Lots and lots of Coasters!

Now that these super cute and practical MDF coaster sets from That Craft Place have been received by their intended recipient, I can show them to you!

I simply decoupaged all the Coasters, and decorated the holders using a variety of techniques. The MDF is 4mm thick and cut amazingly cleanly! Also, raw MDF smells rather amazing, but that might just be me being weird.
 

MDF Coaster Sets by That Craft Place, decorated by The Crippled Crafter  

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I used the following materials:

  

THAT CRAFT PLACE MDF / GREYBOARD
Set of 6 Octagonal Coasters, with holder
Set of 6 Square Coasters, with holder

MEDIUMS USED
Distress Inks (various colours)
Archival Ink (Tree Branch)
DecoArt Dazzling Metallics (Silver)
Pinflair Buff-It (Slate)
Mod Podge Matte

OTHER PRODUCTS USED
"Linen" Embossing Folder by Creative Expressions

All products above available from That Craft Place.

ANYTHING ELSE
White tissue paper
Graph stamp by Tim Holtz
Blue cardstock by American Crafts
    

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Summary Process

COASTERS

Glue chosen paper to the top
(squeezing out excess glue or air bubbles)

Ink round edges (I used Archival Ink in Tree Branch)

Gave one coat of the Mod Podge Matte (or other medium of choice)

Stamped the grid pattern in Jet Black Archival Ink

2 more coats of Mod Podge Matte

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HOLDER (OCTAGONAL SETS)

Inked all the pieces well with Distress Inks that complement the papers

Glued crinkled white tissue paper over the top

Gave one coat of the Mod Podge Matte

Stamped the grid pattern in Jet Black Archival Ink

2 more coats of Mod Podge Matte

Glue the pieces together!

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HOLDER (SQUARE CRACKLED SET)

Painted with 2 coats of Pinflair Buff-It in Slate

Sponged on DecoArt Dazzling Metallics in Silver

Glue the pieces together!

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HOLDER (SQUARE MAP SET)

Embossed a piece of cardstock and glued to the pieces

Inked the raised parts with Archival Ink in Tree Branch

Sealed with 3 coats of Mod Podge Matte

Glue pieces together!

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If I had to give any tips they would be to strictly avoid getting paint, glue or paper etc on the tabs or in the tab holes. This makes it easy peasy then when gluing the pieces together.

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Here are some more photos

Square Coasters by That Craft Place - "Vintage Map" paper by Craft Consortium

    

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Octagonal Coasters by That Craft Place - "World's Fair" papers by Graphic 45

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Square Coasters by That Craft Place - "White Crack Texture" paper by Craft Consortium

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Octagonal Coasters by That Craft Place - "World's Fair" papers by Graphic 45

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And finally, you can see more photos of the set below HERE where I originally blogged about it.

Octagonal Coasters by That Craft Place - "Artisan Style" papers by Graphic 45  

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LINKS YOU NEED - THAT CRAFT PLACE
   
That Craft Place - Website
That Craft Place - Facebook Shop
That Craft Place - Facebook Natter & Chatter Group
That Craft Place - Etsy Digi Stamp Store
       

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Thank you as always for popping by, I hope you enjoyed looking at this creation as well as reading the thought process behind it.

Enjoy whatever you have planned for the new year!

xxSAMxx

   

Please can I enter this project into the following challenge(s):

     

Altered Eclectics - ATG (1 February)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - ATG (1 February)
Recycle, Re-Purpose, Re-Invent - ATG but must recycle (No challenge this month)

...
  

Following in my footsteps?

After I made my niece Zahra her very own art journal, it wasn't long before my sister was asking me to make Zahra's 2 brothers their own as well!

It was so lovely on Christmas day seeing their faces when they opened theirs. I've got 3 budding artists right there!
     

DIY Art Journal

      

See my nieces journal, as well as a full product list and tutorial HERE

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Thank you as always for popping by, I hope you enjoyed looking at this creation as well as reading the thought process behind it.

   
xxSAMxx

   

Please can I enter this project into the following challenge(s):

   

Altered Eclectics - ATG (1 February)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - ATG (No challenge this month)
Recycle, Re-Purpose, Re-Invent - ATG but must recycle (No challenge this month)

...
  

MDF Advent Calendar - That Craft Place

Good morning!  It is time for a new challenge over at the
That Craft Place challenge blog

This fortnight the theme is

MIXED MEDIA ANYTHING GOES

I decided to showcase the fabulous MDF Advent Calendar which comes with the drawers and all the numbers! 

