Let your #Cre8time Dreams Soar... Day 3 of StencilGirl and Amazing Casting Products Bloghop!

Hello Amazing Crafters!! Welcome to Day THREE of the StencilGirl Products and Amazing Casting Products Blog Hop! We hope we have been inspiring you to create! If you are just joining us you can catch up with the projects from Day ONE and Day TWO!

The creative teams of StencilGirl and Amazing Casting Products have joined Cre8time forces in playing with Amazing Casting Products and StencilGirl stencils... including Mary Beth Shaw!!!

ARE YOU READY TO BE AMAZED??!

Follow the links below to see today's projects!

Anna Friesen

Anna of Team StencilGirl has jeweled up her art journal!

CLICK HERE to pop over to her blog to see how.

Janet Joehlin

Let your Cre8time soar with Janet of Team StencilGirl.
CLICK HERE to see more on these amazing birds!

Maria Soto

Amazing Creative Maria has created an inspiring piece filled with text, texture and colors! CLICK HERE to see all the details!

Tanya Ruffin

Amazing Creative Tanya has is catching her Cre8time dreams with a colorful dream catcher! CLICK HERE to see the full reveal!

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Thanks for joining us today - we hope you are inspired and we would love to see what you create. Share you creations using Amazing Casting Products on social media using hashtag #amazingcastingproducts.

What would a bloghop be without a GIVEAWAY??!!!

One lucky winner will receive both a $25 Gift Certificate to StencilGirl Products AND a $25 Gift Certificate to Amazing Casting Products!

Please take your time and visit each blog showcased today through Friday and leave a comment. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN! 

Day 3 Bloghop Lineup...

Visit the fabulous designers from both teams and comment

for your chance to win (one comment per blog please).

Anna Friesen

Janet Joehlin

Maria Chuy Soto

Tanya Ruffin

You have until Sunday, April 23rd at 11:59PM Central Time to leave your comments. Winner will be announced on StencilGirl's Facebook page and also on the Amazing Casting Products’ Facebook page on Monday, April 24th. GOOD LUCK!!

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more AMAZING Inspiration!!

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If you like what you see here, we would LOVE for you to join us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube or subscribe to the blog in the right sidebar for more amazing inspiration!

Share your creations on social media

using hashtag #amazingcastingproducts

How do you #Cre8time to "Make it Artsy"??!

Hello Amazing Crafters!! Have you heard about Make It Artsy?? Today is the day!! We have a brand new TV show for makers and crafters – featuring tips, techniques and projects for makers, crafters and artists.

Make It Artsy is a new series that celebrates that maker spirit in everyone. From mixed-media to metalsmithing, using tools from saws to sewing machines, today's most creative "makers" join host Julie Fei Fan Balzer to unleash a new look for crafting with a touch of industrial style.

Amazing Casting Products by Alumilite Corp. is proud to be one of these fabulous group of companies partnering with Make it Artsy. Stay tuned for episodes with projects featuring some of our AMAZING products!

Make It Artsy goes live today... September 29th on Public Television stations across the country! If it's not on your local programming you can view it online for one week only – from September 30 - October 7 {AN UPDATE 10/6/2016... this episode will now be available until Oct 17th}.

CLICK HERE to view this week's episode Series 100, Episode 101 - Books Books are not just for reading! Tool expert Joe Rotella cuts a niche in a book to create a planter. Craft metal book hinges with designer Mary Hettmansperger and Mou Saha makes vintage books into colorful art journals. Host Julie Fei Fan Balzer has a tip for creating a charming little book necklace.

Bookmark or PIN the Make It Artsy Website http://makeitartsy.com

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Painted Posies and #Cre8time Page Marking for #ArtJournaling by Melissa Johnson

Hello everyone! Today I'm sharing a simple technique that I used to add some color in the margin of my Bible. This technique could be used in an art journal as well. I just happened to be working through a Bible study at the moment. I've also created some fun paperclips that could be used in any journal or planner. I chose to use one of these in my Bible to hold my place. I like to use paperclips also to attach extra notes and notecards inside.

