Sailing, Sailing Op Art Decoupage Canvas

Sailing, Sailing Op Art Decoupage Canvas
Avalon Potter for iLoveToCreate Teen Crafts

Avalon made this simply chic op art style canvas using old book pages and cardstock on an inexpensive craft store canvas.  This is so easy to make and the variations on this theme are infinite.  Fiskars has some great shape cutters that make quick work of cutting squares that are easily halved into triangles.  Piece them together and adhere to your canvas with Aleene's decoupage medium in matte finish and you have a fabulous one of a kind work of art.  Best of all, you're the artist!

Materials
Canvas
Various colors of cardstock
Old book pages
Collage Pauge matte finish instant decoupage medium

Tools
Shape cutter square template
Shape cutter
Scissors
Pencil

Use shape template and cutter to cut 3" squares out of cardstock and old book pages. (You may need to mark and cut with scissors if your book pages are brittle.) 

Mark half point on squares with pencil and cut with scissors into triangles.

Arrange triangles on canvas. Spread a layer of decoupage under each triangle and cover canvas. There will be overlap, go back after canvas is dry to cut this off. Cover entire canvas with decoupage medium, allow to dry. Do not worry about bubbles, they should go away when canvas has dried. You can use a wet finger to smooth them or a brayer. You can start in the center and work up and down canvas for a symmetrical effect.

(Disclosure: Blogger was provided some products and compensated for project, all opinions are 100% her own.)

Creativity at work & a Doodles Unleashed book+product giveaway!

At iLoveToCreate, our creative team always has a fun craft at our monthly meetings!  This month, in honor of the Doodles Unleashed Book release, we were super stoked to get to watch part of  Traci Bautista's new Doodles Unleashed Strathmore Online Workshop. It's now being offered for FREE on Strathmore's web site!

We had so much fun playing along with Traci that we're giving away a super fun Tulip and Collage Pauge prize pack along with an autographed copy of Traci's new book Doodles Unleashed!  See details at the end of this post for your chance to win!

Our team had so much fun using found objects,  Tulip products, and the Strathmore papers to create new name tags for our workspaces. Everyone did something totally different and cool!  Here's just a few fun examples...

Here's our team busy at work!

And an example of a finished name tag! Cool, huh?

Now here's your chance to win this awesome prize pack!  We're giving you 2 ways to enter!

1. Leave us a comment below telling us what you love to create.  Please include your email address so we can contact you!
2. Pin one of the images from this post to Pinterest; you MUST tag them with #doodlesunleashed for your entry to count.
3. Tweet about this contest on Twitter; you MUST tag it with #doodlesunleashed for your entry to count.

Contest ends March 16, 2012.

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iLoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Super Cute Santa Mini Canvas

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Super Cute Santa Mini Canvas Copyright  Avalon Potter

(Mom here: Ho ho ho!  It's day two of the 12 Crafts of Christmas at The Impatient Crafter blog!  Huzzah!  Miss Avalon made an adorable retrofabulous mini-canvas using a permission free Dover clip art image and some collage elements including an acrylic letter, rubber star stamp and a wooden snowflake.  It's all put together with Aleene's Tacky Glue and made sparkly with Traci Bautista's Sparkles Collage Pauge.  Love, love, love that stuff.  I made my own version with a Victorian era postcard image from my ephemera collection, a vintage bottle cap, some new vintage themed collage elements, stacked stars and a sprig of tinsel.  These are so incredibly fun to make...we got the canvases with coordinating easels at Michael's.  You could glue the canvas to the easel, add some wire and make some super cute artist ornaments!)

Super Cute Santa

Avalon Potter for iLoveToCreate
Teen Crafted, Mom Approved

Recently I was out shopping with my mom when I stumbled upon these miniature easels and canvases. I immediately knew that I had to use them for a project because they were so cute. So I bought two, one for me and one for my mom. Since Christmas is right around the corner I added Santa , a snowflake, and the rest is history. I hope you enjoy it!

Materials

Mini canvas and easel
Permission free sized image (Mine is from Dover Books Holiday Clip Art)
Acrylic letter
Wooden snowflake
Tiny star stamp
Traci Bautista's Collage Pauge
Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue
Scribbles 3D Paint Pens Primary Colors (red)

Tools

Computer with publishing software
Printer
Scissors
Foam brush

Instructions

1. Select a bold image, size to fit canvas on a computer and print.

2. Cut image out with scissors.

3. Take your decoupage medium and paint it on the back of your Santa using foam brush. Put the Santa on the canvas and apply more decoupage medium, on top and all over the canvas. Let dry.

4.While that dries paint your snowflake red. Let dry.

5.Take your letter and attach to the bottom right of your canvas. Apply glue to the back of your snowflake and attach to the top left of your canvas.

6.Use your red paint and little star stamp to stamp the top right and bottom left of your canvas.

7.Enjoy!

