Steampunk Hot-Air Balloon

The steampunk queen strikes again! FYI I didn't give myself this title...you did, or at least some of you Lol! I sure love steampunk and I'm happy to share with you another project. This one looks difficult but it's much easier than you think! It's because of all the tricks I'm using here to create faux metal and keep everything light weight.

I started with a plastic ball I got at the craft store, you can use an ornament or even a glass ball, although you will need to be a little bit more carefull with that. I covered the ball with pieces of gold Duck Tape and then painted it with black acrylic paint. I waited for about half a minute and then wiped the paint with a paper towel, creating a really pretty effect of blackened metal.

I added faux leather stripes with faux rivets and steampunk embellishments, including a propeller. I used an old cardboard box as the basket. I covered it with paper and embellished it a little. Remember you don't want the hot-air balloon to be too heavy so don't add a lot of metal pieces. Then I added four chains to the four corners of the basket and attached them to a wire ring I created to go around the balloon.

This was such a fun project. I love it so much I want to try to create an old zeppelin like they had in the 1940's. This might be slightly more difficult because it has an elliptic shape. I may use styrofoam shape or create it from newspapers and glue...I'll have to figure it out.

Since I've uploaded the video tutorial in advance and scheduled it (I'm at CHA, remember?)  I can't embed it here. So if you want to see the full video tutorial, it's on my YouTube channel.

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Have fun creating!

Faux Wood Fairy House

I've been wanting to do this for awhile...build a fairy house that'll look like a real (as much as a fantasy can be real) forest fairytale hideaway. With a mossy roof and little door and windows. Finally I did it! This fairy house is part of my Designer Showcase presentation in the CHA Mega show 2016
(which I'm at right now!). It was so fun to make I thought I'd share it with you...

I started with an empty plastic flowerpot. To give it a faux wood effect you need to create all the ridges in the trunk. The way to do that is with a wet paper towel. Glue the paper towel on the flowerpot while sculpting it a little. After it's dry paint it with a few brown shades. I had only one brown paint so I added black and white to create more colors.

I created the roof from pieces of corrugated cardboard I painted first. I cut small triangles and squares and made them uneven. Then I created a little cone (like a witch's hat on Halloween) and covered it with the cardboard pieces. Before adding a little moss in between the gaps I sprayed the roof with some spray inks.

Finally I added the windows and door and the house was reay! I knew the house was good when my mom said she feels like playing with some dolls and the house Lol!

Since I've uploaded the video tutorial in advance and scheduled it (I'm at CHA, remember?)  I can't embed it here. So if you want to see the full video tutorial, it's on my YouTube channel.

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Have fun creating!

Toys Shadow Box Wall Hanging

I did some new year's cleaning in my boy's' room and found some old toys they didn't want anymore. I gave most of them but I kept a few small ones that I likes to create a toys' shadow box to hang on the wall. It reminds me of the old days when they were little kids playing on the carpet and making noise.

I used some old jewelry boxes as the base of the shadow box collection and covered them all with paper on the outside and inside. I tried to match the paper to the toys as well as adding the same themed embellishments.

You can use all kinds of boxes to create this collage and different size or theme toys. For a girl some ballerinas, butterflies or small dolls would be great! It's a really nice childhood memorabilia to display at your home.

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Altered Steampunk Wood Frame

One of the things I decide to do this year is use things in my stash, upcycle and alter. I have too many things cluttering up my little studio and finding new ways to use things that I have is not only challenging my creative mind, which is a good thing, but also declutters my room.

For this steampunk frame I used an old wood frame that I started about 6 years ago, yes...I had it for 6 years! Altering a wooden frame is easy - all you need to do is prime it and then embellish! I gave it a steampunk look with all kinds of embellishments that I have in my stash.

The idea behind steampunk is a combination of industrial and victorian. That means you need to combine industrial looking things like cogwheels, pipe parts and hinges with more soft romantic things like flowers, buttons and keys. Some of the things I used are: cogwheels, clock parts, washers, pipe parts, hinges, bottle caps, zippers, spring, metal flowers and buttons, key and all kind of metal embellishments and trinkets.

Use a strong adhesive to attach everything to the frame and then decide if you want to cover it or leave it untouched. I covered it with acrylic paint and spray inks. You can also cover it with gesso and just spray.

  

Watch the step by step video tutorial to find out how the entire process works and get some tips on where to get all those findings and embellishments.

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Have fun creating!
Einat

Hanukkah Altered CD Mini Album

Every year I create a Hanukkah mini album for the holiday photos and every year it stays empty. however this year i made a promise to myself to add all the photos!
The mini album is created from CD's in red and yellow colors which are two important elements that need explaining.

 

Many Jewish holidays revolve around eating specific, traditional foods: matzah for Passover, hamentaschen for Purim and challah bread for Shabbat. On Hanukkah, Jews celebrate the miracle of the oil in the Temple that miraculously lasted eight days when it was only enough for one.
Accordingly, Hanukkah celebrations revolve around the miracle of oil and the menu features fried foods (not very healthy I know). Crispy fried potato pancakes take center stage at the beginning of a Hanukkah dinner, and in Israel and elsewhere, jelly donuts, called sufganiyot, are the most popular Hanukkah food.

