Thursday, October 27, 2016

Elements of Nature and Guest Designer

Hello y'all! Happy day to you and what a good one it is so far. I am happy and excited to share some news with everyone. I am a guest designer today over at Stamps and Stencils. Hehe! The very talented team has been challenged to design something inspired by the Elements of Nature! Hop on over to check out what they have created, you'll enjoy looking at everyone's creative talents. I decided to make something that features moss, bark, sticks, rocks, butterflies, paints, and a secret door. Here is my mini garden top hat.
If you would like to see more details and close ups head on over to Stamps and Stencils where I do a step out about the process. 

I used so many materials and tidbits from nature, even some coffee beans for the dirt. The hat is made from crafters foam (that's how all my hats start out). 
And here are some pictures of the sides of the hat. The door was made with polymer clay that was stamped into. The brow edging around the door is leather and the door itself was painted with about 3 colors of brown paint, a white wash and some Emerald Green Viva Decor. 
I wouldn't mind living in this hat! The "feather" looking piece in the picture above is made with polymer clay and an Iron Orchid mold #6. Then it was distressed with the same paints that were used on the door. 

Thank you to the entire team for letting me share in such a wonderful challenge theme! You all rock! Carpe Diem!

I would love to share this top hat with these lovely challenges:

Always use Rubber Challenge #2-Winter/Spring
I used Spring. Flowers blooming, gardens growing, butterflies out and about.

Creative Artiste Challenge #19-Anything Mixed Media Goes

Mixed Media Place #21-Paint the Sky, Make it Yours!
I totally enjoy making mini hats and this design is my new favorite. Anything mini makes me smile and laugh.

Mixed Media World #19-Assemblage/Altered Art





Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Scary Fairy Garden

Hello lovelies! Halloween is in my top 2 for favorite holidays and it seems I have started my own tradition of creating interesting Halloween decor. I wanted to showcase some very special embossing powders and art supplies while creating this Scary Fairy Garden. Today I am a guest for Emerald Creek Dares. So excited and honored! Kim and her entire team are fantabulous and so sweet!
Now I have a new hobby with flowers and planting em. I am still learning but I wanted to merge my two hobbies to see what would happen. This started off as just a plain old small garden thing. An ivy plant and another plant. Some rocks were thrown in, a mini white pumpkin, and moss with faux spider webbing. But I wanted more! Bwahaha! 

The spider webbing got me to thinking about Halloween and thus began my Scary Fairy Garden journey. I grabbed some fancy fence chipboard pieces and cut some parts off then double embossed all the pieces with Burnt Copper Leaves EP and then sprinkled some  Charred Gold and Hammered Metal EP randomly on the pieces. Once everything was heated I stuck the chippies into the dirt. The cage was embossed with the same powders but I didn't heat emboss, I just used some Tombow glue to add the powder to make the cage look textured and dirty. 
The Bat Charm and Rose Charm that are on top of the cage were heat embossed with Burnt Copper and Charred gold then adhered to the cage with a glue gun. See what a bit of embossing powders can do to a metal charm! Loves it. :)

 The mice that are hidden throughout the garden are colored with the Ground Espresso distress marker. It makes the mice look wet and stinky. 
The pebble path that lead the fairy to her doom is covered in her fairy dust and Hammered Metal embossing powder. It makes the path look more ominous. This powder was sprinkled on the small white pumpkin as well. Then I painted "Beware" in silver acrylic paint. 
You can see the heat embossing on the fence and the pumpkin better in the picture below. SIDE NOTE-I didn't use the Grim Reaper in the finished design. 
Little spiders and other creatures are lurking throughout the garden so BEWARE or you may end up in the cage. 
The skeleton fairy was one from a dollar store that is on a string with multiple skeletons. I used some hot water to bend the arms and legs into the sitting position you see. Once the appendages were the shape I wanted I plunged the skeleton into some cold water. And that is how you can shape your plastic skeletons. I used a butterfly stamp to make the wings and built a wire frame to shape the wings those were painted with Silks and then added to the fairy skeleton. (Don't mind that random skeleton arm in the pic below, some skeletons were harmed in the making of this design)
The skeleton was painted white and then added to the cage. I did add some small pearl beads for the fairy eyes. 
The scary tree that is near the gate lights up and the light blinks but I couldn't get a good picture. Can you see the small red light in the mouth of the tree?
Here is an over head shot of the Scary Fairy Garden
Does the skeleton look like she is freaked out? I think she does. 
Another overhead shot, let's call it an aerial view.
Thanks for touring the Scary Fairy Garden with me! Hopefully your creative juices are flowing and you can join the fun! Hugz and Carpe Diem! ~Nikij
I would enjoy sharing this design with these amazing challenges: 





I was inspired by the pumpkins, the metal, the graveyard and the tombstone



Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Explore Autumn

Hello there everyone and Happy Fall ya'll! I sure hope you all are enjoying each day to the fullest. Autumn makes me think about Giving and getting together with family, not to mention having a bountiful harvest. My Grandmother has been in the wheat business for years, and the farm has been passed down through generations. Wheat, corn, corn mazes, pumpkin patches, hay rides and so much more are starting here in my neck of the woods and that got me thinking about what to design for Autumn. Here is my canvas:
Today is the start of a new challenge at Anything But Cute and our wonderfully talented Autumn of Sew Paper Paint is our Hostess. She chose the theme of "An Autumn Day" and describes it as follows:
"I could not help but choose October as my month to hostess here at Anything But Cute. This month, we want to see your creations inspired by An Autumn Day.  Anything goes mixed media with an fall color palette, or Autumnal elements.  Be inspired by nature with the sights, smells, and sounds of this beautiful season.  We cannot wait to see the amazing artwork you turn out!"
Perfect theme for this time of year in my part of the world. I started with a flat canvas and then laid down some stencil work using matte texture paste. While the paste was still wet I sprinkled on some clear glitter, and because I am an impatient person, I used my heat tool to help the paste dry faster. :) After it was all dry I added multiple colors of distress inks and kept blending until I was okay with it.
Next came all the embellishments. I was gifted this orangish burlap and had to use it on this design. I cut it into strips and glued it to the canvas with a hot glue gun. 
I pulled some of the threads from the burlap to give it a distressed look and then got my acorns out. I gathered these while visiting my Grandmother for Thanksgiving last year and to celebrate her 90th Birthday. I did have to glue the acorns back into their shells. Hehe! 

The rest of the embellishments are picks from various stores. I added and altered and layered until it looked right to me. 
The bows were made with some leftover ribbon and jute. Those bows took forever to make but persistence pays off. 
The corn husk was inked up and fringed up a bit. The husk part was lightly misted with water and cut into smaller sections that I could curl back. The devil is in the details right? Yeppers.
A couple of metal elements were added and the word "Explore" was added because the cooler days mean exploring more of my town. And voila! Done. Hopefully you all are staying warm and enjoying your day. Carpe Diem! Hugz! ~Niki

I would enjoy sharing this design with these challenges: 

I am celebrating Fall and the harvest of the wheat crop. Not to mention the celebration of the upcoming Holidays.