C.J.&#039;s Corner Scraps

In addition to the items in this month’s Mixed Media Kit (*from previous Tres Jolie Kits), I used:

**Disclaimer: Some [non-Tres Jolie] items may contain an affiliate link, allowing me to earn a small commission at no extra cost to you!**

*Finnabair Heavy Black Gesso , *Finnabair “Ink Black” Liquid Acrylic Paint , *Finnabair “Burnt Sienna” Liquid Acrylic Paint , *Finnabair “Linen” Impasto Heavy Body Acrylic Paint , *Finnabair “White Pearl” Metallique Paint , *Finnabair “Pixie Dust” Fixative , Finnabair “Sepia” Antiquing Wax , Finnabair “Ash Grey” Antiquing Wax , Finnabair “Royal Robes” Opal Magic Wax , Finnabair “Electric Violet” Metallique Wax , Finnabair “French Lavender” Matte Wax , *Finnabair “Old White” Matte Wax , *Finnabair “Pearls & Crystals” Mica Set , Finnabair Art Stones , Finnabair 3D Matte Gel , Finnabair “Pieces of Underworld” Mould , Finnabair “Locks & Keys” Mould , Finnabair “Skull & Bones” Mould , Finnabair “Amun & Bast” Mould , Finnabair “Nocturnal Insects” Mould , Distress Crayon “Decayed” , *Cosmic Shimmer “Fireworks Burst” Pixie Powder , *DecoArt “Neutral” Texture Sand Paste , Liquitex Matte Gel , JudiKins MicroGlaze , Daler Rowney White Gesso , Amazing Casting Resin , Amazing Clear Cast Epoxy , *spray bottle

Tres Jolie Kit Club – Shabby (Vintage?) Fall – October 2022 Mood Board + Scrapbooking Kit

Image | October 13, 2022October 12, 2022 | Corner Scraps

Hey, y’all! I just love the papers in this month’s Scrapbooking Kit from Tres Jolie Kit Club! The mix of white with a touch of light grey is perfect for building or expanding on.

Now I know, if you’ve seen the mood board you may be wondering how I came to a pink and grey mixed media panel from a mood board filled with autumn colors and décor with a “Vintage Fall” twist (Shabby is a form of “vintage,” right? I’m not the only one that thinks that, am I?). Well, I’ll tell you – it all started with the sweater pillow – and I do have some leaves on here!

I will admit, I love the mix of white and grey – I adore Farm Chic décor – but I don’t usually lean towards pinks. In fact, there are probably people who know me that are very confused right now seeing this pink! However, contrary to popular belief, I don’t hate pink, I just won’t wear it (unless it’s socks!) or decorate with it. (Fun fact: I will put pink in “strange” areas – my phone cases, Kindle cover, wallet, etc.)

Check out my video to see what I did to get this project all put together:

This month’s mood board is filled with beautiful autumn colors and fabulous textures to inspire your project! Mood boards aren’t really meant to be “copied” – they are, as the name suggests, designed to invoke a mood in you. How do they make you feel? What parts catch your eye?

As I mentioned, I saw that cable knit pillow and then just ran with it! I just thought something like that would be a fabulous background. Truthfully, I didn’t even notice that the mood board had some pink flowers on it until after I had finished my panel!

Make sure you join us for the October 2022 challenge! Place your entries in the October 2022 folder on the Tres Jolie Kit Club Café Facebook page before October 31st, 2022, 11:59 pm CST. All entries must be in this folder to be eligible for the prize (to have everyone eligible to win, we are limiting the same winner to once every 3 months).

For my panel, the first thing I did was get the paper I had picked out collaged down to the canvas using some Liquitex Matte Medium – although any collage medium would work such as Mod Podge, Distress Collage, etc. I didn’t trim my paper until after I had it glued down and it had a chance to dry. It is a little less stressful if I am not worrying about every edge being perfectly lined up!

After the matte medium dried and I cut down the edges, I started the stenciling process. I used my “Victorian Tiles” stencil first, with a mix of regular (Ranger Opaque Matte) texture paste, then came back through and added some areas of Distress Crackle Paste. I also grabbed up a leaf stencil and added it to a few areas between and on top of the previous stenciling. Then, and this might be the most important part for me, I let it all dry overnight! It is possible to use a heat gun on texture paste, even crackle paste, but allowing anything “crackle” to dry naturally has always given me the best results. Drying too quickly just doesn’t allow the crackle to crack as much. Then, the next morning, I came in with the leaf stencil again, lined it up on the previous stenciling, and added some extra crackle paste and some “Kitsch Flamingo” Embossing Glaze – then set the panel off to dry and crackle before coming in and melting the glaze.