Both foods have round shape like a CD which makes it perfect for a Hanukkah mini album!

In regards to the colors...traditionally in the US the colors of the holiday are white and blue, and sometimes silver. The explanation for that are probably the colors of the Israeli flag. However, I think that yellows and reds which are the colors of light and fire are a perfect fit too. After all this is the festival of Lights in which eight candles are lit.

The album design is very basic. All pages are covered with patterned papers. Each page is embellished with candles according to the days of the holiday from one to eight. The candles are created from rolled scraps of paper and a flame I cut from paper and adhered to the rolled paper.
All pages are interactive to allow room for more photos and include decorated tags for journaling.

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Happy Holidays!

Have fun creating!
Einat

Steampunk Desk Organizer

Don't throw away empty food packages or tp rolls...use them to create something new and useful! I used mine to create a steampunk desk organizer for some new brushes, aquarelle pencils and other supplies.

I started with covering all the boxes and tp rolls with paper. I used several patterns that have a steampunk vintage look. The best way to cover something with paper is to use Mod Podge. Just use a brush to apply it. after everything was completely dry I painted the inside with black acrylic and added a nice washi tape border.

I assembled all the parts gluing them together to create the desk organizer. Then it was time to embellish! I added steampunk theme metal embellishments like gears, screws, cogwheels and more. I also added other embellishments that looked good with the general theme. I inked the exposed areas with brown and black inks for that industrial feel.

Now all I need to do is buy all that supply I need and put it in its new home!
Check out the video for a step by step tutorial and tips.
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Have fun creating!
Einat

Faux Leather TP Steampunk Mini Album

I love techniques. I love finding new ways of using old unwanted or unneeded things, namely recycling and reusing. I love mini albums. I wonder...if only I could come up with an idea that will combine all three....

Wait!! I found it...a faux leather mini album made from toilet paper rolls!

 

This fun project started one day as I realized how many TP rolls we throw away all the time. I really wanted to do something with them. I've seen TP mini albums before but I wanted to do something different and incorporate a little mixed media, techniques and messiness.

 

 

I transformed all TP rolls to pocket pages that look like leather and believe it or not kind of feel like leather too. I've used a special technique to make that look and you will not believe how easy it is! You only need water, Glycerin and a spritzer. You wet the rolls, crumple them a few times and then ink them and you have that leather look. I also embossed some of the pages for extra texture.

I made the cover from chipboard pieces and a simple binding mechanism to attach the pages. This tutorial was so much fun, however it turned out to be too long for one time so I divided it to two parts.

Make sure to watch the video for the step by step instructions on how to create the mini album.

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Have fun creating!
Einat

Mixed Media Altered Paintbrush

I've been wanting to alter a paintbrush for awhile but I just never found the right one. All the paintbrushes I could find always seemed to be too small. I wanted a big paintbrush so I can treat it like a canvas and so a mixed media creation on it. Well... I finally found one, or my husband did. A 6" paintbrush with a wooden handle (much easier to paint than plastic)...what a joy!

I wanted to create a colorful, happy scene with lots of flowers and give it a homey feeling by adding a white picket fence and a street light.

I started with covering the paintbrush with gesso and then stenciled the entire surface of the paintbrush including the bristles. Then I colored it with spray paints creating a multi colors textured background. I added the fence and the street light and embellished with layers of many bright colored flowers. I also added more textured with cheesecloth and lace I colored with the same sprays.

Altered projects are so much fun and it just goes to show you never throw anything away because you never know what your creative mind will come up with!
Do you have any fun ideas to reuse old unwanted things?

Make sure to check out the video tutorial for all the details, tips and techniques!

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Have fun creating!
Einat

Ready, Get set, De-stash! Fun Quote Book

The best supplies store is my studio. I have so much stuff it's unbelievable! So I decided to challenge myself to create something only from the leftovers I can find around my studio. I started looking around and found a stack of 6X6 papers by MME that could be a perfect base for a mini album. But I didn't just want to create a mini album, I wanted it to have a purpose. So I decided to create a special mini book for all the quotes I find and love.

To have a more interesting book and not just 6X6 pages I added all kinds of tags, scraps of paper, journaling tags etc. as pages as well. Some had to be prepared, folded, glued or cut to fit the size and mood of the mini book.

This was a super easy, super fast and super fun way to use scraps I don't need anymore, leftovers of unused papers, old collections' products and items that were laying around my supply drawers for too long. It's those supplies you always look at and say "I don't want to throw them away...I'll probably use it soon" and you never do. So this is the perfect opportunity to create something useful and pretty and de-stash at the same time!

What supplies do you have in the back of your drawers? dig them up and think of ways to use them.

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Have fun creating!
Einat