Tando Creative - Sponsor Spotlight No.2

Servus and welcome to the second spotlight being thrown on the lovely products from Tando Creative who are generously sponsoring our challenge this month!

Claudia here this time to share another inspirational step by step with you!

 Those who know me know how much I love rust in all its colourful forms and when I stumbled upon this image on pinterest, I knew I had to try to imitate this specific colour explosion of peeled varnish and rust - and Tando's mixed media boards, their awesome grab bag of screws and mix of chipboard panels were just perfect for this.

image source: I Luv Cameras on flickr

And this is what I came up with after a happy painterly afternoon in my studio:

 

I hope the quote is still socially acceptable (if it isn't, please, bear with me as I am no native speaker and honestly love the idea and feeling behind that quote...well, not for every occasion and all the time...but now and then we should just for once stop thinking and worrying too much and too long and start acting and following our guts instead and enjoying ourselves, right?). 

 As I needed a lot of different colour tones and layers to achieve this look I thought I'd rather share images from the various stages than do a lot of write up as the images show pretty well how the project changes with each layer. I used a mix of different techniques to apply the acrylic paints: stippling them on with a stiff (and worn) bristle brush mainly...but also using colour washes and dry brushing. 

Here's an image of the various colour tones I used:

I used DecoArt paints mainly, but you can use any heavy body acrylic brand you have at hand and any colour tones that match or come close to the ones I used. I also took an image of my paint palette so you can see which tones I used. Well, you can also see the two untouched brown colour dots that I decided didn't fit in:

 (click on the images for a larger view)

This time (which is quite unusual behaviour for me) I took the time to exactly measure and center the spots for my screws and panels as this adds to the industrial feel of the project and makes it look more convincing:

Once I had found the right spots I fixed my parts to the mixed media boards with matte DecoArt Decou-Page. 

Next I added some DecoArt media Texture Sand Paste in some spots - spreading the paste with my fingers and a soft brush. I let that dry thoroughly before I started the painting process. 

As usual I started off with a coat of Raw Umber acrylic paint which I stippled on with a bristle brush. This way the acrylic paint itself already creates additional rough texture which adds to the worn look. Then I added some "Black Plum" here and there.

 To make it short: I started with a really (cold) dark brown, then added some purple and dark blue and then went on with various red and orange tones. For finishing my piece off I added the really bright tones like the bright orange, yellow and teal. 

But the images show it best - so here they come (sometimes I took images where you can see the before-and-after effect):

 (a wash this time 

= heavily diluted paint being "washed" over your project 

with a wide soft brush)

top panel shows "after", bottom "before"

Some of the brightness gets lost once the paint is dry. So always apply paint rather generously to get a visible effect.

See how the bright orange from the step before has dried up so much darker? Washes create rather subtle effects - but they really do make a difference (as they add a kind of "randomness" that helps make projects look more natural and less "forced" or "composed", so just keep adding them now and then and keep on with building up loads of layers. 

Stipple on some more of the same colour (this time use the paint directly from the bottle and don't dilute it first) where needed. 

Then go for the really bright tones - don't be afraid if they look too bright at first. It will all blend in once you have added the final layers and tones:

(top panel shows "after", bottom panel "before")

Once you add the bright turquoise or teal, all the layers you have added before will become even more vibrant and form a beautiful and lively contrast to it. Contrasting colours always help each other with "popping" and becoming more visible and "important". The secret to using this effect properly is to add contrasting amounts of them to make this work ( for example a little turquoise here and there against a lot of reds, yellows and oranges...or the other way round...just as you like). 

In the next step I toned the whole project down by applying a wash of diluted Raw Umber acrylic paint over the whole piece - this helped make the panels look worn and more natural:

(bottom panel shows "after", top panel "before")

I used the rest of the wash to paint rusty drip lines in various spots:

I printed out my quote, cut it out and toned it down with some diluted paint once the printed text was completely dry. Then I blended the edges with some dark brown archival ink and a blending sponge. 

I glued the quote in place and also sealed it with the matte Decou-Page or Mod Podge. 

After that I applied a generous coat of DecoArt Liquid Glass on top and let it dry naturally.

Once dry the Liquid Glass looked like this:

Phew...done!!!

I hope you like my approach to industrial looking art and rust in all its glory and beauty and feel encouraged to give it a try too. 

I found it very useful to have photographs of rust as a model...if you are in search for inspiration simply search for "rust" with pinterest. You will find the most amazing and wonderful colour explosions - I promise!

***

And if you haven't joined in our actual summer challenge "Mexico Moods" yet, I highly recommend you check it out - we have a truly inspiring mood board to draw inspiration from, there are fab prizes to win and it is still open for another ten days! 

Hugs and happy crafting,

Claudia 

xxx

Tando Sponsor Spotlight No.3

Hello everyone,  this is Astrid, welcome and how lovely to see you here around this very special time of  year.

Let me start by wishing you all the most wonderful festive season, and much peace and creativity!

It being the 25th of the month, means another sponsor spotlight here at OCC, and this month we are sponsored by the wonderful Tando Creative.

Well, it being Christmas and all that, I had to make something gift and Christmas related of course. I decided to make a Christmas card/gift card holder.

The tando piece I worked with was this lovely deer

I thought he would just be perfect to adorn the front of a card.

I started with a size 10 tag, folded it in half and coloured the front with some Distress Sprays.

