Catching #Cre8time Fireflies... the Amazing Mold Putty Scavenger Hunt with Designer Crafts Connection

Hello everyone! Today the Designer Crafts Connection takes on a new challenge featuring one of my favorite things... Amazing Mold Putty. Amazing Casting Products has sponsored our challenge this month with the Amazing Mold Putty Scavenger Hunt.

For this challenge, Amazing Casting Products provided each of the Designer Craft Connection designers with Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Clear Cast Resin. You want to pop over to the beginning of the hop HERE because you can win what you see in the photo above... an artist's dream PRIZE!!! An Amazing Clear Cast Resin and a 3lb. kit of Amazing Mold Putty {which is 1 1/2 lbs of each part of this magical goodness}.

How do I begin... what to mold? E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!!!! Amazing Mold Putty is hands down my favorite tool in my crafty stash. It's quite addictive and over the years, I have used it in most every creation... cards, jewelry, food projects and dimensional whimsies! I have so many objects to mold I have a dedicated box to hold all the items. This is just what I molded with a handful of each part of the AMAZING yellow stuff! 13 molds!!! 

Paired with resin and the coloring of my choice... my imagination comes to life in 3D. Just like the wonderful pre-packaged, ready-to-alter resin pieces you can buy -- BUT -- even BETTER because it's totally custom and unique to me!

I have loads of things in a box of things to mold for arting and I never know what they will evolve into... I let them take on a life of their own. This project captured a rare specimen – the 'genuine angel firefly'.

This mini assemblage combines painty goodness with monoprints {created on my Gel Press® Printing Plate from last month's challenge}, and dimension combining a wooden canvas frame, a wooden spool, some bits and baubles and also a couple hand cast resin pieces.

Curiouser and curiouser... my muse came to play with an assortment of strips of words and phrases found in a paper art kit... that spell out 'genuine boy', 'angel' and 'firefly'. This interesting combination of words sent me off on a mission to create a 3D imaginary specimen inspired by some beetle and bug stamps.

Last month for the Gel Press Challenge, I made a bunch of monoprinted papers on book pages using my fabulous favorite punchinella from Gauche Alchemy. This paper is Cracked Pistachio and Blue Lagoon Ranger Distress Paint - just two pulls and this one is good enough for me!!! I love this color combination and how the text peeks through. It's the perfect base for my metallic resin assemblage.

Now onto the good stuff! Using Amazing Mold Putty, I made a mold of a gold leaf pendant in my jewelry box to serve as wings for this cool vintage handle I purchased online that looks like a bug body to me. I prepared my Amazing Clear Cast Resin mixed with some Alumilite Metallic Gold powder. Before pouring I brushed the molds with the same gold and also Alumilite Silver Metallic powder. When cured, the pieces look like real metal... but so lightweight and ready for use in any creative project. It's so AMAZING!!!

Before trimming my paper to wrap mini canvas, I traced around my resin piece with a pencil to lightly mark where I want to stamp the top and bottom of a beetle. I stamped with black pigment ink just the head and antennae of the beetle, then embossed with some black glittery embossing powder. TA-DA!!

You don't have to use the entire stamp the way it comes... you can just use a portion. I'm so happy I was able to work this out in my crazy mind without having to fussy cut this beetle. Now with the beetle parts in place, I can trim and mount this beauty to the mini canvas and glue inside the backwards facing frame. It looked more interesting that way.

I gave the resin pieces a rubbing with some dark pewter and silver Rub 'n Buff® and also some layers of black pigment pen brushed into crevices to bring out the details, then glue them in place forming my creature. 

I finished off the corners with some metal spider charms with loops clipped off, my word phrase assembled on a torn scrap of book page, and a wooden spool spritzed black wrapped with a scrap of silver thread and monoprinted book paper. 

I've caught my Cre8time firefly!

This may be small - only about 4" x 5", but this just makes me smile so big! I'm so happy to be able to bring a couple of hoarded vintage pieces to life in a creative way.

CLICK HERE to jump over to the beginning of the Amazing Casting Products Bloghop at the Designer Crafts Connection blog and find more AMAZING inspiration and projects using Amazing Casting Products!

To learn more about
Amazing Casting Products

visit www.moldputty.com/

For even more ideas follow @AmazingCasting Instagram Page!

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Thanks so much for visiting! I hope you are inspired to mold something for your arting! Sb :)

** This is a sponsored post. Alumilite Corp. has provided products for use in this project in exchange for my creative ideas, views and opinions. My ideas and opinions are my own.

A Sight for #Cre8time Eyes... Altered Eyeglass Collaborative

Hello friends! I'm so excited to welcome you to a very special bloghop today... a MUST SEE!!! Several creative pals and I gathered to take another challenge posed by the super imaginative Tina Walker. This time she posed the question, "could we alter old eyeglasses"?? Tina wears glasses and she said she had plenty to donate to the Cre8time cause to have our crafty playtime with.

These are the eight pairs that she had and she graciously donated for us to use if we didn't have our own in our craft stash. I was squealing with delight!! I selected pair No. 8 as it was the perfect size and shape for a bunch of metal and electronic junque I have been hoarding for years... just waiting for a magical project to use them in.

