BungaTelur.Info

Over the year, I have been asked by many interested students whether I will conduct any class for bunga stokin.

So after going through the materials I have, I decided to teach any interested students for bunga stokin class on 17 July 2010 this type of bunga telur.

I will also do demo on how to make kipas organza (in case anyone still interested to do that kind of bunga telur), how to tie the ribbons into bow and how to do bunga telur gantung.

On the practical part, the students will do bunga telur on bamboo stick like in the above picture and make butterfly from stokin. I am thinking of making the butterfly into corsage instead of teaching them to do bunga dulang mini.

Come and join the class on 17th July as it is limited to 6 students. This is the first bunga stokin class I will conduct for the year 2010.

After almost 2 years of not doing any card, I decided to take part in a blog candy ran by Shirl Leong at her blog Craftee Guiri in conjuction with her husband birthday this coming 28th June.

Thanks to her blog I found another blog candy ran by Scrapbooking All Sorts – which ends on June 30th. Since the requirement is to submit any latest papercraft project, I think this birthday card will do for a start.

At first I wanted to make an easel card, but after searching through all the materials I have, I found a pack of unopened blank cards. Those white blank cards are 5 1/2 x 4 inch once folded..(which I think is quite small, as I rather love getting a bigger card)

Anyway, once I have completed the card, I realized that I should have put eyelet brads on the happy birthday sentiment before I attach it to the background..huhu!

Here are the recipes:

Paper : Daisy D No.13, My Mind’s Eye Signature Suite- World of Play, Dotted Play/Ring Around The rosy, Wild Asparagus

Prima flowers, ribbon, clear rhinestones, Memory Book Glue Dots, Supertac Glue

I was reading a fellow crafter’s blog when I saw a pretty butterfly she tatted. I’ve never heard about tatting before so I browsed and read through whatever I could find online about tatting.

First of all, you need to have a tatting shuttle. So a trip to Art Friend the other day made me bought a shuttle by DMC. Later I found out that there is another shuttle brand Clover sold at Maycraft. The shop is located in Taipan USJ. Will be visiting the shop one of these days..heh!

The funny part was once I bought the shuttle and a ball of thread, I have no idea how to wind the thread onto the bobbin. It took me the whole night to figure out that you can actually push the bobbin from the middle of the shuttle out, wind the thread and push it back inside the shuttle..huhu!

And it took me another 2 days to figure out how to do the basic of double stitch, a picot and a ring.

Somehow it is harder when you are self taught. I usually will go for a basic class for any new art and craft that I want to learn. It is easier when you have an instructor to ask every time some doubt or confusion arises.

Despite that I am thankful that there are many tatters out there who are willing to share via blog and videos on Youtube. I hope once I have mastered the basic techniques of tatting, I would be able to share in this blog so that other beginners in tatting will not waste so much time like I did learning the basic.

When I wrote about hantaran agar-agar kering for my niece in 2008, many people commented and asked for the same type of agar-agar. Please be informed that the supplier is no longer making that rose agar-agar kering.

However through blogging, I found another person based in Bukit Mertajam who makes agar-agar kering for wedding favors.

These are some of the pictures of agar-agar kering she makes.

If you are interested, please contact her directly at her blog – AdamShoppe.

I’m thinking of ordering some for Hari Raya this year. I have not eaten such delicacy for ages. No one makes kuih muih lama during Hari Raya open house anymore.

I am not sure whether she can make agar-agar kering in rose shapes. Will have to ask her one of these days. I’m sure if she can make it, it would be a great idea for gubahan hantaran.

The picture is not doing any justice to the bunga dip sample I made a few days ago. I am trying to save the whole bottle of dip hitam I bought in January.

Since I have tried red and black combination earlier, I thought this time I will do black, silver and white combination for this bunga dulang mini.

For the rose, I tried making the petals curvy by pinching the wire before dipping into the dip solution. I think I prefer the simpler style I taught in class.

For the glitter effect, I used silver glitter instead of the usual rainbow dust.

Not really the best sample, but after a long time not experimenting with new creation, this should be a good start.

It has been more than 6 weeks since I last wrote about the crackle and decoupage project.

