Hi friends, my blogging is pretty erratic these days as juggling so many things right now. Sharing a mixed media plaque I made as DT project for Crafters Corner to showcase stencilling techniques. My mixed media plaque celebrates life and enchanting nature with a butterfly and an angel encompassed in a semicircle of soft vellum flowers!
Mixed Media Tutorial
The colorful butterfly panel in various shades of pink and magenta is mounted on a curved piece of cardboard to raise it above the stencilled woodgrain background .
Mixed Media Tutorial
My "celebrate" is also mounted on a curved platform and has tiny shiny star sequins and shimmering translucent glass beads from glass beads gel!
Mixed Media Tutorial
The raspberry pink flower made using Heartfelt Creations Botanical Rose Stamp and die set has a generous sprinkling of distress glitter and diamond dust.
Mixed Media Tutorial
I recycled a sturdy cake base to create my mixed media plaque. After a nice coat of gesso, painted the base with Folk art Vintage White paint.
Replaced the stencil and applied strawberry collage clay
Mixed Media Tutorial
Collage clay has a thicker texture compared to Ranger Texture paste but you can get a nice coating using a palette knife. Here is a post with more on Collage Clay and projects using Collage Clay : Collage Clay Projects
Mixed Media Tutorial
Added splashes of orange with Art Anthology sprays and shiny pink with Wow metallic Pink embossing powder .
Mixed Media Tutorial
The butterfly was starting to build up in texture and sparkle!
Mixed Media Tutorial
Painted over the whites with a contrasting Folk art Apple green and added more textural elements with glass beads gel.
Mixed Media Tutorial
Added more texture with glass Beads gel, chunky glitter and tiny drops of resin!
Mixed Media Decor Piece Tutorial
To match the color scheme of my project altered a bronze key with embossing ink and gold embossing powder
Mixed Media Tutorial
The colorful and sparkling butterfly contrasts nicely with the vanilla and copper gold background !
Stencil Art
The wood grain was created using the Carabelle StudioEffet Bois stencil and texture paste
Mixed Media Tutorial
Sprinkled Ranger Gold embossing powder on the wet texture paste and heat embossed to get the beautiful golden wood grain.
Mixed Media Tutorial
I used the same shades of Distress Inks and embossing powder throughout the project to bring about a cohesive look.
Mixed Media Tutorial
I hope you liked my Mixed Media Decor Piece!
Supplies: All from Crafters Corner:Stencils : Carabelle Studio Effet Bois,Carabelle Studio Papillon Stencil.Paints and Media : Folk Art Multi Surface Paints, Liquitex Glass Beads Texture Gel,Ranger Texture Paste,Collage Clay,Distress Crackle Paint Clear Rock Candy,Art Anthology Sprays,Ranger Multimedium Matt.Stamps and Dies : Heartfelt creations Delightful Daisies Stamp and die,Heartfelt Creations Botanical Wings stamp and die
Rulers are one of the most basic of craft supplies ...you and me have used it from childhood.
But in this post I am going to be talking about special features of craft rulers that make crafting easier and more fun for us crafters!
Rulers
Exploring the various features of craft rulers was both challenging and exhilarating!
I fervently hope you find this post and the video Tutorial useful !!
Special features of Craft Rulers
Metal Edge
The metal cutting edge is a super useful feature for papercrafters as it allows you to use a rotary cutter or craft knife with a cutting mat to easily and snugly cut along your ruler without slicing off a part of your ruler!
Metal Cutting Edge
This allows you to use your ruler to get a nice straight cut on paper , fabric, chipboard etc
Cons: you need to hold the ruler firmly against your paper/chipboard so that it doesn't slip
You need to use a cutting mat when using the craft knife/rotary cutter!
Clear Acrylic Rulers
Being able to see under your ruler is an indispensable feature !
Pro : You can see exactly where you are cutting and measuring and only acrylic rulers can have the feature of a grid
Con : Scratches, Breakage, markings wearing off over time
Grid Feature
You can use grids to
Easily and quickly draw parallel lines by using the grids as guides
Easily create mats and frames for your pictures as I have shown in the video
Centering Feature
This is the feature I find most useful and its something which you will find indispensable once you start using it!
Centering Feature
How to use Centering : refer to the video
Uses of centering
Hanging something precisely requires finding its center point!
Centering an image
Scrapbooking -precise centering of photos
Card making- Matting and Layering precisely and easily
Using Grids of rulers
Card with mats created with ruler grids
Card making- making layered cards and card bases easily and quickly
Card layers
Card Base made with help of Rulers
Adding embellishments at equi distances.
Adding brads/eyelets/pearls perfectly at equi distances
Centering eyelets on a tag
Using the centering feature its super easy to mark the exact center of you tag/ photo-frame etc
Christmas Tag
Precise placement of a sentiment
Centering a sentiment
Here is a Video Tutorial I made to show you how to use grids and the centering feature.Its my very first video with a voice so please do forgive my mistakes.
