New Look for Halloween

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Artful Halloween « Lark Crafts Lark Crafts

Tangled Flower Card

Here's a card I made that involved creating flowers I decorated using Zentangle patterns. To learn more about creating these patterns, visit www.Zentangle.com. There are many books and online resources for patterns. Design Originals has a great series of books, which you can see at www.d-originals.com. One of my favorite websites for patterns is tanglepatterns.com.

To get the most mileage from my efforts, I used my computer and printer for several steps. However, you could do everything I've done without a computer. All you need is a pencil, a very fine permanent pen (Micron 01 is ideal) and some card stock or heavy paper. Access to a color copier is recommended if you don't have a scanner / printer.

Additional materials for the finished card: a card blank of your choice (I found this neat shape at WalMart in a Valentine promotional display in the craft department); scrapbook paper; glue stick; X-acto knife; small adhesive dots; small brads; small rubber stamp and ink pad; brown chalk.

1 Create flower shapes on a sheet of card stock. I used white, which would be the most versatile for duplicating, but any color you like would work. I used my computer to draw, size and duplicate the shapes to fill an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet. Then I printed out a copy (still on white card stock) to draw on.

2 Fill in the flower shapes with assorted patterns. See introduction text for links to resources if you need them. I used a Micron 01 pen and a pencil for the initial shading. 

I then shaded all the outer edges with brown. If you do this by hand, use chalk or very light colored pencil -- and don't worry about "staying inside the lines," as you'll be cutting them out later. But since I scanned my patterned sheet and used Photoshop to shade the edges brown, they turned out neat and tidy as shown.

 

3 I strongly suggest you get some color copies made of your work at this point -- or if using a computer, save the image to print out as you like. Don't forget, you can print (or copy) this onto colored heavy paper or card stock. 

4 Cut out the flower shapes (from your copies, not your original, if you took my advice!). Slightly bend the petals up from flower centers for dimensionality. Layer smaller shapes onto larger ones and arrange to get maximum petal exposure. Carefully poke a hole through the centers with an awl or push pin and slip a small brad through all the layers.

5 Assemble the card. I covered my blank front with scrapbook paper adhered with glue stick and trimmed to fit, then chalked the edges. I used a tiny stamp for the reddish image in the upper corner. Then I placed some layered and single flowers to fill the front and attached them to the card with adhesive dots.

Skinner Blend Steps

In our Spring 2012 issue we have a great necklace project made from polymer clay cabochons. As in many clay projects, the Skinner Blend technique is part of the process. This technique, created by Judith Skinner, is a way to combine two colors of clay with a perfectly smooth, graduated blend from one color to the other. Thanks to our friends at Polyform/Sculpey, we can provide these basic steps for a lovely Skinner Blend which has infinite applications in polymer clay projects.

Here we use green and turquoise clay colors. The method works for any two colors you wish to use. You will also need a clay blade and clay-dedicated pasta machine (or clay conditioning machine).

1 Roll Green clay through machine on #1 (thickest) setting and trim to create the largest rectangle you can from your sheet of clay. Likewise, roll a sheet of Turquoise clay, place Green rectangle on Turquoise sheet, and trim Turquoise to same size as Green. Immediately separate the two rectangles.

2 Place Turquoise rectangle on a sheet of paper and use blade to cut from bottom right corner to center top of the rectangle to create two triangles.

Rotate the small triangle counter-clockwise and place on larger one to create a 90 degree triangle.

3 Repeat step 2 with green rectangle. Align the pieces as shown to create a large square. Press seams together just enough to keep everything connected.

Fold top portion down at the center cut to create a double layered rectangle as shown.

Roll this doubled rectangle through the machine, on #1 (thickest) setting with the folded edge down so it is first to go through the machine.

Fold the sheet of clay from bottom to top, but do NOT rotate the sheet left or right. Continue to fold and roll the sheet of clay until the blend from one color to the next is smooth (at least 6-10 times through the machine). Always place the folded edge first into the machine.

4 Retrim blended sheet to a rectangle and position with lighter colored end first into machine. Roll through progressively thinner settings to create a long thin sheet of clay. Take care to keep the sheet of clay from sticking to itself.

Tip: bake a trimmed portion of the blend and save it for reference so you can create a matching blend in the future.

To see how to complete the necklace shown above, get the Spring 2012 issue of Craft & Home Projects, available at the App Store.

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