These are my blank canvas upon which to create! CLICK HERE to jump over to Tina Walker's blog who is our hostess and VISIONary of this Cre8time adventure.

These glasses have nice sturdy frames, though the arms posed a challenge as they were thin - I had to be creative in attaching bulky items to them as there isn't much surface area to glue things.

I knew exactly what I was going use before my pair of glasses arrived. My whole project is centered around this recycled component that I have been hoarding for years {I'm not ashamed to say it}... saved perhaps for an altered book project with a bunch of other electronic disassembled junque. My hubs goes crazy taking apart stuff that no longer works. I think this came from a pre-historic digital camera or an old cel phone.

I created an eyelid and eyelash with a small computer board and some fringed metal pieces that I can only imagine serves a cooling purpose. The COOLEST stuff is inside electronic stuff.

Combined with some found rusty pieces and old broken jewelry pieces, I layered to create a contrasting eye for the other lens.

I added some color with paint pens and alcohol inks, then I layered and glued items together with some E6000®.

After a couple of assembling fails... creative and strategic wire wrapping was the best method to mount the bulky items.

I scuffed up the edges of my lenses with some sand paper {since I scratched one of them attempting to drill tiny holes on the frame} which added some interesting dimension. Frames were painted with a combination of plum and metallic alcohol inks - easy peasy!

More layering and adding and wiring and gluing... my vision is coming together!

Enjoy all the fabulous details of seeing through my "curious" eyes... perfectly titled by a recycled tea bag tag message.

Please take a minute to visit
the other VISIONaries of the

"Altered Eyeglass Collaborative"...

at the links below.

Tina Walker

Keri Sallee

Tifany DeGough

Susan M. Brown {sbartist} you are HERE

Thanks for dropping by and hanging around until the end! Thank you Tina for your boundless creative vision!!! 

I hope you are inspired to alter something and create something interesting and new! Have a creative day :) Sb

Wrapping Around a Christmas Tree... Quick and Easy Holiday Decorating with Foamology™

Welcome to another special Designer Crafts Connection Challenge - using products from Fairfield World. We have been challenged to share quick and easy holiday decorating ideas featuring Foamology™ by Fairfield line - peel, wrap, stick, done! I have dreamt up a holiday tree assemblage so easy that even my Scoutie "Elf on the Shelf" sitter could make.

With the holiday season fast approaching, It seems I have less and less time to get ready for the holidays and decorate - especially this year because I'll be traveling for our biannual Christmas trip to visit my grandmother. 

Cold and flu season seems to be hitting early here where I live in South Florida, as I have spent the first week of this holiday season with the cold and flu... and down for the count. Which means nothing has gotten done and this elf is way behind! 

So I have about an hour or so to put up a little bit of festive decorations from the time my husband leaves for work to between the time I have to go to work. And this is going to be quick and easy tree then I'm going to make with Foamology.com Design Foam with Stickybase™ Tiles, a roll of festive wrapping paper left over from last Christmas, and some removable glue dots.

The Foamology.com Design Foam with Stickybase™ Tiles couldn't be easier to decorate with or to create a sculptural wall hanging. 

The lightweight, easy pull-apart soft tile shapes have a sticky backing - you just tear apart, wrap fabric {or paper} around them, then peel off the backing to secure it leaving the center area open to layer or mount onto the wall. Easy Peasy!

Cut!

Peel!

Wrap!

Ready to stick together!

This being a seasonal project and that have a textured painted wall, I'm going to assemble the shape layers using the exposed adhesive, but mount the base pieces to the wall using removable glue dots {lots of them}.

I am combining both the triangular assortment and also the assorted rectangles and squares of Foamology.com Design Foam with Stickybase™ Tiles. I pulled apart the triangles first so I can determine what way I want to organize them before I start covering them. Once I have an idea of the design that I'm going to create with and how I will need to use the varying squares or rectangles for filler. I can use the rest to make faux gift packages using leftovers of old wrapping paper saved for crafting purposes to complete the scene.

I have a small little area between my sofa and TV {once I move a surround-sound speaker stand} that I'm going to stick my assemblage to the wall. It will be perfect! A fun and festive way that we can celebrate Christmas and not have to drag out all the Christmas decorations and trimmings.

I assembled my shapes on the floor to figure out way I like them best. To keep things in order once I start wrapping the shapes, I labeled each shape what layer they were on. And I also took a picture of my design and each layer as I disassembled it to have as a reference when assembling on the wall.

Then I set off work with some Christmas movies on TV and wrap wrap wrap each little shape {this was the most time consuming part as I had to wrap about 40 shapes}. I cut the paper to fit with an extra 2" around to wrap up the sides; peel off the backing... and it's just as easy as that!

The gold shapes are covered with a crinkled section of gold sparkly hologram wrapping that will be my gold star tree topper.

Thanks for visiting! CLICK HERE to jump over to see what other designers made with their Foamology products and be sure to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below! :) Sb

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