Monday 30 October 2017

Poisonous Potions and Spitefull Spells - by Claudia

Hi, servus and welcome to my presumably last Halloween project for this year, dear Calico Craft Parts friends!

Have you enjoyed the Halloween crafting as much as I have? Oh, I am sure you have. And as always I started too late...so there are still bunches of Calico's fab Halloween and Autumn wood shapes that I haven't yet used. But somehow after Halloween is before Halloween, isn't it?...maybe I will do some Halloween projects in November still - and by doing so get late again with starting on Christmas projects...lol



I have created this little Halloween mixed media board that was great fun to do. Maybe I will turn it into a book cover...but at the moment I like it as it is. I love to create spells books that might have once belonged to a wicked witch....or maybe a helpful witch (like this potions "book" that I made for Calico Craft Parts last year).

Calico Craft Parts used:

- Rounded Rectangle Greyboard Mixed Media Board - Style 18
- Fancy Plaques 3 - Mini MDF Wood Shapes
- Sheet of Mini MDF Wood Insects - Style 1
- Sheet of Mini MDF Wood Apothecary Bottles - Style 1
- Word Elements - Horror & Halloween
- Skull & Crossbones MDF Wood Shape



The Mixed Media Board was first given a coat of DecoArt Burnt Umber Student Acrylic. Once that was dry I applied a thin coat of DecoArt Weathered Wood with a wide soft flat brush and waited until that was still sticky to the touch. Then I quickly and gently applied a thin coat of DecoArt "primitive" Chalky Finish paint with the same soft wide brush. I set the board aside to dry naturally.


I applied a base coat of white DecoArt media Gesso to the bottles and of "relic" Chalky Finish paint to the skull, word element and mini insects. 


The bottles and insects were then coloured with a detail brush using DecoArt media fluid acrylics Sap Green, Yellow Oxide, Paynes Grey, Quinacridone Gold, Green Gold and a mix of some of them, where needed.

The skull and word element were dry brushed with "primitive" Chalky Finish paint.


I also added a very thin wash of Quinacridone Gold to both.



The bottles had been sealed with DecoArt media Gloss Varnish before I toned them down with DecoArt media Carbon Black Antiquing Cream. 


I only wiped off as much of the Antiquing Cream to leave a kind of dark "shading" around the bottles edges.


I also added a wash of a mix of some of the left overs from the paints on my palette (from painting the insects) to the mixed media board before I sealed that with a coat of DecoArt media Ultra-Matte Varnish. That also helped dull the sheen of the Weathered Wood that still shows through where the cracks are.


I dabbed some Quinacridone Gold around the edges using my fingertip and scraped on a little Green Gold using a palette knife. Once all was dry I toned the whole board down with Carbon Black Antiquing Cream.


I glued all my pieces in place using DecoArt matte Decou-Page. Then I added some DecoArt Triple Thick to the bottles and the wings of the mini insect.


I obviously forgot to take a picture of how I did the mini plaque at the bottom. That was also given a base coat of "primitive" Chalky Finish paint. Then I hand wrote "Vol.31" and drew a thin border on it using a permanent ink fine tip marker. Once that was dry I dabbed on some Quin Gold around the edges and also toned everything down with Carbon Black Antiquing Cream.


I had some left overs from board game chipboard pieces that I used for rivets. I stippled on some DecoArt media Texture Sand Paste and then painted them with Paynes Grey and Quinacridone Gold.


I also love this detail shot because it shows how differently the Weathered Wood turns out when being applied in varying thickness. Where the tiny cracks are, it had almost completely dried (at least that was what I had thought...). They're so cool!


I didn't apply the Triple Thick to the corks - so they look more natural against the glossy finish of the bottles.



Once more the finished piece:





Hugs and Happy Halloween to you all! 
Claudia
xxx



Wednesday 25 October 2017

Clowns Aren't Scary! - by Lesley

So......over in the shop, we have new stackable boxes in 6 different sizes! Square and rectangle shape!
I have altered one of the rectangle ones for you...........

