Thursday, February 28, 2013

Sakura Terri Sproul Shimmer Mixers Angel Wings (and a coupon)

Angel wings 2 (800x632)
This is my first post for Sakura Hobby Craft, and I am so happy and honored to be a part of the Sakura Design Team!  You can read about my first adventure with Sakura’s Crystal Lacquer here.

I love Crystal Lacquer! It has so many possibilities!  And Sakura’s Terri Sproul Shimmer Mixers are beautiful!  I really recommend getting a set, because when you see all the colors in front of you, your mind will be filled with creative ideas.  And I have good news!  If you use the coupon code "Shimmer03" now through March 31st, you will receive a 20% discount on the Shimmer Mixers!
Shimmer Mixers (800x600)
I have been designing angel wings for my handcrafted tabletop fabric mannequins.  When I received my wonderful goodie box from Sakura Hobby Craft, I was inspired to make some wings for my mini mannequins, too.

I’ve been making fabric wings, but I thought it would be great to make translucent wings with Crystal Lacquer and Shimmer Mixers. The wings from the Sizzix Angel Wings die are just about the right size for my mini mannequin, so I decided to make a template using the die, rather than drawing a whole new pattern.

I used plastic presentation covers that I bought at a thrift store.  They are available at office supply stores.  You can also use stencil or template plastic from a craft store.  I wanted it to be thick enough that I could pour Crystal Lacquer into it.  If you don’t have an angel wing die, you can draw one and cut it out with a craft knife.  And you can use this technique for any shape you want to make!

I made two templates:
Template (800x528)
Then I turned one over to make a mirror image.  I wanted a way to attach the wings to the mannequin.  The mannequin is made from muslin, so sewing the wings on seemed appropriate.  I wanted to embed the buttons into the wings.  I placed the templates onto some plastic wrap on a tray.  I taped the templates to the plastic wrap with masking tape to keep them from shifting. I put a little bit of Crystal Lacquer onto the back of each button so they would stay in place while I added the rest of the Crystal Lacquer.  I made sure it wasn’t too close to the edge, because that would make the structure too weak.
Template with buttons (800x595)
Next I mixed Shimmer Rose Jewel Effects Shimmer Powder into some Crystal Lacquer in a disposable container.  I used a plastic spoon to spoon the pink Crystal Lacquer into my template.  I was being pretty careful, but it ran over the side.  This turned out not to be a problem.
Wings in mold (800x600)
I mixed more Crystal Lacquer than I thought I would need, because I didn’t want to take the chance that I would have to mix more and the color wouldn’t be the same.  I had way too much lacquer mixed up, so I got two more buttons and filled the other wings.  There was still some left, so I painted it onto some canvas flower diecuts, some shipping tags and some metal diecuts.  I think it’s a good idea to have some extra substrates ready when you mix the Shimmer Mixers into the Crystal Lacquer, so you don’t waste anything.
Flowers (800x273)
I let the wings set up.  I was able to gauge their hardness by touching the part that spilled over the edge.  When it was no longer tacky on top, I turned the templates over.  The Crystal Lacquer that had been touching the plastic wrap wasn’t dry.  Unfortunately, I made the mistake of setting one of the templates down on the tray without plastic wrap, and it stuck.  I let the wings dry some more
before I did anything else with them.  When they were no longer sticky, I cut the templates and the excess Crystal Lacquer away with small, sharp scissors. 
Wings out of the template (800x389)
The Crystal Lacquer goes through stages while it hardens.  First, it’s liquid and will disperse itself smoothly in a mold.  Then it starts to set up.  At this point, it will stick to whatever you touch it with and it won’t be smooth if you disturb it.  Then it’s no longer really tacky but is still flexible, so that you may be able to touch it lightly, but it may stretch out if you handle it.  There’s a point where you can touch it with your fingers but it will still stick to other things (like my tray).  Then it really sets up but is still pliable and you can work with it.  That’s the stage at which I cut the templates away.  Then it hardens more.

Basically, I had to watch it until it got to the point where I could cut it without messing it up.  I didn’t want to wait until it was completely hardened, because I was afraid if it got too brittle I wouldn’t get a nice cut.

