TANDO CHRISTMAS COTTAGE ORNAMENT

Hello fellow mixed media artists!

It's time for another fun project to get your creative juices flowing.  This time, I've combined DecoArt products, Andy SKinner's DecoArt Stencils and a Tando Creative's house from their Mini 3D House Trio set.  I've created a little vintage style stone Christmas cottage that can be used as a beautiful package decoration, just one cottage in an entire handmade Christmas village or a vintage ornament for your Christmas tree.

Now, you may be asking yourself "Christmas cottage? Already?"  But, have you noticed how quickly this year is flying by?  It's already only 5 months until Christmas Eve!  NOW the panic is beginning to set in, huh?

This little ornament using one of the THREE houses you receive in Tando Creative's 3D Mini Houses kit is the perfect size!  It's plain greyboard so each little house can look totally different.  

Let's get started on how this house was made!  First you'll need some supplies:

• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Paynes Grey
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Raw Sienna
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics English Red Oxide
• DecoArt Media White Modeling Paste
• DecoArt Media Liquid Glass
• DecoArt Snow-Tex
• DecoArt Snow Writer

• 3D Mini House Trio 

• DecoArt Andy Skinner Shredded Stencil

Miscellaneous Items

• Paint Brush
• Scotch Tape
• 1/4" Double Sided Adhesive Scor Tape
• Palette Knife
• Kraft Pick 
• Wire (for creating ornament hook)
• Miniature Bottle Brush Christmas Trees (approximately 1 1/4")
• Miniature Bottle Brush Wreath (approximately 1")
• Sparkle Glitter
• Clear Mica Flakes
• Little Red Beads (for ornaments on the trees and wreath)
• Red and Green Ribbon (for ornament top and wreath bow)
• Heat Tool

Now to put it all together!

Aren't these just the cutest??  

Choose the house you want to use.  There are three different and adorable designs in this kit.  I chose the house on the far right in the picture.  This kit also includes window and door frames for each house.  Those add so much character!

I chose to add a piece of scotch tape on the back side of all of the joints in the house ... just for added support when I would begin adding products and bending the greyboard into shape.  I don't know that it's even necessary but it worked beautifully!

Brush a light layer of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Paynes Grey over the entire house exterior, including the bottom.  This will be the basecoat on the house and look like mortar between the earthy stone exterior that will be started next. Let dry.

Lightly tape Andy Skinner's Shredded Stencil in place along the house form.  Scrape DecoArt Media White Modeling Paste through the stencil with a Palette Knife to create a stone cottage look for the exterior.  Remove the stencil and gently heat set the Modeling Paste.  Move stencil to the next area and tape in place. Repeat this process until all of the house greyboard is covered.  Gently heat set. Immediately wash the stencil!

*DO NOT SCRAPE MODELING PASTE ONTO THE TABS THAT WILL BE FOLDED UNDER TO ATTACH THE HOUSE SIDES,. BOTTOM OR ROOF IN PLACE. If you happen to get Modeling Paste on those tabs, wipe it off before heat setting.

This is what the little house will look like at this point.  Not too impressive but hang on!

Apply 1/4" Double Sided Adhesive Scor Tape along all of the tabs now.  Then you will be ready to fold them to the inside and stick the house together once you finish the exterior walls.

Lightly brush over the entire house, particularly over the "stone" Modeling Paste areas with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Raw Sienna.  Add more paint randomly to some of the "stones" to give them more color.  Gently heat set or air dry. 

* Notice the double sided adhesive tape on the tabs of the house?

To add more depth, randomly brush on DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Burnt Sienna over the stone areas.  Again, randomly add more paint to some stones for randomness.  Gently heat set or air dry.

To add extra warmth and blend the colors all together even more, brush over the house with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide.  Gently heat set or air dry.

Paint the roof, window and door accessories with a nice contrasting color.  In this case, brush these pieces with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics English Red Oxide.  Gently heat set or air dry.

* I also painted the window panes on the actual house with this trim color before gluing the frames on over them.  

If you are creating an ornament, find the center of the roof and pierce a hole into it using a Kraft Pick.

Next  bend the sides of the house and using the Scor Tape tabs, stick the sides and the bottom of the house in place.

Glue the window frames and front door in place using DecoArt Media Liquid Glass.  

Once the window frames and door are tightly in place and dry, add the roof to the house by bending the house tabs inward and attaching the roof to them.  Then paint the underside of the roof that is visible.  Also paint the in the creases.  Gently heat set or air dry.

To give a wintry snow effect, generously apply DecoArt Snow-Tex to the roof of the stone cottage.  I used a thick brush to add the Snow-Tex but several things can work.  Wash the brush immediately after using it! Immediately add sprinkles of Glitter and clear Mica Flakes to the roof while the Snow-Tex is wet.  They will dry along with the Snow-Tex.  Let air dry.

