Easy Marbled Gold Ornament

Technique:  General Crafting

Materials:

glass ornament

gold spray paint

gold mica powder

I had seen tutorials and photos online for faux glass mercury ornaments and thought they looked fabulous.  My own attempts turned out horrendously!  I don't know what I did wrong, whether the spray paint I used was too cheap or what it was.  The instructions all say to spritz the inside of the ornament with water (which acts as a resist) and then squirt in a few bursts of metallic spray paint.  What happened for me was the propellant caused the water to freeze and I just got a nasty mess :(

This decoration was created out of an ornament I was almost prepared to give up on.  I had sprayed the inside with gold spray paint, no water or anything else, just the gold spray paint and swirled it around inside before inverting it over a small jar and allowing the excess to drain, hoping to get the same effect without using the water.  As it was draining, the particles in the paint separated and it dried in a random, blotchy manner, with lots of clear glass showing through. These are the darker gold areas that you see in the photo.

Then I saw a project where they had mixed perfect pearls and water to colour the inside of a glass ornament, and I thought why not use the copious amounts of mica I have lying about.  Micas are shiny minerals, and they provide the colour for lots of products, including paints and cosmetics.  Perfect Pearls is a mixture of mica with a fixative that bonds with water so that when they are mixed they form a water soluble paint, like H20's. 

I have a large quantity of cosmetic grade mica just sitting about the house gathering dust so I tossed about half a teaspoon of dry powder into the ornament and shook it about.  The mica powder is so fine and light that it adhered to the slightly tacky surface inside the ornament and suddenly I had a beautiful two tone gold ornament!  The photo doesn't show the beautiful shimmer that it has from the mica, but it does show you the two tone effect.

So to cut a long story short, to recreate your own, follow these simple steps:

1)  Remove the cap from a glass ornament and spray the inside with metallic gold spray paint and invert to let the excess drain out.  Leave to dry overnight.

2)  Put half a teaspoon of dry mica powder, such as Perfect Pearls, into the ornament and shake about.  Replace cap and hang on tree!

Let's Get Cracking

Technique: Painting

Materials:
Jo Sonja Crackle Medium
red acrylic paint
Tim Holtz Distress Inks:
* Aged Mahogany
Liquitex Gloss Medium

Tools:
Sizzix Big Shot die cutting machine
Tim Holtz Carved Ornaments die
paintbrushes

If you have heard the name Tim Holtz then you are probably familiar with his 12 Tags of Christmas. Each year, going back four years now, he has designed 12 seasonal tags. They're beautiful, if you haven't seen them or want a refresher, you can find them on his blog.

I've been spending a lot of time looking at and analyzing his tags this past week, and I would like to challenge myself to take each tag and turn it into an ornament using one of the carved ornament dies rather than a tag, as well as teach myself new techniques by following Tim's excellent step by step instructions and videos.

The first one I wanted to try is this:

Gorgeous isn't it?! And so many variations can be taken from this one tag.  I decided I want to emulate the red crackle on the base of the ornament, so the first step was to get cracking!

First off, here is the link to Tim's ornament, and his step by step instructions.

He uses grungeboard as his base.  I am quite partial to balsa myself, but in the spirit of trying new things I went ahead and did a comparison using balsa, grungepaper and canvas - not the sticky back kind but the type you can buy in artists pads that are pre-primed with gesso.

So what is grungeboard?  I don't have grungeboard, but I do have grungepaper.    It is a mid-grey colour, like pulped up newspaper, and it smells and feels just like fake leather.  It's flexible and very strong, very versatile, great stuff to work with.

What Tim did:  Ink the piece of grungeboard with fired brick distress ink.

What I did:  I don't have fired brick distress ink, but I do have dozens of acrylic paints and aged mahogany distress ink.  So I went ahead and gave each medium a base coat of red acrylic paint, and when that was dry, then I swiped over it with the aged mahogany ink.