To finish off preparing the base, I added the two skinnier ScrapBerry column pieces and little “bricks” along the top – cutting one of the columns in half (I used a pair of wire cutters, and with a little squeeze it snapped right apart!). I didn’t want my canvas perfectly symmetrical, so I used one of the halves and one of the bricks on the left, the other half, the whole piece, and the second brick on the right. Then, after the glue had set, I coated the entire background in clear gesso and set it off to dry while I started work on the flowers.

For my flowers, I started by gathering up some white roses and leaves from my stash and dismantling the pink flowers from the kit – separating the green parts from the pink. Then the prep work began!

I started by coating all my white flowers and leaves, along with the two long leafy pieces from the 49 & Market flower pack, with some white gesso. Then I grabbed up a sheet of the paper from the kit to cut out some extra leaves from one section, and I fussy cut a few of the larger pink flowers from the other side of the sheet (it is the second, matching sheet from the pack that I used for the background).

Now things were really about to get messy!

I coated all of the die-cut leaves in Distress Translucent Grit Paste – working carefully with the now wet paper – to crumple, uncrumple, and shape the leaves while placing them on my background where I planned on building up all the flower clusters. I also took this opportunity to add the Translucent paste to the fussy-cut flowers so I could shape them, add a layer of protection, and get them in place.

For all of my green pieces from the flower packs and the white roses and leaves from my stash, I made a mixture of white gesso and opaque matte texture paste to coat them in, placing the long leaf pieces from the 49 & Market pack on my background and setting the rest off to dry.

My next step was to get some extra color on all of my flowers and foliage!

For the fussy-cut flowers on the background, I used a combination of Tattered Rose Distress Oxide and my Kitsch Flamingo and Cocktail Party Distress Crayons – just using a water brush to add a bit of color and definition to the fussy-cut pieces.

Then, to add a bit more depth to the pink flowers from the kit, I made a “puddle” of the Kitsch Flamingo and Cocktail Party Distress Crayons mixed together and brushed them onto the inner edges of the petals. To get the color to feather out a bit, I just gave the flowers a light spray of water and let them air dry.

For the six smaller 49 & Market flowers that I pulled off their stems, I put them in a little palette and let them soak in some Cocktail Party Distress Mica Spray.

To get all of my other pieces various shades of gray, I started coating them in a mix of Grave and Crypt Distress Grit Pastes with some Pumice Stone Distress Oxide Spray thrown in!

After they were all coated with that mixture, I decided they needed more gray – the Pumice Stone has a tan-ish tone – so I sprayed them with a combination of Hickory Smoke and Weathered Wood Spray Stains and Oxides.

Even though a lot of my water-reactive mediums are mixed with texture pastes, the colors on the flowers were not! So I took this opportunity to give everything a coat of Workable Fixatif so I could continue working without worrying about my colors moving.

Now I had to add some color to the 49 & Market leaves I had already attached to the canvas. For those, all I did is make a mix of Hickory Smoke and Weathered Wood Distress Crayons on my mat watered them down and used my water brush to brush the colors on.

After a spray of Workable Fixatif on the canvas, I started the process of getting all of my flowers and foliage in place using some 3D Matte Gel.

While the 3D Matte Gel started drying, I worked on all of my mould pieces. After coating everything in white gesso and letting that dry, I started adding all of the other mediums.

For my large, pink keyhole frame, I started with a base of Tattered Rose Distress Paint, Translucent Grit Paste, and Finnabair Texture Powder for a little extra texture to make up for the watering down of the paste. While that mix dried, I started work on all of my gray pieces, using a mix of Grave and Crypt Distress Grit Pastes, and Finnabair’s Cool Gray Rust Effect Paste. After all those pastes were dry, I coated them in a light layer of Hickory Smoke Distress Paint, gave them a light mist of water, and dabbed off areas of the paint to allow areas of the texture pastes to show through and add some variation of color.

While the paint was drying on the gray pieces, I went back to the pink piece and gave it a light, inconsistent coating of Kitsch Flamingo Distress Paint, some spots of Cocktail Party Distress Mica Spray, and some water. After all of that was dry, I came back with Kitsch Flamingo and Cocktail Party Distress Crayons, adding them directly to the mould piece, and watered them down so the colors could flow where they wanted as they air dried.

