Dictionary Butterfly

It is Cec here and today I am bringing you a clean and simple card that I am calling Dictionary Butterfly.

I started by scanning the page in a dictionary that had the definition for Butterfly on it - look closely and you can see it down on the bottom right.  I inserted the image into a new document in Word  and scaled it to the size I wanted to cut it for my background (Click on the image and then on Format to get the size so you can change if desired).  Next I added the Butterfly text at the top making sure that my image was centred on the page first.  This is simple to do by making sure that the image is behind text (Right Click on Image after you insert it then click Wrap Text then click Behind Text).

The next step was to stamp one half of the Big Butterfly with Versamark and then emboss it with Ebony embossing powder.

I painted the butterfly using some IndigoBlu Metallic paints - Kingfisher Blue, Aladdin and Sleeping Beauty.  Then I took a fluffy brush and went over the whole butterfly with Silver Luscious powder.  This not only added wonderful shimmer to the butterfly but served to make the colours look a little more blended.

I adhered the panel to my card blank and then created a computer generated sentiment that I mounted on some purple card stock and added to the card with dimensional foam strips.

There you have my easy, peasy card.  I hope this inspires you to create with some of the wonderful metallic paints from IndigoBlu.

My Heart Soars

It is Cec here and I have another inspiration piece for you.  Count Your Blessings is the theme this month for the International Design Team and when I think of my blessings my heart gives a little flip so I decided to make a little canvas to portray how this affects me.

I started with an 8" x 8" canvas and gave it a coat of White Gee-Sso Good Gesso.  Next I put some Super Thick Slap it On through a Script stencil.  Once it was dry I gave it another coat of gesso because I didn't want it to be shiny.

I coated a piece of fine corrugated cardboard with Black Gee-Sso Good Gesso and when it was dry gave it a coat of Matte Slap it On.

Next I cut a piece from a Tyvek envelope and painted it with Raven Black Metallic paint.  When it was dry I stamped it with the English Flourish (Dinkie) and the dots from the Tasty Textures stamp set using Jet Black Archival Ink.  Then I heated it between two pieces of parchment paper with the painted side down and being sure to just hover my dry iron over it and not touch it.  It takes a bit of patience but you get the coolest bubbles and holes that you can see in the photo of the finished project.

Next I coated a wooden heart that my husband made for me with some Golden Course Pumice Gel and when it was dry I painted it with Ruby Slippers Metallic paint.

I stamped the Flutterby (Dinkie) on some white card stock with Black Gee-Sso Good Gesso and then cut it in half and removed the head and bottom of the body.  The next step was to paint it with Ruby Slippers and Vodka Martini Metallic paints and then attach it to the back of the heart.

I altered the colour of a filigree piece with some Pitch Black and Silver Mixative Alcohol Inks blended together.  This was then attached to the heart.

To finish the canvas I used a dry brush to paint Raven Black Metallic paint and then some White Gee-Sso Good Gesso outwards from the centre.  I added the corrugated cardboard next, followed by the Tyvek panel.

The heart was mounted on a little bit of cheesecloth, On top of the cardboard I added a little strip of faux metal from my stash that was painted with Black Gee-Sso Good Gesso and heat dried to create bubbles.  Finally I created the sentiment on the computer, tore around it and inked it with some Hickory Smoke Distress Ink.  Tip:  The best adhesive for ensuring that all things, light or heavy stay attached to the canvas is Super Thick Slap it On.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope I have inspired you to document your blessings in your art.

Take the Moment & Make it Perfect Card

Hello IndigoBlu fans!

Emmy here today with a new project to share. This month is all about fireworks on the IndigoBlu blog and I've decided to create a card featuring the Chemistry Lab Red Rubber Stamp - after all there are no fireworks comparable to the big bang!

As you can see I used a lot of different IndigoBlu products on this card. To create the background I had a 10 x 14 cm piece of white cardstock, which I stamped using the Chemistry Lab Red Rubber Stamp and FlitterGlu. After I was satisfied with my design I added Megaflake Royal Peacock on top.

To give extra glimmer & glam to the big bang "fireworks" I added some Unicorn Sparkles - Magical glitter to them. 

