Embellishment Redo

I have many embellishments that just don’t work for me.  The main reason I don’t use them is the color.  If I don’t like the color it will never get used, no matter how nice it is.  So I decided to “fix” some embellishments that I didn’t like.  This started out as an experiment, so I was thrilled to see that it actually worked!

I have acquired quite a mix of acrylic cabochons from when I belonged to a kit club.  Every month I received a package with items pertaining to a certain theme and, although the company that put out the kits is no longer in business, I have a large stockpile of stuff.  

What I Used for my Embellishment Redo:

Acrylic Cabochons 

Embossing Fluid

Mermaid Tears, Cranberry Wine and Vintage Gold Embossing Enamel

Vintage Gold - a bit melted :)

I wanted to try to “fix” some of these embellies so I would use them.  I took an empty medicine bottle, popped the top of the Embossing Fluid and poured some in the bottle.  Then I brushed the Embossing Fluid on the cabochon (the brushing worked better - you can work the fluid into the little nooks & crannies), poured whatever color of Embossing Enamel I wanted (after pouring the extra off) and heated it.  The first one I did melted a bit, but then I got the hang of it.  

Cranberry Wine

 As I said, this began as an experiment and I am so happy it worked! Now I can “fix” my cabochons to match my projects!

I hope this inspires you to think a bit out of the box and find ways to “fix” items that you aren’t thrilled with.  And, since I had all the items on hand already, the new cabochons are essentially free!

My Favorite One - Mermaids Tears

Thank you SO much for stopping by today! I appreciate your support ~ Christi

Angel Words (new items)

Good morning. Teresa here again with todays fun offering. 

I love fonts. And I love word art. So when I first saw the new words that GlobeCraft was introducing, I was thrilled. 

I immediately knew I was going to make a canvas. 

Let's Shop ----

Blessings Word Accent
Celebrate Word Accent
Cherish Word Accent
Create Word Accent
Dream Word Accent
Enjoy Word Accent
Family Word Accent
Friends Word Accent
HappinessWord Accent
Inspire Word Accent
Laugh Word Accent
Love Word Accent
Smile Word Accent

Aged White Enamel Powder
Mermaid Tears Enamel Powder
Pure Platinum Enamel Powder
Vintage Silver Enamel Powder
Vintage Gold Enamel Powder

Embossing Enamel Adhesive

Extras

16x20 prepped canvas
Paint and Paintbrush (I used latex in Whitecap grey)
Glue (I used a quick dry tacky glue)
Lace (this was a vintage tablecloth edging)
Buttons/Rhinestones for accents

And here we go.

This is a prepped canvas and would be completely ok as is, but I lean more towards warm tones so I painted mine my favorite Pantone Color (Whitecap Grey) which is actually more of a cream color than a grey. 

After the paint dried, I took my words and the lace edging and worked out my layout directly on the canvas. 

(the above photo was taken with my phone - I intended to use it only for my reference, but then decided that this was a good tip to take a digital image so that you do not forget what you decided to do) 

Glue your edging to the canvas with the tacky glue. And set that aside to dry.

I had chosen the 5 different enamels listed above and I wanted a random effect. So I gathered my words and sorted them into 5 stacks. Then embossed the words. Some got only one coat and some got two. That is personal preference on the look you are trying to achieve.

Here are the Powders that I used (matched to words).

FAMILY - Mermaid Tears

BLESSINGS - Pure Platinum

LAUGH - Vintage Silver

CREATE - Vintage Silver

DREAM - Vintage Gold

CELEBRATE - Mermaid Tears

ENJOY - Aged White (2 layers)

LOVE - Mermaid Tears

SMILE - Aged White (2 layers)

HAPPINESS - Pure Platinum

CHERISH - Mermaid Tears

INSPIRE - Vintage Gold

FRIENDS - Mermaid Tears

Using your reference picture (or notes), glue your words to the canvas and set aside to dry.

Add your embellishments. I used mother of pearl buttons on the canvas and the lace accent and some flat acrylic rhinestones on the "i" in the words that contained that letter.

That detail above is of the vintage silver powder - I LOVE the hammered metal look it has.

There you have it. An Angel Words canvas, ready to gift or display.

A Spring Scene. . .

I am longing for spring, and I thought if I made a spring scene, it might help me forget the fact that winter is still here in my part of Colorado - in fact, as I write this post it is snowing right now!  So, I offer this tiny scene as homage to spring, knowing it is right around the corner. 

 

I wouldn't mind being there right now!

I made this using one of Globecraft & Piccolo’s NEW French Oval Classic Bubble Frame kits – they are awesome size, bigger than the Bubble Ornaments, and can fit a 4” x 6” photograph inside.  Everything marked NEW can be seen HERE and is part of the Spring Release.