To finish up all of the gray mould pieces, I added some Hickory Smoke Distress Spray Stain, mixed it up with some Graphite Texture Paste, spread it around some, then sprayed them all with both Hickory Smoke and Weathered Wood Distress Oxide Sprays before that paste has a chance to dry.

Now it was finally time to get everything on the panel and finish it up!

After all of my mould pieces were in place, I added some areas of DecoArt White Crackle Paint, tucked in some pink sisal, added more crackle paint, got my Ingvild Bolme birds in place, and added a little crackle paint to them.

After the 3D Matte Gel had a chance to set up overnight, I mixed some Payne’s Gray watercolor paint with some water and Liquid Color Fluid Medium and used a pipette to get that mix under all of the flowers and mould pieces. For any areas I wanted to make a little grayer, I mixed the Payne’s Gray with some of the fluid medium and brushed it on, watering it down some if I needed to.

For all of the “shadow” making, it was just a process of adding the mediums, adding water if I needed to, and tilting and turning the panel until I had the colors where I wanted them – drying a little at a time to start getting the color set as I went.

For the cabochon [mould] pieces, I used a mix of white gesso and Tattered Rose Distress Paint as my base coat then added some Kitsch Flamingo Distress Paint before adding them to the canvas. Once on the canvas, I added a thin layer of crackle paint to them, blending it onto the canvas around them.

On top of all the crackle paint I added, I started to give some extra color and definition to all of my pieces using Distress Crayons – Kitsch Flamingo and Cocktail Party on the pink areas, and Hickory Smoke and Weathered Wood on the gray pieces and birds.

To add a little extra sparkle to the flowers, I brushed on some Finnabair Pixie Effect Paste – it has the pink flakes in it to go with the canvas, but it also has some light teal-ish flakes for a bit of contrast.

After everything was dry, it gave me a chance to stand back and take a look to see if there were any areas I wanted to add a bit more Payne’s Gray to.

The last step was to add the final touches with some Finnabair Waxes, and I was finally done!

Thank you for joining me here in my corner. I hope my non-traditional, vintage-shabby-fall, mixed media panel gave you some ideas about how you can interpret the October mood board and what you can do with this month’s Scrapbooking Kit.

Stay Crafty, Friends

Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!

Thank you for joining us here at Tres Jolie Kits!

Tres Jolie can also be found at:

In addition to this month’s Scrapbooking Kit (*from previous Tres Jolie Kits), I used:

Disclaimer: Some [non-Tres Jolie] items may contain an affiliate link, allowing me to earn a small commission at no extra cost to you!

*DecoArt White Crackle Paint , *TCW “Mini Art Deco Leaves” Stencil , *Ingvild Bolme Shabby Chic Treasures “Birds” , *Finnabair Liquid Fluid Color Medium , *Finnabair Texture Powder , *Finnabair “Graphite” Texture Paste , Finnabair “Pixie” Effect Paste , *Finnabair “Old White” Matte Wax , Finnabair “Shabby Pink” Matte Wax , Finnabair “Indian Pink” Metallique Wax , Finnabair “Sweet Rose” Metallique Wax , Finnabair “Ash Grey” Antiquing Wax , Finnabair Clear Antiquing Wax , Finnabair “Victorian Tiles” Stencil , Finnabair “Baroque Frames” Mould , Finnabair “Locks and Keys” Mould , Finnabair “Clockfaces” Mould , Finnabair “Cool Grey” Rust Effect Paste , Finnabair Clear Gesso , Finnabair 3D Matte Gel , Winsor & Newton “Payne’s Gray” Watercolor , Ranger Texture Paste “Opaque Matte” , *Distress Texture Paste “Crackle” , Distress Grit Paste “Translucent” , Distress Grit Paste “Crypt” , Distress Texture Paste “Grave” , Distress Oxide Spray “Tattered Rose” , Distress Oxide Spray “Pumice Stone” , Distress Spray Stain “Weathered Wood” , Distress Oxide Spray “Weathered Wood” , Distress Spray Stain “Hickory Smoke” , Distress Oxide Spray “Hickory Smoke” , Distress Mica Stain “Cocktail Party” , Distress Crayon “Picket Fence” , Distress Crayon “Tattered Rose” , Distress Crayon “Kitsch Flamingo” , Distress Crayon “Cocktail Party” , Distress Paint “Tattered Rose” , Distress Paint “Kitsch Flamingo” , Distress Paint “Hickory Smoke” , Distress Embossing Glaze “Kitsch Flamingo” , Tim Holtz “Skeleton Leaves” Thinlits , Ranger Water Brush , *Prima Water Brush , white ribbon roses , white leaves , pink sisal , Mont Marte 12” x 12” Canvas Panel , Liquitex Matte Medium , Daler Rowney White Gesso , Gorilla Clear Grip , Amazing Casting Resin , *spray bottle