To create the artwork in the margin, I started by embossing some flowers using Versamark® ink and some embossing powder. Versamark is a clear watermark ink used for stamping, heat embossing and other mixed media effects.

 
 

Next, I used more Versamark® to stamp and then poured on Alumidust to add color. The Alumidust sticks to the wet ink, and the rest is tapped away to go back into the container.

I also used a combination of Versamark®, Alumidust, and watercolor to color in the embossed flowers. I also used some acrylic paint to add some color all around.

To create the paperclips I used Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin to cast some cabochons that I had in my stash.

I added some acrylic paints in fun colors

and adhered them to some jumbo paperclips.

And the final result:

How will you embellish your art journaling
with Amazing Casting Products?

Make something that makes you happy :) ~ Melissa Johnson

For more of my mixed media projects, please visit my blog.

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Twitter at AmazingCasting | Facebook at AmazingMoldPutty | YouTube at AmazingMoldPutty

Capped Off and WINE-ing About It... #Cre8time Discoveries by Sandra Strait

Much of what a design team does is experimental. I'm here today to share some experiments I did with Amazing Casting Products and some wine foil caps that a friend gave me. She was closing her wine shop after 15 years, and had bags full of the caps. You've probably noticed the beautiful designs embossed into the top of bottles of wine. They are awesome, but the foil is flimsy, and the embossing is shallow. I didn't think they would work for molding.

So, of course, I tried molding them, anyway.

I picked out a few caps, looking for variation in the complexity and depth of embossing. One of them, I cut around the edges and flattened.

Uh-oh! I tried molding and casting a couple of them, and they just weren't flat enough. The foil caved in in places and I ended up with lumpy, warped discs. Surprisingly, though, the detail was good where there was no warping.

'What a shame', I thought. Then I started thinking. I had flattened the caps as much as possible, then pushed them into the mold putty. One, I stretched the putty over the cap. Neither way worked because the foil was too flimsy.

But the detail was also debossed inside the caps. What if I used the inside of the caps?

Eureka!

Because Amazing Mold Putty sets fairly quickly, I mixed up enough of Part "A" and "B" for about two caps at once and pushed them into the caps.

Success! And the detail was even better than before. I could have stopped here, and use the putty as stamps, but I wanted to make resin discs. So I mixed up more mold putty and made ridges around each mold.

I dusted each mold with a different color of Alumidust...

...and then mixed up Parts "A" and "B" of Amazing Casting Resin. It only takes about 5 minutes for the resin to set (setting time differs according to the temperature). CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation.

Since the molds were so shallow, I mixed up more of the resin than needed, and I drizzled the left-over into shapes (which you can see in the first photo). I also trimmed off excess resin from the discs. No waste though. I'll use all these pieces as embellishments for art journals and mixed media canvases.

I was happy with the result, but again, I got to thinking. I had plans to use the wonderful Gelli Arts® Gel Printing Plate that a creative friend had sent me... and I wondered how well these discs would work to leave impressions on the gelli plate. But that meant getting paint all over them.

Then I thought – two birds with one mold! I'd make up another set of discs without the Alumidust, and use those to make impressions. And at the same time, I be painting the discs with paint off the gelli plate! Oh, I was so excited, I was flapping my arms, LOL!

This post is already lengthy, so I won't go through the Gelli monoprinting process, but you can find out more about it on the Gelli Arts® blog. If you don't have one of these plates... you can do a DIY version with Amazing Mold Rubber – CLICK HERE to see how make a custom Amazing No-Gelatin Printing Plate.

I was happy on all counts. The amount of paint on the plate made a difference. In some cases, it obscured the detail, but the imprint still looked cool.

The same thing occurred with the paint job on the discs. The best ones came when there wasn't too much paint on the plate.

Here are a couple of my favorite pages from the printing session. All around, I think I stumbled on a fun way to get the most from my casting and printing projects.

I hope you've enjoyed my 'wine-ing' today, and that I've inspired you to experiment yourself. 

For more complete instructions on how to use Amazing Casting Products please check out the Instructions page on their website.

