Another oldie - shrink plastic!

Hello there! I have a simple post to share with you today - a reminder of another old technique that I always forget to use....I am talking about using shrink plastic! For the uninititated this is a sort of plastic that shrinks on heating - either by use of a heat gun or the oven. Here's what I did....

I started by stamping onto the rough side of the shrink plastic. I used Archival ink but staz on would also work fine. At this point you could add colour - its best to use pencils and only colour lightly as the colour intensifies on shrinking. Because my stamp was relatively small Ididn't colour at all.

Next I did some fussy cutting and then put the stamped images onto a baking tray and put into a preheated oven at 190 degrees C....it took a mximum of 30 seconds. Larger stamps would take longer.

This is how they look when shrunk. Really tiny!!!

I decided to use my shrunked leaves to form part of a card. I used a stencil from clarity and one from that special touch to create the idea of a window and wall. I stamped a chocolate baroque stamp in the window and added the ivy.

I hope you agree that shrink plastic is worth another look!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

More play with distress oxides

Hello there! Well I really loved Autumns tutorial on using distress oxides - so much so I decided to have another play and show the results here! I used them in a few different ways to make up my journal pages which I will explain as I go along!!! Here's the finished page for starters!

I love the muted tones the oxides produce....they are so different from distress inks and yet so similar too - very clever stuff I think!

Here's what I did to achieve this page....

My first move was to use my craft mat - I added dabs of four colours to the mat - cracked pistachio, fossilised amber, faded jeans and broken china, spittzed with water and then literally wiped the mat onto my journal pages. I repeated this until the pages were covered.

Next I mixed a dab of cracked pistachio distress oxide with wendy vecchi crackle paste and mixed thoroughly.

I used a clarity stencil and added the colured paste through.

Here's a close up that shows the dried crackle paste.

Next I stamped directly onto the page using indigoblu stamps and distress oxides.

here's what the page looked like.

Then I again added the distress oxides to a craft mat and used my waterbrush to pick up the colour and paint the images.

The last things I did was a little further stamping and adding the grass by painting with the water brush.

They really are a great product - I hope you have enjoyed seeing how I have used them - simple but fun and results different from distress inks.

Hugs

Rachel s

Upcycling a box

Hello there! Rachel here today to share with you how I upcycled a box to look like this....

I started with a piece of white card - A3 size and a box that an oil drizzler had been gifted to me in.

I liked the black of the box and wanted to work with this - I decided to make a masterboard with the card and cut it to size to fit the box. To start the masterboard I added 3 paints with a brayer....2 fresco paints - wisteria and spun sugar and a metallic purple paint from decoart.

Next I used some stamping on the background - I used tim holtz snowflakes and stamped in paint.

Then I added some stencilling using ink and outlining in a posca pen..

Next I measured the box sides and cut the masterboard to fit - then I stuck the pieces to the box leaving some of the black showing.

The final step was to make the tag which I did using a TH die and embossing folder.

Finally I added the snowflake to more of the masterboard and cut around it. I punched a hole and added the ribbon to the box and finally tied the tag on.

I hope this inspires you to have a go at upcycling some random boxes you may already have!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Playing with Luscious

Good morning all! Its Rachel here today and I am bringing you a project today with a few different ways to use the pigment powders from Indigo Blu called Luscious. They are beautiful powders and have many uses - I'm bringing you just a few to wet your appetite. There are 11 colours but I have only chosen those in Autumnal shades to work with according to our theme this month!

I started with a journal spread, luscious powders and gesso. I started by mixing the white gesso with the powders and spread them over the pages using a palette knife.

The results were not brilliant - but I expected that! What I then did was to sprinkle some powders on top of the gesso whilst it was still wet - that result was better in showing up the pearly lustre.

Next I used the beautiful fossil stencil from Andy Skinner and added super thick slap it on through the mask. I sprinkled luscious powders on top and worked them in with the slap it on. I repeated this over the pages.

I think the result was beautiful - the shine is just wonderful.

Next I wanted to mix the powders with water and painted it on ...

Firstly the painting was just randomly in blobs...

here's a close up ...

finally I painted in some words ... personal ones as its in my journal.

I hope you have enjoyed my pages and seeing how the luscious powders work. I love them!

I hope you will join our challenge this month!

Hugs

rachel x

Spring is in the Air!

Good Morning all and welcome to a new challenge here at Stamps and Stencils. Rachel is your host for this month and the theme I have chosen is all about Spring. This has to be my favourite time of year - hopefully we wave goodbye to winter weather and start to see a burst of colour all around us - flowers start to bloom and birds and bees get busy doing their thing! For me it is a time of hope and new life. But what about you? What does spring mean to you? Thats what I would like to see in your entry to this months challenge - oh and of course please use some stamps and stencils and remember we are a mixed media blog.

Here's some inspiration from the design team:

Branka

Rachel

Cec

Autumn

Ruth

Sue 

Toni

So now it's over to you ! We're looking forward to seeing your Spring projects !

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