Tasty Snacks Leave Creative Treasures...

It's no secret that greencrafting is one of my favorite pastimes. Especially when tasty snacks come in such fun packaging just screaming for some Cre8time love.

Join me today for another installment of my "Thoughtful Abstractions" column at Unruly PaperArts. The theme for March is TRASH 2 TREASURE... focusing on recycling, reusing and upcycling. I don't have to look far for finding something to create with – there is usually plenty of interesting things to use for crafting in my recycling bin... or in today's case... compliments of "The Laughing Cow" in  my refrigerator!

CLICK HERE to jump over to Unruly Paper Arts to see the full transformation. :) Sb

Cool2Cast takes a Plain Jane Kraft Journal to Old World Charming!

Hello everyone! Welcome to a special bloghop celebrating the launch of the new e-book "Cool2Cast" - a collaboration between Tiffany Windsor and Bella Crafts Publishing. "Cool2Cast" is filled with tips, techniques and project ideas for jewelry, home décor and other embellishments using Cool2Cast, as well as a gorgeous gallery of project images to inspire you. 

I have been a follower of Tiffany Windsor for years over on Cool2Craft and I love her Cool2Cast casting medium. Her new book inspired me to combine my love of moldmaking and casting with altered books... and I've transformed a plain jane kraft journal into something with old world Italian charm.

You don't have to make your own molds like I do. Cool2Cast has loads of ideas and inspiration using the Cool2Cast medium for a plethora of art projects using shapes from sorts of fun items we all have in our crafty stash. I couldn't wait to use Cool2Cast in my existing Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Mold Rubber molds. Cool2Cast is a fiber plaster medium which brings a whole different feel, texture and effect to my stash of molds - and totally expands their use. What I really love is that it sets up really fast unlike paper maché casting and paper based air dry clays. 

For my book I started with a plain blank spiral bound journal book. This particular one has a window already cut out of it and that's what I plan to house the casting in. 

Since the cover made of craft paper, it's already primed and ready to go. I grabbed my three metallic colors of Ranger Distress paint and which have a dauber top, and I quickly painted the cover and around the edges, on the inside of the window and around the edges on the inside of the cover. When I am all done, I can go back and line inside cover with a pretty paper. 

In just a few minutes the paint is dry and I'm ready to move onto my molding the Cool2Cast centerpiece. 

I grabbed my Amazing Mold Rubber texture plate that I made from molding a vintage glass tile. I place the cover over it to decide what section of the design I want to have featured in my window. On the inside of the cover, I applied some removable blue painters tape to protect it from the liquid Cool2Cast from sticking. When it hardens, I plan to gently pull the cover off and place the casting back into the window after sanding/painting. 

In hindsight - I really needed to protect the front of the cover and do this process I'm in reverse so that don't bend the casting in handling. Then I could have just mounted a piece of cardstock directly to the back of the inside cover to secure in place after it was hardened. Not a problem though, I got the results I was looking for... and the cracks that I created in my clumsiness actually added to the old world charm of my finished book. 

I used some bags of glass beads to way down my cover so when I pour the Cool2Cast mixture it would not seep under the edges of the book cover. 

In a Ziploc baggie I prepared a small batch of the Cool2Cast following the easy instructions - which is a 2 to 1 ratio of the casting medium to water, mixed to a pancake batter consistency. When ready, I snipped off the corner the baggie and squished onto my mold. 

I used a small rubber spatula to spread the mixture around evenly and then I let it sit to harden for about an hour.

  

This created thin casting since I matched the thickness of the cover - next time I would go over and add second layer of Cool2Cast to reinforce it as I remove it from the flexible mold. I was so excited to see the result I really wasn't being as gentle as I should have been. It's all good though!

After sanding the edges slightly to square it up to fit back in the cover, I mounted a piece of chipboard {painted to match} as a backer and glued in place. I brushed on the same colors of the Distress Paint to give my Cool2Cast mod texture a nice matching patina. 

I applied some coordinating metallic trim to line the edges and metallic bronze photo corners to finish it off add a little extra bling and interest. 