The timing is easier than it sounds, because it really dried gradually. 

Crystal Lacquer is also an adhesive, so it wants to stick to things.  But a little bit of Lacquer that
dripped onto a piece of the plastic popped off easily after it was really hardened, so if I hadn’t let the Crystal Lacquer run over the edge, I may have been able to simply remove the wings from the template.  But I wanted to cut the excess off while it was still flexible.

My next Crystal Lacquer experiment will involve piping a line of Crystal Lacquer around the inside of the template, to act as a dam and hold the Lacquer in.  Then I will see if the piece can just pop out.  That way, the templates could be reused.  I might also try a thicker template.

Once I had my wings cut out, I decided I still liked the ones that had the flaw.  I poured a little bit of Crystal Lacquer into the holes in the wing.  I think I could have skipped that step, but it seemed to safer to patch the holes.  I decided to camouflage the flaws with the little flower diecuts I’d painted with the Crystal Lacquer.  I sewed a glass flower bead into the center of each diecut, then adhered each one to the wings with plain Crystal Lacquer.
Flowers on wings (800x764)
The buttons worked perfectly.  I usually use button thread or several strands of embroidery floss to attach buttons to projects.  I decided to use three strands of embroidery floss that I had hand dyed.  I threaded the floss into a needle, and basically sewed each button in place, then tied three knots on each button.

Here is the finished project:

And here is a closeup of one wing:
Angel wing closeup (461x800)
If you don’t want to mold your own wings but you still want to get the shimmery look, you can paint the Crystal Lacquer mixture onto another surface.  This is the same mixture I used for the molded wings, painted onto canvas:
DSCN2576 (800x600)
I hope you will try this technique.  And I hope you will get some of Sakura’s Terri Sproul Mixers and be inspired!

Please let me know if you have any questions about this project!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

My Farewell Post!

First I would like to congratulate the new Sakura Hobby Craft Design Team.  I am sure we are in for a ton of great inspiration over the next six months!

The 3D Crystal Lacquer is my go to adhesive.  I also love using it as a finish on many of my projects.  Add Terri Sproul Mixers in the 3D Crystal Lacquer and your imagination is your only limit... you can create so many projects with the combination. 

I use 3D Crystal Lacquer on almost all of my paper projects. It gives paper a thickness that I love working  with. There are a lot of digital images you can print from online sites like AlteredPages.com. To give those images a little more pop I cover them with a thin layer of 3D Crystal Lacquer.

Here images from AlteredPages.com are covered with 3D Crystal Lacquer before I cut them from the page. I adhered the German Scrap/Dresden to the pictures with the 3D Crystal Lacquer.
 The tags fold into each other to create a nice card!



Before I leave I would like to share a few of my favorite projects I made with 
3D Crystal Lacquer and Terri Sproul Mixers!







It has been a great being on the team!! I hope the next enjoys it as much as I have! 

THANK YOU
 Sakura Hobby Craft and Terri Sproul!


Saturday, February 23, 2013

Meet our New Design Team

We are so excited to introduce our 
NEW DESIGN TEAM
Each month this team will use a product that Sakura Hobby Craft will have on Special, they will inspired you with each project they complete.

Terri Sproul our team Leader and force behind the Terri Sproul Mixers

Terri Sproul is the force behind a fun paint called “Terri Sproul Mixers” from Sakura Hobby Craft and of a DVD called "MasquePen Magic" to see more of her video check out her Youtube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/terrisproul and a Tuesday Night Live stream. http://www.linqto.com/rooms/terrisproul
She is a diverse and experienced designer, design team leader  and instructor for multiple companies in the paper craft world including “ Robin Nest” “Creative Paperclay®”, “Sakura Hobby Craft” and Amazing Mold Putty ” to name a few.  Terri and her husband Marc have the pleasure of living in San Diego County On top Of Palomar Mountain. She has received a Bachelor of Scrapbooking Arts from Creating Keepsakes and Bachelor of Scrapbooking Education from EK Success. Terri’s passion is teaching fellow Scrapbooker’s and Stamper’s new techniques and to think ‘out of the box’ and ‘off the Page.’  Visit her website and blog to see all the exciting stuff she does at http://www.terrisproul.com – link to blog is also there. 


