Outline Stickers with Dimensional Magic

DM+Stickers+Pens

I am beginning to like the idea of using alcohol makers (Kaiser pens) under Dimensional Magic.  The beauty of using outline stickers as a base is that the outline forms a little wall that stops the Dimensional Magic from "escaping" as easily as it otherwise might.

In this example I've coloured the large purple flower petals and leaves and just the centres of the smaller yellow flowers.  As has often been the case, the effect, although still on the subtle side, is more apparent in reality than on screen.

I'm kind of coming around to liking outline stickers again too!!!!

STAMPING ON A CANDLE

This is a long-term Gunnadoo that I have finally actually done!!!  For years I've been reading about stamping onto candles but never quite got around to trying it out .  Basically you stamp onto white tissue paper, then apply it to a candle by holding it in place and heating gently with a craft heat gun (whilst avoiding third degree burns to the fingers) until it fuses with the candle. 

This illustrates why the Papertrek blog is good for me - having decided to do a different thing every week means raiding the dark recesses of the brain for new/old ideas, and not just repeating the same old same old.  (Having said that, even after doing the blog for over two years now, I still haven't quite mastered putting the photos where I want them to be on the page, so apologies for the layout - I must add learning to do this properly to my "Gunnadoo" list!!).

Anyway....back to craft.......Before trying this technique I suspected that the end result would look like a candle with a dodgy piece of stamped tissue paper stuck to it.  The good news is that I was wrong.  Even although I used a piece of tissue paper that came inside the box with my latest pair of shoes, and some very cheap dye ink, the results were great - you couldn't really see the tissue at all, and the image was soft but distinct.

CLOSE-UP OF STAMPED TISSUE PAPER ON CANDLE

This was the point when I became overconfident and tried a huge red stamped rose on a big blue candle......well, the colours worked OK.  I thought the ink might be translucent and that I would end up with a purple rose, but that didn't happen.  Even the white tissue blended OK with the blue candle.  What did happen was that with my handheld craft heat gun I was unable to apply an even amount of heat all over the paper so that some pieces failed to blend in with the candles and others sank in.  Also where the wax was overheated and slightly melted its colour changed to a lighter blue.  As you can see from the photo, the result was "ordinary" to put it mildly.

 

WHAT NOT TO DO

STAMPED CANDLE

I guess what I've learned is that small motifs on white candles are easiest to apply, and that if you were, say, intending to do 50 large candles for wedding tables, I'd buy a few more than needed, spend some time practising, and have a few spares as well!!

I haven't burnt the candle to see whether or not there are any implications when the level of the paper is reached.  I don't anticipate any dramas but wouldn't leave them unattended until I definitely knew the paper wasn't going to burn!!!  (Another little something to try before you use them at a social occasion!).

CROCHET FLOWER GREETING CARD

CROCHET FLOWERS

There are so many sources of crochet flower patterns at the moment.  I bought myself a book by Claire Crompton that has lots but there are any number of free patterns available on the web, and once you get started its not all that hard to just make it up as you go.  The first picture is a mix of all three origins.

I find crochet really relaxing, and have any number of bags and purses to prove it.  Flowers are fun because you get the reward of having finished something quickly.  Then, of course, you are left with bags of flowers, and good intentions of finding something to do with them.

As this is the Papertrek blog, here's one thing to do with surplus crochet flowers - combine them with an embossed and sanded piece of Core'dinations Whitewash, pop them on a card blank and give them away to the next person you know who has a birthday!!!!

CROCHET FLOWER CARD

SNOWTEX AND GLITTER

DIECUT STENCIL+SNOWTEX+GLITTER

I was cutting out snowflakes with a die from Couture Creations and thought I'd use one of the cut out backgrounds as a stencil for Snowtex.   I was pleasantly surprised with how well it worked as this has quite fine detail, and I was expecting it to smear under the edges.  Snowtex is a very thick white texture paste.  Whilst it was still wet I added loads of fine glitter, which (despite some reservations on my part as to whether or not it would be the case) stayed put once the Snowtex was dry.  The result is a rough dimensional glittery motif, that I rather like.  (It looks better in reality - the photo doesn't do justice to the sparkle).

STAMPING ON CORK

STAMP WITH COLOURED PENCILS ON CORK

There's a simple example of a simple idea this week.  Stamps will (with the correct ink) stamp an image onto any number of different surfaces.   Cork works well with most inks - I've just used Versafine sepia on a stamp from Rubbadubbadoo in this example, and coloured it in with pencils (nothing fancy, just some of the kids cast-offs).

The very thin cork I've used here tends to be a bit crumbly so I've punched slightly larger holes than I would normally make for the split pins.  Tearing the edges proved quite hard to control, so I had to resort to a ruler on the outer boundary to make sure it didn't tear too far.

I have written myself a mental note to try some other colouring media on cork to see how that turns out.