To get a wintry snow effect in a more detailed area, use DecoArt Snow Writer above the door and on the window frames.  Sprinkle with Glitter and clear MIca Flakes while the Snow Writer is still wet.  Let these air dry.  DO NOT HEAT SET.

Add snow to the MIniature Bottle Brush Trees and Wreath with the Snow Writer.  Then sprinkle the Glitter and clear Mica Flakes.  Let air dry.  Glue the miniature trees to the house using DecoArt Media Liquid Glass.

Close up view of the front

Close up view of the back.

Once dry, add little red bead "ornaments" to the trees and wreath using DecoArt Media Liquid Glass.  Tie two bows using the red and green ribbon and glue in place using the Liquid Glass.

You've created the first little house for your Christmas village or your Christmas tree! Wasn't it easy?  Now have fun experimenting and designing an entire village.  See what different looks you can create!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and it's inspired you.

About the Artist:  Candy Colwell

Blog: http://candycreates.blogspot.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/candy.colwell.9
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/rindacelly

Instrgram:  https://www.instagram.com/candy.colwell/

Halloween Art

Hello lovely peeps! I have done a Tag trio with Andy's amazing new stamps. 

With lots of lovely Deco Art media paints, pastes & potions! Plus a little 

bit of triple embossing Just for me! I hope you all enjoy the this post

using Andy's new stamp set Bird's and Bones.

So I used the following Tando creative products, Andy Skinner Industrial elements,
and the Tando's greyboard size 10 tag.  These have an amazing capacity for
mixed media projects of all kinds they don't buckle or bend with media
products such as pastes, paints, water, glazes and can be painted and sanded.

Top Tag

• Take the centre of the door hanger's frame (primary Elements set)put a hole in the top & paint it black. 
• Cover in versa mark ink and follow with gold embossing powder, heat set
• Repeat the above step with chunky clear embossing powder.
• Do this a third time with gold, heat setting at each stage.
• Ink up your chosen stamp with versatile onyx black.
• Heat your tag with your gun until molten then working quickly push your inked stamp in leave a second then peel of.

• Coat with black antiquing cream knock back when dry follow with patina.
• Polish up so that the gold shows through.
• The letters were made with art moulds and paper clay.
• I painted them Deco Art media fluid acrylic Raw Umber.
• Antiquing cream in patina black and white.
• brushed with pearl lustre to get the metal look. 
• Edge in area's with quinacridone gold.

Here's a photo of all three spread out. 

You can just make out the edging that I did with quinacridone gold to make a hint

of rust to the corners.

Middle Tag

• Industrial door hanger set with the circle removed and the key hole
• Paint with Deco art Media fluid acrylic Cobalt Teal, Cobalt Turquoise, Edge with Prussian Blue  Hue.

• Edge the circle and edges with black antiquing cream the centre with patina and white knock back each coat before applying the next.
• A coat of ultra matt varnish to seal.
• Stamp in gold fluid acrylic using Andy's crackle stamp from the Industrial set

• Coat with Decoupage matt sealer
• Apply one step crackle and allow to dry 
• Black antiquing cream knock back with soft cloth, seal with matt varnish
• Wash with very watery Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide build the coats

• Go back in and edge with Deco's Chalky Finish Carbon use a baby wipe to lift it in area's
• Do the Same with Deco's Chalky Finish Everlasting
• Sand back till happy withe the result.

• Tripple emboss the Bird skull from Andy's new set Bird's and bones
• Stamp the image onto white card
• Cut out the image and cut out area's that you want to use from your embossed image.
• For the ends I used some embossed bits that I had on my desk you can use any of Andy's background stamps for this just use black card and cut out.

Base Tag

• Tando size 10 tag modelling paste put through Andy's shredded stencil.
• Watery coat of white gesso followed by black knock back with a baby wipe.
• Watery white gesso was flicked across to create splatter.
• A couple of coats of Sap green Media fluid acrylic mixed with Americana Glazing medium.
• A coat of patina antiquing cream knocked back when dry followed by white, seal with soft touch varnish.
• Bronze mica powder spritzed with water and allowed to run.
• Skeleton from Andy's new stamp set stamped with archival black onto white card cut out and applied to tag with media matt medium.

Please as always feel free to let me know what you think and ask any questions that you want and I will try to anwser them as best I can. below is a list of all products used.

Cheers Dee x

• Andy's #Stampendous stamps, Birds And Bones & Industrial rubber stamp sets.