Now, i know not everyone likes clowns........but this little fella isn't scary, is he?


I started by gluing the box together and painting the entire thing with two coats of red paint.
Liquid glaze was added to the sides and the top of the lid, and then i added some blue paint over the top.


I used the miniature stars as decoration, painting them yellow and blue and adding a coat of glaze on the top.


On the lid, i used one of the large birch stars. It was painted blue and some stars embossed in white, with the clowns head glued on top.


 Some little metal stars were added to the lid to finish off.


Ta for reading,
L.xx

Ingredients used
Birch Plywood rectangle box kit
Mini MDF star shapes
6 pointed star, birch plywood

Sunday 22 October 2017

Birds of the Night - wood-burned stacking boxes by Julie Ann

Hello Everyone! It's great to be back at Calico Craft Parts blog. Now is the season to be spooky and Claudia and Kerstin recently cooked up some 'spooktacular' haunted houses, while Lesley added toppers to delicious Halloween cakes with Calico Craft Parts. I didn't want to let Halloween go by unheralded, so I have been consulting with my wise owl friends who tell me it's their favourite time of year. 



 I'd been wanting to get my wood-burning tool out and play with some of the lovely little Calico stacking boxes, so I decided to try my hand at creating 3 boxes with a Halloween/Autumn theme.



Because I love the natural wood colour of these Calico boxes, and they take the wood burning so well, I decided to use very little paint on them; but to create contrast with the wood-burned designs. My wood burning kit was a gift from a friend, but there are some excellent ones out there with temperature controls and - with a little practice - the effect is similar to drawing with a pencil. You just have to be careful not to allow the tool to get too hot and remember that mistakes cannot be rubbed out!




The boxes are very easy to assemble and secure with wood glue. I chose the small boxes, 1-3, but there are medium and large options too and you can buy the boxes individually. 



My friends know how much I love owls. I associate them with moonlight, wisdom and all things magical. Their plaintive calls are like a mysterious music to me: they invite us to fly into starlight and the rustling of black and silver leaves in the velvet night.



The Calico sheet of mini owls captures these wonderful birds in miniature. I thought they would make perfect details for my box lids. I added a little colour and some faux gems for eyes.



I like to have a 'dry run' with my Calico Craft Parts, putting pieces together without glue and playing with positioning until I'm happy with an arrangement...




experimenting with leaves on the upright sides of the box.


Here is the largest 'Owl Box', all fixed in place. On the lid, Autumn the Owl meditates. Her friends, the talking trees don't like to disturb her reverie, while beyond, the tower holds the secrets of the twilight.



The boxes stack perfectly one within the other. I hope the miniature pine cone and vine leaf give some idea of the scale of the tiniest box - ideal for a minuscule Halloween favour.



This birch-wood heart was just the right shape for Autumn the owl's face. I kept the wings and the acorns in their natural wood state too.




Now it just remains for me to decide on the treats those boxes will hold - chocolate pumpkins perhaps - or licorice spiders? Thank You for stopping by today. I hope you have been inspired to have a go at wood-burning one of the Calico boxes either with your own take on a Halloween design or the pattern of your choice. Until we meet again, have a creative and happy time as the days shorten.
Calico Craft Parts used in this project
Birch Plywood Square Box Kit, small 1-3
Birch Plywood Heart Shape (small)
Sheet of Acorns and Oak Leaves
Sheet of mini MDF wings (style 1)
Sheet of mini MDF wood bird shapes (owls)

Wednesday 18 October 2017

Thank You With A Flourish : by Jennie

Hello and thank you for joining me for what is really a rather simple project, but a card which is very handy to have "in the box"!


To me a simplicity in card making is essential given the numbers that we sometimes need and it struck me that some of the wonderful CCP flourishes would make a great base for a card but without being too bulky.


I started with a base of craft cardstock and layered another two layers on top for sturdiness. I intended to keep my tones neutral so chose this plain handwritten text cardstock.


