Fabric Paper

Hi there, it is Cec here and I am going to bring you an inspirational post today.  I am going to show you how to make fabric paper and then I will turn it into a Christmas ornament.

I started with a piece of white cotton duck fabric.  If you are going to use your finished product on something that will be turned into a wearable, it is recommended that you wash it first to remove any sizing.  I have a habit of always washing new fabric as soon as I bring it home from the store so this was ready to go.

The next step is to paint the fabric with a mixture of acrylic paint and fabric painting medium in a ratio of 2 parts paint to 1 part medium.  In this case I used Festive Berries Metallics, Champagne Gold Metallics and Dark Scarlet Multi Surface acrylic paints by Deco Art along with the Deco Art Medium.  I painted each one separately in random areas making sure to cover the piece of fabric.  The fabric medium keeps the paint from making the fabric stiff.

The Festive Berries paint didn't look as red as I wanted so I took a sea sponge and dabbed some Crimson Acrylic Ink by Daler-Rowney on those areas to add a little more depth of colour.

Next I added some stenciling with a TCW stencil called Mini Pattern Strips and Watering Can Archival Ink although I wish I had used Jet Black for the stenciling.

I did use the Jet Black to stamp a variety of snowflakes over the fabric from some Recollections sets.

The next step was to glue some crumpled tissue paper over the fabric with Mod Podge.  This is what turns the fabric into paper.

When the tissue was dry, I felt that it did not allow the stamping to show through as much as I wanted so I scraped some of it off and this turned out to be a good move.

 

Then I did more stenciling with some Wendy Vecchi Translucent Embossing Paste and allowed it to dry.  

Unfortunately this stenciling didn't show up as much as I hoped because it is translucent, after all.  I figured there would be a workaround and there was.  I laid the stencil over the various areas and added some Poppyfield Alcohol Ink.  Because the fabric is still flexible, I just bent it a little so I could see where I needed to lay the stencil down.  Once I coloured all the areas, I dry brushed some of the Champagne Gold Metallics paint over each of them and wiped them back with a baby wipe.

I wondered if there was a way to colour the embossing paste and still keep it translucent so I mixed it with a little of the Crimson Acrylic Ink and tried it on another painted fabric scrap.  While it was no longer translucent when it dried, it did maintain its smooth and shiny texture.  I would do this another time so wanted to show you how it looks.

Now it was time to turn my fabric paper into an ornament.  I am super lucky that my husband has bought a laser cutter so that he has something to keep him busy when he retires in 2 weeks and he cut strips of wood for me so I could make a Christmas tree.  Alternatives would be to cut strips of heavy chipboard or if you want to make a much larger tree, you could use paint stir sticks as long as you have a way to cut the cross pieces.

I forgot to take a photo but I painted each of the strips, front and back with Gesso, rubbed them with a piece of tulle (which acts as really fine sandpaper) and then coated them with the Champagne Gold Metallics paint.

Next I cut strips of the fabric paper to fit the cross strips and glued them on using Liquitex Matte Super Heavy Gel.   I only did the front for this ornament.

I glued each cross strip to the long piece using the same Gel and a piece of the wood as a spacer.  To finish my tree off, I added some seed beads and a satin ribbon at the top for a hanger.

I tried to take a photo of this on my tree but the camera starting giving me fits and every photo came out blurry so I am giving you a final look on my kraft mat.

I think this fabric paper almost looks like rich brocade and that is making me quite happy.  I hope I have inspired you to try your hand at making fabric paper and turning it into one of your works of art.  I can see it added to a card or canvas and although I didn't try it, I am sure you can die cut it.

You still have time to make something for our current challenge, 'Grungy Christmas' and perhaps you could consider adding some fabric paper to your creation.

Winners - Remember, Remember !

Hello and welcome back ! It's time to share the winner and top three for the Remember, Remember challenge and what lovely memories you shared with us ! This made it soooo difficult to pick a winner, but as always we got there in the end !

Congratulations Lula ! 