• Size 10 Tags
• Andy Skinner Industrial Elements set

• Media fluid acrylics, Sap Green, Raw Umber, Carbon black, Cobalt Teal, Cobalt Turquoise, Gold, Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide, Prussian Blue  Hue & Quinacridone Gold.
• Antiquing cream Patina, White & Black
• Modelling paste
• Gesso in black and white
• Ultra matt varnish
• Matt Medium
• Soft touch varnish
• Americana Glazing medium
• Chalky Finish paint in Carbon and Everlasting.
• Decoupage matt sealer
• One step crackle
• Andy's stencil shredded

www.deeadamsart.blogspot.co.uk

ALL Geared Up.

 

 

 

Morning folks Fiona here. This time around I decided to create a Steampunk themed box as requested by my other half to house his Tattoo Guns.

I started by dismantling the box lid from the base and removing all hinges and clasps.Then giving the box inside and out a coat of Decoart chalky finish in Carbon. Once dry I gave the box base and lid a coat of Decoart Crackle Medium for chalk paint. When dry I coated the box base and lid with a coat of Decoart chalky finish in Rouge and am still amazed at the appearance of all the lovely cracks that appear instantly.

 

 

 

I then applied Decoart black modelling paste through Andy's made to measure stencil around the top sides of the box base and once dry I replaced the stencil and applied Decoart metallic lustre in Burnished Brass and put to one side.

 

 

For the next step I  measured the box lid and cut a frame from Tando Greyboard . I then glued screw heads from Andy's Industrial Elements set onto the frame and then gave the whole frame Andy's rust treatment.

 

 

Next up onto the box lid itself. I die cut cog shapes and also used cogs from Andy's Industrial Elements set and attached to the box lid in a pleasing manner and then gave the whole design a coat of Decoart Media Fluid Acrylic in Carbon Black.

 

 

 

 

 Once dry I applied Metallic Lustre in Burnished brass to all the raised areas and buffed to a shine when dry I love this stuff.

 

 

Next up I punched some holes in the frame and threaded through some leather cord. Applied metallic lustre in Burnished  Brass to the screw heads and attached to the box lid.

The final step was to create the centrepiece for the box. I applied texture sand paste to a large Tando mdf cog and when dry gave it a coat of media fluid acrylic in carbon black and the applied metallic lustre in Burnished brass. I then gave a por hole from Andy's Industrial Elements set the rusty treatment which when dry was layered over the large cog. A skull and wings were added then attached to the box to finish.

 

 

 



 

Here's another look at the completed box lid with centrepiece attached..

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial .

 

Here's a list of products used.

 

 

 

 

 

• DecoArt Texture Sand Paste.
• DecoArt Modelling Paste Black.
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Carbon Black.
• DecoArt Metallic Lustre Burnished Brass.
• Americana Chalky Finish Carbon.
• Americana Chalky Finish Rouge.
• Americana Chalky Finish Crackle Medium.

 

 

 

 

 

• Tando Creative Andy Skinner Industrial Elements.
• Tando Creative MDF Large Cog.
• Tando Creative 12x12 Greayboard sheets.

 

 

• Andy Skinner Stencil Made to Measure.





 

 



 





GEARS AREN'T JUST FOR STEAMPUNK! THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX...

Greetings Andy Skinner buddies!

Won't you join me in wishing Andy Skinner a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!  
I think he turns 29 today.  (smile)

Do you look at your Tando Creative pieces and just stare because you don't know what to do with them?  Well, here's a solution!  Think outside the box and imagine them as something other than what they are!  For example ...

I picked out a simple journal that I had lying around.  It's interior pages feel like home made paper with roughly torn edges and I just love it!  The cover is pretty but plain and I wanted to really "Skinner" it up.  So I picked out the above Tando Creative products and laid them out to create a little "floral garden" front using left over gears, nuts and bolts, cogs, some hinges and a more random design on the back using part of a clock face (on the back side of the book) and a piece of lace border.  Simple little elements but they really worked up into something fun and different than what they were created to represent.

**BE SURE TO SAVE ALL OF YOUR TANDO SCRAPS!  See the circle rectangle on the far left?  That actually is a piece of greyboard left over after I punched out some washers.  I trimmed it up using an exacto knife and it makes a great accent piece for this book cover!

Here is the finished book cover!  Cute, huh?  Want to know how I did it?  Well, let's discover the items you'll need and then let's get started!

Items needed for this project:

• Some sort of journal or hard cover book

• DecoArt Media White Gesso
• DecoArt Media Matte Medium
• DecoArt Media Crackle Paint
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Carbon Black
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Diarylide Yellow
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Vermillon
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Titanium White
• DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Metallic Silver
• Americana Chalky Finish Smitten 
• Americana Chalky Finish Escape
• Americana Chalky Finish Keepsake
• Decoart Vintage Effect Wash White
• DecoArt Liquid Glass
• DecoArt Decoupage Paper Vintage

• Tando Creative Lace Borders
• Tando Creative Hinges
• Tando Creative Gears, Nuts and Bolts
• Tando Creative Cogs
• Tando Creative Clock Face

• Stampendous Andy Skinner Toxic 
• Stampendous Andy Skinner Shabby Chic

• DecoArt Andy Skinner Stencils Toxic
• DecoArt Andy Skinner Stencils Bubbles

Miscellaneous Items

• Paint Brushes
• Hot Glue Gun
• Craft Mat
• Drying Gun
• Brayer
• Antique Buttons
• Paper Towels or sponge
• Rhinestones
• Permanent Black Pen

Let's put it all together!

