Monday, December 2, 2013

Christmas Craft Challenge - Day 2

I picked up a paper mache star when I went looking for some Halloween goodies. It was slightly deformed (a bit like me lol) but it was cheap so it was in my non-existent budget!
I'm the type of person who can't really sit there doing nothing... not even while watching television, so while I was catching up on some YouTube videos I pulled out the star and decided to do something with it. I didn't really have a plan just went with whatever I was feeling in the moment.
I started by stamping some images onto a sheet of white tissue paper after I cut the tissue paper into four equal pieces as the full sheet was massive. I picked out some wooden Christmas Tree stamps from my stash as well as a StazOn ink "Cactus Green" and some Ranger Archival Ink "Library Green". I picked these inks in particular because they are waterproof and I'd decided to decoupage ripped up pieces of tissue paper onto the star to provide the background to whatever would happen next.
To decoupage the tissue onto the star base, I used a 50/50 mix of Elmer's Glue and water. I painted the glue mix onto the star then adhered torn up pieces of the stamped tissue paper onto the star before coating them over the top again to ensure I had good adhesion of all the tissue paper. I crisscrossed the tissue paper to ensure that the entire star had at least a double layer of tissue paper.
For the next layer I placed the tissue wrapped star in an old shoe box that I use as a misting box (to prevent mist from ending up everywhere). I misted it generously with Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst - Freaky Franken Lime Mist and Moon Shadow Golden Doubloons. I misted in several layers, drying with my heat tool between each layer. Once I was happy with the overall colour, I then splattered more of the Moon Shadow Golden Doubloons Mist to add a real grungey/aged look to the star.
To finish off the look (so it looks like a Vintage ornament that has been handed down through the generations, rather than one made five minutes ago) I inked the edges of the star around the outside edge as well as the edges into the central point of the star using Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain.
Above - Without camera flash - I love the depth and warmth of the colour in this picture. It's more true to the real colour and really shows up the grungey vintage colouring of this ornament.
Below - With camera flash - the colours appear a little duller but the shimmer from the Lindy's Stamp Gang Mists really stands out like it does in real life.
Below - a couple of close-ups of the finished star. The dark green lines showing through are from the stamped images on the tissue paper.
I really love the "water marks" created by splattering the Lindy's Stamp Gang Moon Shadow Golden Doubloon and then drying it with the heat tool to speed up the process so the mist doesn't have time to blend as much with whatever other colours are on the project.