We loved the vintage feel to Lula's craft envelope and the memory of being a child looking forward to Christmas. Lula please email carringtons22@yahoo.co.uk for details of your Guest Designer spot and winners badge.

 Now on to the top 3: 

Jenny

 Joi@RR

 Lys

Congratulations everyone, please email carringtons22@yahoo.co.uk for your top 3 badge. 

All of the winners will also be pinned on the Stamps and Stencils Pinterest Board! 

 

The current challenge is Grungy Christmas so if you have any spare time before the big day, you've still got plenty of time to join in

Grungy Christmas and some changes !

Hello and welcome ! Today we are kicking off the last challenge for 2015 and also announcing some changes. This is quite a long post so grab a cuppa and get comfy !

First of all we'd like to introduce you to the new DT members. Sharon has decided to leave and go on to other things and we wish her well and also Yvonne and Julia will be leaving us at the end of the year. So, it's a big thank you to everyone for the fabulous projects they've shared with us and a big hello to three more new teamies !

Autumn

I am the wife of an amazing man, who is my biggest supporter.  We have four children and are naturally quite busy.  The stamping craze took hold of me about 15 years ago and I have loved it ever since.  It is truly my outlet from the busyness of life.  I define my style as grunge meets elegance.  Though I love distressing, I like to balance it with a touch of pretty and neatness.  In addition to stamping, I love to draw and paint and have found that mixed media allows me to blend these skills and create rich artwork, filled with depth and texture.  I am thrilled to be a part of the Stamps & Stencils DT!  What an talented group of ladies!

Branka 

Hi! My name is Branka (also known as Vintage Handmade).I am very excited and honored to be a DT member here at Stamps And Stencils! Let me introduce myself. I am a proud mom of two amazing children - a boy (18) and a girl (11) and I am a wife of a wonderful husband.  We live in a small town in Croatia in our family home, we have a huge yard and a sweet little puppy that we all love. My main profession is an interpreter/translator. In December 2013, I discovered scrapbooking/paper crafting by chance. It was love at first sight :) and it was a beginning of my art journey. My biggest love is mixed media art and art journaling and I like to mix different medium and techniques. I have so much fun in experimenting :) I started with my blog last year and my first challenge entry was in October 2014. My style is rather masculine and grunge but I try to express myself in other styles, as well. I also create cards, mini albums and journals for my friends, relatives and people I love. 

Rachel

Hello There! My name is Rachel Fisher. I am a widowed mum of two beautiful girls aged 7 and 9. I love to craft and have been crafting in one form or another for most of my life. I make cards and 3D items and alter items too. I am influenced by all things Tim Holtz but also love most things painty and inky. Stamps and stencils are two of my most favourite things so I am utterly delighted to be on the design team here and hope that I can bring something useful and interesting to the team.

I hope you'll give our new teamies a warm welcome, they will be sharing their talents with you from the January challenge.

Time now to move on to the challenge for December, Julia is our host and here's what she has to say:

I love Christmas but I'm a little shy when it comes to the bling, glitter and tinsel bit. We'd like to see you step away from the normal Christmas colours and create a mixed media piece which has a real touch of grunge. Think alternative colours, layers, antiquing and all things which are not pristine red and green! Remember to add in some stamping or stencilling too!

Ruth

Yvonne

Cec

Julia

Sue

Toni

So now it's over to you !

An InLinkz Link-up

White Hexagons

Hi everyone, Ruth here with this weeks inspiration post. The current challenge theme is about favourite memories; scrapbooking is certainly one way of cherishing these so I've created a scrapbook style canvas utilising white space....yes, I do like white space! This week I thought I'd share my thought process when designing a layout.

My daughter was in South America this summer and one of the many highlights for her was visiting Salar de Uyuni - the worlds largest salt flat in Bolivia, I'll leave it to you to find out more about this stunning unique place! The photo I chose shows the vast expanse of hexagonal salt crust and looking at it I knew I wanted to create a canvas that echoed that space.