Tres Jolie Kit Club–Steampunk Top Hat–September 2022 Mood Board + Scrapbooking Kit

Image | September 15, 2022September 14, 2022 | Corner Scraps

Hey, y’all! Have you checked out the Tres Jolie Kit Club September Scrapbooking Kit yet? Seen this month’s mood board? Both are fabulous! The kit has the “Gilded Steampunk” Collection from 3 Quarter Designs – the perfect fit for the “Shabby Steampunk” mood board challenge!

Now, I love, L-O-V-E, Steampunk, and while I’m not a 100% Shabby Chic type of person, there are aspects I really love about that style too. This week, for my mood board inspired project, I have a Shabby-Steampunk Top Hat I created using a cut file I designed, the “Gilded Steampunk” Collection from the kit, a couple of moulds, and lots of mediums from my stash – quite a few that are from previous Tres Jolie Kits!

It wasn’t until I was editing the video that I realized this project isn’t all too “complicated.” The majority of the time spent working on it was really just “busy work” – i.e. rolling clay, gluing, painting, etc. Once I had my base together, and finally figured out where this hat was headed, it went together rather smoothly! Check out my video and see what I mean!

Don’t forget to join the Tres Jolie Mood Board Challenge this month! Make sure to place your entry in the September 2022 Challenge folder on the Tres Jolie Kit Club Café Facebook page by 11:59pm CST on September 30, 2022, for your chance to win a prize!

Alright! Time to get talkin’ about this Shabby-Steampunk Top Hat!

The first thing to do was to put my base together. There aren’t too many pieces – I tried to keep it as simple as possible while creating the size I wanted while using my 12” x 12” cutting mat and cardstock. There really is only one way everything fits together, but I have included a photo for reference using the cut file.

After my cardstock base was together, I added some black gesso to all of the areas that I thought may or may not get covered by the patterned paper pieces – I did it mostly because I had used white cardstock, if I had used a darker cardstock or a coordinating cardstock, I don’t know if I would have added the gesso. However, it did also give a little extra stiffness to the base, so that was a bonus I hadn’t really thought of! And, even though it is no longer noticeable, I also added a layer of “Halo Pink Gold” Metallic Paint on top of the black gesso – just to be prepared in case any of those areas didn’t get covered in the later stages.

I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do for the inside of the hat, I just knew I didn’t want to just give it a coat of paint. Finally, I decided to see if I could do a paint pour – on some tissue paper – to create a liner! It was messy, but it worked! And I was able to use that paint pour on the inside, sides. For the inside top, I just mixed up a little more to pour and dumped it right in.

I wanted to get as many pieces ready for assembly as possible before sitting down to start the process, so I used some leather-effect polymer clay to create the “leather” underside of the brim and I used some metallic and glitter polymer clay in a couple of embossing folders to create the sheets of “metal” to fill between the leather-clay and to use along the outer edge of the brim.

The final set of pre-assembly pieces I made were the patterned paper panels and the pink band for the hat. For the pink band, I just cut the half-sheet from the paper pack in half and connected the ends to make one long strip.

For the top, side, and brim patterned paper panels, I partly eyeballed, partly measured approximately where the cut would be – especially for the pieces that have the mannequins, hot air balloon, etc. – and cut them all out. Much like the base pieces, there are not a lot of ways for the pieces to fit all together, but I will add a reference photo here for the panel locations on the base.

As I sat staring at all my pieces, trying to decide how to use those chipboard and cut-apart pipes, I thought of windows; little steampunk windows to see the “inner workings” of the hat. I grabbed up some circle dies, picked a few places around the brim and on top of the hat, and cut the circles out of the patterned paper.

I used a couple of stencils with a couple TCW Stencil butters to add some dimension and texture to the circles I cut out, coated the chipboard pipes in copper embossing powders, and added some Beads In A Bottle to create a little dimension and bolts/rivets to the chipboard. Then I started the assembly process while I waited for my resin to set up in my gilding flake coated, polymer clay window frames.

