Altered Altoids Tin ~ Amazing Mold Putty DT Project

This was my first try at an altered Altoids Tin, so don't mock it too badly - lol. I really like how it came out!

The tin itself was not difficult and there are a lot of tutorials out there (just google) so I won't go into that other than to say - don't cover it all with paper until you research - I did and mine wouldn't close so I had to make a loop closure for it.

In looking at samples others had created, I noted quite a few with frames on the front. And, since eventually, I would like to make a class out of this (once I get it right), I knew I needed more than one of whatever I chose to use on top! So, I chose some frames that I purchased in a kit a couple of years ago at a warehouse store. I know that I can't possibly find them again, so I had to be able to make more. And . . . in steps my Amazing Mold Putty:

I mixed my Amazing Mold Putty using a 1:1 ratio of "A" and "B" (click on the link at the end of this post to go to their website for a tutorial).

Next I made a mold of each of my frames and then mixed my Casting Resin (use the link above for detailed instructions) - equal parts A and B. As soon as parts A and B are thoroughly mixed you can begin pouring into your mold (It will turn an opaque milky white when it is completely hardened unless you are using clear or unless you added some dye to it like I did! I mixed one drop of the African American dye (Alumilite Dyes ) to side "A" before mixing the resin. Check out my step-by-step pictures below. You can see that the frames have a bit of color even before I play with them.

I chose the very last frame in the bottom right pictures to use for my tin. I then painted it black (I only needed on coat because it was not the white resin). After it dried I rubbed a bit of silver on it and it was ready to adhere to my altered tin. If you look closely, you can see a key I made and showed in an earlier blog post. . . couldn't alter the tin with just one molded item!

I really like the way it turned out. Next time I think I will go back and dry brush a bit of the black back on it to "dirty" it up a bit (like the key). Let me know what you think.

Thanks for checking out my project! The Amazing Mold Putty and Casting Resin are so easy to use and as I've said in the past, you really can recreate any embellishment you want to use more than once. Head over to the Amazing Mold Putty website and check out all of their products. Be sure to comment and ask questions if you have any.

~ Make Today Count

Wendy

Tis the Season ~ Robin's Nest DT Post

On one of my last posts I said I had planned to make a card from scraps but decided I wanted different paper.  Well . . . this time I'm actually going to do it!  I used my scraps from the Home for the Holidays blog hop and created this card.  I used Robin's Nest Christmas Glitter Swirl (which I believe is not available, but a comparable paper that is just as pretty and the same weight is the Red Glitter Swirl), and Christmas Glitter Words (back side) scraps to create this card.  The Christmas Glitter Words is one of those papers that I love because of the texture.  The feel of this paper is so rich, similar to the linen feel paper I used on my "Give Thanks" card.

Having these scraps made the card so easy to make.  I simply used a stamped image (and as you can see, I don't have many Christmas stamps so I just altered a palm tree stamp - I mean we are in South Orange County and it was sunny and lovely today, so it fits!) and after coloring it with distress inks and water brushes I adhered it to my Glitter Swirl paper and then to a piece of white cardstock and then onto my card base which is the Christmas Glitter Words (link above).  I love this because it has a masculine look to it.  So don't throw those scraps away . . . use them!

If you click on the picture below you can get a close-up view of the texture of the card base paper.

 

Thanks for stopping by to check out my card.  Hop on over to The Robin's Nest website and check out their papers and other fab products!

~ Make today count

Wendy

Christmas in Aliso

I have to post a picture of the tree - my boys pretty much did it themselves this year!




Make today count ~
Wendy

My Little Cowboy ~ AMP DT Project

Our road trip this summer took us to South Dakota where we visited Deadwood.  That was July and I am still finishing up our journal/scrapbook of that trip. This is one of the pages I wanted to make some charms to go on the page but the only ones I had were silver, plus, with all the cowboy pictures I have of my son, I knew I would use these again and again in different ways. Soooooo . . . I made my own using Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin and added some Alumilite Dye and Alumilite Metallic Powder to complete the look.

These were the original metal charms:

 

 

Next I mixed my Amazing Mold Putty mixing a 1:1 ratio of "A" and "B" (click on the link at the end of this post to go to their website for a tutorial).

 

 

Then I made a mold of my charms and brushed the inside with  metallic powder (link above). As I said in my last post, this stuff goes a long way - you really don't have to use much  at all to cover the entire surface of what you are molding.

