Sugar Skull Jewellery - by Nikki K

 Morning everyone, 

It's been a while since I posted, but wanted to share these fun necklaces with you using Andy's fab Sugar Skull stamp, which is a great size for cards and art, but also for jewellery, it makes a large necklace easily.  It's also great for coming Halloween, to make your own decorations!

I used some of Andy's Rice Papers, and stamped the skull out in different places.  This is fun as you can use any of the rice papers and get a fab different pattern on each skull.

The next bit is tricky, you need to leave the skulls on the paper, and wind some wire, probably 18 to 20 guage (it's slightly more pliable), around the skull.  I cut a long piece, then start at the bottom of the skull, and work my way up both sides.  Keep it flat on the paper, and glue with strong glue as you go.  You will need to hold this for longer than you think, and get sticky fingers.. lol.  Don't hold it down with anything other than your fingers as the paper has a chance of sticking and ripping.

When you get to the top, bend one piece of wire straight (90%) and make a large loop (like making an earring).  I would cut the wire a bit shorter for this step, but not so short that it can't be hidden.  Take the other end of the wire, and wrap around the loop to hold and secure.  Only when this has completely dried, did I cut out close to the wire on the outside.

Once you have this done, cover the whole of the front of the pendant with glue (pva) is fine.  Do this 2 or 3 times, making sure there are no gaps between the edges of the wire and the paper.  You are making a bezel to hold resin.  If you don't have resin, you could use melted UTEE, or another 3d Glaze.

When completely dry from the glue, you can add your resin or glaze, according to manufacturer's instructions.

You don't need to coat the back of the necklace, it has a rough texture but is sealed from the layers of glue anyway.  I like it this way as it shows it is handmade.

Hope you like them, 

Have fun making. xx

Nikki K.

xx

Products Used:
Andy Skinner Creative Expressions Sugar Skull Stamp
Andy Skinner Creative Expressions Rice Papers,
Andy Skinner Quick Grab Glue.

Other items: Versafine, Resin, jewellery wire & findings.

Carnival Tag by Nikki K

Morning all,

Today I have a quick and simple tag to share with you, using Andy's new Lava Paste, Embossing Powder and Mixed Media Transfers.  I absolutely love all of these products, and they are super easy to use.

I started by painting a tag with a cream chalk paint, and then a light covering of Dioxazine Purple, making it darker in places to look 'dragged' down the tag.  I took a background stamp, and stamped over with embossing ink, and embossed with clear embossing powder to keep the colour of the tag but give texture.

I added some of Andy's fab transfers in places on the tag, not using all of the transfer but taking it over the edges.  It stood out a bit as my background was quite glossy, and the transfers have a more matte background, so I added some purple ink across the top of the tag to blend the transfers in.  You can still see them perfectly through it.

I had a wooden skull from Halloween last year, so decided to use it, and applied a layer of Lava Paste and heated.  It gave fantastic texture!  To make it stand out even more, I pushed the skull into my embossing ink pad, and embossed with Super Nova embossing powder.
The edge of the tag got the same treatment.  I also added a wash of Dioxazine Purple to the skull so it sank into the crevices of the texture.

Andy's transfers work equally well straight onto Cardstock, so I used the word Carnival, and cut out and inked with a little purple ink, and mounted on the tag.  A dark purple ribbon was added to finish.

Hope it gives you some inspiration. x

Best Wishes,

Nikki K
xxx

If you would like to know

more about my work

You can find me at:

www.nikkikart.blogspot.com

www.instagram.com/NikkiKArtist

www.facebook.com/NikkiKArtist

Products Used:

Lava Paste
Embossing Powder - Super Nova
Mixed Media Transfers - Poe Diversity/Alchemy Plus

DecoArt Media - Dioxazine Purple.
Americana Decor - Lace Chalk Paint.

Stampendous - Andy Skinner Texture Stamp.

Other Supplies:
Versamark Embossing Ink.
Versafine Imperial Purple Ink.

Crystal Clear.... - Nikki K

'Crystal Clear'

Morning all,

I'm sharing with you today a little Mixed Media Board with Andy's stamps, Handle with Care, Fossil, Toxic and DecoArt Media Line paints.

The board was given a coat of DecoArt Media Tinting base, and then a wash of Pthalo Blue and Paynes Grey, very lightly, and then deeper around the edges, leaving a little white showing as well.  I used a Chocolate Baroque Harlequin stamp on the edges of the board.