To make this cute little wall hanging, I used:

• NEW F100KIT French Oval Classic Bubble Frame kit
• NEW A153 Butterfly & Flowers Accents  (flowers)
• NEW A147 Spring Accents (1/2 sun)
• NEW Rose Pearl 3D Enamel Gel
• A140 Cats Love Birds (birds & heart)
• The following Embossing Enamels: Vintage Gold, Cranberry Wine, Ruby Red Slippers and Girls Night Out.
• Embossing Fluid
• Kraft cardstock (for the branch, which was cut with my Silhouette Cameo)
• Green cardstock (for the leaves, which I punched out using an EK Success leaf punch and trimmed)
• Distress Paints in Chipped Sapphire & Stormy Sky
• Distress Markers in Broken China, Dusty Concord, Salty Ocean, Shaded Lilac & Tumbled Glass
• White Gesso
• Craft Sheet
• Kaleidoscope embossing powder (iridescent)
• White cardstock

Here is the French Oval kit - you even get a wall hanger!

The first thing I did was make the background for the piece.  I used white cardstock and the Distress Paints, as well as all the blue Distress Markers (Broken China, Salty Ocean & Tumbled Glass).  I used the paints first, daubing them on my craft sheet and spritzing them with water.  I used a whole 8 ½” x 11” sheet of white cardstock to soak up the color as I never know what part of the paper is going to work for what I want, and I can always use the leftover paper.  Once the paints had dried, I scribbled the blue markers on the sheet, using the brush tip, and used them just like the paint (I don’t have these colors in the paint, yet, and found that the markers work almost as well).  Once I felt I had a good background, I set the paper aside to dry thoroughly.

Knowing that the 3D Enamel Gel needs to set, I used the Rose Pearl 3D Enamel Gel straight from the bottle to “paint” my two flowers.  I wish I could show you how shimmery the gel is, the pictures do not do it justice! Sorry, I thought I took a picture of the flowers! I put one of the bubbles from a Bubble Ornament I have over the flowers so no cat hair (or curious cats) could get in the gel.  I let them set overnight.

Then I set about embossing my pieces.  First, I cut the sun in half, after measuring it to fit where I wanted it to in the scene.  I wanted the sun to be brilliant, so I used the Vintage Gold Embossing Enamel and I mixed in a no-name iridescent-like powder I had in a small baggie (I have had this powder for years and I have no idea who makes it).  I think it came out wonderful! 

I use a small scoop when mixing my powder because that way I have more control over the amount of powder and I don’t end up wasting it by mixing up a lot that I can’t reuse. I mix my powders on a coffee filter because the powder barely sticks.  I embossed the sun 2 or 3 times, using the Embossing Fluid between each coat of powder.  Here is the scoop I used in case you want to copy my recipes.

I then set about the birds.  I had wanted them to really stick out and be colorful so I mixed Ruby Red Slippers with Girls Night Out Embossing Enamel,  one scoop of each.  Again, I am very pleased with my results, they certainly are pretty!  I embossed the birds 2 or 3 times as well, following each coat of powder with more Embossing Fluid.  

 

The heart is straight up Cranberry Wine and was embossed a few times as well.

Here are all the accents embossed and ready to go!

The branch was cut from a file I found in the Silhouette Store, called Branch 

& Flowers, and I cut it out of kraft cardstock.  I used a leaf punch, with a light green cardstock, to punch out my leaves and I trimmed most of the leaves off and only used the top one.

The leaf punch I used

Once all the prep work was done, I got to put my scene together.  I first traced the back piece of the kit over the portion of the paper that I made earlier, picking out what part I wanted to use for my sky. You don’t have to be perfect cutting it out because the frame will cover the paper. Then I placed everything were I wanted it, left it for a bit, came back, rearranged it, asked opinions, rearranged it again and ended up moving the sun from one side to the other, and then glued everything down.  While I waited for the glue to dry, I painted the two parts of the frame with very light coat of white gesso and let them dry.  While they were drying, I got ready to paint the wider frame with my craft sheet and the Distress Paints.

The frames, painted.

I used the same water spritz/smoosh technique on the wide frame, and the gesso made the paint creamier looking.  For the decorative frame, I used Distress Markers in Dusty Concord and Shaded Lilac to give it a very faint tinge of purple.  The photos didn’t pick up the subtle color variations but it is there.  I glued the frame and the bubble together, and then glued that to the scene, finishing with the decorative frame.  

Almost done!
 

Showing the dimension

 

And another view of the final result

I had a blast using this kit and you will be seeing more of these in my art! 

Thank you for stopping by & I certainly hope spring has visited you! 

Christi