Grungepaper

The grungepaper doesn't require any additional prep-work, that is one of it's features.  I simply applied one coat of red acrylic paint and when that was dry swiped the entire surface with the Aged Mahogany ink.

Balsa Wood

I use 1.5mm balsa wood, which the steel rule dies cut through like butter.  However, they must be cut and then painted, as the additional layers of paint and crackle medium make it too thick to go through the Big Shot, I know I tried!  I cut two blanks from balsa, glued them together and let them dry before applying the paint and ink.  You can see here how the wood grain has picked up the ink.

Artists Canvas

The artists canvas came in an A5 pad of 20 sheets that you tear off just like note paper.  Each sheet has been pre-primed with gesso, so I didn't give any additional preparation before applying the acrylic paint and then inking.  You can see how the fibres have picked up the distress ink.

What Tim did:  Apply a layer of Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint

What I did:  I don't have, and won't buy, the Distress Crackle Paints.  A 33ml bottle of it here in Australia will set you back $8-10, and the expectation is that you need many different colours.

Instead I used Jo Sonja Crackle Medium, which is $16 for a 250ml bottle, for those that work in oz, that's the equivalent of 7 1/2 bottles of Distress Crackle for only twice the price.  Jo Sonja Crackle Medium is, for all intents and purposes, Rock Candy Distress Crackle.  It is a completely clear  medium that is self cracking when it dries.  It can also be mixed with any colour of acrylic paint to create your own palette of 'crackle paints'.

A word of advice when looking at crackle mediums.  There are several types, but the two most common waterbased ones are a 'one step' crackle medium, and a 'sandwich' crackle medium.  One step mediums are the ones you want for this type of project.  It's a thickish liquid that cracks as it dries.

Sandwich crackle mediums are a three step process.  You apply a coat of base colour, apply the sandwich crackle, and then apply a coat of top colour, and as the top coat dries it cracks to reveal the colour below, it looks just like an old wooden house that needs repainting.  Very different mediums that give very different effects.

I applied liberal coverage of Jo Sonja crackle medium to all three surfaces.  It is helpful to tape down the edges of the canvas and grungepaper so they don't curl back on themselves as they dry.  Just like the distress crackle, Jo Sonja crackle is waterbased, so it will pick up the ink as you spread it, which gives a fantastic colour effect as it dries.  I also discovered that the crackle medium did not like the balsa so much, as it dried and cracked it literally just fell off in shards.  The remedy to this was to seal with balsa with gloss medium after painting but before inking.  This gave the crackle medium a tooth to adhere too, and ultimately of all three, it gave the best results.

Here's the results:

Grungepaper

I think, as a rule, I prefer to cut blank shapes and then apply paints and mediums, but Tim prepared a sheet of grunge with paint and crackle and then cut his shape, so I wanted to give that a try.  You can see the gorgeous colour I achieved with the combination of acrylic paint and distress ink, and this photo shows how beautifully the Jo Sonja Crackle Medium works.  The crackle medium is flexible too, able to move and flex with the grungepaper.

Art Canvas

The canvas seemed to absorb a lot of the crackle medium, so rather than an even and solid crackle, it was more haphazard, very grunge actually.  You can also see how nicely the two colours blended here.  I decided to keep this one aside, as I have another of Tim's tags that this would be perfect for.

Balsa Wood

The balsa gave the effect I was most pleased with.  You can't see it in the photo but the crackle medium has a high gloss finish, and I loved the effect that occured close to the edges from crackling directly onto the shape, rather than a blank sheet.

As I said I decided not to use the canvas for this project, so from here I will be finishing the grungepaper and balsa ornaments.  I wanted this post to be just about using the crackle medium, so stay tuned to see how I finish both of these ornaments off.

Snow Topped Carved Ornament

Technique: Die Cutting/General Crafting

Materials:
1.5mm balsa wood
recycled Christmas cards
pva glue
white acrylic paint
craft fake snow

Tools:
Sizzix Big Shot die cutter machine
Carved Ornaments die
paintbrush
painting sponge or stippler

Another very simple but very pretty ornament made using the Sizzix. The machine itself, and any dies that you use, do require an initial financial outlay, but once you have them you can produce ornaments for very little cost.