Begin by painting a generous coat of DecoArt White Gesso over the cover of the book.  This provides an even white basecoat and also gives all of the mediums to be added some "tooth" to stick to the book cover.  Let dry or heat set.  Then layout your Tando Creative pieces to create your design.

Glue the pieces in place using DecoArt Media Matte Medium.  Brush onto the cover of the book.  Brush onto the back side of the pieces and press them in place.  Then brush DecoArt Media Matte Medium over the entire cover to seal.  Let dry or gently heat set.  Then brush another coat of DecoArt Media White Gesso over the entire cover.  Let dry or heat set.

Brush a basecoat of DecoArt Americana Chalky Finish Smitten paint over the entire surface of the book cover and about 3/4" on the inside the interior covers.  Be sure to get into all of the cracks and crevasses to cover all of the white base.

 Squeeze a little DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Carbon Black onto a craft mat and thin it out with a brayer. Roll the brayer over the surface of your stamps and randomly stamp images on the surface of the book covers.  Let dry or gently heat set.  Immediately wash off your stamps!

To soften all of the colors and pull the raised images together, use a cloth, a brush or a sponge to add DecoArt Vintage Effect Wash (white) over the entire surface of the book cover and on the interior painted edges.  Add or wipe away the Effect Wash until you are happy with the results.

Add some color to your raised images using a brush and various colors of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics paint.  I used:  Diarylide Yellow for some of the nuts on the back of the book and a couple of the gear/cog flowers on the front of the book.  I used American Chalky Finish Keepsake for the hinge stems of the flowers and some of the circles on the back.  Titanium White provided the polka dots that were made by using the wooden end of a paint brush dipped in paint and then pressed onto the flowers or circles.  Americana Chalky Paint in Escape was used on the clock ace and center gear/cog flower. I also used it to create some polka dots.

Apply another layer of the DecoArt Vintage Effect Wash in white over the surface of the painted images.  This blends them into the background and creates that beautiful vintage washed look.  Then hot glue antique buttons onto the centers of the flowers.

Measure the interior covers of the book and cut two pieces of DecoArt Vintage Decoupage Paper.  Brush DecoArt Matte Medium over the surface of the interior book covers and press the papers into place.  Brayer over them to remove any air bubbles or wrinkles.  Let air dry or gently heat set.

Mix American Chalky Finish Smitten with a bit of DecoArt Media Crackle Paint and a little DecoArt Vintage Effect Wash (white).  Brush over the surface of the interior pages and let air dry.

Create interesting interior covers by layering some of Andy Skinner's DecoArt Stencils.  First I used his DecoArt Bubbles Stencil and DecoArt Chalky Finish Smitten Paint.  I applied the paint by dabbing it with a paper towel.  

Next I added Andy's DecoArt Whirlpool Stencil by lightly brushing and dabbing DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Metallic Silver.  I love the layers, contrast and design these stencils and paint gives to the interior pages and covers.

Here is what the interior cover and first page of the journal looks like.  Pretty cool!

Now for the Tando Creative Lace Border layer that will go on top of the hinge stems on the front of the cover...
I painted the Tando Creative piece with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Metallic Silver to accent the antique buttons and the whirlpool interior pages.  After the paint dried, I randomly stamped the Lace Border using Andy Skinner's peeled paint stamp from his Stampendous Toxic set.  I love this versatile stamp! 

Next I added rhinestones to the Lace Border using DecoArt Media Liquid Glass.  It is a wonderful clear glue as well as having the capability to create a faux glass look.  I also glued all of the rhinestones on the back of the cover with Liquid Glass.  

To accentuate the details on the "flowers" and some of the shapes on the back cover, I edged them with a Black Permanent Marker.  

Here is a closeup look at the front cover.  As a final step, I lightly ran my finger with a bit of first Silver and then Black paint over the edges of the cover of the book to sort of frame it and distinguish the edges a bit more.  

And here is another look at the completed covers.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and you learned a few things about a product or about how to stretch your imagination to see an object for possibly something other than it was intended to be.

About the Artist:  Candy Colwell

Blog: http://candycreates.blogspot.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/candy.colwell.9
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/rindacelly

Instrgram:  https://www.instagram.com/candy.colwell/