To colour my background I used a mixture of Slap It On - Super Thick with a little bit of Luscious Pigment Powders - Silver and Luscious Pigment Powders - Blue. Once you've applied the colour, rub gently the images with your finger to remove the slap it on medium from them. 

For my sentiment I used Floral Fantasy Red Rubber Stamp with silver embossing powder. Once the image has cooled down, I coloured the panel with Artist's Acrylic Paint Vodka Martini.

I hope you enjoyed today's project!

Come back soon for more inspirational creations from our design team!

Emmy

Steampunk Papillon by Jenny Marples

Hi everyone and welcome! Jenny here in my capacity as Resident Guest Designer to share a new steampunk fantasy themed canvas I've created using IndigoBlu's 'Steampunkesque' range.

Those of you came to the recent Ally Pally show and took part in the  IndigoBlu Make n Take workshops will recognise the wings and now have experience of how to make them! Find out how the rest of it came together in more detail and see some close up photos over on my blog. Hope to see you there!

Loving the whole Steampunk/Rust/Industrial look? There are some fantastic new videos now available on the IndigoBlu YouTube channel to inspire you even more...

Learn how to create a wonderful Rust Effect with Maxine Jones;

And now for a fabulous Steampunk Skull Shadowbox from Mike Deakin;

There are lots of informative, entertaining and inspiring videos on the IndigoBlu YouTube channel so make sure you subscribe to see the latest ones.

Well, with the weekend fast approaching I hope you have a great one!
And don't forget to pop over to my blog for more on that Steampunk Papillon canvas.

Take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Santa Ornament

It is Cec here and today I am bring you a little more Christmas in the form of an ornament.

This ornament starts with an old DVD.  I got my husband to drill a single hole at the top to accommodate a hanger and three holes at the bottom just in case.  Next I cut some scalloped circles on my Cameo to cover it.  I was decorating both sides of the DVD so I cut two circles larger than the DVD and two the same size.

The next step was to paint the circles.  I had one plan in mind and painted randomly on one side of each circle with Ruby Slippers, Goldfinger and Emerald City Metallic Paint and then I wiped it back a bit with a baby wipe.  It didn't turn out the way I wanted it to - you can see the result when you look at the centre of the larger circle.  Instead of sending it to the circular file marked "G", I decided to cover it with slightly watered down Ruby Slippers.  I liked the look then.   Since the smaller circle was going to be mounted on top of the larger circle, I didn't waste any more paint by going all the way to the centre of the larger circle.

The next step was to stamp the smaller circles with the IndigoBlu Script Background stamp and Jet Black Archival Ink.  This is rapidly becoming a favourite stamp.

I crumpled up some white tissue paper into a tight ball and then opened it back out again and glued it to the smaller circles using some Matte Slap it On.  Once it was dry, I trimmed away the excess tissue.  If you don't wait until it is dry, the tissue will disintegrate in your hand.  If you use a plain scallop rather than a double scallop like I did, it will be even easier to trim.

I forgot to take a photo of this next step but I covered the tissue with some watered down Goldfinger Metallic Paint and then inked the edges with some Red Geranium Archival Ink.  I also mixed some Silver Luscious with water and pounced it on randomly using a stencil brush.

I covered the DVD next by adhering the DVD to the back of one large circle using Super Thick Slap it On.   This is a fairly fast grab so you have to work a bit quickly but of all the fabulous things it does, it is a terrific adhesive.  Once dry, I made a hole through the circle where the single hole was drilled in the DVD.  I decided not to use the bottom holes this time.

I glued the second circle on the other side of the DVD and held it in place with paper clips until dry.  Then I made the hole at the top on this side and touched up the edges of the hole on each side with a bit of paint.  It is much easier to locate your hole by doing it one step at a time as I have than trying to find where it goes if you have everything covered.

While I could still see my hole, I added some narrow red satin ribbon to make a hanger.

I stamped two copies of the Santa head from the Retro Christmas set using Jet Black Archival Ink and fussy cut them.

I coloured my Santas using Prismacolors for the face, hat and beard.  I added a little bit of Silver Luscious to the beard and used a Snow Marker from Uchida to make the fur on the hat.  This goes on like a white marker and then you use your heat gun to puff it up.

