Happy Mail! ACDT Kit - Sweet Paris

It was a happy happy day for me, alhumdolillah -- the first day of Ramadan, followed by the arrival of my DT Kit -- I was overjoyed!
[incase you are wondering, Yes! I schedule. = D]

Unlike my previous DT posts, I'm sharing my kit separately this time because I fell in love with the kit, the minute I set my eyes on it. (and the last part actually rhymed!)

So first up, is the awesome paper collection:

Yes, this is one of those stacks which the "picture" fails to describe in "a thousand words". These papers are gorgeous! If you like light colors, shabby chic style, then you will definitely love this collection. It's the Trimcraft Dovecraft Sweet Paris Paper Pack; 36 sheets in a pack - 3 sheets of each design.

Next, are the complimenting embellishments from the same collection.

Beautiful set of 30 paper blooms and leaves, a pack of resin flowers, and a set of 8 metal Eiffel tower charms.

I loved the texture of the blooms and leaves; this isn't just die cut paper, it feels a lot heavier. The edges seemed inked, and the embossed "veins" make them look so real! If you are the type of person who doesn't like spending too much time adding details to flowers, then these are your thing, for sure. The blooms are about 3.5" in diameter, while the leaves are 2.75" long, and about 1 5/8" wide, at the broadest.

The resin flowers are equally beautiful, with fine details. Usually, centers of resin flowers appear to be a bit smudgy, but these ones are neat, with each petal clearly visible. The pack contains five color sets, with three flowers in each set. The largest flower is about .75" in diameter, while the smallest is a little under 0.5". Each flower has a thick foam backing, with a very strong bond, making them super easy to stick on.

Last, but certainly not the least, the charming charms! Each Eiffel tower is about an inch tall, and has an embossed criss-cross pattern on it.

There are more elements from this collection (doilies, frames, and wooden elements) which you can find at the Artful Crafting webstore.

(To take part in our No Flowers challenge hop over to the Artful Crafting blog)

To guess the theme of our upcoming challenge, comment below :-P
Happy Crafting!

Dr. Beckmann to the Rescue

Hello!
Dr. Beckmann Rescue was my "muse" this Sunday. (If I may call it so.)

I picked it up without any expectations, from one of our local stores, and was truly impressed by the performance. I live close to the sea, and have had to throw away a lot of my belongings, simply because I couldn't rescue them from tarnish -- tried scrubbing and what not, but nothing really worked. It was time to give Mr. Beckmann a try, so the first items I put to test were, silver anklets, which "blackened" over the years even though they were wrapped and kept with great care. 

With just one swipe, these were shining like new.
Excited!! I tried it on one of my chains..

Oh it sparkled!
Next up was a copper decoration piece..

worked like magic on that too.

Each wipe goes a long way, so, Very Happy!!

 

Mixed Media Coasters

I made a couple of mixed media coasters, for Challenge #3: No Flowers. The challenge requirements, this month, are pretty simple; anything goes as long as there are no flowers on it.

I've been wanting to make some coasters since a very long time, and so I seized this opportunity to create these colorful and artsy pieces, which would also make perfect gifts for Ramadan.

For the above, I started with a clean piece of MDF, applied the "Bokeh" technique, using acrylic paints to create the background, stamped the mosque / masjid on top (I designed this stamp myself ), and finished it off with a silver braid.

I worked with multiple layers on this one, to create a textured and aged look. After the final inked layer, I lightly stamped a doily using paint. Once dried I stamped the image using archival ink. Then, with a very light hand, I smeared crackle paint all over the artwork. Once dry, I colored in the image using Ice Stickles, and painted over them with white paint. Finally, the sides were sanded and finished off with a silver braid.

 Tried to capture the glitter and texture in this image.

Products used:
Mosque / Masjid Stamp
MDF blanks
Acrylic Paint
Distress Crackle Paint
Distress Ink
Ice Stickles
Bloom Color Spray 

Making Lace with Stamps

Hello!

At Artful Crafting, our second challenge (which closes in a week) is focused on "Unusual Stamping"; basically using your stamps in an unusual way, not just for sentiments, or a center focus. As part of the design team, it is my turn to share one technique, which is in synch with the theme.

For my projects, I seek inspiration from any and everything -- thats how creative people function.. me thinks. Well, these days, I am in complete awe of the gorgeous cookies made by SweetAmbs, and it was while watching her video on lace cookies that I had my "Aha" moment, and decided to make Lace by combining two stamps! (not all of us can bake, you know :-P ). 

The awesome cookie from which I took inspiration

My Lace Card inspired by the cookie

ACDT Post: Creative Stamping

Here is my inspirational project for Artful Crafting Challenge # 2: “Its all about UNUSUAL stamping”
Stamp, we all -- but in a different way; that,was the real challenge.


I combined few of the supplies from the kit, with some from my stash, and came up with this:

ACDT Post: Up in the clouds

Hello!

Today I am sharing my DT project for Artful Crafting's Challenge #1: Stenciling.
 

Here is the awesome kit used for the challenge, provided by Artful Crafting.

For the top, I used the Distress Speciality Stamping paper as the base and sprayed it with the Teal Bloom Spray which gave it a beautiful shimmer, and smoky kind of effect.

I then used the Delphinium stencil to create textured "clouds", and highlighted them with black.

The shaded heart was covered with a heavy coat of Distress Crackle paint, and layered onto stamped specialty paper. The crackle paint gave the heart an absolutely gorgeous effect, I just love it!

DARICE-Paper Ma

DARICE-Paper Mach

 I decorated the sides and tada! my project was complete

DARIC

 You can find the supplies here:

Memory Box Stencil Delphinium

DARICE - Paper Mache Oval Box

Ranger Distress Specialty Stamping Paper

Prima Marketing Bloom Spray-Soft Tea

Ranger Crackle Paint Rock Candy

Archival Jet Black

Martha Stewart - Scalloped edge punch

Ranger Distress Ink Evergreen Bough

Color Box- Fluid Chalk- Rose Petals

Congratulations

Today I am sharing two cards, which I recently created using American Craft, Authentique and DCWV cardstock.

The layout of this card is inspired by one of Klaudia Szpunar's cards which was posted a long time back. 
The card I made was part of a wedding gift, and since flowers are an essential part of a wedding, used lots of those, but stuck to red, white, and gold which are the primary colors for weddings in our region. I added texture to the background, to make it seem like a trellis covered with roses.

The second card was done for a wedding too, but in tones of gold and punch pink. This turned out to be a beautiful sparkling card, thanks to DCWV's glittered cardstock.

Happy Crafting!