Halloween mixed media frame

Happy Halloween to you from me, design elf Katrina and the Fruit Pixie!!

     I have a little Halloween project to show you today to celebrate the festival.

I began with one of the Crafty Individuals chipboard frames which I painted with the Cosmic Shimmer paint Midnight black on both sides along with one of the chipboard swirls from the same sheet.

When the paint had dried, it did need 2 coats I smeared on some PVA glue. I wasn't worried 

 about how well it covered, then rubbed in some of the Cosmic Shimmer polished silk glitter, I used Sahara gold. I did the same on the swirl too

I then ran some more PVA glue around the swirl, the inside of the frame and the top of the frame and poured some of the Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Jewels Midnight Snow,

 pushed them into the PVA , poured them off and let them dry thoroughly.

Once everything was completely dry I made up one of the flowers from the Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells collection and added some glitter glue and one of the Creative Expressions vintage black buttons to the centre. I also made a couple of paper streamers from scraps of the Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells paper. Then I stuck them onto the middle of the swirl and the swirl to the corner of the frame.

I wanted my frame to hang so I punched a couple of holes in the top swirl of the frame and made up a couple of paper beads by rolling a small strip of the Graphic 45 paper around a cocktail stick. I threaded a length of wire through the bead, gave a few twists to secure the bead on the wire and then through one hole, left a short length then back through the other hole and through the other paper bead and twisted the wire off to secure as you did the first. I had left some wire at both ends to curl to finish it off.

Then all you need is something to fill your frame with. I used one of the Graphic 45 Steampunk spells images in mine but you could use what ever you like.

You can find the things I used in the shop here -

Chipboard frames - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/crafty-individuals-chipboard-399-c.asp

Cosmic Shimmer paint - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/cosmic-shimmer-paints-nproducts644curpage-2-644-c.asp

Cosmic Shimmer Polished glitter - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/cosmic-shimmer-polished-silk-glitter-600-c.asp

Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Jewels - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/cosmic-shimmer-glitter-jewels-603-c.asp

Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells flowers - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/steampunk-spells-614-c.asp

Creative Expressions Vintage buttons - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/creative-expressions-embellishments-nproducts464curpage-2-464-c.asp

Have a wonderful Halloween

 Love Katrina

Art Trading Cube

Hi there, design elf Katrina here with another project from my craft nook.

    Now I have been creating altered art now for many years and up until a year or so ago I thought an ATC was an Artist Trading Card, a card 2.5 x 3.5 inches which is then decorated in your style and traded with another collector. I have a great deal of these wonderful cards which are all filled away safely and treasured.

   Now though there is a new kid on the block  ( sorry )   an Artist Trading Block or Cube. This cube can be any size you like and decorated on all sides then traded with other collectors. The nice thing about these are they are easier to leave out on display and gives you a lot more space to decorate.  I have known about these cubes for a while now but have just not gotten around to making one but now I have!!

I made the base of my cube from brown card stock and decorated it before I stuck the cube together.

Then used the Marion Smith Designs Time Keeper papers to cut mats for each side

and then cut out the different images with in the papers to collage over the top.

These papers make it so easy to make up our collage

There are so many lovely images to choose from and they are very easy to cut out.

I decided to make little feet for mine. I made them by cutting thin strips of the leftover paper and then rolling them up into a paper bead. I made 2 then cut them in half to form the feet.

You can find these lovely Marion Smith design papers here - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/marion-smith-designs-680-c.asp

This is a lovely project to do and can be made using any theme you can dream up.

Have fun with your Artist Trading Cubes

  Love Katrina