After all my pipes were in place I gave them a coating of clear gesso so I’d be able to add my paints to create the illusion of depth with shadows.

Now it was finally time to add my patterned paper panels! I also added the pink band, and I created the inside band using the half-sheet of paper from the pack that looks like leather. I finished adding all my clay pieces to the underside of the rim and added them to the outer edge of the brim.

So now I had all of the pieces of the hat together – except the windows – and started my work on filling any gaps and smoothing it all out. I used a mix of gold Stencil Butter, gold Beads In A Bottle, and 3D Matte Gel to smooth along the edge of the brim with all the layers, and to fill in any spaces that I thought needed it. To prepare for the addition of the windows, I added a ring of Beads In A Bottle around the circles on the hat brim and top.

While my hat sat off to let that gold mix dry, I got to work on putting the focal point of the hat together. I grabbed up some mould pieces and used 3D Matte Gel to hold them in place, and after adding my gesso, I started adding the first layers of paint. While the gears and heart were setting up, I put my pipe pieces together and added the first layers of paint to them. I added the heart and gears to the pipes using more 3D Matte Gel, and set it off to let it set up while I added my lace bits and gilding flakes to my hat base. Before I got too much further along, I added a coat of Workable Fixatif so when the time came to add my final paints there would be a layer of protection on the patterned paper that would keep the wet from just soaking right in.

I laid my hat on its side, using whatever I had on hand to hold it in place and prop it up so the side I wanted to add the heart and pipes to was, at least mostly, level. I made sure to do this close to bedtime, so the 3D Matte Gel I used to hold the resin pieces in place had time to set up – without me becoming impatient and checking it too soon! I also started adding some art stones to the areas I could get at with the hat on its side.

Now it was finally time to add on the windows in preparation for the final layers of paint, art stones, and waxes.

I added more paint to my resin pieces, being careful when I was near my windows so they wouldn’t get splatter on them, and then just started working my way down from the top of the hat with more art stones and my paints. I let all the paint dry before flipping my hat over and adding some paint to the underside of the brim.

The final touches on this Shabby-Steampunk Top Hat were the addition of a few Finnabair waxes to the top, sides, art stones, lace, and the top and underside of the brim.

Thank you for joining me here in my corner! I hope you enjoyed my Shabby-Steampunk, mood board inspired, Top Hat and it gave you some ideas and inspiration for how you can use this month’s Scrapbooking Kit and/or find inspiration for your own mood board project!

Stay Crafty, Friends

Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!

Thank you for joining us here at Tres Jolie Kits!

Tres Jolie can also be found at:

In addition to this month’s Scrapbooking Kit (*from previous Tres Jolie Kits), I used:

**(Disclaimer: Some [non-Tres Jolie] items may contain an affiliate link, allowing me to earn a small commission at no extra cost to you!**

Corner Scraps Studio Top Hat Digital Cut File , Finnabair Black Gesso , Finnabair Clear Gesso , Finnabair 3D Matte Gel , Finnabair “Ink Black” Liquid Acrylic Paint , Finnabair “Burnt Sienna” Liquid Acrylic Paint , Finnabair “Machinery” Stencil , Finnabair “Love Machine” Mould , Finnabair “Steampunk Hearts” Mould , Finnabair “Enchanted” Sparks Paint , Finnabair “Rose-Gold” Opal Magic Paint , Finnabair “Soft Satin” Metallique Paint , Finnabair “Steampunk” Metallic Flakes , Finnabair “Shabby Pink” Matte Wax , Finnabair “Sepia” Antiquing Wax , Finnabair “Indian Pink” Metallique Wax , Finnabair Art Stones , Finnabair Mini Art Stones , Nuvo Mica Mist “Antique Gold” , Tim Holtz “Foundry” 3D Texture Fades , Tim Holtz “Diamond Plate” Texture Fades , Distress Paint “Salvaged Patina” , Distress Foundry Wax “Mined” , Distress Foundry Wax “Statue” , TCW “Grecian Gold” Modeling Paste , TCW “Sterling Silver” Modeling Paste , TCW “Fuchsia” Stencil Butter , Katy Sue Designs “Rusty Pipes” Mould , Jacquard Lumiere “Halo Pink Gold” Metallic Paint , Ranger Iced Enamels “Relique Glitz Copper” Embossing Powder , Gary M Burlin Co. “Patina Bronzed Copper” Embossing Powder , Tulip “Copper” Beads In A Bottle , Tulip “Gold” Beads In A Bottle , Ranger Big Emboss It , Liquitex Pouring Medium , Liquitex Matte Medium , Staedtler Fimo Leather Effect “Berry” , Staedtler Fimo Leather Effect “Nut” , Creative Embellishments “Riveted” Stencil , Spellbinders Standard Circle Nestabilities , white cardstock , Fabri-Tac , Liquitex Matte Gel , spray bottle , Amazing Clear Cast Epoxy , Amazing Casting Resin , E6000 , Aleene’s Tacky Glue , Krylon Workable Fixatif , lace tidbits