 

 

After trying the dyes on my last project and liking the way it looked, I mixed a couple of drops (and I mean just drops) of the African American dye and then added a little of the metallic powder to side "A" before mixing the resin on a second set and this is what it looked like in the mold:

 

 

This is what each set looked like fresh out of the mold with nothing added on the surface.  As you can see, if you didn't want to play with them you could absolutely leave them as-is and have a great look.  Or you could take it a step further like I did and  paint, daub, brush and rub to get them the way I wanted. That's what I did with the top set.  The bottom set I left alone except to rub just a bit of the metallic powder on the raised areas to highlight it just a bit.

 

 

After playing with these products, I have found that I love the dyes and powders almost as well as the putty and the resin (not quite because I love, love, love the putty and resin). 

One tip I have for making charms or anything with a bail on it, is to pull it out of the mold before it is rock hard and use a paper piercing tool to open the bail and then put a toothpick or skewer in the hole to hold it open while it dries.  If you try to re-open the hold once the piece hardens, you will break it.  Doing this before it hardens and having it ready to go can save the major meltdown that might happen if you break it later (this would be me waiting until the last minute to make a gift and then the piece breaks when I don't have time to start over - lol).  Below is an example:

Here is one last look at my finished project:

Thanks for joining me - Make sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think!  Also, don't forget to check out the Amazing Mold Putty website for these and more Amazing products.

~ Make Today Count

Wendy
www.scrappinwendysway.blogspot.com

Team Jacob or Team Edward? Amazing Mold Putty DT Post

I enjoyed the books and tolerated the movies (but because I enjoyed the books I bought the movies - lol).  Anywhooo, I decided to make a Twilight mini album for a teenage friend for Christmas.  One of the things I needed was a big chunky Team Jacob embellishment.  So I decided to make both! 

So here's what I love about this project, not only did I get to use the Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin I use on all of my projects, but I also tried out the Alumilite Metallic Powders and the Alumilite Dyes.  And then to finish it off I used my Amazing Clear Cast for the first time ever (and love it!).

So, of course, I started with the Amazing Mold Putty mixing a 1:1 ratio of "A" and "B" (click on the link at the end of this post and go to their website for a tutorial).

This was the item I chose to mold.

After I made my mold, my experimenting began . . . I decided to try the metallic powder (link above).  I brushed the inside of my mold liberally with the powder on a paintbrush (and when I say "liberally" I mean I brushed the inside of the container - I didn't even have to dip the brush into the powder . . . this stuff goes a loooong way)

Next I poured the Amazing Casting Resin (link above) and waited for it to set.

Once the resin had turned completely white, I removed it from the mold and  . . . VOILA!  My piece came out with a metallic finish hard set in . . .no worrying about the color coming off or what product to use on the surface, etc. 

The next one I did I decided to go a little more crazy.  I mixed a couple of drops (and I mean just drops) of the African American dye and then added a little of the metallic powder to side "A" before mixing the resin.  This is what it looked like:

I love that the piece has a solid color and I don't have to doctor the back at all.  Once I get the desired look on the front, the back still has that brown and slightly metallic look and I can just leave it alone. 

Now when I say "desired look" you know I didn't just leave these pieces the way they were . . . nooooooo, I had to paint, daub, brush and rub to get them the way I wanted them.  You can see that I brushed them with black paint and then wiped it off so the black stayed in the low, indented or debossed areas.  Then on one of them I used some antique gold rub to finish it off. 

Once I had the frame portion complete, I glued in some pictures and THEN . . . I tried out the Amazing Clear Cast (link above) to seal the picture and create a glass look.  And look how "Amazing" it really is.

So here is another look at my finished project:

What do you think?  Don't forget to check out the Amazing Mold Putty website for these and more Amazing products.

 ~ Make Today Count

Wendy

I Give Thanks ~ Robin's Nest DT Project

I'm not usually one to make cards; in fact, I'm usually lucky (and feeling really on top of things) if I actually have a card with a gift or on a birthday.  But I wanted to create a card for my eldest son to let him know how thankful I am for him.  I wanted it to look masculine but still pretty (yes, I know that is probably an oxymoron (a pretty, masculine card), but hey, it's what I was going for.  How'd I do?  My son has been going through some rough patches lately and I just wanted something in which I can write him a little reminder of all of the things about him for which I am truly thankful.