The bottle which is originally a Tazo Tea with peach flavor has been mailed to the recipient before the dateline of the Gift Exchange. I hope she likes what I’ve done with it.

I applied Jo Sonja Opal Dust on the peach and leaves motifs, I might have overdo it as you can see the big pearly, greenish dots on the motif in the picture above.

As always the picture didn’t do any justice. I prefer viewing the real bottle.

I have another bottle but with white background, thus the crackle effect is not really prominent. Still thinking whether I should repaint that bottle.

I am in the midst of completing this crackle project for exchange gift (EG) in one of the local forums. The theme is crackle and decoupage.

I think I already mastered the technique of crackle using Plaid FolkArt Crackle Medium. This time instead of the usual white basecoat, I used Jo Sonja Carbon Black.

For the topcoat I used Americana Antique Gold. I feel that using a black basecoat makes the crackle more significant. I will share the picture of the decoupage bottle later. Oh, for this glass bottle, I applied sealer to make sure that the basecoat acrylic paint will stick nicely once painted on the bottle surface.

I love collecting paper napkins, especially one with fruits motif. This is one napkin that I bought from a seller online more than a year ago.

I have done decoupage on tins using paper napkins with motifs like peach and lemon. I will share the pictures later. At the moment I am waiting for the work-in-progress tin to dry out so that I can apply the gloss varnish. This apple motif will be added in the fruits collection soon!

I finally get it right! After many trial and error, I managed to get the crackle effect I would say that I am happy of. The bottom coat was white gesso. The frame was from IKEA. I sanded, applied sealer and painted with gesso before I used the Plaid Crackle Medium.

After reading some online tips and watch Youtube on how people apply crackle medium, I tried to follow as much as possible. The crackle medium was applied using thick brush, some in zig zag while some in straight line. If you apply the crackle medium thinly, you will get fine crack. If you apply it thickly, you will get a big crack. I let it dry for almost 2 days before I applied the topcoat in Burgundy Red.

The topcoat has to be applied at one go. Never stroke your brush too many times over the place that you have painted before otherwise the crackle effect will turn out bad…(based on my experience, I lost the effect of crackle since I stroked the topcoat over and over the same spot too many time..huhu)

The crackle medium will react with the pigment of the topcoat that you apply on. Some says to use a branded acrylic paint such as Americana (not a cheapo brand) as topcoat to make sure you get a good crackle effect. And another tips to remember, metallic paint won’t work as a topcoat on crackle medium. It is also best that you use a brush that fits the size of the project surface so that you don’t have to stroke on the same place many time.

For those who wonder how the Plaid Crackle Medium looks like, here is the picture. I bought a bottle in Art Friend, The Gardens. I have used Jo Sonja crackle medium before but it didn’t work that well. Maybe my techniques were not right at that time..heh! I will try again and will write an entry if my experiment is successful.

I will update with the varnished version of the frame later. I hope the tips above will be helpful for those who want to try doing crackle effect on their painted projects.

I decoupaged this bottle for a craft contest last year. The theme is Christmas and 1Malaysia. The problem was I have no idea how to implement the 1Malaysia into the submission article, and of course I didn’t win..heh! It never occur to me to put the 1Malaysia logo anywhere on the bottle or inside it..huhu!

However doing this decoupage project gave me the chance to try many new materials and techniques. First, I learned on how to clean up the Tazo Tea bottle..(available at Starbucks at RM10.90 per bottle)

Some people soak their bottles in water and later scrub the labels. I tried that but it didn’t really clear up the whole label glue. Hubby suggested to rub the leftover label glue with eraser. It did work fine but I feel that it was too much work and time consuming..huhu!

The best way is to use lighter fluid..(any brand like Zippo will do) Pour a bit on kitchen towel or directly on the leftover glue from the bottle label and scrub the glue out. After that wash your bottle with water and soap. Let dry.

I also used Plaid Glitter on this decoupage project. The effect is quite subtle and I think it suited the whole concept of this Earthy Christmas theme.

I hope I will have more time and effort to participate in any craft contest this year. From time to time, it’s good to challenge yourself to something new.