Tres Jolie Kit Club – Mecha Steam Queen – July 2022 Mixed Media Kit

Image | July 24, 2022July 23, 2022 | Corner Scraps

Hey, y’all! Have you checked out the July Mixed Media Kit from Tres Jolie Kit Club yet? It has some fabulous Finnabair Tissue Paper, heavy black gesso, and Pixie Dust, along with some Lindy’s Magical’s, DecoArt Crackle Paint, Tres Jolie Chipboard, and a canvas board to get you started!⁠

I was fortunate enough to receive the newest Finnabair Moulds in the mail the same day I was starting my project, so I have that fantastic Mecha Moth on here, along with a ton of other Finnabair mould pieces from both old and new designs!

I used a couple of stencils from previous kits with the crackle paint from the kit and some Finnabair “Crushed Crystals” Jewel Effect Paste. Then I loaded up and layered up all my colors using some of the Liquid Acrylic Paints from February’s Mixed Media Kit and the Lindy’s from this month’s kit.⁠

Check my video out to see what I did to put this Mecha Steam Queen together!

Video:

To get my background started, I layered it up with some of the “Bavarian Blue” Lindy’s Magical’s from the kit and (part of) one sheet of the Finnabair tissue paper, using my Liquitex Matte Medium to adhere the paper. After I had my initial layer, I tore the remainder of the sheet of tissue paper into strips and layered them up, only adding the Magical Shaker as the initial bottom layer under all the tissue paper.

After my matte medium was fully dried, I came in with my stencils. I used my “Flourish” stencil with the crackle paint from this month’s kit, and my “Screwed” stencil with some “Crushed Crystal’s” Jewel Effect Paste. I just used my finger to dab on and blend a thin layer of the crackle paint along the edges and in the corners of the canvas and to soften the edges of the stenciling some.

After my “Flourish” stenciling was dry, I added a layer of clear gesso to help protect my crackle paint (it was going to be a wet, messy job!) and to make my subsequent layers of mediums easier to flow and roll around along the top of the stenciling and between the cracks. Because of the nature of the Jewel Effect Paste – when it dries it is more like the matte medium – I didn’t need to add any gesso to it.

With all of my background mediums dry, I come in with the “Bavarian Blue” Lindy’s, sprinkle it on, and really water it down so it will flow between all of the cracks. From here on out, I don’t let my mediums air dry on my background, I use my heat guns to make sure everything stays where I put it!

On all of my various mould pieces, I coated them with black gesso – either the heavy gesso from the kit or my “regular” gesso on the more detailed pieces. If you only have the heavy gesso and want to get it into detailed areas a little easier, you can just mix in a little water to thin it some. After my gesso layers dried, I coated everything in some TCW “Sterling Silver” Modeling Paste. It says “Sterling Silver,” but it is more like sterling silver that has begun to tarnish – and I love it!

I used my 3D Matte Gel to hold my Mecha Steam Queen together before adding her gesso and modeling paste. I can say, all I knew was I really wanted to use the new Mecha Moth, and everything was built around that. I keep a bunch of pre-made mould pieces handy, so I grabbed them up and started playing around when suddenly I saw how fantastic my “Queens of Steam” piece looked on that big moth body! I added another layer of wings from the “Nocturnal Insects” Mould, and gave her a “Clockfaces” crown.

While I let that 3D Matte Gel set up, I went to work on deciding which gears I wanted to use and picked one of the “Baroque Frames” to set behind my Mecha Steam Queen. On my gears, after the modeling paste was dry, I added some “Texture Powder” to rough them up a bit, added some extra color to them using the two Lindy’s Magical’s from the kit, and I added some “Ink Black” Liquid Acrylic Paint. On my mould pieces, I allowed the mediums to air dry to allow everything to mix and flow together naturally. On the frame, I just mixed some of the “Bavarian Blue” Lindy’s with some Liquid Color Fluid Medium to keep it from being able to reactivate after it was dry.