I used Media Line Metallic Silver to add splatters, and Andy's Scratches stamp from the Toxic Set stamped in black to give more grunge.  'Fragile' was stamped in the centre of the board, where I thought I wanted it before the next stage.

I added a layer of DecoArt Media Crackle Glaze to the whole board, and let it do it's magic.  Love those crackles!  I took some bolt heads from Andy's Industrial Elements kit, and gave them the rust treatment with Texture Sand Paste, Raw Umber and Quinacridone Gold. Some 'drips' were added to the board below the bolts to show rust runs.

I stamped 'Classified' and Fig XII onto light card, and gave a wash the same as the background.  These were edged with my finger in Paynes Grey to look chipped.

The skull is one that I'd only 'half-poured', into a silicone mold, using resin.  It was just enough to give me the front of the skull, and I thought it was great to add to this piece.  I used Liquid Glass to 'glue' it to the piece, as it dries as clear as glass and doesn't leave any residue like a glue would.

I love using just the words or the elements from several stamp sets, all the smaller stamps are so handy!

Hope you like today's make,

Best Wishes,

Nikki K.
xxx


Products Used:

Stampendous Toxic Stamp Set.
Stampendous Fossils Stamp Set.
Andy Skinner Word Up Stamp Set

Tando Creative Media Board

DecoArt Media Line: 
Pthalo Blue, Metallic Silver, Paynes Grey, Carbon Black, Tinting Base, Crackle Glaze, Raw Umber, Quinacridone Gold, Liquid Glass, Texture Sand Paste.

Acrylic Pour Leftover Background - My First post for Andy's Team.

Good morning all,

I am so happy to be here, on Andy's team!  Some of you probably know that I have known Andy a few years now, and am a DecoArt Helping Artist, and also demonstrate the DecoArt line on Hochanda in between Andy's shows.  I am super lucky and privileged to have the job I do, and to be able to share it with you.

For my first post I am sharing an MDF and Greyboard pieces canvas, made with an acrylic pour background.  I had mixed a lot of paint for the pours, and found I had too much of course, so continued to make backgrounds with the paint I had left.  The one I used was a muted one that I had 'swiped' a couple of times and it ended up not as vibrant as some others, but made a perfect start for a background.

On top of the background I stamped Andy's Fish Skeleton stamp, in white chalk paint.  Over this I added a texture stamp in black Archival in areas.

The layering is Tando Greyboard shapes, which I 'smooshed' face down into the leftover paint in my tray from the pours.  I made tons of these, and probably have enough for another 3 or 4 projects!  After that, if you have any paint left still, a tip is to run some card or paper through it, then you have more backgrounds or card to die cut with lovely paint patterns on, a ready made embellishment.

All of the boards were stamped with the texture stamp in Archival, and then words/numbers added to some with black Versafine, and embossed with clear embossing powder...  I prefer clear embossing powder on black ink to black embossing powder, as if you can't brush off all of the excess it doesn't show like a coloured powder would. The frog circle was then covered with Crackle Glaze to give dimension and shine.

The fossil was an old fridge magnet I had, but was the perfect size, so it had a layer of Tinting Base, and then Yellow Oxide, and some Paynes Grey, to give it a 'Quarry Fossil' look.

The main panel and all of the smaller panels were then edged in DecoArt Metallic Lustre, in Iced Espresso, using my finger to apply.  There is a lot of texture in the finished piece from the 'smooshed' panels, as they take on the effect of seaweed from prizing them up from the paint and being left to dry naturally.

I hope you like my first post, can't wait to bring you more.

Best Wishes,

Nikki K.
xxx

Products Used:

Andy skinner Crafts: Word Up

Andy Skinner's Stampendous Stamps:
Fossils
Industrial
Unexplained
Skulldoggery

DecoArt Media Line:
Prussian Blue Hue
Titanium White
Cobalt Teal Hue
Yellow Oxide
Paynes Grey
DecoArt Media Crackle Glaze
2 oz Chalk Paint - Everlasting
DecoArt Multi Surface Metallics - Chocolate
DecoArt Metallic Lustre - Iced Espresso

Other Products Used:

Tando Creative Greyboard pieces (rectangles/squares/circles).
Clear Embossing Powder.
Versafine Onyx Ink.
Archival Black Ink