Cut one ornament from the balsa wood, this acts as the base. Cut two more ornaments from the recycled Christmas cards and glue one image to each side of the balsa shape and allow to dry.

Sponge a little white acrylic paint along the edges of the ornament to soften the edges and give it a 'snow dappled' look. When dry, apply fake snow liberally to the top, using a tooth pick to ensure the hanging hole remains free and clear.

Vintage Bird Cage Ornament

Technique:  Die Cutting/Scrapbooking

Materials:
1.5mm balsa wood
'decor' crackle medium
acrylic paints
antiquing medium
silk flowers and leaves
butterfly embellishment
pva glue
fine grade sandpaper
matte varnish

Tools:
Sizzix Big Shot die cutting machine
Tim Holtz Alterations Caged Bird die

Oh I love my die cutter indeed I do! Just for fun I entered this project into the "Anything Goes" Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge.

Cut 2 bird cages from balsa wood and glue together.  You could use just one thickness, or use chipboard/cardstock if you prefer, but I love working with the balsa.

When dry, apply two coats of base colour, front and back.  I used Jo Sonja Antique Green.

There are different types of crackle mediums and paints available, and they can create different types of aging in your work.  For this project I used Jo Sonja Decor Crackle Medium, which is a 'sandwich' crackle.  This means you apply a base coat, then a coat of crackle medium, then a contrasting top coat, and the crackle medium will cause the top coat to crack as it dries, allowing the base coat to show through.  Apply a coat of crackle medium according to the directions on bottle, and then your top coat.  I chose a plain white for my project because I planned to antique it.  Allow to dry overnight.

Using the sandpaper, distress the cage further.  Go a bit heavier in some spots to let more base coat show through, attack the edges, you don't have to be delicate!  When you have the appearance you are happy with, you can age it further by using an antiquing medium.  Again there are lots of ways you can antique a project.  You can mix a little drying retarder with burnt umber acrylic paint and rub that over your project to age and darken it.  You can buy ready made antiquing liquids that are primarily just a mixture of drying retarder and acrylic paint.  For this project I used a Tim Holtz Distress Ink to add a dark tinge to the edges.  It's subtle but it's there, shame on me for not taking before and after photos to show you.

Once the whole lot is dry, give front and back a coat of matte varnish.  When that is dry, use hot glue to attach your embellishments.  Hang and admire!

Roses Tissue Paper Decoupage

Technique: Paper Mache

Materials:
paper mache ornament
tissue paper
acrylic paints
Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish

Tools:
paintbrush

Base coat the ornament in a shade of pale pink, or whatever compliments your tissue paper. Tear the tissue paper into 1/2" squares. Brush a small amount of Liquitex onto the ornament, place on a square of tissue paper, brush over with paintbrush to smooth down. Repeat this over half the ornament, overlapping squares randomly. Allow to dry for several hours and finish the remainder of the ornament in the same manner. Once thoroughly dry give a finishing coat of Liquitex.

Barn Owl Crochet Ornament

Technique: Crochet

Materials:
scrap yarn in two colours
safety eyes

Tools:
3.5mm hook or size appropriate to the yarn
tapestry needle

Start with a magic circle in the main colour.

Rnd 1: 6 sc into loop, draw tail up to shorten circle
Rnd 2: 2 sc in ea sc, 12 sc
Rnd 3: [2 sc in one, 1 sc] repeat 6 times, 18 sc
Rnd 4: [2 sc in one, 2 sc in next two sc] repeat 6 times, 24 sc
Rnd 5 - 13 sc around
Bind off

Attach the safety eyes and fill with stuffing. Using a tapestry needle whip stitch the top seam together.

Count down four rows at the back of the owl and using the contrasting colour, slip stitch so it is aligned with the right ear.