Now I have a beautiful book ready to go that I can customize for a gift or I can use this as one of my many art journals in rotation. I really love the option of using the Cool2Cast because it gives a more natural and distressed result when used in my Amazing Crafting Products molds as opposed to the using resin that I normally use {that gives you such a perfect and pristine casting}. The Cool2Cast insert really looks like it's a piece of old antique weathered ceramic tile. 

I really love the finish on this and I'm looking forward to doing it again with couple more of these books in my stash! I have loads of my existing molds Amazing Mold Putty molds filled with Cool2Cast to have embellishments at the ready for inks and sprays and use in my mixed media projects. Thanks for visiting!  Sb :)

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The following is a list of participants for our blog hop today with their names and websites. All you need to do is click on the participant’s website and that will take you directly to their website for more ideas and inspiration! 

ALSO... be sure to drop by www.cool2craft.com - Tiffany is hosting a huge giveaway that you don't want to miss!!!

"Cool2Cast" Book Launch Bloghop Participants for Nov. 6th

Susan Brown -- www.sbartist.com

Anita Scroggins -- http://theflamingochronicals.com
Rita Barakat - http://ritabarakat.com

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Purchase the "Cool2Cast" book here

http://bellacraftsquarterly.com/craft-ebooks/craft-books

The Sky is the Limit in my #Cre8time with Amazing Crafting Products!

Hello friends! It's November which is my favorite month of the year because it has my FAVORITE holiday of the year... TURKEY DAY {aka my birthday celebration}!!! Today I'm starting off the month with a bang with my latest "Thoughtful Abstractions" column in the new "Make and Bake" Issue of the Unruly Paper Arts Blogozine. This month is dedicated to focusing on ways to Make and/or Bake your own embellishments using products such as Shrink Plastic, Paper Clay, Polymer Clay, Amazing Mold Putty, and Resins... totally right up my creative alley!

CLICK HERE to view more on this.

There is also a brand new Reader's Art Quest at Unruly Paper Arts. This month's challenge theme is "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" which is perfect way to spend a little Cre8time getting in the spirit of the season! This month Amazing Crafting Products is the sponsor of the Reader's Art Quest Challenge and if you play along and linkup your creation via inLinkz HERE, you could be entered to win this AMAZING prize package!!!

  

I'm all in the Christmas spirit and beginning to create a menagerie of these snow domes using recycled plastic bottles, wine corks, patterned paper scraps, ribbons/fibers and an altered bottle brush tree. These will be perfect handmade holiday gifts for family and friends {CLICK HERE to see how I made these}.

In my "Thoughtful Abstractions" post today at Unruly Paper Arts, I share how I create a mold of some original artwork I've created to use for embellishments and other altered projects. That just scratches the surface of what these AMAZING products can do. Please scroll down to see a sampling of some of my projects that utilize Amazing Crafting Products.

Click on the image or link below to jump to the post for each. I invite you to jump over to the Amazing Crafting Products Blog to see MORE... there is a whole Creative Team providing project ideas, tips and inspiration daily!

Original designed Snowman Figurine

Wishbone charm molded/cast in Amazing Casting Resin

Miniature Faerie Garden Birdhouse

Steampunk Cuckoo Clock... yes that's a PEEP®!

Vintage Keyhole Charm

Amazing Molded Cookie Cup

Starfish and Sand Dollar Embellishments

Lime Slice Earrings

Clear Cast Resin Bangle and Upcycled Tape Spool Bangle

Handmade Owl Charms

Custom shaped Sugar Cubes

Custom Stamp Handles

My prized creation... the Golden "Steamunk Eggship"

And I have so many more... too many to share. Please follow me via bloglovin if you want to keep up with my creative adventures.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you are inspired to try something new and look forward to seeing your creations in the Reader's Art Quest. Happy Monday! :) Sb

Revisiting #Cre8time Haunts for #ThrowbackThursday

With Halloween just around the corner - I am re-sharing a quick and easy jewelry piece I created using Amazing Mold Putty and cast in Amazing Casting Resin!

