Return of the Crafting Groove

My name isn’t Stella but I finally got my crafting groove back. It took an incident to send me back to the studio in order to calm and relax myself through crafting.


I’d been saving a couple of empty cardboard tape rolls to make bracelets. I got my inspiration from craftyluna at crafster.org


craftyluna



Elizabeth Abernathy How cool is this?

The one at Elizabeth Abernathy really peaked my interest.

I took out my supplies


cardboard rolls

acrylic paint

sandpaper (not shown)

Egyptian wrapping paper

Pictures from National Geographic

White Glue(not shown)

High gloss decoupage sealant

Brushes, rag
I didn't take photos as I went . I was trying to calm myself and didn't think about it.

*In order for the paper to adhere to the cardboard I sanded it inside and outside wiping the dust off with a damp rag.

*I painted one cuff inside and outside with Kelly Green and the other with a copper metallic. I gave each cuff three coats of paint allowing them to dry between coats.

*Being an eager beaver I dried them in the oven on 200 for 20 minutes between coats.

*National Geographic always has beautiful colorful photos. I randomly tore underwater scenes and glued them onto the cardboard overlapping the pictures.

*For the Egyptian bangle I used wrapping paper that I have had for over 15 years that was sitting in my stash of some-day-I’ll-do-something-with-this box.

*I put two coats of sealant inside and outside the bangles allowing them to dry. I used the oven for the first two coats but found that it was a little sticky when it came out needing a little extra time to cool down.

*After these coats dried I dry brushed (actually wiped with a rag) the bangles with acrylic Chocolate Bar paint to give it an antique/worn look.

*I repeated with three more coats of sealant about every 4 to 5 hours. The coats were pretty thick. I allowed these to air dry.

As you can see they are very shiny almost glassy looking.

They turned out great. If it looks as if some white is showing through, it isn’t, it’s just the shine.
THAT'S IT***