Rnd 1: 8 sc, ch1, turn
Rnd 2: 8 sc, ch1, turn
Rnd 3: 8 sc, ch1, turn
Rnd 4: 8 sc, ch1, turn
Rnd 5: 8 sc, turn
Rnd 6 skip first st, 7sc, turn
Rnd 7 skip first st, 6 sc, turn
Rnd 8 skip first st, 5 sc, turn
Rnd 9 skip first st, 4 sc, turn
Rnd 10 skip first st, 3 sc, turn
Rnd 11 skip first st, 2 sc, turn
Rnd 12 skip first st, 1sc, bind off

The above pattern creates the triangular nose area. Attach the peak to the body of the owl with the yarn tail from binding off.

Angel Kitty

Technique: Sewing

Materials:
natural quilt batting
polyester filling
calico thread
7.5mm animal eyes

Tools:
sewing machine
stencil brush

Print and cut out the pattern below.

(pattern up shortly)

Fold the quilt batting right sides together and cut two kitties. The pattern does not include a seam allowance, so be sure to cut out about 1/4 - 1/2 an inch larger.

Take one piece and face it right side up. Insert the animal eyes according to the manufacturers instructions. Mine have a screw type post that you push through the fabric and then a stopper to secure on the other end.

With a needle and thread sew loops for whiskers, securing thread on the wrong side.

Place kitties right side together and sew around edge, leaving about an inch to turn and stuff.

Turn right side out fill with polyfill. Whipstitch the opening together.

With a stencil brush, brush a little highlights on the cheeks and ears. I used pastel chalks, you could use light pink paint and drybrush it on, you could even use cosmetic blush if that is all you have.

Glue a pom pom for the nose, and embellish. I used a gold chenille for the halo, put some adorable wings I found at the two dollar shop, and used a bead and ribbon around the neck.

Pisces Kimekomi Ball

Technique: Kimekomi (Or New Sew Fabric)

Materials:
styrofoam ball
fabric
cord, braid etc
paper
piece of string

Tools:
orange stick (cuticle stick)
scissors
ruler
scalpel
compass

Long before it had the name Kimekomi, I had seen fabric Christmas ornaments at fetes and fairs. Now that it has the name Kimekomi there are of course specialized tools you can buy, but it's not necessary at all.

Firstly, wrap a piece of string around the middle of your styrofoam ball to measure the circumference. Whatever length it is, divide that by six, and mark that on your string. Your ball should have a mould line, a straight line around the circumference. Using the string, mark the 6 segments around the mould line.

There are lots of tutorial videos to show you how to segment Kimekomi balls, this is just how I do it. Using your string, make marks around the ball, then with a pencil, join opposite marks, like a dot to dot around a ball. This should create six evenly spaced segments around the ball, like an orange.

Set your compass to the same width as the segments, and starting at lines that intersect begin drawing circles around your ball. Rather than give you a specific pattern direction, I encourage you to draw circles on the ball until you find a pattern you are happy with.  The larger the pattern segments the easier the ball will be to construct, so bear that in mind. I will often have many circles overlapping before I find a pattern that repeats that I like.  When I did find the pattern I wanted, I outlined the score lines in red, so that it was clear which lines I needed to score.

Score each of these lines lightly with a scalpel, you want to cut down about 1/4" of an inch.

Start with one colour of fabric and cut a piece that is going to be just a bit larger than the segment you wish to cover (you can trim this as you tuck so its better to be generous than skimpy here). Hold firmly in the centre of the fabric and using the cuticle stick, tuck one edge into the groove, and then the other, working each side evenly so that the fabric remains true and doesn't distort and end up uneven. Tuck the points in and trim any excess fabric if necessary. Continue in this manner until all six wedges of fabric have been used.

Chose a cord or braid that compliments your fabric. If using a thin cord this will sit neatly into the channels, and the ends will tuck into the ball nicely. Braid is thicker and will sit over the channel, you can use glue or decorative pins to secure this in place. The same process applies to the hanger. You can push some cord into the top of the ornament with a skewer, or use a decorative pin to secure a loop of braid to the top.