I was late in getting mine all finished, but have no fear because it's going to get plenty of use throughout the next year as desk storage for my charms, buttons and similar!!! The top "25" plaque is completely removable too, making it so versatile!
   

   

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I used the following materials:

  

THAT CRAFT PLACE MDF / GREYBOARD
MDF Advent Calendar

MEDIUMS USED
Black Gesso
DecoArt Crafters Acrylic (Black)
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics (Quinacridone Gold)
DecoArt Ultra-Matte Varnish
Mod Podge Matte
Archival Ink (Jet Black)

OTHER PRODUCTS USED
Craft Consortium Découpage Paper (oh my god, this is lush!)

All products above available from That Craft Place.

ANYTHING ELSE
Cheap coarse glitter from my stash!
     Tim Holtz Graph stamp
     

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Summary Process:

All MDF pieces painted with black Gesso before constructing the advent calendar. (Be sure to avoid the "tabs" when adding any mediums or papers to the pieces otherwise you may encounter difficulty putting the advent calendar together).

Creased, folded and glued all of the drawers together. Mine came with 2 extra drawers which is very handy if you make a mistake along the way!

Inside of the drawers painted with a few coats of the Quinacridone Gold fluid acrylic before finishing with a coat of Ultra-Matte Varnish, also by DecoArt.

I then painted the outside sides and back of the drawers with black Crafters Acrylic. This then left the front of the drawers, to which I glued the Craft Consortium paper, using a sanding block to remove the excess.

I finished off the outside of the drawers with a coat of Mod Podge Matte before inking round the top rim of the drawers as well as around the front.
 
The advent calendar comes with everything you need, including all the numbers for the drawer fronts! I painted them with the same Quinacridone Gold paint before stamping them all randomly with the Tim Holtz Graph stamp, using Archival Ink in Jet Black.

I also used cardstock, a snowflake die set by All Occasion Dies and some ribbon/twine for the little cards tucked into each drawer.  The cards had a mixture of romantic notes for my wife on some, and activities such as "Christmas Movie Night" and "Today is your day to relax" on the others!

            

            

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LINKS YOU NEED - THAT CRAFT PLACE
   
Website
Facebook Shop
Facebook Natter & Chatter Group

Facebook Lasercuts Page
Etsy Store (for their fabulous digi stamps)
Challenge blog

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Thank you as always for popping by, I hope you enjoyed looking at this creation as well as reading the thought process behind it.

Myself and the other That Craft Place DT very much look forward to seeing your creations!

     

xxSAMxx

   

Please can I enter this project into the following challenge(s):

   

Altered Eclectics - ATG (1 February)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - ATG (No challenge this month)
Recycle, Re-Purpose, Re-Invent - ATG but must recycle (No challenge this month)

...

  

That Craft Place - MDF Door Hanger (The Walking Dead inspired)

Good morning!  It is time for a new challenge over at the
That Craft Place challenge blog

This fortnight the theme is

MIXED MEDIA ANYTHING GOES

I would like to share with you a door hanger inspired by season 1 of my favourite TV show The Walking Dead (more about the thought process for this piece further down!).

 

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I used the following materials:

   
THAT CRAFT PLACE MDF / GREYBOARD
MDF Door Hanger
Greyboard brick wall
Greyboard Cog
Greyboard Padlock
Greyboard Hinge
MDF Label

MEDIUMS USED
Gesso (black & white)
DecoArt Fluid Acrylics (Paynes Grey & Quinacridone Gold)
DecoArt Crafters Acrylic (Black & Navy)
Pinflair Buff-It (Slate)
DecoArt Ultra-Matte Varnish
Archival Ink (Jet Black)
Distress Ink (Pumice Stone, Peeled Paint & Gathered Twigs)
DecoArt Dazzling Metallics (Silver)

OTHER PRODUCTS USED
Air Dry Clay
Plain cardstock
Patterned paper
Small piece of Greyboard offcut

All products above available from That Craft Place.

ANYTHING ELSE
Posca Paint Marker (White)
Derwent Academy Colour Pencil (Black)
Jump ring jewellery findings
Tissue paper
Cheap coarse glitter (any color!)
Tim Holtz Graph stamp
    

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Summary Process:

Tissue paper glued to the MDF Door hanger, leaving wrinkles for texture.

MDF and greyboard items prepped with black Gesso.