To build up my background, I started with some corrugated cardboard (I just happened to find “hidden” behind a pile of other *stuff* – it must have fallen down some time ago and I forgot to fetch it then!). Anyhow, I used the heavy gesso on it and added some of the crackle paint to it. Then to deepen the black, I added the “Black Hole Black” Magical Powder to it, just using some water to activate the powder and added some of the “Pixie Dust” spray to it. To adhere it to the canvas board, I fully coated the back with some matte gel, placed it where I wanted it and weighed it down to make sure it dried flat. Fully coated the back of that cardboard doesn’t just make sure it is well attached, it seals it up so it won’t become soggy from the back side as I continue working.

Now it was time to start building up all of the mould pieces. I started with the bottom layer of gears, using my 3D Gel to adhere everything and to hold up the edges that extended over the edge of the cardboard so everything would be (relatively) even. I added my frame next and then set everything off to dry.

I hadn’t originally planned on the second layer of gears, but after I had my chain pieces and Mecha Steam Queen already dried in place, I realized it really needed another layer. Fortunately, some of my gears were made from air-dry clay (I often use what I have on hand or need to use up when I decide to get some pieces pre-made) so I was able to break them apart and get them to fit around the corner of the frame (top) and under the wings (bottom right).

With everything finally in place, it came time to start adding the final layers of color, but before I did that, I added a layer of Krylon’s Workable Fixatif, just as a precaution for a little extra protection since it was about to get super wet and messy!

I started with some “Ink Black” Liquid Acrylic Paint and the “Black Hole Black” Lindy’s, and watered it all down, moved the canvas about to get it flowing, and dried as I went. So long as it was still wet, I could reactivate the Lindy’s (and paint) and continue moving it around.

For the wings on my Queen, I used the “Bavarian Blue” powder and some Liquid Color Fluid Medium to hold it in place once it dried.

Because I had to break my second gear up some, it left a few small gaps, so I decided to use it as an opportunity to add a bit more sparkle, and used the “Crushed Crystal’s” paste to fill in the gaps and added a touch to the ends of the wings.

To start bringing up the details of my Queen, I added some of the “Ink Black” paint and the “Black Hole Black” Lindy’s and watered it down so it would flow into all of the details.

To intensify the blue on my gears, wings, and Queen, I added some Liquitex “Phthalocyanine Blue” Acrylic Ink, watered it down a little to help it flow, added some of the blue mica powder from Finnabair’s “Pearls & Crystals” Mica set to add a little bit of variation to the shading, and dried it completely so it would stay put!

With all of my blacks and blues in place, it came time to add the final details. To start I used some “Burnt Sienna” Liquid Acrylic Paint to create my shadow effects. It is an absolutely perfect color to create a vintage effect and fabulous shadows to really give a piece some depth. After all my mediums had dried, I came in and gave the whole piece a coating of the “Pixie Dust” Fixative from this month’s kit.

After the “Pixie Dust” had dried, it was time to add some various waxes to highlight various areas on the piece. After my waxes, the final step was adding my beads. I used some “Midnight Magic” Iridescent Beads from ReneaBouquets along the gears and frame, and some 13@arts “Brown Microspheres” to give the final shadowy detail to the layers of my Queen.

Thank you for joining me here in my corner, I hope you enjoyed the building of my “Mecha Steam Queen” and it gave you some ideas of how you can use the various mediums from not only this month’s kit but previous Tres Jolie Kits as well! That’s what makes Tres Jolie Kits so fabulous – it allows you to build your stash!

Stay Crafty, Friends

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Thank you for joining us here at Tres Jolie Kits!

