SPRING INTO READING

Hello Friends, welcome back to my blog!! Imagine how nice it would be to sit on a park bench on a sunny day, enjoying the breeze, listening to the chirping of birds and seeing the trees in full bloom as well as reading your favorite novel with a cup of coffee..... Wow it sounds heavenly right? Well that is the theme of today's project - "Spring into reading". 

 Myself and my husband love reading novels. But since he is busy with his office work he is not getting enough time to read. As they say Spring is the best time to start  something afresh and particularly reading am giving him this gift of stacked books with reading lamp which will motivate him to read more.

How I made them:

Stacked books:

I had a few soap box cartons lying in my stash for a long time . When I saw the idea of recycling soap box cartons into stacked books in the blog tofa I felt it is a wonderful idea and thought of doing the same. With my friend Rupa's  ( of tofa blog) permission I transformed the soap cartons into stacked books. Thank you for permitting me to use your idea Rupa. Visit her blog to see her amazing recycled projects... She is rightly called the queen of recycling in the blog land. 

         The soap boxes are sandwiched between cardboard sheets and covered using DCWV once upon a time pattern paper. At the side of the stacked books I wanted to create a spring garden so adhered some handmade flowers and hand cut leaves.

For the front panel I have used a border punch and handmade daisies. I made the coffee mug using the DCWV pattern paper . The sentiment on the tag is a print out.... 

On the other side you can see I have made drawers for storing some light weight stationary stuffs. 

The coffee mug can be used as a pen stand. 

Night lamp:

For the lamp shade I have used pattern paper lying on my stash. The base of the lamp is made up of empty ribbon spool. I have used an empty tissue roll to connect the lamp shade and the base. Decorated the lamp using spiral roses and black ribbon. The butterfly is printed from the internet. 

The nest:

The nest is made by recycling brown color paper bags. The eggs and the bird are made up of air dry clay and colored using acrylics. 

Mounted the whole thing on a cardboard sheet. The fence is made using card stock and the welcome sentiment at the gate is stamped using distress inks. 

Inside the drawers there are scrolled handwritten messages. 

Hmmm that's the end of the big post.... Thanks for reading it patiently. This post is dedicated to all the book lovers.

. Hope you all liked my post... Do write your comments/suggestions ....






Submitting to




Kraftzone challenge - " altered art"
Shopping our stash - " The earth has music" - I have created a spring garden with flowers and leaves...
lessology challenge - " typeface" - I have used four different fonts in my project... The two printed sentiments are of different fonts, the welcome sentiment is stamped using inks and the scrolled messages are handwritten.
Beyond grey challenge - " Spring green with spring elements" - I have created a garden using elements such as nest, eggs, birds, green grass, leaves and flowers. The pattern paper on the stacked books is vintage green colour.
The corrosive challenge - "hop into spring"
The craft place challenge - easter/spring

DIVINE LOVE - COLD PORCELAIN MINI MURAL

Hello Friends, Hope you all are doing great!! I enjoyed my one month vacation with friends and relatives at India after two years. And am back feeling refreshed and recharged to continue my craft journey. 

Today am posting a cold porcelain mural of the theme " Divine love". This painting was inspired from the murals, found in  dolls of India website. 

The base of the mural is a small wooden board which I got as a free sample from home depot. I drew the radhe krishna on a piece of cardstock and glued it to the wooden board. Then I pasted the cold porcelain clay upon the design. Allowed it to dry to for 48 hours and then painted the mural using acrylics. Finally applied a coat of varnish to get the shine. 

Hope you all will like it. See you soon. Thanks for stopping by.


Here is the link to the tutorial on making cold porcelain murals:
Cold porcelain mural tutorial

HOT LOVE POTION QUILLED CAS CARD

Hello friends, today am sharing with you all a romantic quilled  card of CAS style.  Hope you all will like it.

This week's casology challenge theme is "hot". Since this is the month of love decided to incorporate both the themes in my card. 

Submitting to

Casology challenge -cue word for this week " hot"
Addicted to CAS  - " Hugs and kisses"

COLD PORCELAIN MURAL

Hello friends, today am posting a cold porcelain mural with the theme "Lord Ganesha playing musical instruments" . This is my first attempt in making a cod porcelain mural. Hope you all will like it. 

STEP BY STEP PROCEDURE:

I had some wooden piece samples at home. So decided to use their backside as the base for the mural

Paste the cold porcelain to the design using strong glue. Cold porcelain does'nt have adhesive nature.

After drying I painted the mural using acrylic colours and two coats of varnish. 

Some close up shots:

Other cold porcelain tutorials:
Recipe to make cold porcelain
Cold porcelain miniatures
Cold porcelain jewellery

COLD PORCELAIN JEWELLERY

Hello , Today am going to share with you all the making of cold porcelain jewellery. Last week I introduced you to the cold porcelain clay and making miniatures using cold porcelain.  Jewellery making using cold porcelain is very similar and it gives a neat look like polymer clay jewellery. 

PROCEDURE:

 Take a small ball of cold porcelain and add colour to it using oil colours. Cut out the desired template from a cardboard , place it on the rolled clay and cut along the design. 

 Similarly cut small pieces for earrings. Take a small amount of clay and add red colour to it. 