MDF DOOR HANGER

Colour and overall "rust" effect applied using an adaptation of the DecoArt rust technique by Andy Skinner:
 

 
Raised areas highlighted with Pinflair Buff-It in Slate.
   
Stamped with black paint using Tim Holtz Graph stamp.

2 coats of DecoArt Ultra-Matte Varnish applied to the hanger.

Rubbed black Archival Ink over edges and some raised areas.
 

GREYBOARD BRICK WALL

Painted with a light coat of white Gesso.

Mixed lots of coarse glitter in with more white Gesso before applying with a stippling motion. (The glitter colour is unimportant as it is added for texture only and the colour will be painted over.  You could also add coarse sand or use a ready made coarse medium of some sort!).

Painted with a genepaper
but not too thick coat of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics in Quinacridone Gold.

Inked the edges and raised bumps randomly with Archival Ink in Jet Black.
      

"DON'T OPEN DEAD INSIDE" DOORS

Door panels cut from cardstock and strained with Distress Ink using the Tim Holtz "Wrinkle free distress technique".

Metal kickplates are cardstock painted with Paynes Grey fluid Acrylic Paint and white Gesso.

Door handles cut by hand from cardstock and painted with Dazzling Metallics in Silver.

All the parts were distressed with Archival Ink in Jet Black before assembling together!

The wooden blank through the door handles is a piece of Greyboard coloured and aged with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.

OTHER EMBELLISHMENTS

  

Zombie hand made from air dry clay and painted with self mixed grey acrylic paint. I added a little "blood" to the fingers (DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics in Quinacridone Gold). 

Cog and padlock painted with black Gesso, dry brushed with white Gesso, then over painted with the Quinacridone Gold paint.

Cafeteria label and hinge painted with DecoArt Crafters Acrylic in Navy, then distressed lightly with Jet Black Archival Ink.

   

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Here are some more photos:

 

   

     

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LINKS YOU NEED - THAT CRAFT PLACE
   
Website
Facebook Shop
Facebook Natter & Chatter Group

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For those wondering, this piece is inspired by the Cafeteria door at the hospital where the shows protagonist, Rick Grimes, awakes from a coma, finding himself in the midst of a zombie apocalypse (The Walking Dead, Season 1, Episode 1).

You can see the doors in question about 3 minutes 30 seconds into this video...

 

Thank you as always for popping by, I hope you enjoyed looking at this creation as well as reading the thought process behind it.

Myself and the other That Craft Place DT very much look forward to seeing your creations!

     

xxSAMxx

   

Please can I enter this project into the following challenge(s):

   

Altered Eclectics - ATG (1 December)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - ATG (1 December)
Recycle, Re-Purpose, Re-Invent - ATG but must recycle (NO CHALLENGE FOR NOV)
...

     

Whatever it is, we all carry it.

After how many Art Journal pages inspired by one TV show does one qualify as thoroughly obsessed?

Well this is The Walking Dead journal page number 3!.. Plus I've done a canvas and am currently working on another Walking Dead themed project at the moment!

This journal page uses a quote from the show's main protagonist, Rick Grimes, as seen in season 2 episode 13 "Beside the Dying Fire".

In this episode, Rick reveals to members of the group that all humans carry the "disease" that makes you turn into a Walker (zombie!). This means that no matter how you die, everyone turns, a huge revelation for the group and for the story as a whole!

This inspired me to make use of this journal spread which included a pocket where two pages had been stitched together.  I used the main spread to show the fully alive pretty human girl, then the zombie version of her in slid inside the pocket!
 
So now, whilst I sit here impatiently waiting to find out whether my beloved Glenn survived the fall of the dumpster into the herd of Walkers, let's go through what I used in the creation of this page!
      

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I used the following materials:

MEDIUMS

White Gesso
Black Gesso
Gelatos
Derwent Academy Watercolour Pencils
Molotow Paint Marker (black)
Archival Ink (Jet Black)
DecoArt Crafters Acrylic (black)

STAMPS

Tim Holtz "graph" (from the Graph & Croc set)
Leaf stamps - magazine freebies!
Dovecraft mini alphabet stamps

Most products above available from That Craft Place.
    

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Here are some more photos

 

 

 

    

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LINKS YOU NEED - THAT CRAFT PLACE
   
Website
Facebook Shop
Facebook Natter & Chatter Group

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Thank you as always for popping by, I hope you enjoyed looking at this creation as well as reading the thought process behind it.

