Such a Cutie

Hello everyone, Heidi back again and I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving.  Today I have a layout to share using a Brick Wall  and the Cherry Blossom both in chipboard as opposed to MDF.

For the Cherry Blossom I decided to paint it in white first and then on the below branch I popped it through my cricket and used a swiss dot embossing folder.  Once it was dry embossed I decided to use some very link pink embossing powder to give the branch a nice soft colour.  I just used plain white for the Brick Wall Stencil and placed that underneath my photo.

For the other piece of the Cherry Blossom I did the same thing except for the dry embossing, so this one is nice and smooth.  Look at the cool little tile you get when you order the Brick Wall, 

I created some texture with Gesso for the background and then used some Gelato's to get that water colour effect.  Once that dried I used some texture paste and a mask to give it some more texture.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, and I just wanted to thank Unique Laser Designs for this fabulous opportunity of being part of this awesome team,  so for the last time...

TFL & Happy Scrapping

An Eerie Steampunk Tag

Hi everyone!  Sharing a tag made with Unique Laser Designs goodies with a Halloween Steampunk mixed media vibe:

This tag started with a blank base tag that I sprayed with orange spray ink, then black spray ink through the brick stencil from ULD:

                                          W-1124 Brick Wall 4¾" x 4¾"

Here is the look after I added some black soot distress ink to the edges and to soften the tag, and then used water dripped on to give this distressed look:

And here is the finished look with the stencil in the background:

Next I took 2 corner scroll pieces:

                                          W-6000 Corner A (Set of 4) 2½" x 1¾"

I dabbed these with embossing ink, and then used embossing powder to cover them:

I also used this on one of the feathers from this set:

                                          W-1072L Feathers (6pc Set) 4"

Then I added some stamping to both pieces using black archival ink.  I also added some black glitter to the edges of the feather.

To add to the steampunk look, I added a gear from this set:

                                          W-1052L Gears Set B (12pc Set) 6" (Lg), 3" (Md), 2¼ (Sm)

The gear is painted with black paint, and sprinkled with a bit of the copper orange embossing powder. 

Here is a closer look at the embossed, stamped and glittered pieces:

Thanks for joining me on the blog today!  Have a little creative mixed media fun....grab some ULD pieces, ink, paint and embossing powder, and have some creative play time!

It's a Beautiful Life

Hi there crafters! 

Rachelle here on the blog today sharing my burlap journal cover using 

fantastic products from

Unique Laser Designs. 

Take a look!

 "A Beautiful Life"

This project cover starts off by using burlap panel and then applying mix media materials. After drying I applied spritz, layers, and ink.

 Here I used to word LIVE and replaced the "v" with the letter "f." I really like the script look. Then I applied the shades of acrylic paint. Next, I applied rub-ons and stamps. The title is on top of a fussy cut piece I had for awhile.

 Here I applied the fantastic wood word bricks from the brick wall stencil. Now it's time to have fun applying the embellishments which helps to make the cover stand out.

It's time for those fall colors which I brought out using the flowers, cardstock layers, spritz, and ink. I love those rich earth tone colors.

All finished! Here are the wood products used:

 Thanks for stopping by today and remember to stop by the 

Unique Laser Design Store

for these and many more items for your next project.

See Ya Soon!

 

Football MVP

It's fall....my favorite season for so many reasons.....one of which is football!!!  I scrap a lot of football LO's and Unique Laser Designs (ULD) has some great embellishments to add to one of my LO's:

To the left of the picture you can see the football player wooden piece....so easy to spray black with a Dylusions spray, and add to the LO.  You could use black paint, embossing powder, any medium you want.....I like the shadow look it gives.  Here is the piece I used:

On the kraft cardstock under the football player I used the brick wall stencil:

I used the same spray mist as for the football player, here is a closer look:

Don't be afraid to use ULD pieces on your scrapbook LO's!  They have a lot of options for some fun easy embellishments!

Thanks for stoppin' by today!!

Steampunked Window

Hello Everybody!

Katy here, and I am so excited to show you my project.  This is one of those massive creative projects that as soon as I got the idea--I just sort of took off.  I took pictures as I went so hopefully all of the steps are here! ;)

I wanted to show you the Steampunk Window before and after and the wood pieces I used first.  Then I will show you how my creative muse took over.


So here is a picture of the original window box.  It measures 20 inches tall.  Now this picture was taken for my Instagram deal.  And can you believe it is the only picture I have of it in its original state?  Shame on me!  LOL!  I also apologize for the quality of it.  And never mind the birdhouses.  That's for another day! ;)

So using my much better camera-here are a couple of pictures of this window box in it's gessoed state.  You can see the size of this in context with the dining room chair.  So this isn't a little window.  When I first saw it at the thrift store I fell in love with it.  It was in the "kids room" and had a few toys in it.  