I used Faded Jeans and Peeled Paint and gave it just a few quick spritzes.

Next I stamped a wintry stamp from Indigo blue in Cobalt Archival and quickly embossed it with clear embossing powder. I also created a moon with the help of the punched circle mask and some Distress inking to deepen the colour, using two colours of Distress Inks, Faded Jeans and Walnut Stain. I also stenciled some snowflakes using Walnut Stain spray.

The next steps were quick and easy, just what you want at this time of year. I added some Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter to the deer for some festive sparkle and added a little tag and ribbon and a little crown.

The sentiment and a little pocket are on the inside:

The circle on the right and the pocket on the left (for the gift card) were both made with Spellbinder dies, and as you can see, the inside had become pretty dirty after all the spritzing and inking, so I lined it with a piece of decorative paper first.

Well, that's pretty much it.

Thank you so much for visiting, and don't forget, there are just a few days left to add a project to Alison's current "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" challenge and you could be lucky enough to win a prize from Tando Creative!

Everyone at Our Creative Corner wishes you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Sponsor Spotlight No. 3 with Tando Creative

Hi everyone, Jenny here today with the last of this month's 'Sponsor Spotlights'. As you will know we've been featuring just a few of the many wonderful designs this company have created ready and waiting for you to alter.

I chose to work with the Andy Skinner Mini Reversible Clock and also took the chance to put some of my relatively newly acquired Americana Decor Chalky Finish paints to good use (gosh I love this stuff!)

As you can see you have the option of working on a flat surface or decorating each separate panel and the clock mechanism comes within the pack. Here's how mine turned out...

It has to be said this was a bit different for me as I kept on adding layer after layer of texture and colour. I'll not bore you senseless with a blow by blow account but will tell you which products I used along the way. The base had book pages applied with a mix of Vintage and Lace Chalky Finish paints and some tan ink spray. The stamping was done with Tim Holtz 'Distress Damask' set using Watering Can and Forget Me Not Archival Inks.

Although difficult to detect on camera there are large hearts stencilled with Primitive Chalky paint and smaller ones with the Relic colourway together with some using Red Geranium Archival Ink and a black fineliner. And then there's the stencilled damask pattern using Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste followed up with more splats of tan ink.

The numbers were painted with the Vintage paint and the whole lot was splattered with even more of these paints (slightly watered down of course). When those numbers went on they disappeared a little into the background so I used some of the Relic paint to add shadows to one side of them (and you'll see it around the edges of the Chit Chat stickers).

To add durability to the whole thing I applied a couple of coats of clear Americana Decor Creme Wax. Applied with a brush, this stuff is fast drying and doesn't smell. The finishing touch was to add some Rennaisance Treasure Gold to the clock hands and edge of the clock face. The slight pinkish tone worked well with the little hearts.

This wasn't what I originally had in mind when the clock arrived but by allowing those creative juices to flow (and with no 'theme' to follow) it was an absolute joy to complete. If you enter our current challenge 'Flaming June' you could win a fabulous prized generously donated by Tando Creative, but hurry as there are only a couple of days left!

Thanks for taking the time to drop by. Take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Sponsor Spotlight 2 with Tando

Welcome everyone and thank you for dropping by today. This is Astrid with a project for our second sponsor spotlight.

As you may know our sponsor this month is Tando Creative

I

I chose to work with the 4 arch set:

When they arrived I was surprised at how small they are, but in fact that makes them perfect as an embellishment for a special card. So this is was I made:

I happened to have a card blank triptych in my stash and thought it would be perfect to use the arches on.

First I started by adding some texture to the little arches themselves by adding some texture paste. I used Liquitex Stucco paste, which really is like stucco, I applied it with my fingers to the little frames.

You get 4 little arches in the pack, but I decided to use just two, so I have two more to play with another time. Below you can hopefully see the stucco effect a bit better:

When the stucco had dried I rubbed a Versamark pad over it and then embossed with 3 different embossing powders: Ranger Antiquities Rust, Verdigris and Walnut Stain.

I added a scrap of paper behind each and stamped a word too and adhered that to the little panels. For the middle of my card I cut a larger Arch out of mount board with the Tim Holtz Arch Frame die and gave it the same treatment.

Onto my card:

I covered it in 3 different colours of Fresco Finish Paints: Nougat, Stone and French Roast blending with both a baby wipe and some Kitchen roll until I was more or less happy with the effect:

I wanted a kind of aged and distressed wood effect but then decided that would be too distracting behind the arches so blended Distress Inks, Pumice Stone and Gathered Twigs around the edges to tone it all down a bit.

I then did some some stamping, both with Picket Fence Distress paint and Plum Archival ink and then adhered my arches.

The Swirl stamps are from Stempel Glede, the scrip stamp from Darkroom Door. Below are some close ups of the panels still:

The word Live is part of a Kaisercraft stamp. I stamped it on a scrap from a mop up tag and outlined with a white gel pen. Not convinced that really worked, but too late now....

The central panel with a vintage photo from my stash and a metal embellishment.

And the final one done in the same way as the first.

Well, that's it, hope you like it, and if you have not yet participated in our challenge we all hope you will do so and you could win a fabulous prize generously provided by Tando Creative. You can read all about this month's challenge HERE

Thank you so much for visiting today and don't forget to come back on the 22nd to see the winner from last months challenge appear as our 'Top Talent'!