Before I go, here is the canvas that I created, replicating THIS art journal page...
 

     

xxSAMxx

   

Please can I enter this project into the following challenge(s):

       

Altered Eclectics - ATG (1 December)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - ATG (1 December)
Recycle, Re-Purpose, Re-Invent - ATG but must recycle (NO CHALLENGE FOR NOV)
...

     

Memories of childhood reading

Who else has wonderful childhood memories of losing themselves in favourite books?

For me, alongside Roald Dahl, the Enid Blyton books, Nancy Drew and Duncton Wood, a firm favourite book series of mine was The Animals of Farthing Wood.
 
I adored the intertwined stories of Fox, Vixen and their cubs (after which I named one of my very first Guinea pigs as a child!) who, along with Badger and the rest of their gang faced countless struggles and a surprising amount of death for a children's novel!

I must reread the series for I suspect there were many many morals and life lessons hidden between the lines of those pages.
   

Anyway as you can see, my journal page was heavily inspired by the books. I spent several hours over a few days taking my time doodling and painting away at this page and love how it turned out.
  

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I used the following materials:

  

White Gesso
Acrylic Paint
Watercolor Pencils
    

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Here are some more photos

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Thank you as always for popping by, I hope you enjoyed looking at this creation as well as reading the thought process behind it.

  
xxSAMxx

   

Please can I enter this project into the following challenge(s):

   

Altered Eclectics - ATG (1 December)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - ATG (1 December)
Recycle, Re-Purpose, Re-Invent - ATG but must recycle (NO CHALLENGE FOR NOV)
...
     

Fight The Dead...

Another art journal page from me today, and yes it is another The Walking Dead themed one!

 

   
I drew it all by hand, including the hand! Great fun and very "me" right now!
 

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I used the following materials:

    

White Gesso
Derwent Academy Watercolour Pencils
DecoArt Fluid Acrylics (Paynes Grey)
Cheap Acrylic Paint (Viridian)
Archival Ink (Jet Black)
Grid stamp by Tim Holtz
Mini Alphabet stamps by Dovecraft
   

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Here are some more photos

I used a baby wipe to apply the Paynes Grey and Viridian paint for the background

My original pencil drawing

My original coloured version, created with Watercolour Pencils. I scanned the coloured version into my laptop and printed a copy off to use on this journal page (I used this journal page as a test run with a view to creating a canvas with the original).

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Thank you as always for popping by, I hope you enjoyed looking at this creation as well as reading the thought process behind it.

xxSAMxx

   

Please can I enter this project into the following challenge(s):

   

Altered Eclectics - ATG (1 November)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - ATG (1 November)
Recycle, Re-Purpose, Re-Invent - ATG but must recycle (NO CHALLENGE FOR OCT)
...
     

MDF Coaster Set - That Craft Place & Graphic 45

Good morning! I finished this coaster set yesterday and thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to remind ourselves about the
 MIXED MEDIA ANYTHING GOES CHALLENGE
over on the That Craft Place challenge blog
 
As always, you have a fortnight to enter (current challenge ends Saturday 7 November) and there are fabulous digital stamps for the winner!

 With it's fantastic quality and simple yet elegant design, this fabulous coaster set from That Craft Place comes precisely laser cut out of 4mm MDF.
   

 

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I used the following materials:

  

THAT CRAFT PLACE MDF / GREYBOARD
MDF Hexagon Coaster Set (also available in Square)

MEDIUMS USED
Mod Podge Matte
Distress Ink (Gathered Twigs, Mowed Lawn & Spiced Marmalade)
Archival Ink (Tree Branch, Jet Black)

OTHER PRODUCTS USED
Graphic 45 8 x 8 Paper Pad (Artisan Style)
White tissue paper
Tim Holtz grid stamp

All products above available from That Craft Place.
      

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Here are some more photos:

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LINKS YOU NEED - THAT CRAFT PLACE
   
Website
Facebook Shop
Facebook Natter & Chatter Group

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Thank you as always for popping by, I hope you enjoyed looking at this creation as well as reading the thought process behind it.

Myself and the other That Craft Place DT very much look forward to seeing your creations!

     

xxSAMxx

   

Please can I enter this project into the following challenge(s):

   

Altered Eclectics - ATG (1 November)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - ATG (1 November)
Recycle, Re-Purpose, Re-Invent - ATG but must recycle (NO CHALLENGE FOR OCT)
...