Hi, my name is Mai Larsen and I am the creator of a Latina group called Creando Con Detalles.  I am happily married with four children, currently living in Rock Springs, Wyoming.  I’m the new editor for a Spanish Newspaper in our local community.   
I have always been passionate about crafting, but I have never had so much fun as I have in the past several years.  Shortly after my mom passed away in 2008, I was invited to a cardmaking party, and it was love at first sight.  I was completely hooked with the idea of using my current crafting skills with my new found hobby of papercrafting.  

 Karen Lackey

Karen loves to learn new techniques and combine them in unexpected ways. She has studied paper arts, paper making, rubber stamping, encaustic art, mixed media techniques, sewing, metalsmithing, wire working, bead stringing, glass bead making, off loom weaving, and more. She’s currently exploring hand dyeing fibers and bookbinding.
Karen owns Starshine Salon, an artful gathering of vintage finds and original designs. Starshine Salon is not a single place, but is rather Karen’s gathering of art, artists and artifacts designed to delight and educate, inspired by the salons of the 17th and 18th centuries, where music was played, art was viewed, and ideas were discussed.
Karen has been sewing since she was a child, and learned to make jewelry when she moved to Arizona in the early 1990s. She turned these passions into a business in 1995, and later added vintage items to her offerings. She started rubber stamping in 1996 and has been paper crafting ever since

Brenda Lee Burfend
Ihave been scrapbooking and card making for about 15 years.  I am a wife tomy best friend, mother of 3 (1 daughter and 2 sons) and Oma (Grandma) to 3 (granddaughters and grandson).   I am very interested in manydifferent mediums. My crafts exist of scrapbooking, card making, weddingfavors, centerpieces, floral arranging, vinyl homedecor and jewelrymaking. I dabble in a few more crafty things, but too many to name.  I amaddicted to using my Cricut and cuddlebug, although sometimes it seems I amplaying more than creating. 

Lea Cioci CPD CPT is a freelance designer and serves as a demo artist, instructor, and design consultant to several companies in the hobby industry.  Lea's work has been published in many paper arts magazines, C&T publication books, Design Original books, and contributions to other published arts and crafting books. Lea has worked as a demonstrator and educator for Plaid Enterprises as well as a USAQ Pro.  Currently, Lea is also a Ranger Ink Educator and Certified Copic Designer.   Lea's journey led her to the creation of stamp images to give the artist the freedom to create a very personal self-expression.  Lea’s recent works for C&T Publishing include Scrap Your Stuff, Board Book Play, and Creative Art Concepts for Papercrafts -Lea’s own book: Creative Art Concepts for Papercrafts, launched Feb., 2007.  In 2009, several art pieces were highlighted in 1000 Handmade Greetings, and additional work in Somerset Memories with new work in Somerset Digital in the fall issue and other magazines As well as Scrap and Stamp Arts, and Steampunk II.  

Lee Brehon
Lee has been creating cards, layouts and altered items since the turn of the century. Most of her pieces have been featured on-line at various sites and forums. Lee has produced hours of videos on http://www.youtube.com/user/creatalways and enjoys sharing live how-to tutorials with the masses. Lee isn’t afraid to try any medium or product and loves mixing and matching products to get the desired effect. Lee is happiest when she is working with others and following the creative process along side of her many friends. Lee is a devoted scrapbooker and attends many local crops in her area. 

Peggy Oliver


I am a mother of three and a crafty scrapper.  I have been crafting for four years but I have always been dabbling in something artistic. I have designed web sites and logos to promotional marketing materials.
Today I am a stay at home mom and I recently moved into a home with enough space for a whole room devoted to my crafts. Who knew hoarding craft materials in the bedroom closet could fill an entire room.  I love mixed media and texture. I look forward to a creative adventure with Sakura Hobby Craft!

Dale Anne Potter is a Textile Mixed Media Artist, Teacher, Coach, Speaker who lives in a small town in SW Saskatchewan, Canada.
She enjoys Spreading Positive Creativity worldwide.
She says: "Art because it brings me JOY every day!!!"

I hope you welcome our new team.  Watch their post for Monthly Specials