A #Cre8time March with the Elephants... by Brenda Burfeind

I'm super excited to share a fun project with you today... but first a little backstory about myself for those of you who are new to the Amazing Casting Products Blog. My name is Brenda and I've been an Amazing Creative with Amazing Casting Products since the beginning and I've enjoyed every minute of it! 

My blog is called Creativity is a State of Mind. I believe each one of us has a different view on artistic talent. I've definitely come a long way since working with this Amazing team. Working with these products has also taught me so much as I've enjoyed learning new techniques and I always look forward to expanding my horizons.

Today's project combines stenciling with moldmaking and resin casting to make a piece AMAZING home decor!

I have tons and tons of molds – anytime I'm making a project I wind up with more and more resin pieces. Some finished, some not. Since I've been on this creative team for so long, I've accumulated ALOT of pieces {to see some of my other makes using Amazing Casting Products, CLICK HERE}. These come in handy for all sorts of Cre8time projects... cardmaking, jewelry and accenting pieces for home decor. 

  

I started out with a foam core piece that I cut to 10" x 10" and painted green with acrylic paint. After the paint was dry, I took my Stencil Girl Elephant Parade stencil (if you know me elephants are my obsession), and traced the elephant shape with a pencil. It doesn't have to be perfect because I'm only using it as a guide.

Now for some fun! I got out my box of resin pieces and began laying them inside the elephant outline. It is kinda like putting a puzzle together. Absolutely every one of these cast resin pieces has a story for me.

Amazing Mold Putty is by far my favorite product. I love molding little charms and such that I find while antiquing or junking because I don't want to use the original piece {especially in a project like this one}. Making molds is quick and easy – CLICK HERE to view how.

Here are a just a few pictures of some of the pieces I have molded... I've made A LOT of molds! 

  

Tiny butterfly charms and branches that came from hair barrettes.

  

A Fleur-de-Lis I found in a box I bought at an antique shop. You can also change up things! I have taken the same Fleur-de-Lis and cast in dyed Amazing Casting Resin embedded it into another mold filled with Amazing Clear Cast Resin.

Some leaves that were molded from a brooch that I got in a jewelry lot at an auction. You don't need to mold an entire piece, you can just mold a section of something.

When I have all my pieces laid out the way I like, I glue them down.

After each piece is secured, I took the piece outside and spray painted it black. Look at how the elephant has magically come to life!

When black paint is dry, I add some stenciled accents using Stencil Girl's Ornamental Compass Screen. I dry-brushed purple metallic acrylic paint through the design to add color around the edges and corners around the dimensional elephant. While that was drying, I used the same paint to dry-brush the pieces of my elephant mosaic to give them some dimension also.

In my box of resin pieces I found some roses I made a long time ago cast in plain Amazing Clear Cast Resin. I absolutely love how they look like glass. I use these to add dimension to the centers of the stencilled design. To give them a bit of depth, I dry-brushed a bit of black and the purple metallic around the edges... just enough to add some definition, but you can still see that they are clear. 

After everything has completely dried, I coat the entire piece with a layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin {CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation}. Not only does this give it a nice GLASS touch when it's cured, but it will also keep everything in place. 

But now here comes another magic trick! I took a toothpick and ran it around the edges of the elephant outline while the clear cast resin was still wet and also within the stenciled area to "scrape off" some of the black and purple to expose some of the green base. This revealed just enough color to make it "POP".

After letting the resin cure for 24 hours, I am able to display this along with my elephant collection. The best part of this is it's weight – if I would have used this many heavy metal trinkets, this piece would be very heavy. By using Amazing Casting Resin this piece is super lightweight. 

This by far is one of my favorite projects thus far!

I totally love how this turned out and I hope you have found this tutorial inspiring.

What items would you transform 
into amazing home decor?

Until next time, Happy Crafting! ~ Brenda

Thanks for stopping by today! I invite you to stop over to my blog,
Creativity is a State of Mind to see all that I've been making. 

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You can see Brenda's work along with other AMAZING Creations from our Creative Team January 20-22, 2018 at Creativation – Drop by the Alumilite/Amazing Casting Products Booth #2214.

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#Cre8time Laughing out LOUD... by Kristie Taylor #CHAshow Sneak Peek

Say WHAT??! You can see this project at CHA Creativation in Phoenix!

Hello crafty friends! My name is Kristie Taylor and I am super excited to be one of the newest designers here with Amazing Casting Products... using some of my favorite things – LOL!!

Today I want to show you a little something I made using a Prima telephone, a Relics and Artifacts craft blank and lots of Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin! I had so much fun making this project... maybe he will make you "laugh out loud"!

So let's talk about how I achieved this 3 dimensional little fella.

Let start with some of my faves... 

  

Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin!

OK... let's get started!

First of all, we need to make some molds, so I used a piece of molded plastic. I think it may have come from an old bathroom fixture – I'm really not sure... but it has been in my stash for a while. It's a cool shape, but I needed two. Of course you see this is going to be his eyebrows.

I mixed equal amounts of Parts "A" and "B" until the Amazing Mold Putty became one consistent color {please CLICK HERE to view mixing and preparation}. I place the "eyebrow" finding on a flat surface and pressed themold putty around it, making sure to create a good lip so when I add the Amazing Casting Resin, it won't seep out.

I wait for just a few minutes for the putty to cure, and I now

have the shape molded so I can duplicate it easily.

