Experimenting with Creative Medium

I have to tell you about the fun I've been having! A week or so ago, I got a big box of happy from the fine folks at IMAGINE Crafts. They carry all manner of Tsukineko products as well as their own relatively new line of acrylic mediums, inks, and sprays, etc.

One of the things I've had fun playing with is their line of Creative Medium. Creative Medium comes in a variety of metallics and iridescent colors. It's a somewhat thick consistency that works well for adhering paper bits when making collages, or it can be slathered on with a palette knife like thick paint, with or without the use of a stencil.

For this piece, I used Creative Medium in gold and a stencil by Tim Holtz. I simply placed the stencil on my canvas (in this case, a 5 x 7" panel) and spread the Creative Medium over the top just like soft, creamy butter! I carefully scraped the excess off of my stencil and then, just as carefully, pulled the stencil away from the canvas, resulting in the image you see below. The stencil cleaned up easily with soapy water and a rag.

Once the Creative Medium had dried, I went to work giving it all the abuse I could think of. I really wanted to test this stuff and see what it could do. Boy, am I ever impressed with how it holds up! I dripped ink (from re-inker bottles) on it and spritzed it with Ink Potion No. 9 to make it blend and drip and run. Once it dried I dribbled more ink on it and spritzed it with Windex (which gives it a more puddled, mottled look). I let everything dry well and smeared white acrylic paint down the "blank" side to mute the color a little, and then stamped* gear images and wording and butterflies on it.

For the butterfly, which comes from Gina's Designs: Butterfly of Gears, I used IMAGINE Crafts' line of irRESISTible Pico Embellishers. I colored the gear side with gold and the wing side with bronze and the butterfly body with Tuxedo Black. I traced the wing on clear acetate and used StazOn Studio Glaze in Gothic Purple to color it. While it was still sticky, I simply used the glaze that was already on it to adhere it to the wing. As you can see a little bit in the picture below, when the light hits it right, it has a stained glass effect. I did use a spacer to adhere the butterfly to my background just to give it more air and light that would highlight that stained glass effect.

As you can no doubt tell, I had all kinds of fun playing with my new goodies! Here is the background for another piece that I did. This will give you some idea of how absolutely striking the Creative Medium iridescents are against a dark background.

I began with a canvas (again a 5 x 7") to which I applied various colors of blue, green, and white acrylic paint. I let it dry and cure thoroughly over night. Then, same as before, I used a stencil (this time from Stencil Girl) and my palette knife to spread on the Green Iridescent Creative Medium.

I let it dry overnight and... Voilà! As you can see, the "white" paste magically dries to a beautiful, shimmery green against the dark background.

I wish I had a way to show you how much the iridescence makes the piece "move" depending on how and where the light hits it. You'll just have to take my word for it... it is gorgeous!

This is only the beginning of all the things I can imagine doing with my IMAGINE Crafts products. So, stay tuned, because I have all kinds of other things I want to show you.

Until next time... here's to wild imaginations and crafting!

*Stamped images are: Gears by Stampin Up! and Butterflies and Curiosity Definition by Tim Holtz

Triangle Treat Box

Triangle Treat Box

First of all, a little business. I'm sad to say that my stint as a Design Team member for RubberMoon has come to an end. It was a wonderful whirlwind of a few months and I still stand by their product as being something fun and different in terms of style, as well as excellent in terms of quality. I got to be good friends with the owner and my teammates. Kae Pea, said owner, is going to allow me to guest post on occasion. So, at least I won't be very far away.

One of the wonderful connections I made on that Design Team was with a woman who helps run Gina's Designs. Gina's Designs does all kinds of crazy good fun lasercuts. Until I was given some as a sample to play with, I kind of poo-pooed the idea of them. For a rather intelligent lass, I can be sort of ignorant sometimes. Because... SO much fun! Now I have a difficult time visualizing my creative life without them.

Which leads me to... I have been asked to be the Guest Designer for March at Gina's Designs, so you'll be seeing a few posts here that feature their nifty products. As part of that, I hooked up with their Facebook group where I'm finding all kinds of kindred crafty spirits and some pretty stinkin' amazing inspiration.

Which brings us to... the picture of that pretty little triangle treat box featured at the top of this post. One of the leaders of the group had received a gift box of different teas for Christmas. She thought the triangle shape of the boxes was too cool to simply toss them. I agree, and I love knowing another person who looks at "trash" that way! Anyway, she offered up a challenge to the group and I jumped at it. Here's a picture of the pile o' fun stuff that she sent me to play with.

Pile o' Fun Stuff

Here's a better angle on the triangle box.

I won't tell you everything I went through to put this box together. For one thing, you'd be sitting here reading all day which means I'd be sitting here typing all day. Ain't nobody got time for that! Plus, a girl can have some secrets, can't she? I will tell you how simple it was to take Gina's Designs Garden Fairies and make them sparkle. I used bright pink acrylic paint for the "glue" and while it was wet, dusted it with pink glitter.

For the overlay on the roof (which I initially painted with the same acrylic paint as the fairies), I used Gina's Designs Texture Sheet in Diamonds.

The rest was an afternoon's worth of playful experimentation. It's been quite a while since I "altered" something.

I leave you with views of the other sides of the triangle box, and with the admonition to look at "trash" through a crafter's eye. Can it be re-purposed in any way? Save it! If you're not a crafter, offer it to a friend who is. It took me a year to convince my beloved to not throw away anything that was the least bit interesting. Our relationship has flourished ever since.

Now, I'm off to fill the treat box with chocolaty goodness and send it on its way to a friend.

Whereupon my photography skills took a nose-dive.

When fairies daydream, do they daydream of other fairies?

Close-up of the fairy in the top picture