Supplies:

• Amazing Mold Putty
• Amazing Casting Resin
• Alumidust
• Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbooks
• Recycled Wine Foil caps
• Acrylic Paint
• Gelli Arts® Gel Printing Plate

What handy items would you mold
for Cre8time mark-making using

Amazing Casting Products?

Please upload and share your creations to the

User GALLERY on the Amazing Mold Putty Website.

For more of my work in Amazing Mold Putty, zentangle-inspired art, and daily links to tangles, tutorials, and giveaways please visit my "Life Imitates Doodles" blog. ~ Sandra Strait

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Books Books Everywhere! Resin Paper Inspiration with DeeDee Catron

Hi hi hihihihihihihii!! DeeDee here today with a SUPER fab little inspiration bit with the Amazing Clear Cast Resin from Amazing Crafting Products. 

Now I wrote this post earlier last week, and it disappeared, so I'm gonna give it a go again, and maybe not forget anything ;P. 

When I wrote the post last week, I also sneak peeked on Instagram (@deedeecatron) this photo : 

(p.s. did you know you can follow ACP (@amazingcrafting) on instagram?
Use #amazingcraftingproducts to share your creations!)

Which happens to be some old book text curing in Amazing Clear Cast Resin! It's so amazing... and I'm really just here to INSPIRE you today, not /teach/ or give a tutorial -- but I want to at least give you a little run down as far as PREPPING for creating resin paper. 

WAIT >> What IS resin paper you ask? WELL >> it's any type of fibrous paper that's been cured in clear resin! You could get really cool with it and do old newspapers, worldly texts, vintage books and more. you can also draw and stamp on the paper and then cure it. In my case, I chose bits n pieces from a vintage botany book. I love nature :). 

You  need a SMOOTH non stick surface that the resin will peel from. Think things like long glass casserole dishes, old plastic packaging, etc. Just keep in mind the resin has to peel from it once it's cured. I also highlight the word smooth because most teflon and non stick surfaces have a texture, and that may be great in some uses for your resin paper, but you'll want MOST to be smooth. Do any drawing, stamping, and other prepping you want on the paper. Use permanent, waterproof supplies. Then lay the paper on your non stick surface. Mix equal parts of Amazing Clear Cast Resin. Mix 1/2 as much as you think you need. Really. Then lay your paper on the nonstick surface, and begin coating. Pour a little bit of resin at a time and smooth out with a spatula, old credit card, or wedge tool. At this point you are basically working the resin into the paper and scraping the excess off. Because Clear Cast has a long cure time, you have plenty of time to work on this part. 

DON'T FORGET RUBBER GLOVES. 

Once you've got the first side of the paper thoroughly saturated, you'll want to flip it over and coat the other side. At this point, it will be a bit of experimentation on your part. Practice and play around with exactly how much resin you want to leave on your paper. Keep in mind it's fluid and as long as you're working on a level surface, it will level itself out. I went very thin on these botany pages, but you may want a bit thicker paper for some reason. 

Allow the resin to cure, then peel your new resin cured paper from your non stick surface! 

Here are a coupe of pages I cured with Amazing Clear Cast Resin. 

You can see that the paper becomes sort of translucent and whatever is on the backside shows through to the front, and vice versa. It's a very cool technique that can really be utilized creatively. Also you may notice the clear resin edges I seem to have on some of the paper, I really like the way those look, but you can always just trim them off. The resin is so thin at the edges, you'll be able to use almost any pair of scissors. 

Here's a great closeup with the camera angled one way.

And one with the camera angled the opposite way so you

can see the glorious sheen from the cured Amazing Clear Cast Resin.

And HERE is how I'm using my Resin Paper.

>> It's a WIP of an Art Journal page currently in production. I'm very excited to continue working on it, and can't wait to show you the finished results. But for now, I wet your palate with this. I've used the resin paper, and you can see some of the great floral illustrations from my botany book!, as an inserted piece of ephemera. It's got this beautiful glossy sheen that book paper would never have on its own, AND it's so STURDY. You can see the delicious colored pigments behind it, and nothing is lost from the page itself. SO.AWESOME.

Anyways >> that's it from me folks! 

How might you use Resin Paper?

~DeeDee

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