I have this Halloween tombstone decor I picked up at the Dollar Tree a while back. It's a nice size and it has a cool spooky skull detail on the front. I thought this would make a great pendant to wear for the Halloween season. I also wanted to show you in REAL-TIME {un-edited} how I created the mold and casting of my spooky jewels.

PART ONE...
Creating the skull pendant centerpiece.
Please CLICK HERE if you have trouble viewing.

PART TWO...
Creating the outer border mold for pendant.
Please CLICK HERE if you have trouble viewing.

PART THREE...
Demolding each part and then creating composite mold.
Please CLICK HERE if you have trouble viewing video.

PART FOUR...

Final composite mold and pendant cast in Amazing Casting Resin with Alumilite Violet Dye and Alumilite Gun Metal Metallic Powder. Please CLICK HERE if you have trouble viewing video.

I took a worn emory board and sanded away some areas to let the gorgeous purple resin peek through the distressed metallic finish. To complete - I drilled a small hole and wire wrapped a small hanger with a bead finding, and strung on a ready made Darice Necklace cord... this beauty is "READY to WEAR"!

What Halloween goodness are you making in your Cre8time today?

Thanks for stopping by - have a great evening! :) Sb

Countdown to #Doctor Twelve... Blue Police Box in Amazing Clear Cast Resin

Hello Everyone! I'm so excited that the long wait is almost over and the new season of Doctor Who begins in just 5 days. I have a several projects of WHOvian nature just for this week as the excitement builds.

Remember a while back I created a pendant from a rubber stamp using Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin??? Today, I am sharing another mold that I've created to show the AMAZING detail captured by Amazing Mold Rubber... except this is a FANDOM favorite – the Blue Police Box from Doctor Who.

**PLEASE NOTE** I am the illustrator of this stamp and have obtained permission from the manufacturer, Viva Las VegaStamps! in order to do this {and for the pendant done previously}. Before doing a project such as this - please check with each stamp company's ANGEL POLICY to make sure you aren't in violation.

This mold I created along with several others prepared when mixing an entire container of Amazing Mold Rubber {please CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation}. When the mold was cured, I painted a variety of blue, gold and pearl Alumidust directly to the mold using a fine paintbrush, and poured a layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin. I could have used this "AS IS" but I wanted it to have the glowing bright blue color of a proper vessel for time travel.

This is easily remedied! I placed resin piece back into mold and I prepared a small batch of Amazing Clear Cast Resin by mixing equal parts of "A" and "B" {CLICK HERE to view preparation}. To that I added a couple dabs of Blue Alumidust using a recycled coffee stir stick from Starbucks. I just picked a bit up on the end of the stick about 3 times.

I stirred completely, then poured

on top of the cured resin piece.

I used the stick to spread evenly

and fill the remaining space in the mold.

After curing overnight – my Blue Police Box is truly GLOWING! I trimmed off the flashing with scissors and gently filed the edges with an emory board. Now I have a companion embellishment to go with my "Ode to the Raggety Man {Doctor 11}" Mini Book. CLICK HERE to jump over see my "Companion" Doctor WHO Mini Book.

A glowing BLUE BOX

for my Time Traveler!

I need to make a little trip to the hardware store... an then I have some special plans for my resin blue box.

Stay tuned... I will be sharing more WHOvian creations throughout the week! :) Sb

#Cre8time for making Underwater Reality... T!m Holtz #12Tags2014 for July

Good morning everyone! July was been a whirlwind and despite my best efforts... my muse commands her Cre8time beauty sleep to recharge. I always plan to play along with the monthly T!m Holtz' 12 Tags of 2014, but sometimes life and other creative projects take precedent. The July tag was summer themed and bits a pieces of this project took me most of the month to MAKE and complete... and I am so thrilled with the results!!!

