Truly Cosmic

As soon as I saw this canvas I knew what I wanted to do with it. I have to confess I am a bit of a Treki and this just had to be done, for my son of course!!

How to 'Make it so'. One round canvas from Wilkinsons painted with Eco-green acrylic black. Then comes the fun part, spritzed with Cosmic Shimmer sprays in various colours. I've always wanted to do this type of thing with the sprays since I first got my hands on them and what better way than to 'Boldly spritz where no crafter has spritzed before'.

The planet surface doesn't show up too well on this picture but it has a really moon like look to it. It was made by mixing Eco-green acrylic paint with sand. I masked off the canvas with a piece of card cut around a tea plate, this helped keep the edge crisp. It took overnight to dry fully, I was going to cosmic that too but decided it would be too much bling so left it matt.

The planets and alien are all stamped from U-mount plate 'Outer Space'. The planets are stamped onto acetate with Stazon and then glittered, the alien was stamped on white card and coloured in with a green highlight pen, then double embossed with a glow-in-the-dark embossing powder. The Enterprise (starship) was taken from a tatty book found in a charity shop.
I really enjoyed making this picture, I was so pleased I managed to get it just as I'd imagined it. It also shows that Cosmic Shimmer and rubber stamps are not just for card craft.

I have another canvas so I might try and see if 'The force is with me' and adapt the idea slightly, so watch this Space! You don't have to be mad to craft but it helps!!!

Cosmic Shimmer Misters

Shimmer mist is suitable for use on any porous surface such as : Card, Paper, Papier Mache, Canvas, Wood, Fabric - will NOT be washable.



Tips:
* The mica does settle so shake well before use.
* Bottles are best stored on their side, this helps keep the tube to the nozzle clear of mica reducing the risk of clogging. Less shaking needed too.
* If the pump clogs remove it and rinse in warm water, do this before long term storage.
* Use a small shallow box as a spray booth to prevent any stray squirts escaping.
* Use a craft mat under your project so you can mop up any overspray on spare card, it may come in handy for another project, waste nothing.
* Mica's are very effective on dark backgrounds so experiment with coloured bases to your projects.
* Colours co-ordinate with other Cosmic Shimmer products to help you mix and match.
* Wear gloves if scrunching your card, some colours can stain a little.


Ideas:
* Stamp an image using Perfect Medium, then clear emboss before spraying. Lightly dab off excess spray from stamped areas as it will stick to the embossing a little. This will retain the base colour on your card. Alternatively you could stamp and emboss using coloured powders after spraying. These two tags were sprayed with the same colours, one onto white card and the other onto black card.
* Create dramatic backgrounds by using several colours. Seascapes, stormy skies, sunsets, galaxies - on black card, enchanted forests, the list is endless, let your imagination run free.
* Spay thin card, then while still wet scrunch it up and smooth it out again. To get it quite smooth again you can iron it. If you then rub gently over the card with an ink pad only the raised areas will pick up the ink.
* You can spray fabric but it will NOT be washable.
* Use masks to spray over, there are some really gorgeous ones available.

I hope this has given you some idea about Cosmic Shimmer misters. Choose a couple of colours you like together and have a play, if you like what you see, and I'm sure you will, then invest in a few more and have fun. I love all the Shimmer mists but I would have to say the Pearl Mist is my favourite, it has a clear carrier colour so it can be used to add a subtle shimmer to almost anything from wedding cards to christmas decorations.
There is also a range of Chalk Misters available now. These are very similar to use but they have no shimmer, they are a chalk effect that have many uses of their own.

Sew Simple goes Cosmic

I would like to say thankyou to the staff and visitors at Sew Simple on saturday for making it a most enjoyable day.
As promised over the next few weeks I will try to give you a run down on the different Cosmic Shimmer products and their uses.
This card was made using the new Cosmic Chalk Mists, they give a matt chalky finish. They have a fresh spring like look and once you've played for a while you can get some lovely effects. Personally I like to use them as a subtle mist, blending two complimentary colours rather than an all out solid coverage.
This was using green and yellow, well I was demonstrating on the outskirts of Norwich, over the Trellis mask from That Special Touch Of... The stamps are all from U-Mount Botanical using Archival Jet Black and Coffee. Foliage was stamped in Distress Forest Moss and clear embossed. Clear embossing powder over the stamped butterfly and yellow flowers made painting with Cosmic Watercolours nice and easy. The Pinky flowers were stamped on card misted with the chalks in purple and pink, all flowers were cut out and glued onto the background with Cosmic Acrylic glue, as was the butterfly. Matted and layered on green, gold and pearlescent chocolate card seemed to suit it.