I repeated this process for some other pieces –

these will be used for his eyeballs :)

Next, I mixed equal parts of Amazing Casting Resin, then poured into the mixing cup and stirred slowly until one consistent color. CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation. Then I quickly poured it into the molds... this resin cures very fast – in about 10 minutes. Once cured, I could start assembly.

I needed something to hold the eyebrows on... and after much trial and error, I finally decided that Apoxie Sculpt was the answer.

And the same for the eyeballs!

He's starting to come to life!!!

Now I needed to make a tongue, so again, I used apoxie sculpt. I mixed the two parts together, used a brayed to roll it out flat, and then used my fingers to shape it. Then placed in over several bottles to allow it to dry.

I also used a Relics and Artifacts piece to be

his "uvula" before giving him a paint job!

Here is my finished piece – in all his awesomeness!

I call him "Laughing Out Loud"

He makes me smile, he really does!!

 

Now go mold all the things

and make something awesome!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! ~ Kristie

To see more of my work, please visit my blog, "The Scrapinater", 

over on my YouTube Channel or on Instagram.

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Visit us at Booth #2813 Alumilite Corporation

{a.k.a. Amazing Casting Products}

See all five flagship products in action, try them out, and learn something totally fun and AMAZING! Stay tuned here at Amazing Casting Products for more details and sneak peeks as we approach Creativation at CHA 2017!

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#Cre8time Dimensional Magic... "Be FREE" Canvas by Kristie Taylor

Hello all you lovely mold makers – Kristie Taylor here, with my first project as part of the Amazing Casting Products Creative Team! I want to show you a colorful piece I created using many of Amazing Casting Products goodies!

I started out with a bunch of things that I wanted to mold, so I could  reuse to the shapes for other projects. That's the great thing about these "amazing" products – you can mold shapes that you like... and reuse them as many times as you like! You can create things to use in your own art, as well as stuff for your friends to use!

Sometimes when I'm watching TV, I just sit and make molds of all the things that I have collected. So that means I have amassed quite a collection! 

Here is a photo of my amazing box of resin casts...

And here is a peek at some of my molds:

Yeah, I guess you could say that I might have a small addiction... LOL!

But that's ok, I don't need any rehab for this addiction! I mean just look at this beautiful project that I created with the help of Amazing Casting Products and Stencil Girl Stencils!

So let me show you how it's done. 

  

I started by coloring my canvas with Ranger Distress Crayons. I blended the colors with a baby wipe then placed my stencil over the wet background and wiped away color with the same baby wipe.

Next to spread some Golden absorbent ground onto the background...

then dry this all with a heat tool.

Next, I placed a Mary Nasser stencil down 

and colored it in with a distress crayon... 

then used a baby wipe to blend the color in.

Then I sprayed on some homemade spray paint, spritzed 

with water then tilted the canvas to allow the paint to move.

Dry this all with a heat tool. Now I'm ready to add some dimension!

The process to create a mold with Amazing Mold Putty is pretty easy {CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation}. 

  

You just mix equal parts of part "A" and part "B" until the color is a solid color. 

This piece is going to be so AMAZING!

  

Now we need to make a some resin castings using Amazing Casting Resin. Just mix equal parts "A" and "B", pour together and stir slowly until one consistent color then pour into your mold. CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation.

Work fast... because once Amazing Casting Resin is mixed – it sets quickly.

  

It's pretty cool to watch the magic happen... it never gets old! :)

  

Now, we can start layering on our castings combined with some chipboard and found objects. Just keep playing with the arrangement until you find something you like. 

  

What you have the arrangement you like glue it all down with gel medium. Once that is dry, paint all of those parts with black gesso. Dry this layer with your heat tool.

Mix up some paint combinations that you like – I used iridescent medium mixed with several different blues, as well as some iridescent Golden acrylics.

Paint all of the parts, in streaks of colors, but keeping them blendable. I also used my fingertips and a high glitter paint by Viva Decor to hit the higher areas. This gives them a highlight and makes them stand out some.

Now we just need to make the centerpiece. I wanted the butterfly to stand out from the rest and be center stage. So, as soon as I took it out of the mold, while it was still soft, I bent it and held it there until it hardened a bit more and fully cured. This gives it more dimension.

I painted it with a coat of Gesso.

Then followed with fluorescent pink paint – and while the paint was still wet, I sprinkled on some extra fine glitter. I adhered the butterfly in the center :)

Now, I still felt like it needed a little more. So I decided to add some extra thick Embossing powder. 

  

I started by painting embossing medium where I wanted it to go, then sprinkle on the embossing powder, tap off the excess and heat it with a heat tool to melt it.

And that's it... we are all done!

Thanks so much for dropping by! ~ Kristie

To see more of my work, please visit my blog, "The Scrapinater", 

over on my YouTube Channel or on Instagram.

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Today we are hopping along with the artists of the Designer Crafts Connection who has taken on the challenge of creating with Amazing Casting Products.

For this challenge, Amazing Casting Products provided each of the Designer Craft Connection designers with Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Clear Cast Resin. You want to pop over to the beginning of the bloghop HERE where you can enter to win what you see in the photo above... an Amazing Clear Cast Resin and a 3lb. kit of Amazing Mold Putty {which is 1 1/2 lbs of each part of this magical goodness}. An artist's dream PRIZE!!!

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Don't forget to subscribe to our blog on the right side bar:

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