Make a cylinder with the red colour and slice evenly using a knife. Form petal shapes from the sliced pieces. Glue these petals to the black design already cut out. 

Once it is dry decorate the jewellery using pearl chain . 

Hope you liked my tute.... Keep visiting my blog for more cold porcelain crafts.... 

COLD PORCELAIN MINIATURES

Hello friends, Today am going to give you an introduction about cold porcelain crafts. Actually I was looking for a substitute to polymer clay as I was little hesitant about baking. While I was searching for the various types of clay that can be used for making clay murals came across this wonderful world of cold porcelain crafts and hence sharing with you all today. ( picture heavy post!!!!)

Difference between polymer clay and cold porcelain clay:

1. Unlike polymer clay ,cold porcelain doesn't need an oven to bake. It air dries hard. 
2. We can add paint while kneading and make different colours of clay or paint after finishing the work. 
3. Very soft , so easy to knead and it doesn't crack.
4. Upon drying it gives a matte finish and has little glaze. 
5. Cold porcelain tends to shrink a little from original after drying. 
6. This clay can be used by kids  ( if the glue used is non-toxic)
7. And most important thing IT CAN BE MADE AT HOME WITH LESS COST

RECIPE FOR MAKING COLD PORCELAIN CLAY AT HOME: 

Materials needed:

1 cup corn starch powder

1 cup white glue

2 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice

2 tbsp of cooking oil 

Procedure:

Mix all the ingredients such that no lumps are formed. Then microwave it for 15 sec for about 7 -8 intervals. You can also mix it in tava and heat in gas. After each interval take the mixture out and stir well. After 7 or 8 intervals the mixture becomes solid  and it wont stick to the vessel. At this point take it out and knead it well by applying lotion in hands for about 10 min. Then wrap it in a polythene cover and refrigerate it in an air tight container for 24 hours.   I have attached the link of the video tutorial at the end of this post which I followed. 

Today we will be seeing how to use this cold porcelain clay to make miniatures.  I have made a choco-vanilla cake .

After making the cold porcelain we can add colour to the clay using acrylics or oil. 

Take a small ball of the CP ( cold porcelain clay) and add the desired colours to it. Knead well till the colours get  uniformly mixed in the clay. Make small balls and lay them flat as shown in pic4.

Place alternating colours of clay one over the other . Make a strip out of light brown clay and cover the seal the sides of the cake with it.

Roll the white clay into a long thread and twist two threads to make the icing on the top.

Cut a sector in the cake using a knife.

Allow it to dry for 24 hours. Once it is dried touch up with acrylic paints wherever necessary to get a realistic look of the cake.

Some tips to work with cold porcelain:

1. Do not over cook or bake cold porcelain such that they become hard. There will be cracks after finishing the piece.

2. If the clay is still moist and wet after 24 hours add little corn starch powder and knead well.

3. Store them in an air tight container or zip lock covers.

4. Cold porcelain takes 24-48 hours to dry completely and become hard. Drying time is higher than normal air dry clay.

5. It dries very hard almost unbreakable ( unless you drop it heavy )

6. It can be stored for  three months.

Some useful links:
Video tutorial to make cold porcelain
Cold porcelain using gas stove
Hope you liked my tute... Keep visiting my blog for more cold porcelain craft ideas.... 

Submitting to 
imaginations craft challenge blog - " Anything goes"
Dream valley challenge - " Anything goes"
country view challenge - " Use something new to you" - I have used cold porcelain which is new to me.

EASEL DRAWER CARD

Hello Friends, wish you all a creative and crafty year of 2015. Hope you all enjoyed your holidays. I had a nice time playing in the snow at lake Tahoe. Well last year was very good for me that I learnt many new things and made new friends. I hope this coming year will be even more interesting. Today I am sharing with you an easel drawer card made as an inspiration post for create something catchy challenge. This month's challenge theme is " Make happy cards". So I have made an easel drawer card with the sentiment happy new year. Click here for more details about the challenge. 

This is my first attempt in making an easel card.  I have made a 6*6 card.

I have used brown card stock from recollections to make the base of the card. Upon that I have  stuck pattern papers from recollections and DCWV paper pack. 

Since its a new year card I have used a monthly calendar in the front panel of the card. Decorated it using handmade flowers, bow and lace. 

I made an extension to the front panel by adding a clock and a tag with quote. The sentiments and quotes are printed .

For the bottom part of the easel I have used an inspirational quote and handmade rose flowers.  I made the handle of the drawer using brown card stock and stuck pearls at its sides. Inside the drawer is a cute notepad ( sticky notes) having some cool to-do's as its front page. 

Hope you all liked my easel card. Have a crafty weekend!!

Submitting to

Lulupu challenge - "Fancy fold cards" - I have made an easel drawer card. I have used Martha s
Stewart's six petal punch for making the flowers and used a border punch in the lower panel of the easel.
Creaine challenge - " Challenge #44 - Bingo" - I have used the items from the first and second vertical lines( columns) ... Pink,flowers and pearls - text, ribbon lace and light blue. 
The crafters cafe challenge - " Challenge # 97 - " Something new" - This is the first time am trying out an easel card. The pattern papers are new from recollections paper pack. 
Country view challenge - " Use something new to you" - I have used my new pattern paper from recollections paper pack.