Cosmic Butterfly

My photographic skills are not too good, this really looks much better than this, sorry.
This was made on a watercolour board to stand on an easle from Ikea, sprayed black. The board was blended with Distress inks Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Scattered Straw and Aged Mahogany. Behind the butterfly is stamped with a script design in Perfect Medium and then dusted with Cosmic Mica powder Marigold. The grasses are stamped and embossed with Cosmic Lava Black (which matches Aged Mahogany perfectly), the tree was stamped in Aged Mahogany but not embossed. The edges of the board are embossed with Cosmic Bright Gold.
The flowers are made with card coloured using Distress inks so they match the colour scheme of the board. To make these flowers you can find the instructions on the Creative Expressions website along with some other really good projects. Once assembled the flowers were sprayed with Cosmic mist Rich Gold. Leaves were cut from some chocolate card I found in the draw then passed through a ribbler to get the veins.
The butterfly was stamped and embossed in Cosmic Lava Black, the stamp is from Eco-Green Crafts - Butterfly Post. It was then painted using Cosmic watercolours, these really are great. TIP: emboss your image before painting so if you paint over the lines by mistake the embossing will repell the paint leaving you with a perfect image.

Charity shop bargains

These little boxes were part of a kit donated to one of my local charity shops. I enjoyed putting them together and they are now on sale in the shop for mothers day.
There was a large stash donated along with this kit. I would like to say a big thank you to my fellow club members for helping to raise £45 for the East Anglian Childrens Hospice charity by buying most of it.
Charity shops are for me a great source of bits and bobs for altered art as well as books. You never know what you might find. So next time you're in town, any town, go and have a look.

Bitten by the tag

I have been well and truly bitten by the tag. It gives just that little bit more space than an ATC. The lady I gave this one to was adamant it would be taken off the card and hung on the wall.
I also like this size to work as samples, enough room to showcase techniques and materials without producing a whole card. I've got a little metal tree with grippy clips on each branch that's really good for display (Lakeland Plastics).
This tag was created using the ever popular Distress Inks, Stamps from Crafty Individuals, paper roses cut with Marianne Creatables dies, a couple of peel offs and some paper lace. If you take a look at Creative Expressions website you will find a tutorial for making the roses and lots more too.
I was lucky enough to go to the trade show at the NEC, lots of new goodies coming out. My favourite has to be the new Pearl Mica Spray from Cosmic Shimmer (thanks Karen!). It's great for that subtle shimmer on wedding cards, christening cards and perfect for christmas snow scenes. Is it too early for christmas crafting?
There are some really lovely masks coming out, shed loads of Tim Holtz goodies too. That man costs me a fortune, he just keeps coming up with things I try to resist but can't! I don't do much grunge and shyed away from his materials for ages but they are proving to be really useful for lighter projects too.
I'm also looking forward to playing with Eco Green acrylic paints, I'm no artist so it will have to be simple. These paints are very eco freindly and safe for kids to use, the red has already been earmarked for a cardboard fire engine and he has his eyes on the rest for a castle!

Quick pearlescent card

This little fellow is for a friends birthday. I don't usually do a lot with pink but this just seemed to be right.

The image is stamped with Archival Ink Coffee and clear embossed. The mouse and cake are coloured with watercolour pencils, the icing and candle are painted with Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints.

I wanted to mat and layer the picture so I used Spellbinders Nesties but every pink card I tried wasn't quite right, until..... I played around with Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid ink pad! It's almost a perfect match for the 'Rose Hue' used for the icing. I only had to ink up the edge of the card because the middle is covered, no point in wasting ink! It dried well and has a perfect sheen to it. I'm now working my way through all my inks and matching them to the paints where I can, no more expensive pearl card required!

The edges of the main picture have been lightly inked with Distress Ink Spun Sugar whilst leaving the nestie on the card, giving the tiny white edge. The background has been stamped with a swirl in both Spun Sugar and Pearlescent Orchid.

If you have some pearlescent ink pads give it a try, if you don't you might like to get some. Brilliance are available in Dew Drop size which are not to expensive for a try out, good luck playing.