When I look at a photo...or any focal image, I'm trying to find elements that I can use to tie the background into it. I could see white, hexagons, textured edges, space and some blue and green, all of which needed to be used if the photo was going to look part of the canvas and not just dropped on top. The elements also needed to connect.

First of all, what had I got in my craft room that I could use for these elements?

• White? Paint!...paper, vellum, embossing powder etc.
• Hexagons?  Chicken wire stencils, stamps, honeycomb alterations die.
• Texture? in my craft room?....puff paint, texture pastes, gels, tyvek, lutrador, fabric, lace etc etc....
• Space? Think light, transparency and use of white space. acrylic shapes, acetate, frosting glaze.
• Blue / Green? Inks, threads etc

So I started with a 12 x 12 box canvas and gessoed it. I randomly scraped some white crackle embossing paste over the canvas, once dry I spread white puff paint through the chicken wire stencil (TCW) and then sprinkled on some sea foam white embossing powder before heating it.

Having decided where the photo would go ...right of centre, I squeezed on glue in rough hexagons before sprinkling with embossing pwder. the hexagons in the photo aren't perfect and the EP would give texture. I used various scraps of paper, emboss resist canvas, heated tyvek and cotton lace that had a geometric look to it. I used horizontal lines to echo the horizon in the photo. Ignore the X and V, they're for support!

No glitter as this wasn't ice or snow but I did use some ice silk glaze on the tyvek before heating, the only bit of shine on the whole project.

B for Bolivia and the Dakar Bolivia stone sculpture at the salt flats...another memory for her. It's embossed in seafoam again.

Having die cut acetate for embellishment I also used it as a stencil and spread more crackle paste on to the canvas.

Close up of more hexagonal texture....creamy white above and matte white below

I added some watersoluble pencil to give shadow to a few background areas. I tried a few combinations of thread and fibres for the blue and green elements but in the end used some inktense pencils to echo the sky and scarf.

I wanted some height to the layout but used transparent elements so it still gave a sense of light and space. I stippled PaperArtsy frosting glaze on acetate before die cutting a hexagonal frame for the photo. I also stippled the frosting glaze through a stencil onto an idea-ology fragment, the addition of this balanced with the B bottom right and the Tyvek top right and to my eye completed a 'visual triangle'.

2 small strips of vellum either side of the photo grounded it more and completed the canvas.

Hope you enjoyed the post and that I may have inspired you in some way. You still have another week to join in our challenge...and just remember white space is good! 

Welcome to today's Guest Designer, Chris !

Today we have another treat in store for you as we have another Guest Designer sharing a fabulous project for the current challenge of Remember, Remember. So without further ado I'd like to introduce Chris of Pearshapedcrafting.

Hello everybody! My name is Chris, but you probably know me as ‘pearshapedchris’ as my blog is pearshapedcrafting!
I was thrilled to be asked to be a Guest Designer here at Stamps and Stencils! The Design Team is so talented so it is a real honour to be here!
I have my Mum to thank for my love of making things, although I only got back into crafting for myself when I retired from teaching and my Mum died shortly after that so she never got to see any of the things I have made.
It’s quite funny now to see a ‘new’ technique and to remember doing that very thing – although without the range of products we have nowadays! I love all kinds of crafting especially where it includes stamping.

The theme ‘Remember, Remember’ is an ideal opportunity to show you some of my memories! Some time ago I made a little wall hanging about my Grandad so here is my Grandma’s version. I started with quite a pile of things I might use but as I went along some of them were swapped.

I stuck encyclopedia paper over the hanging and used the doily stencil in the corners, I used a dark colour so that it would show through when I painted over it.

I stamped the film strip on and then added some stamped gelli printed paper and some inked tape.

 s

I painted some embellishments.

Grandma was mounted onto card.

The corners were stamped, then everything was assembled to reflect the one I made of Grandad. 

If you want to see them together and the details on how I made this please hop over to my blog.

My Grandma was very old fashioned and the photo you see here was taken from one we had taken on a day trip to the seaside, so I hope you will come and see what we looked like on our day trip!

Thanks once again to Sue and the team for inviting me today!

