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

#Cre8time to Say Thank You... with a Special Handmade Gift!

Welcome! It's the first Monday in November which marks a new monthly Designer Crafts Connection Bloghop. This month's theme is Handmade Thank You Cards and Gifts... and today I've made both. I love to make cards and embellish them with a special handmade resin piece to add dimension and unique interest. My floral card gives a sneek peek of the coordinating gift that will accompany it... a matching ring!

With the holidays fast approaching - there are several events, birthdays and holiday gatherings and for many I use my cre8time to make special gifts and handmade cards. Today's project features a vintage drawer pull that I've molded using Amazing Mold Putty, then cast in Amazing Casting Resin to use as a flat embellishment and also a ring.

Creating jewelry and embellishments are quick and easy using Amazing Crafting Products! I gathered a few molds and cast resin pieces leftover from previous resin play. Moldmaking and casting can be a little time consuming, so I work on several projects at a time to use up all of my resin and make best use of my limited cre8time. I'm trying an experiment with making a ring, so I also I grabbed a ready-made Darice ribbon choker {just in case} and I'm ready to start. Using cast resin pieces, a ring mold made of Amazing Mold Rubber combined with Alumilite dyes and colorants, I can make resin rings out of anything my heart desires.

First I poured and mixed equal parts of "A" and "B" of Amazing Casting Resin and added two drops of the new Fluorescent (Flo) Green Dye to 2 ounces of resin. Keep in mind, I have multiple molds at the ready that are getting this same color, hence the large amount. I poured this mixture into my vintage drawer pull mold, ring mold and two other molds to use up the resin mixture. I'm going for a pale jade coloring when the Amazing Casting Resin reaches the flash point and changes from clear to opaque.

I had a resin ring from a previous pour ready to go dyed a pale yellow. I gently held this into the wet resin to fuse the ring to the new poured cast handle. The resin cures very quickly so I only had to hold this about a minute or two until the curing completed. You need to make sure to sand and clean the resin surface that will be fused to the new casting. This saves a step in having to glue or wire the item to the ring form. 

I waited about 15 minutes before removing from mold to wait for resin to completely harden. Voilá! I now have a ring made from a vintage drawer pull in a lovely pale jade color. The gold edging resulted from residue of Alumilite Gold Metallic Powder in the mold from a previous resin pour. I really love how this looks, but I've added a little color by spraying with purple and iridescent metallic mists, then rubbing the high points with silver leaf Rub n' Buff®. 

To go with my gift, I created a handmade matching card by combining some coordinating cardstock scraps, and a stamped, paper-pieced flower using a doily stamp from Viva Las VegaStamps! - topped off with a matching resin drawer pull as the flower center {this one inked pink}. My simple color blocked cards are completely transformed with the added POP's of dimension.

A perfect matching set...

and a quick and easy

Thank You at the ready!

Thanks for visiting. Please drop by this Friday, November 7th as the Designer Crafts Connection takes on a new challenge - you don't want to miss it! Sb :)

Continue on the Designer Crafts Connection "Handmade Thank You Gifts" Bloghop by selecting hop back/forward on the logo below.

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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