Piercing Holes in the Ruler Stitched shapes are the vogue in the craft world right now and there are so many dies which can give the beautiful pierced hole edge feature but how about if you don't have a die cutting machine or want the versatility of being able to create your own customized pierced lines...well then pick up a ruler with the piercing holes feature. Things you can do with the piercing feature
Add a pierced hole border around your cards/ layouts
Stitch through the holes
Create a lattice of holes
Create patterns and even letters with the pierced holes
Play with spacing of the holes
Piercing feature in ruler
In the Tim Holtz ruler, holes are placed at 1/8 inch intervals so you can create stitch lines on your cards or layouts by using a needle tool [ I have used a humble thumb tack] and a foam base .
Pierced Border using ruler
You can create a stitched border all around!
Pierced frame border using ruler
And you can play around with the distance and create rows and even create patterns!
Piercing patterns using ruler
Now that I have discussed the features of craft rulers here are the salient features of different popular brands of rulers. Tim Holtz Idea-ology Design Ruler 12 inch clear acrylic, centering ruler, with piercing holes, grid and metal edge.Sturdy ruler.My crafter friend Melissa said the markings wore of in hers and she had to get several of these. I have been super careful with mine and store it in a foam lined box I made for it so mine is holding up good! Cons : Difficult to use the line where the piercing holes are as it is a difficult to see through in that particular area. Also the 1/4 inch tapered edge on the centering edge was not very easy to use to get a 1/4th inch line if you are using the grid feature to draw let's say parallel lines.
Creative Impressions Acrylic Ruler
This is my personal favorite among the lot! 12 inch clear acrylic ruler with metal edge,grid and Centering ruler with 1/4 inch measurements on one side and 1/16 th measurements on the other side Pros : The markings are only 1/4 inch on one edge and that gives a nice uncluttered look You also have the option of a centering of 1/16th inches which is an advantage over the ideaology Tim Holtz ruler It is also 2 inch wide which is wider than most rulers Also comes with a nice plastic cover which you can use to store the ruler and also hang it . Cons : It doesn't have piercing holes so keep this in mind if that feature is very important to you
Universal Crafts Metal Edge Ruler
30 cm clear ruler with metal edge , grid, centering feature and piercing holes. You can get centering to millimeter accuracies!
Westcott Wooden Ruler with Metal Edge 12 inch
Lightweight wooden ruler which is super cheap costing just 70 rupees!
Has a Metal edge on one side and is calibrated in both inches and centimeters
The groove in the center allows you to firmly hold the ruler and press it while you use your craft knife this protecting your fingers and decreasing the chances of the ruler slipping.
Manufactured by the pioneers of ruler making, the Westcott company who have been making rulers since 1872 .Here is the link to a wikipedia article about the brand for those interested in a bit of history : Westcott Scissors and rulers
I find making cards for crafter friends very very difficult as I tend to worry too much about whether they will like it since they are crafters themselves and so talented! I obsess about every imperfection in my card and finally work myself up to such a level that I end up not sending cards to my crafter friends!
But recently I managed to convince myself that since I myself love all types of cards and loooove receiving cards , that maybe my crafter friends will like my cards too !
So this multilayered card was made for an amazing person...Shalini Mittal, the owner of Crafters Corner, the most amazing craft supply store in India of which I am the DT !![I have written more in this post : Crafters Corner]
Vellum Card
This card has sooo many layers : card stock, handmade paper, pattern paper and lots of die cuts! The white oval is a clay embellishment I made and has tiny roses and leaves! Added texturing with shiny heart sequins, glass beads gel and a splattering of gesso!
The flowers and leaves were made by stamping on parchment/vellum with various Heartfelt creations stamps.
Handmade Flowers
Also added a few handmade soft felt flowers , a heart shaped metallic buckle[ made with a Spellbinders die and metallic card stock] and a stylish " cherish" [made with a Tim Holtz die from Sizzix]
Here is a closeup of a gorgeous crystal dragon fly and in this photo you can also see the shimmer of the inka gold I rubbed on in various places!
It was a bit tricky to make the vellum rose from layers of heat embossed flowers but then in the end it turned out gorgeous ! What do you think my friends?
Vellum/ Parchment Rose Card
Supplies : Dies : Heartfelt creations Classic Leaf , Tiny butterflies from Winnie and Walter Essentials Audrey Cutaways , Felt flowers made with Sizzix Bigz Floressa,Sizzix Lace Heart Embosslit ,Sizzix Handwritten Love ,Joy Crafts 6002-0251[Butterfly Border]660218,Spellbinders Ribbon Buckles,Spellbinders Delicate Doilies Stamps : Heartfelt Creations Botanical Rose Stamp , Heartfelt Creations Bold Leaf ,
Linking to Pixie's Snippets Playground