Chrisx

Fabulous project Chris ! What a lovely way to remember your Grandparents, thank you so much for sharing this wonderful memory with us.

There is still time to join in with the current challenge Remember, Remember and there is still one more day to go on the DT call !

A big welcome to our first new DT member !

Today we are welcoming one of the new DT members, now I'm sure alot of you will know this very talented lady and will love her work. So, without further ado please give a warm welcome to :

Cec !

I am a retired Director of Finance and live with my wonderful husband of 40 years just outside Toronto, Canada. We have one daughter who is married and has blessed us with two fabulous grandchildren.

I have been crafting for as long as I can remember and came by it naturally since my Mother was a very creative person. In our family it must be a genetic thing because both my daughter and granddaughter are creative. I have done counted cross stitch and dried flower arranging in the past - heck, I even did macramé at one time :) I started card making around 2006 but really just dabbled at it until 2009 when my job disappeared and then I had lots of time to play. As time went on I started to make more vintage and shabby chic cards and was hooked. In the past year I have added more mixed media to my repertoire.

I don’t go to the gym because in truth I hate to exercise but I do walk a couple of miles every day. I love to read crime mysteries, am a good cook (according to others and my waistline) and like a variety of music styles, especially jazz. I hate gardening but do it because I also hate weeds. I love to travel and still have a few places on my bucket list that I will visit once the exchange rate co-operates.

Cec will be starting with the Stamps and Stencils team from the December challenge, but you may also see her popping up here and there visiting some of the entries into the current challenge. 

We still have one more member to recruit to the team and there is still a week to go for applications. You can find all the details here along with the current challenge, Remember Remember. 

Sue

Welcome to today's Guest Designer, Pamellia !

Today we are welcoming a Guest Designer that I know will be known to most of you. This lady's work is outstanding and is always an inspiration to see. So without further ado let's move on to hear from Pamellia of My Little Craft  Things.

Hello Everyone! My name is Pamellia Johnson and I live on Lake Aquitaine in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada with my wonderful husband and our two little girls, Scully (a teacup Maltese) and Pebbles (a teacup black Pomeranian).

Thanks to my very creative and talented Mom, I have been crafting in some form or another since I was a little kid. I've dabbled in a variety of crafts, but my true passion has always been card making. I have recently discovered the world of mixed media and altered art, and since getting back in touch with nature, I find I just can't stop myself from reaching for those crackle pastes and paints!

I find such a sense of accomplishment in making things from scratch, and in an age where technology has taken over the world, I find that a home-made product can be a breath of fresh air. Be it a card or a Christmas decoration, there's no denying that the best way to see your vision come to life, is to DO IT YOURSELF!!

 When Sue told me the theme would be Remember, Remember, there was a memory that instantly came to mind. The day we brought little Pebbles home. Oh what a day that was! Pebbles spent the entire day exploring the house. "I think I should poke my head in here, smell that over there, OH, what could that be, I should definitely jump up there when I'm big enough!!" Our first born (Scully) spent the entire day just following Pebbles around trying to figure out what the heck it was!! Hilarious I tell you, the perfect day to freeze in time!
I started with a wood canvas and painted the inside of the canvas with DecoArt Black Gesso. I dry bushed on some Americana Acrylics in Desert Sand and Raw Sienna, being sure to leave lots of black areas showing.

I then applied some Crackle Paste in varying thicknesses, again leaving areas of the colours underneath still showing. When it was dry, I gave it two coats of DecoArt Ultra-Matte Varnish. Presto, instant Frame-o!

 

Thank you so much to Sue and to the whole Stamps and Stencils team for inviting me to spend the day with them. I am thrilled and honoured to be here with such a talented group of artists. If you would like to see lots more pics and details, please pop on over to My Little Craft Things.

Happy Crafting, Hugs Pamellia

I'm sure you'll all agree Pamellia's project is fantastic ! Thank you Pamellia for sharing your project with us and also your precious memory.

The current challenge Remember, Remember is still open and you have plenty time to join in.