It's a Creative World

Embossed Mirror

Hi there, it’s Angela here again with another messy project!

Northern Ireland has finally got it’s own Ikea, so when I was visiting the other day, I came across this fabulous mirror for only 99p! So of course I grabbed a couple of them.

First of all I used Model Magic, which is a modeling clay made by crayola, which is extremely lightweight. Using the swirled embossing folder in the cuttlebug, I flattened out some pieces of Model Magic in random shapes. If you do this remember to place the folder with the join going in first, as the clay does flatten and extend, and could break the join in your folder (Voice of experience speaking here).

This produced fantastic results! I layered these onto the mirror, wrapping some over the edges, and left it to dry for 24 hours.

Once it had dried, most of the clay had adhered itself to the mirror, but some pieces were still loose – I added a small amount of PVA glue to stick them down, and again left this to dry.

Next I painted the entire frame with turquoise Lumiere Paint.

Once this was totally dry, I painted over the top with a Dark Blue Lumiere Paint, and while this was still wet, rubbed it over with a baby wipe – this removed some of the dark paint from the raised areas on the frame.

To add a little more sparkle, I sprayed the frame with Frosty Night Glimmer Mist. This tended to pool in some areas, so I dabbed them dry, as they would have taken ages to dry, and would not have given the look I was wanting.

I then over-stamped this all with a script text using purple stazon.

Once this was all dry, I adhered some microbeads randomly using baby blue liquid pearls.

Finally, I rubbed over the edge of the mirror and some small areas with Pewter Treasure’s gold (a type of rub-on wax) and the buffed it up with a soft cloth.

I hope this has inspired you to try something different with some of the tools you might already have around the house.

~angela~

Playing With Glimmer Mists

Hi there, its Angela here again!!!

Today I want to show you some techniques using one of the hottest new mediums in the craft/altering world at the moment – Glimmer Mists.

I have 3 colours at the moment, but after all this playing I have ordered some more :)

Glimmer Mists are made by Tattered Angels, and they come in a spray bottle, a bit like glittery Colour washes. They are primarily for use on paper, but they can be used with caution on some other mediums.

They can be very messy, so if you are particular about your work area, it is probably best to cover it!

You need to shake the Glimmer Mists really well before each use, as the Shimmery part settles on the base of the bottle, and when you spray, hold it about 10 inches away from your project to get a good over all cover.

First I sprayed the three colours randomly onto a piece of white cardstock, while this was still wet, I placed a piece of clingfilm on top and moved this around to create a texture and left the piece to dry. When it was dry the texture looked like this:

These would make great backgrounds for cards.

Next I tried a resist technique by embossing a stamped image with clear embossing powder and them spraying the mists over this. The colours pooled on top of the embossed area and I wiped this off carefully using a baby wipe. I love the effect this gave.

I then sprayed a variety of surfaces to see how well it works on them. First I used a wooden Christmas Decoration, it worked well on this and you can see the shimmer well on it.

I also used a paper bloom, which had been a very pale green and spritzed the colours. This is a beautiful effect and ties in wonderfuly with some of the new Blonde Moments Scrapbook papers!

I then tried Model Magic, which is a modelling clay that is like spongy foam when it dries (this enables you to sew through it). I cut a christmas tree out with a cookie cutter and then stamped a snowflake image into it. When it was dry I then sprayed it with the Colour Mists.

Finally, I used the colour mists to try the “Faux Watercolour” Technique that Tim Holtz uses in his first DVD. Spray the mists onto your stamp, and then place the stamp onto a piece of card. Here are 3 images I tried.

A word of warning though, this does stain the wood on wooden stamps, so if you are concerned about this, you could just use unmounted ones. Now I have 4 beautifully coloured wooden blocks! :)
I hope that this will encourage you to do some more experimenting !

~angela~