Victorian Mini Canvas Copyright Margot Potter 

(So many sparkles, I couldn't get a clear pic!  Go Sparkles Pauge!)

iLoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Hallowe'en Jack-o-lantern Earrings

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Hallowe’en Jack-o-lantern Earrings
Margot Potter for Avalon Potter for iLoveToCreate

Avalon was busy with school this past week and I had some free time, so I agreed to make her project for her. We love Halloween around Casa de Potter, but Avalon isn’t into scary stuff. These little vintage jack-o-lanterns were so cute; they seemed like the perfect fit for a flirty seasonally apropos pair of earrings. Permission free images are easy to find and decoupage on Grungeboard allows you to create water resistant and lightweight jewelry. A little touch of Collage Pauge sparkly and some Glam it Up Crystal accents add the perfect dash of sparkle!


Materials
Grungeboard plain sheets
Permission free jack o lantern (image can be downloaded from here)
2 Small Glam it Up crystals
2 10mm silver tone jump rings
2 silver tone ear wires
Traci Bautista’s Collage Pauge sparkly
Traci Bautista’s Collage Pauge glossy
Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue

Tools
Hole punch (I used a Crop-a-dile)
Sharp craft scissors
Foam paint applicator tool
Computer with publishing software
Printer

Download this permission free pumpkin image to use for your project!

1. The image should be sized correctly, but if you want to print multiples you can size it and put it into publishing software before printing. Print a sheet with at least two jack o lanterns on it. Cut out two.

2. Use glossy decoupage medium to attach images to Grungeboard. Smooth any wrinkles gently with finger tip and allow to dry.




3. Use crop-a-dile to punch a hole in the top center of each jack o lantern.

4. Use sharp scissors to cut out dried jack o lanterns.



5. Paint two thin layers of sparkly decoupage medium on each earring. Allow to dry.

6. Adhere crystals to eyes using glue. Allow to dry.

7. Attach ear wires to earrings using the jump rings.

8. You can decorate the backs of your earrings as you wish, I painted some sparkly dimensional fabric paint on the back of mine.

Polka Dotted Paper Parasol

Some people are summer sun worshipers, other ghostly white people like myself tend to hide in the shade. There is no reason that your shade should be boring and lame. Customize a plain paper parasol to make all those savage tan people green with envy.


Supplies
Paper Parasol
Decorative Paper
Paper Punches
Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage Medium


Punch Paper
Some of my favorite decorative paper of all time is the wonderful collage work of Traci Bautista. I've used it to make art and jewelry so why not an umbrella. Using various size paper punches make a pile o' polka dots. You can get old school and trace coins and cups and cut them out with scissors too.


Collage
Once you have as many circles as you are going to need apply the dots to your paper parasol using Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage Medium. Allow to dry completely.


Made in the Shade
All that is left to do is take your umbrella out for a spin on a sunny day. Think of using fabric on a regular umbrella with a little Fabric Fusion Glue. I'm dreaming about how to make paper ball fringe to add to the edge of my parasol, any suggestions?

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts Have Your Cake Box

ILoveToCreate
Teen CraftsHave Your Cake Jewelry Box
Margot and Avalon Potter

It's been hotter than h e double hockey sticks around these parts so most of the activities that don't include a swimming pool have been indoors. Avalon has been helping me in the studio with the new book and my various and sundry design project deadlines. Yesterday we put our heads together on a decorative decoupaged box. She had mentioned needing a place to keep her jewelry and this is a pretty solution to that dilemma. Since we all know how much she loves the Cake Boss and decorated cakes, this box fit the bill for a faux cake project!

Avalon selected the tissue paper from a pile I keep around for craft projects and gifts. She did the decoupage and after it dried I added the coordinating floral embellishments. I am loving these felt buttons from Blumenthal Lansing, you can use them for so many crafty projects! Aleene's Tacky Glue makes quick work of stacking them up and Traci Bautista's Collage Pauge in 'Sparkle' was simple and safe for Avalon to use without my supervision. There are all sorts of shapes you can buy and decorate with decoupage, this is a great way for teens to personalize their decor.


Materials
Paper box
Decorative tissue paper (save this up from gifts for crafting!)
Coordinated Favorite Findings felt floral buttons
Craft flower with wired double stem
Traci Bautista's Collage Pauge in Sparkle
Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue

Tools
Foam brush
Non-stick craft sheet
Wire cutters
Pointed tool (I used a clay tool)

1. Shorten the stems on your wired flower to about 3" using wire cutters.

2. Tear sections of tissue paper. Apply decoupage medium to the section of the box you're decorating and apply paper, then put a thin layer of decoupage over the top. Don't oversaturate everything.

3. Keep building layers of tissue paper until the box bottom and top are completely covered. We used two different papers, you can do the same or use all one paper or combine papers. You can also, if you like, decoupage the interior of the box. Allow decoupage medium to dry.

4. Use Aleene's Fast Grab glue to adhere each layer of the the stacked felt flower buttons around the edge of the box lid. Allow to dry.

5. Use a pointed object to poke two holes in the top center of the box lid, these need to be spaced to accommodate the flower stems.

6. Slide the flower stems into the hole and twist underneath to secure.