For final assembly, I added fun foam with double sided adhesive to the smaller circle and popped it up on top of the larger circle on each side.  Then I repeated this process with the Santas and added them on top of the smaller circle.  Finally I added some red gems for a bit of bling.

I hope you are inspired to dig out an old DVD or CD and transform it into a new ornament for your tree with one of the many fabulous Christmas stamps from IndigoBlu - new or old.

Mary Metallic Christmas Card

Autumn here to share some holiday inspiration with you.  I just could not wait to ink up the lovely new Mother and Child stamp.  I decided to do a non-traditional color scheme so I could play with my beautiful new IndigoBlu metallic paints.

I used a pine bough die with very thin chipboard.  I lightly mixed a small amount of Goldfinger and Snow White metallic paints together to form the most luxurious color and painted several of the die cuts.  Next I cut my snowflakes and star and painted them with pure Goldfinger for contrast.

On a watercolor panel I partially stamped the Christmas Word Block and Snowflake Lace repeatedly with Versamark ink.  I poured silver embossing powder over some sections, then shook off the excess.  Then I poured gold embossing powder over the entire panel to collect in any open areas of my inked background and heat embossed.  I distressed the edges of my panel.  Then I embossed Mary in silver and fussy cut the edges.

I layered my elements, adding in some vintage seam binding, sequins, and splashes of watery Goldfinger and Snow White paints for interest.  I mounted onto a pewter card base to create a pretty framed edge.

This card is both mixed media and CAS, if there is such a thing!  I hope it inspires you to start your Christmas cards, especially if you're not quite in the mood for red and green just yet.  

Thank you for your visit today and I look forward to reading your comments.

Jewellery Box

Hello, it's Solange Marques here. Today I'll share with you another project with the amazing IndigoBlu products!

This time I made a jewellery box:

First of all, I covered  IndigoBlu Square wooden jewellery box using IndigoBlu GeeSso Good!White. Then I painted the outside of the box using IndigoBlu English Cottage Artist's Acrylic Paint Metallic Copper 

The next step was apply Kroma Crackle  on the sides of the box:

On the top of the box I glued some chipboards and I applied IndigoBlu Mega flakes Copper Kettle.
After I applied  a little of IndigoBlu GeesSo Good! White on some places of the gears chipboards.

To finish it I applied IndigoBlu Slap It on Matte

I hope you enjoyed it !

Happy Creating!

Paint Effect Lantern

Hello and welcome, it's Kay here. Today I would like to share a paint and Mega Flakes experiment; I used it to upgrade a cheap lantern to look like weathered metal, replacing the glass with handmade paper treated with Diamond Resin as it gives a lovely translucent effect.

One of the great advantages of Mega Flakes is the large size of the flakes - hence their name! - but even Mega Flakes do break down eventually and become unusable (until now!) This is what I used on the lantern along with the fabulous new Metallic Paints. 

The glass panels, base and handle were removed. A piece of Phat Foam was loaded with FlitterGlu and applied all over the lantern body, base and handle. The broken down Stainless Steel Mega Flake was used to cover FlitterGlu and buffed up with a Scoochy, at this point it didn't seem to matter if the flakes are a little lumpy as it added to the effect. A little Raven Black Paint was dabbed over the flake using a sponge, when dry a little Kingfisher Blue was then applied similarly and when that was dry Pheasant Bronze was dabbed over both with a sponge. This process was repeated until I was happy with the result, a final light sponging with Snow White was then applied to highlight.

The replacement glass panels were cut to the same size from handmade mulberry paper, a butterfly from the Floral Fantasy stamp set was inked with StazOn and stamped 4 times without re-inking on each panel. The paper panels were placed on a craft mat, 10ml of each Diamond Resin part was made up to the instructions on the packaging and sponged over all 4 panels and left for 8 hours. I found that the panels needed an extra coating of Diamond Resin, I applied this and left them to cure for 3 days.

I put the lantern back together and was very happy with the result, hope you also like the effect and will be making you own experiments soon!

Until next time, happy creating,  Kay M x