Then I added the wonderful Flowering Vine Flourish with that great little "circle"element at its base. I did no more than add a little white acrylic paint to the wood effect to maintain the neutral palette.


I added a little flower cluster (muslin, hessian string and a handmade flower) on that lower circle, again keeping the colours neutral.  A little butterfly balances the design outwards to the top right hand corner.


I normally leave cards at this stage and stamp a number of different sentiments on my tags so I can add something appropriate as needed. But to complete the card I decided to make this a "thank you" card.


So very simple ..... yet so very effective.


As always thank you for joining me today and happy crafting!

Jennie x


Calico Craft Parts used:

PS If you would like a tutorial for the rolled rose flower, then please click the link HERE which will take you to a tutorial on my blog.


Monday 16 October 2017

Halloween Chunkies - by Claudia

Hi, servus and welcome back! Claudia here to bring to you another Halloween themed project created with some of Calico Craft Parts' fabulous Halloween Wood Shapes!

I love Halloween and I love ATCs....but even more I love CHUNKY Halloween ATCs! lol

I created my chunkies from thick corrugated card (= packaging left overs that came with our new bed back in June, when we were busily renovating and switching rooms).

Creating the chunky ATCs was great fun - I always enjoy working by the typical Halloween colour scheme with bright greens, red, oranges and purple contrasting gloomy backgrounds...



Calico Craft Parts used:

- Pumpkin Head MDF Wood Shape 
- Ghoulish Monster MDF Wood Shape - Style 1
- Staggering Mummy MDF Wood Shape 
- Witch's Stripy Legs MDF Wood Shape
- Word Elemements - Horror & Halloween
- Sheet of Mini MDF Halloween Motifs - Style 3
- Halloween Wood Words





To create my ATCs I simply got out all my Halloween themed Calico Craft Parts and played around with different arrangements until I was content. (I then always take a picture....just in case I forget which arrangements I finally have decided on ;)


Using a palette knife I scraped DecoArt media black Gesso around the chunky corrugated card ATCs' sides and fronts.


While the Gesso was still wet, I scraped on white DecoArt media Gesso so the black and white mixed and created streaks. When you do that make sure you wipe off any excess from your palette knife before you dip it into your Gesso!!!! Otherwise you will contaminate the Gesso in the pots!


I repeated the same step with DecoArt Americana Neons "Thermal Green":


I set my ATCs aside to dry. In the meantime I dry brushed some heavy body white acrylic Gesso onto the Craft Parts I wanted to use. The white Gesso makes the MDF wood shapes less absorbant and also makes the colours used on them pop. 


Then I picked some of my favourite DecoArt media "Halloween" colours (Sap Green, Primary Magenta, Green Gold, Titan Buff, Dioxazine Purple, Quinacridone Magenta, Yellow Oxide) and painted the ghoul, pumpkin, mummy and witch's legs using a fine tip soft brush.


While the painted craft parts were drying I stamped some crackles onto the ATCs using black archival stamping ink. 


I created drip lines with a mix of DecoArt media Quinacridone Red and Quinacridone Magenta. To help the colours run and spread I sprayed on some water from a bottle. 


Then I added a wash of black DecoArt media Antiquing Cream to the ATCs and the painted craft parts (sorry, I obviously forgot to  take a picture of that step). I only wiped back a little here and there once the Antiquing Cream had dried. 

I sprinkled on red and black DecoArt media Mister paint as a finishing touch for my ATC backgrounds.




The words were glued on with matte DecoArt Decou-Page and then painted with DecoArt Americana Neons (Fiery Red, Thermal Green, Torrid Orange and Scorching Yellow). I added two coats of the Neons paints to make them really pop.


Done! 


I hope you like my ATCs! I really had a lot of fun creating them (and a happy mess on my crafting desk...lol).

There are a lot more fantastic Halloween Wood Shapes to be discovered at the Calico Craft Parts online shop! Check them out by clicking HERE...and then get yourself the ones you like best and create your own Halloween ATCs! Have fun!

Hugs and happy crafting!
Claudia
xxx