What I failed to do in these 3 pictures is to take a picture of the country bow in the center of the box.  It's engraved in the wood.  There is a better picture coming of the bow though.  :)

So my first inclination was to put Unique Laser Design Daisies on the front of the window.  I was going to paint the window yellow and all would be bright and happy....and then something changed.  I cannot explain it but here are the Unique Laser Design embellishments I used instead:

Brick Wall Stencil:

Just for clarity-I didn't use the stencil itself.  When you get this (and actually all stencils) you get the inside pieces, too.  So the inside pieces look like this-and there are more words also.  I used one that said Hope (not pictured here but comes with the stencil).

Pirate Flags: 

(I used one of those really cute skulls!)

Gears A (12 Piece Set):

Gears D (12 Piece Set):

So here is the finished Steampunk Window:

So from here I am going to show you had I did the different parts of this Steampunk Window.  I am also going to show closeups.  This piece has a lot of texture going on.  It's hard (for me anyways!) to capture it all in one photo.  So get your soda and enjoy! :)

One of the toughest things for me to do is figure out is the route to take my piece on.  There are so many fabulous ULD embellies--how to choose?  Sometimes the piece just speaks and then others (like this one) are a bit more quiet.

So I painted it a light brown.  Once that was done a dark brown.  My happy daisy place had been replaced with wanting to do a Steampunk piece.  My gears were turning. (hehe!)

You can see the etchings of a bow.  This was a cute country window.  When I was planning this window I had thought about putting a paper collage on the front of the window.  I got out my papers-but something didn't feel right.  Then I saw my Tim Holtz January Tag hanging.  And it hit me!  I will do an opening in the box part exposing gears.  

One of the first things I did was cut pieces of clear acrylic to fit the open squares at the top.  I bought 12X12 sheets at the Scrapbook Expo from Clear Scraps.  This is thicker acrylic than I have bought at the craft store.  I applied alcohol inks to them.  The acrylic comes with a protective sheet on both sides but once those come off it is clear.

I used a foil sheet from Ranger for the gears in the middle.  I used a Tim Holtz embossing plate and Rust alcohol ink on the embossed foil.  (I did remove the back and stuck the foil sheet to a piece of cardstock before embossing.)  I loved the clean and brand new feeling this had.

This is funny-so all I had left of the foil sheet was a scrap with a hole in it.  So I adhered it to a scrap piece of white cardstock and embossed it with a different Tim Holtz embossing folder.  Then I used Rust, Pitch Black, and Gold alcohol inks to make it look oily and old.  I applied this same technique to each side of the window box.  Since I ran out of the foil tape, I took aluminum foil and glued it to a piece of cardstock.  Then I embossed it and applied alcohol ink.  

Using aluminum foil again, I used this embossed folder (Cuttlebug).  I put black cardstock on the back of it because this is where the metal curls open to expose the "heart of the machine."

Here is a work in progress picture.  I glued the gears and then the metal "plates" with glossy gel medium.  This is a multi purpose material.  You can use it to thin paint (so the paint becomes translucent), and it works as an adhesive.

Here is the front finished.  The "opened metal" will go in those spaces that aren't covered by the "metal plating."

Here is the back side of the curled metal.  I cut the strips at angles and bent them back.  Once I glued on the open "metal" pieces, I made sure they were dried before bending them and shaping them.

Here is the front.  I had originally put Rust and Pitch Black alcohol ink on there, but it needed a color--cranberry! I glued this on using the glossy gel medium, also.

To give the gear section depth, I added these ULD gears.  The gears on the left have been "gold leafed" but with copper.  And the gear on the right has been heat embossed with copper embossing powder.  You can see how bright the ones on the left are.  They almost look gold.  But for the gold gears I used Inka Gold.

Here is a closeup of the gears.  For the big gear on the bottom I cut some of the gear off (using Tim Holtz scissors).  

Here is a closeup of the whole opening.

I stamped a hot air balloon by Graphic 45 on the window.  I used close pins to help keep the acrylic in place while the glue dried.  This was a bit of a challenge.  So I laid the piece down flat for the rest of the windows.

I had used a white backing in the photo above, but here is the window without anything (which is how it is now).

Here are some bottles that I had die cutted recently made for a project that didn't work out for that project.  I had them already inked with alcohol ink ready to go.  I just had to make labels and the cork tops.  The skull and crossbones from the pirate flag adorn the purple bottle.  The Hope brick is on the red bottle.  Also, you can see the black "gunk" on the sides and in various parts of this window.  This is made using fiber paste and black paint.  The fiber paste can create peaks, and it's thick.

Here is the finished window box...

Here it is with cards in it.  :)

Here is a side view.  

I hope that you liked this Steampunked Window Box.  You can shopping here.  And remember we are looking for a couple of guest designers!  Find out more here!