I am presently on the hunt for a large preserved seahorse to mold/cast in Amazing Crafting Product {that it's beginning to reach obsession status}, and since I don't own the sea life Sizzix dies {and my CuttleBug set is way too small in proportion for this project} I decided to DIY my seahorse. This is a vintage seahorse image from The Graphics Fairy that I printed out on the laser printer and mounted to a recycled piece of chipboard at the end of a notepad {1/4 letter page size}. When the glue stick was fully dry I swiped a few different colors of Ranger Distress Stains to add some color.

**A NOTE of Observation** I printed these images out on the lo-end Dell Laser printer at work... not the big-Elsie Xerox Digital Press and to my surprise - the rubbing of the distress stains dissolved and removed some of the toner. I'm OK with the results as it adds to the DISTRESSED look. Just wanted to point out that little discovery. 

I waited for my stained vintage seahorse to fully dry - then I slathered on the Ranger Rock Candy Crackle glaze and set off on my daily adventures {this stuff takes quite a while to dry}. When dry, I fussy cut using my T!m Holtz Tonic scissors and aged with Ranger Distress inks to bring out the details in the crackle finish. I'm totally loving this look and the subtle details of my original vintage image are still visible.

As you can see in the inspiration tag, the starfish and sand dollar are perfect companions to the seahorse... and mine are resin reincarnations of the real thing. I love using shells in my projects - EXCEPT - they are brittle, fragile and sometimes smelly. Molding and casting them with Amazing Crafting Products is the perfect solution for making a replica that is identical to the real thing.

I also created my own texture stamp and embossing platform for my recycled film {imagesetter acetate} layered in the background. To view how I created the starfish, sand dollar and texture plate please CLICK HERE to jump over to my Mold Rubber Monday feature project. It is truly AMAZING!

This was a lot of work for the end result! I'm so thrilled to paint the papers, make the molds/castings and embossing platform, and hand create all the tiny details for this tag - and this is going to get a proper shadow box home that I will hang on the wall in my studio.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit! August is shaping up to be a busy and exciting month right from the get go. This weekend I have lots of wonderful creations to share and I invite you to join me for my Steampunk Edition of "thoughtful abstractions" at Unruly PaperArts on Sunday.

Have a fabulously creative Friday! :) Sb

This Summer I'm Lovin' my #Cre8time... Anything But a Card Challenge No. 36

Good Morning and can you believe it's June already. I don't have a clue where last month went – but living in steamy South Florida... I'm pretty sure it evaporated. I'm starting off a new month with a creative road trip to meet and play with some artsy friends and a new project to share that will quench your creative thirst!

Today begins a brand new challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #36 - Summer Lovin'!! Any and all things summer are your inspiration... and we are sure that most of you are happy that Summer has finally arrived to melt away the winter blues. Remember we welcome scrapbook pages, ATCs, tags, and more... just anything but a card!

Challenge 36 : Summer Lovin' – A celebration of all things summer! Think summer weather, vacations, sunflowers, beach parties, cold drinks and Barbeques... bright colors and wide open sky. Pool parties all day, then sitting in lawn chairs sipping drinks and watching the night sky.

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I have a busy workweek {as most of us do} - so I plan wisely when making molds or pouring resin. I plan, prepare and start many projects so there's no waste and I've always have lots of neat things to work with. I have been tinkering around with citrus molds {like this project using grapefruit} for a good while now and doing a lot of experimentation.

The result of today's project was from an experiment in coloring with Ranger Perfect Pearls and pouring techniques using Amazing Clear Cast Resin... and it just happened to work out. So I had these beautiful cast resin lime slices just screaming to be transformed into something fabulous. 

I needed a birthday gift so I turned these lime slices into some lovely earrings while enjoying my morning coffee. Taking the resin slices along with some coated jewelry wire, a couple earring dangles and some pretty colored beads... I have a pair of fun earrings whipped up in no time {in about a 1/2 an hour to be exact since my beading and wiring skills are novice}.

I gave these to my sister for her birthday and she adores them... they are the perfect compliment to her colorful print blouse. Best part... they are her favorite color LIME GREEN!

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Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you find a little time to do some creating. I look forward to seeing what you create {CLICK HERE to LINK UP your projects}.  :) Sb