did was to get out all my make-up supplies, arrange them in the way that I thought would be most efficient and voila we have designer decor accents that are actually functional.
I seriously am in the process of having everything printed with this image. I made little boxes with this print to store my everyday blusher, Make-up remover wet-wipes , decoupaged around a coffee tin to store make-up brushes and hair brushes. I am in the process of transferring this print onto a canvas block for some wall art. I am going to transfer the print onto some cushions as well! I cant believe that it didnt strike me before to do a house make-over like this. Not only is it refreshing to have a new look going, but it is way more affordable and then there's added bonus of crafting everything yourself. Could living get any more fun?
While I am still here - if you want to win a chance to do a home make-over like this - be sure to play along with OCC's Halloween Horror challenge this month. You stand to be in the draw for a $20 voucher to Nicecrane Designs just by entering your project into the monthly challenge. You could do over the whole house with $20!!!!
That's it for me for today.
Happy Nicecraning!
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Candice here!.....Oh my, I cannot even begin to tell you how thrilled I am to present the sponsor spotlight this month for....
I had been dreaming about the line of stamps that I am going to be featuring today for eons and so when I was presented with the opportunity to shine a light on them I grabbed that handle faster than you can think to turn it.
Since the theme of challenge this month is: “April Showers bring May Flowers”, it was only natural that the “Water Effects 1” line of design is the collection that I have chosen to splash around with.
If you have never come across this collection, you will be amazed at how intricate
the detail and deep etch of these droplet effects are
They yield a 3D quality of such realistic clarity that you will be squinting to see if there really is water dripping onto the project.
I created a collection of 6 graphic designs – each design showcases a water effect in a different context with minor tweaks to alter the feel of the water effect. I’m going to show you can recreate each of these designs below with a brief explanation of the technique tweaks applied on each design.
Rainy Day Leaves
Use a piece of Patterned Wood grain paper or stamp a woodgrain pattern on a piece of cardstock. To create the plank or shingle effect fold the paper into strips and ink on the mountain fold join.
Use the “Water Droplets” stamp and stamp the pattern all over the “planks”.
Make a translucent white wash by swiping white Picket Fence Distress Stain on your craft mat and misting it with clean water. Use a small detailing brush to pick up some of white wash and paint in the clear parts of the droplet. Ideally the more opaque white should be at the heaviest tension of the drop. You may apply “Glossy Accents” to some of the drops just to give it some extra texture.
Die-cut Maple Leaves from textured handmade paper. Ink the edges to create shading. Use a Viva Decor Transparent Paper Pen to create the dimensional drops on the leaves.
A Perfect Gem
How fabulous is it that the same “Water Droplets” Stamp also created this gem texture.
Stamp a strip of gems on the right hand side of a piece of Ranger Stamping cardstock that you have colourwashed in neutral sandy tones. On this card Antique Linen, Bundled Sage, Tea Dye and Frayed Burlap.
Colour in the “Water Droplets” in rich, intense jewel tones with Distress Markers. Make it as dark as the cardstock will absorb.
Now you want to do the opposite of what you did with the white-wash. Dip a Fine detail brush in water and washout some of the bottoms of the drops (where the tension is the heaviest). Leave it darker at top. Washout the reflection highlight at the top of the drop as well.
Write or stamp a sentiment on some scraps of Balsa wood or chipboard. Using the “Sideways Droplets”, mask off how much you want and stamp the drops onto the balsa wood. Use a permanent marker to colour in the drop. Add a generous amount of “Glossy Accents” to the drops to make it dimensional.
Use a Viva Decor Translucent Paper pen to create the “gems” on a craft mat. Colour the underside of each gem with a permanent Marker. Glue in place with “Glossy Accents”.
Flights of Fancy
Create the whimsical bubbles on this design by using the “Rising bubbles” Stamp from the “Water Effects 1” Collection.
Colour inside the bubbles, blending as much as you wish with Distress markers.
To get the bubbles to really pop up – apply a generous layer of Glossy Accents to each bubble.
The awesome Ukiyo-e like wave texture in the background was created with another Designs By Ryn (“Sea Bubbles”) stamp.
Add a strip of vellum over the top right of the background piece. Use a white permanent marker to draw in cloud shapes and wind swirls on the reverse side of the vellum. Write in a sentiment on the “cloud”.Die-cut Feathers and individually colour those. You may want to add some more texture by using a 0.7 black gel pen to accentuate the grain of the feathers.
Pretty Little Things
Begin by creating your background by first stamping your sideways droplets offset on the right hand corner in Archival Ink.
Swipe Ripe Persimmon, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean Distress Ink directly onto the cardstock and blend together with an overswipe of Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink. Spritz a butterfly stamp with clean water and create artsy water stains by stamping it on the Distress Ink saturated background.
To create the effect of realistic 3D clear droplets, Dip a bullet nibbed Fantastix colouring tool in clean water and wash out the inside of each bubble.
This will leave a washed out hint of colour that's lighter than what is around it. To really make it shiny – take a white gel pen and add a highlight to the reflection at the top of the bubble.
Add Ribbon, Baker’s Twine and butterfly die-cuts to embellish. Add wire forms to create more interest.
Dance in the Rain
This was done in pretty much the same way as the technique walk-through of the previous one so I am not going to make you read the same instructions again.
The bits to remark on though are the crying eye effect. You start by inking the small Hanging Droplets stamp.
Choose the size teardrop you want and mask off the rest. Stamp the teardrop. This makes it easier to position the eye in the appropriate place.
You could also have a tear rolling out the corner of the eye. It’s up to you to cry where you you like! Mask off the centre or the whites of the eye and saturate your background with loads of psychedelic hippy colours.
Use a retro circles stamp spritzed with water to lift some of the ink off.
Stamp the rest with the Large Hanging Droplets over the inked background in Archival Ink. Now you can washout the inside of the drops and highlight the reflection at the top of the drops with white ink or a white gel pen. Stamp or write your sentiment where you want it.
Find your Light Shaker
This adorable window shaker card would have been effective and gorgeous as is with the Bokeh Effect outside the window and all. But what really brought it to life was the HANGING DROPLETS on the window panes right?
This one was a bit more technical than the rest. So here is a little step-by-step to help you find your light shaker too!
To create the rainy window panes you are going to need a piece of acetate, Stazon Black Ink and a white permanent marker (I used a Centropen Marker).
Stamp the Large “Hanging Droplets” all over a piece of acetate with Stazon Permanent Black ink.
When it dries, use a white permanent marker to colour in the drops on the reverse side of the acetate.
Creating the Bokeh Background involves inking up a piece of glossy cardstock.
Die cut circles in different sizes and lay them down in the Light Pattern that you want so that the circles create a mask.
Use Black Soot Distress Ink to ink up the whole background. Remove the the Mask and you have a gorgeous light pattern. Lightly mist with Water to create speckles.
Wash some of the colour out in the Bokeh Circles if you want a more glowing light pattern.
Add your other sparkles and sequins and put together your shaker card.
Add all the other embellishments to the window frame and stencil a brick texture for the background.
I wrote in a sentiment but you can stamp one in if you don’t trust your handwriting.
And there it is.......
Aren't these stamps just the darn awesomest? It was all kinds of fun creating these different effects to make the most of this collection and I am already bursting with even more new ideas I have for them, but I will have to stop here for now.
I hope that you will "drop" by and play along with Shari's challenge this month since DESIGNS BY RYN is sponsoring some magnificent prizes and the Water Effects Collection that I used to create these designs are included in the prize loot.
I am excited to see what you come up with!
xXxx Candice the Tincan Crafter xXxx
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