I was going to use scraps from other projects to show how you can use up your scraps (so this is a reminder that you can use your scraps for cards) . . . but uh . . . yeah . . . I didn't do that.  I found this paper in my Robin's Nest paper stash and decided that it was the only paper I wanted to use.  It is a double-sided paper (Distressed Honeycomb) and has a linen texture to it.  One side is more solid and one side is more distressed looking.  I really do love this paper; it has such a fabulous, rich feel to it.  It's almost like having a nice fabric that acts like a paper.  So this was the backdrop for my card.  I tried to get a good close-up picture so you can see the texture.  To be honest, I really didn't even want to cover it up too much.  So I added a piece of Glitter Gold on Creme Swirl (I used the back side) and distressed the edges with my scissors.  After inking up both the background and the Creme piece, all that was needed was a few embellishments and a hand-drawn border. And I ended up with this fabulous card.  The embellishment says "Give Thanks;" and I just added an "I" above it and inside the card it will say "For YOU!"  After adding my personal sentiment it will be ready to give to my son.

I hope you enjoy my card and that you have a most wonderful Thanksgiving!  Don't forget to check out the Robin's Next website for these and other fabulous papers and products!

~ Make Today Count
Wendy

Blog Hop Winner!

And the winner is . . . . CAMILLE SHORT!  Congratulations Camille.  Please send a email to 
 robinsnestscrap@gmail.com with "WINNER" in the subject line to claim your prize.

~  Make Today Count
Wendy

Haunted House Mini Album Kits for Sale and a Giveaway!

 I created this fun Mini Album for my friend's birthday which just happens to be in October.  It came out so cute I decided to make a couple of kits for sale and see what happens.  So instead of making two, I made three . . . two for sale and one for a GIVEAWAY!  Here are pictures of the album I created with the kit.

Lets start by what's included in the kit:

You get everything you see here PLUS two extra pieces of the 6x6 paper (the extra pieces are ones with a crow or a haunted house, a chandelier, etc. - each kit will have two different pieces of the extra paper) and one sheet of 8.5x11 black cardstock (cut in half to fit in the kit).  For the album I made I didn't even use the whole kit.  I used only 3 of the chipboard pieces and a little over half of the paper.  I will list the kit in my Etsy shop for $15 plus $4 shipping.  So that's a whole mini album for under $20! If you want to recreate the pages you can refer back to the pictures on this page and feel free to email me with questions.
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Now, for the giveaway, I will close it at 50 subscribers or November 15th, whichever occurs first.  To be eligible for the giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post and be a subscriber. I will say it is open to international if you pay your own shipping (only because I haven't done international shipping and have no idea how much it will be).  Good luck!

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Make Today Count
Wendy

Gift Card Holder - Robin's Nest DT Post

For this post I decided to do a gift card holder. With the holidays approaching and birthdays every month, who doesn't need a quick gift card holder?  I chose the Pink Zebra Glitter Cardstock because I love it and you can do so much with it.  You can use it in a girly girl album, on a girls night out album, or for something like my gift card holder for a friend's birthday.  This paper is so pretty that you really don't need much to embellish it to make it look good.  So really, all I did was die cut the the pattern, glue it together and then add some ribbon and charms and voila . . . instant gift card holder!  I love it and I hope my friend does too!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my project!

~  Make Today Count

Wendy

Robin's Nest and Helmar Home for the Holidays Blog Hop Project

 

Hi everyone!  I am so excited to be a part of The Robin's Nest and Helmar Home for the Holidays Blog Hop!

If you are hopping along, you should have arrived here from Liz Chidester's blog  . . . if you just happened upon my page or were checking in on me, head on over to The Robin's Nest Blog so you can hop from the beginning.  Don't forget to "follow" each blog as you visit and leave a comment on their blog hop post to be eligible for some blog candy.  Your name could be drawn for fab prizes!

Here is my Home for the Holidays Mini Album created for the Blog Hop.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it.  These papers were a fun choice for Christmas.  I am usually drawn to the Red/Green/White combo that gets a little boring.  This was a great deviation from what I would instinctively choose and create; and really allowed me room to play with the paper without any expectations.  I LOVE the finished product.  Let me know what you think (comment and follow for a chance to win prizes).

In this project I used Glitter Christmas Trees cardstock, Glitter Christmas Words cardstock, Red Swirl Glitter cardstock, Glitter Black and White Holly, Glitter Silver on Black cardstock, Christmas Dew Drops  , Helmar Quickfix Adhesive Runner, Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive,  This was the first time I used the Helmar Quickfix Adhesive and I have to say that I really like it.  Most tape runner style adhesives I've tried do not have the staying power you find with a wet adhesive, but I'm happy to report that this one actually does.  I am also impressed with the 450 Quick Dry Adhesive and will definitely have to get some more of that.

Here are some pictures of my project:

 

Here are a couple of close-ups:

 

Thanks for hopping along! Be sure to go to the next blog in the hop which will be Lisa Wilkinson.

~ Make Today Count
Wendy