They weren't like this...

....when I were a kiddie... Domino's that is... they were ivory/white and chunky, or black and plastic-y... never saw one with flowers, a bee and a ladybird before...

Another swap achieved for UKScrappers, an altered domino. It was a direct 1-2-1 swap and I was allocated Gail, who wanted vintage or nature, so I went with nature.

The flowers are made using the Martha Stewart clay and molds, to begin with I made plain white flowers and painted them purple using PaperArtsy's Fresco Finish chalk acrylic paint in amethyst, which is a dark purple... then I re-read what Gail had said about colours and she is not a fan of purple... so those flowers have gone into the odds'n'sods box for use on something else.

The yellow flowers I made using the white clay and a little of the yellow mixed in to make my own colour, damn but I love these molds as once you have worked out how much clay to put in and squidged it in all the way round, out pops the most perfectly formed flower - so cute!

Once the clay had dried I lightly went over the surface with Spiced Marmalade distress ink, just to give it a bit of contrast colour. There are 2 leaves, one on each of the short ends, but they haven't come out so well.

The domino was coloured using Meadow alcohol ink and some little metal vine-y bits were glued to the long edges. When everything was glued on and dried I gave it several coats of Spray and Shine varnish to try and give some protection to the clay flowers.

The domino was destined to become a bag charm, so needed a "thingy" on the back (which was kindly sent to me by Karen/Kitty Crafts) as I hadn't got a clue what she meant. So the thingy was duly glued on with glossy accents after the back of the domino had been inked with black alcohol ink to disguise the spots.

The little metal bee was a proverbial PITA, it got glued on with glossy accents twice before it decided to stay put, I just hope he survives with Gail longer than he did with me!

The domino has now been received by Gail and she likes it so that's a result. I have yet to receive the domino which has been made for me, I asked for "Butterflies/nature or steampunk - or a mix of all three if my partner is feeling brave enough! Bonus points if they include the colour purple"... looking forward to seeing what I get!

Playing with PaperArtsy!

Finally! (I hear you say...) I'm getting around to blogging my trip over to Barleylands last Saturday with Toni (misteejay) to watch a demo by Leandra from PaperArtsy at Sugar & Spice.

Can I just say - right from the outset - that I had no intention of buying more than a couple of the JOFY stamp sets, the ones that they have used in this months Craft Stamper... and maybe one or two other bits...

Yeah. Right. No further comment. Ahem...

Moving swiftly on, I did also go back to Pinnacles with that Fiskars trimmer as I'm still not getting on with it, Andy tested it out for me and agreed that this one is STILL not cutting straight, so I am now the proud owner of a Woodware trimmer which is a) cheaper, b) has loads of interchangeable blades, c) feels much more sturdy on my desk and d) you can cut up to A3 on it whereas the Fiskars one couldn't... so all in all  a much better purchase methinks!

Anyways, back to PaperArtsy... and hot damn those JOFY stamps are rather lovely - these 2 sets were the ones I'd planned on, the 2 mini's were "just because"...

Leandra did some gawjuss demo's using their Fresco Finish chalk acrylic paints, so one or two of those had to hop into my basket as well, I think I now understand the difference between opaque and translucent paints and have a finer appreciation for the chalk finish as opposed to the standard matt finish of acrylic paints. Just as I thought I'd gotten away lightly, she started playing with their crackle finish and grunge paste... "shop!!!"... Fab demo's, lots of video taken and several photos too -

 Oh.My.Gosh. I am so in love with the crackle finish! She made it look so easy, but the product itself is as easy as pie and does all the hard work...

Base coat in a blue Fresco Finish chalk acrylic (don't ask me which one, I've slept since then lol) then a VERY THIN coat of crackle finish applied with a palette knife, it dries almost straight away and then a THICK coat of Nutmeg or Snow White chalk acrylic on top - she says you can either use a brush with lots of paint on it, or heavily load up a piece of Cut'n'Dry foam - but either way to only give it ONE coat and move on, don't go back over it too much... then zap with heat gun... and WOW - all these fabby cracks appear - the finer ones are from where the top coat of acrylic was applied a little thinner, so the moral is: the thicker the top coat the better the cracks...


Lots of inspiration, lots of laughs, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Leandra 'cos she'd given up some of her birthday to come over to Sugar and Spice to demo for us which was very sweet of her, and then Toni and I headed out to hit Pinnacles and then the bistro for lunch - jacket spud with tuna mayo and a side salad. They've opened the new wine bar next door now, shame we were both driving as they were handing out glasses of plonk to celebrate... grrr...

Whilst noshing we compared notes on our various purchases, and both decided that one or two more paints were required, so we headed back to Sugar & Spice. Leandra had already left and Marion, Barb and Nina were in full swing demoing and showing off the display boards that Leandra had left for us - some lovely ideas on them to whet the appetite. Anyhow, one thing led to another, a chance remark along the lines of "you running this as a make'n'take then ladies?" and those of us there ended up spending a happy couple of hours playing with the paints, crackle finish and grunge paste, which was applied thru stencils and then covered over with Treasure Gold gilding wax... here's the two pieces I made and am rather pleased with...

 

Love love love the crackle finish - I want to have a serious play with this by myself now, so really need to get my craft area sorted out!

 

Interesting effect, I like the grunge paste but not too sure on the Treasure Gold, I've seen some fab pieces where the grunge paste has been painted instead and it looks much nicer and is more controllable. And, to be honest, acrylic paint is much cheaper - I appreciate that Treasure Gold is used very sparingly and is a seriously decent product, but its very expensive compared to the other gilding waxes you can get - and its not something I think I will want to use that often...)

 

So that was our day at Sugar and Spice - a lot of fun, a lot of inspiration and some new products and stamps to play with - just need the space and time now!