Tres Jolie can also be found at:

In addition to the items from this month’s Mixed Media Kit (*from previous Tres Jolie Kits), I used:

**Disclaimer: Some [non-Tres Jolie] items may contain an affiliate link, allowing me to earn a small commission at no extra cost to you!**

Prima “Flourish” Stencil , Finnabair Jewel Effect Paste “Crushed Crystals” , Finnabair “Ink Black” Liquid Acrylic , Finnabair “Burnt Sienna” Liquid Acrylic , Finnabair White Texture Powder , Finnabair Liquid Color Fluid Medium , Finnabair “Pearls & Crystals” Mica Set , Finnabair “Charcoal Black” Matte Wax , Finnabair “Old White” Matte Wax , Finnabair “Faded Demin” Matte Wax , Finnabair “Old Demin” Wax Cire Cera , Finnabair Moulds: “Queens of Steam” , “Large Gears” , “Machine Parts” , “Mechanica” , “Pieces of Underworld” , “Clockfaces” , “Baroque Frames” , “Nocturnal Insects” , “Mecha Moth” , “Love Machine” , Finnabair Clear Gesso , Finnabair 3D Matte Gel , TCW “Sterling Silver” Modeling Paste , 13@rts Brown Microspheres , Tim Holtz “Screwed” Stencil , Stamperia “Metallic Black” Wax , Little Birdie “Aqua Sheen” Metallic Wax , ReneaBouquets “Midnight Magic” Iridescent Beautiful Beads , DecoArt Black Gesso , Krylon Workable Fixatif , JudiKins Diamond Glaze , Liquitex Matte Gel , Liquitex Matte Medium , Liquitex “Phthalocyanine Blue” Acrylic Ink , spray bottle , Ranger Heat-It Tool , Milwaukee Heat Gun , corrugated cardboard, Mont Marte Terra Cotta Air Dry Clay , Sculpy Air Dry Clay , Sculpy White Polymer Clay , ProMarineSupply Epoxy Resin , Alumilite Amazing Casting Resin , Alumilite Amazing Clear Cast Epoxy

Tres Jolie Kit Club–Cottage Life Décor–July 2022 Cards, Tags, & More Kit

Image | July 21, 2022July 20, 2022 | Corner Scraps

Hey, y’all! If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere of this rotating blue marble, I hope you’re staying cool! If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, just know I’m jealous! I am just counting down the days until I can see highs under 100°F (38°C). I am fortunate enough to have some AC though, which I know not everyone has.

This week I have a “Cottage Life” Décor piece I made using this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit, and a deep frame that has existed since sometime in the 80s (the company is no longer in business, that I’m aware of), and some mediums from my stash.

Check out my video to see what I did to put this adorably vintage “Cottage Life” frame together!

Video:

Now, y’all know I love using every part of the kits – packaging, scraps, etc. – and this project was no different! I loved the shapes of the Graphic 45 Chipboard pieces, and thought they would make some fantastic vintage frames – and they did! I, very carefully, cut along the outside of the negative space where the chipboard piece had been, eyeballing my distance, and to strengthen my new frames, and start them on their patinaed copper journey, I used some “Patina Bronzed Copper” embossing powder on them. After they were embossed, I backed them with different pieces of patterned paper.

After my “Cottage Life” Folio (July 7th post), I had quite a few strips of paper, so I got them evened up and made a collage of them on a 5inx7in canvas board to use as the background for my frame.

Aren’t those Tres Jolie Chipboard gnomes adorable? I had to add them to my “garden,” so I did the same to them that I had done to my frames – I embossed them to give them a bit more strength and stability – and to make them copper so they could start their patina journey.

For my frame, I didn’t want it completely rough, but I didn’t want it completely smooth either, so I randomly added some Finnabair “White Sand” texture paste before giving it a coat with some white gesso, “Steampunk Copper” paint, and a touch of “Brass” Patina Effect Paste.

To raise up all of my frame and gnome layers, I used hot glue because it is sturdy, and there is only a cooling time, not a long dry time – plus, when it’s hot it’s “stretchy,” which means I was able to make a pile of it, then use both hands to adjust the frames exactly how I wanted them. I was careful to keep the hot glue away from the embossed areas though because I didn’t want it to reactivate!

You can see I left no surface bare! Since this is an open-front, deep frame, I wanted to make sure I had the inside of the frame matching the outside. After the canvas was together and the paint was dry on the frame I started adding my waxes – some “Rich Copper,” some “Patina Green.”

When it came time to add the frame to the canvas, I used hot glue at the corners to get it in place and to hold the canvas even with the back of the frame so I could turn it over and fill in around the edges with some 3D Gel.

After the 3D Gel had dried, I turned my frame back over and popped on the final, front chipboard piece using more 3D Gel.

Thank you for joining me here in my corner, I hope you enjoyed this “Cottage Life” décor piece and it gave you some ideas of what you can make using this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit.

Stay Crafty (and cool & hydrated!), Friends

Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!

Thank you for joining us here at Tres Jolie Kits!

Tres Jolie can also be found at: