Cosmo Cricket

Wax Resist on Paper, Mixed-Media Collage

Well, it's a little late in the day. This week I've been to Jack's kindergarten registration, always stressful for us right brains (any tips on helping a lefty learn to hold a pencil correctly and improve his handwriting)! Then, I had him to the dentist today because he fell so hard on his front teeth that we think they are dead.

In other news, I actually managed to uncover my desk! Whenever this happens, I just have to make a mess of it again. So, I got out the paints, the wax, some paper and a photo and starting taking a little art vacation. I had an idea that's been percolating in my mind...... what would happen if you melted beeswax, painted it onto your paper as a resist, then painted over that. I was imagining that you could tone down all the paper, except the parts you had painted the wax. Guess what..... that's exactly what happened.

Check it out!

You'll need beeswax. Then you'll need a way to melt it. I was using the Ranger Melting pot, but you can also make do with a double boiler. Whatever method you end up using, be aware that melted wax is not easily cleaned from it's melting container, so it's best to just have a dedicated container. Then, you can let the wax harden in it and use it again next time by re-heating.

While the wax was melting, I took an 8x6" canvas and painted some color blocking for background interest with acrylic craft paint.

Then, I painted the paper. Now, painting wax on paper is easy, except for the fact that the wax dries super fast. Because of this, it's easiest to work with small areas, like the little flowers I chose. After you've painted everything you want to stand out, paint the rest of the paper with acrylic craft paint. You can use a wash (thinned with water or medium) if you want the pattern to subtly show through, or you can go completely thick and opaque. Once the paint has dried, take a straight edge and scrape off the top layer of wax revealing the true colors underneath.

 

I chose to use the same paper three times, just painted in different colors. After you finish making your papers, paint or distress your photo if desired.

Use acrylic medium to glue everything down to your canvas. Paint over the top of it all with the medium to seal it.

I added a title by cutting apart the words on our Tiny Type stickers. I liked the look of the different sized lettering.

For a finishing touch, I took an oil pastel and went around the collage burning the edges. This technique helps to frame your work, bringing your eye into the piece. I added some eyelets for hanging, but I don't yet have the perfect ribbon. A hanging wire may be a better choice. We'll see!

Box Flower Video Tutorial

Just a note, before you watch the clip....... I am teasing Justin. He is really my retailer event BFF and I would help him with anything, including stepping up his make and take and helping his customers..... that way I can help them right over to my products! I'm kidding.....

To make one of these flowers, simply attend an event where Justin is slacking, or watch this video. They are fun and easy!

Flashback Friday: 3D Snowflake Tutorial

I think this project rivals anything Martha's team could have come up with. Let's just say, I am a wee bit proud of myself! Hey, I even like my flash photography in these first two photos.

By the way, the paper I used is from Everafter, I love the warm grey and Cosmo-Cricket-blue color combo!

If you want to make the HUGE, full snowflake (mine measures 16" from tip to tip) you will need six individual parts for each one. I also think the individuals are lovely alone and would make beautiful Christmas tree ornaments.

Here's what to do:

Cut a 6" square of paper and fold it in half like this. Then fold in half again.

Now, on the side that has the two folded edges, make marks 1/2" apart. You may be able to see mine if you look very closely. I like to use a white Inksentials pen because the ink doesn't show up in the finished project.

Then, you want to cut starting at each mark, but parallel to the hypotenuse..... the long edge of the triangle. (Hah! And you think you'll never use that math they taught you in high school!)

It should look like this. Be careful not to cut through the folded edge. If you do, you will have to start over.

 

Open out your folds. It should look like this.

Take the innermost cut points and bring them around to meet each other so that you can glue the tips together. I used a low temp hot glue gun and it worked perfectly. I also used a pencil to wrap around so that I had a surface to press against. The first one is the trickiest.

Then, flip over to the other side and do the same thing with the next set of points. It should look like this.

Keep flipping and gluing your points together until you have done each one.

If you like the simple ornaments, stop here, you are done. Unless you want to add some Stickles..... love the glitter!

If you want a big snowflake, make five more. Then attach them together in sets of three, then the sets of three to each other. I used hot glue to adhere the center points, and a little glue where they touch each other on the edges.

Fancy Schmancy! Your friends will be impressed.

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This morning we are filming our Thanksgiving Day Special that will be posted next Wednesday. This story makes all other Cosmo Cricket stories pale in comparison. If you really want to get to know the Cosmo Cricket family, this is your chance........ besides that we'll be giving away lots of prizes..... of course!

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Some of you asked for a still photo of yesterday's project. Here you go.

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Some of you asked for a photo of Becky and me together. I'm sorry. We don't have a recent pic and she lives more than an hour away. But I've been told..... by Oscar...... that she is the pretty one. That DARN Oscar, he really knows how to get me!

Fall Centerpiece

You remember that guest blog entry that was suppose to be on Creating Keepsakes last Friday? Well, long story short, I won't be guest blogging over there for a week or two now. This means that my Thanksgiving centerpiece idea I video taped will no longer apply. So, I thought I would share it with you here.

I have to say, I am no Lindsay Moore. I am a bit less ADD and a bit more.... well...... Julie Comstock. I hope you still enjoy the clip, and I apologize for the echo-y sound...... I guess we need to invest in a better microphone or something. And, I plan on getting Eric to make title screens for all videos in the future. There is little less flattering than being caught in mid-word.... oh well!!!

Congratulations Jamie Sherman! You were the winner on the Blue Light Bride Contest. Send your address to kristen@cosmocricket.com and she'll send you your prize. Then, check back here tomorrow to see what to do with that Everafter Paper Crafting kit. We are featuring a super cool snowflake project!

Easy Folded Gift Boxes

UPDATE: If you came here from Pinterest, we later updated our readers with more examples and a video tutorial... it's much easier to follow! You can find it here. Happy crafting and thanks for dropping by!

Eric often tells me I remind him of Maria from the Sound of Music. Maybe it's my short-strawberry blonde hair. Maybe it's my love for vintage dresses and skirts. Maybe it's all the trouble I get into unintentionally. Maybe it's the way I can get large groups of children to cooperate. But, it's definitely not my ability to sing!

So, it's a little ironic that I lead the children's choir at my church. Actually there are two choirs, each with about 40 children......."And all those children, heaven bless them, they will look up to me and mind me!"

Once a year we combine the two choirs for the Sunday services as the main event. We work all year long on the program and it's a very important day for the kids and their parents. Well, this year I happened to be at the Mall of America the Sunday that the program was scheduled......... How do you ask a friend to fill in for you with an eighty kid choir? How do you solve a problem like Scrapfest? 

It just doesn't seem like enough, but I made several thank-you's yesterday for my friends that helped my little ones sing so well, I swear I could hear them all the way in Minnesota. I thought they turned out cute enough to share. And, I love the containers since I never have cute give-away containers on hand!

Here' the first one I made. It's filled with pumpkin chocolate chip cookies...... yummy!

 

To make the box, take a full sheet of paper and mark it at 6" on two opposing sides.

 

Then fold edges in to match up with the marks.

 

Now measure and mark at 5" and 7" on the folded edges.

 

Fold as shown below.

 

The next fold is the only slightly tricky part, and only because it's hard to put into words. But, I took lots of photos from different angles. Hopefully you can get it.

Update: Christiee asked me to try to explain this. I will try my best. After you have folded your paper edges to the middle and done the fold to make it U shaped like shown above (the 5 and 7 inch folds), then open up your paper.

On the edges the creases will make a 3"x5" rectangle on either end with a 2"x3" rectangle in the middle. OK, now look at the crease that makes the side of the 2"x3" rectangle. Don't lose that crease, but fold the paper back in. Take that crease and bending it out the opposite way that it is folded, match it up to the edge of the box as shown in the photo below...... you can see it even better in the next photo down.

Then, press down the paper to make the angled crease. Repeat this four times, with each of the sides of both 2"x3" rectangles.

If you still can't figure this out, I'll try and make a video for tomorrow. It's really easy to do, just hard to explain.

 

What you need to do is create the sides of the box.

 

Maybe you can see it better here. You are pulling the one crease, over to the edge of the box and then pressing down what becomes an angled fold.

 

If you unfolded it, the creases would look like this.... see below.

Hopefully you can figure that out! Then, I like to adhere the top edges so that they don't slip. When you bring the top edges together, the box will open up for your cookies..... or whatever you choose to place inside.

 

Then you can decorate you box. I used a 3"x6" coordinating piece of Earth Love cardstock to make the topper. Then, throw on a tag made with the element cards or stickers, some cute ribbon to tie it closed and you're done!

Now, I think we should have a giveaway! Tell us who (fictional or real) you remind others of and why. You could win an Earth Love Paper Crafting Kit along with a Flirt Blackboard album.

Scrapfest Class Instructions

Hi Everyone! I thought we would blog from Scrapfest, but we were just too tired! I apologize, but we are back now, and although we are super tired, we wanted to show you what we were up to all weekend.

For the mall workshops, we did these fun layouts with Earth Love and The Boyfriend.

For these layouts, you will need:

Earth Love
12" Ready Set Chipboard
Element Cards
Recycle Patterned Paper 4.5"x6.5", 3"x12"
Relive Patterned Paper 3"x12"
Rethink Patterned Paper 3"x12"
Repeat Patterned Paper full sheet

The Boyfriend
Wood Grain Ready Set Chip Alphas
Icon Rub-ons
Tube Socks full sheet
Fitting In 1.5"x1.5", 1.5"x7"
Art Appreciation 1.5"x1.5"
Homework 8.5"x10.5", 1.5x7". 1.5"x1.5" (2 of this size)
Driver's Ed 1.5"x1.5"
Black Bazzill 8.75"x9.75"

For our Crop Around Town, we made the following album using our Blackboard Ethan Album and our Jolly By Golly collection. You can see every page of this album here.

For the Wintertime album, you will need one of the following, unless otherwise noted:

Jolly By Golly
Borders
Elements
Ready, Set, Chipboard 12"
Sweater Weather .5"x6" (You'll need 12; they can be cut from one sheet.)
Silly Chilly 2"x7" (2), 4"x7" (2), 2.5"x 7" (2), 5"x4" (2) (You will need two sheets.)
Breezy Freezy 3.5"x7" (2), 6"x7" (2), 2"x7" (2) (You will need two sheets.)
Play Day 4"x6", 4"x5.5" (2), 2"x7" (2) (You will need two sheets.)
Smitten Mitten 6"x7" (2)
Merry Berry 6"x4", 6"x7" (2)
Be Good Ready, Set, Chipboard letters
Ethan's Album

These were the make and take projects, although we changed some of them slightly. I would show you photos of the actual ones, but I gave them all away.

Now, I think I will take a nap. How about you?

Another Natasja Online Class

Hi everyone. I had a great time reading all the Cosmo Cricket love comments yesterday. It's good to know that for only a few scrapbooking freebies I can have loyalty like that! :)

Natasja, did another online class for me...... she's so nice! And, she bought a new camcorder so the quality is much better. Check it out! She has some very creative ideas..... as always!

Eastern Cosmo class from Natasja Verbeek on Vimeo.

If you want to make the project exactly as Natasja's, here's what you'll need.
However, I think that this is a great project for using up leftovers. You know, all those times you've not used every page of an album...... all those scraps of paper...... all those randomly left over stickers..... you get the idea!

Now I think I remember promising to pick three winners for today! Congratulations:

Amber said:

I love the Lindsay "you're cute, thats a cute shirt" moment! Thats funny stuff! Thanks!

Nancy Holley said:

I love love love Cosmo Cricket!! Did I say LOVE -- because I really meant LOVE!

Nichole said:

Lindsey... i really would love to talk about him, but it is very difficult when you talking about cute Cosmo Cricket?!? I LOVE COSMO CRICKET!

Email kristen@cosmocricket.com, give her your address and tell her your favorite Blackboard Album and Paper Crafting Kit...... we'll send you one of each of our stamps!

Rub-ons, Watercolors & Snot Dots

I am in love with the techniques used in this layout, but have to apologize again for the poor photos (will spring ever get here...... I need the sunlight)! And, if Trudy is reading this post, she'll be glad that I've found a use for my 3-D adhesive dots, otherwise known as Snot Dots. I'll tell you more about that later. Let's see the project!

This is my soon to be 12 year old. Isn't he just the cutest thing you ever saw, holding on to his rubber ducky like that? I'm convinced he is!

Ok, onto the snot dot story. As some of you know, or have guessed, I am not a great scrapbooker! In fact, I did not scrapbook until after we started Cosmo Cricket. So, I am not informed on all the products (unless they're ones I manufacture), lingo and techniques. I was teaching a make and take at Memories Wholesale in Canada about 6 weeks ago and needed glue dots for the project. I ran to my local store and picked up a box quickly. When I showed up in the morning for the make and take I pulled out my glue dots and couldn't believe what I saw. They were huge and super-thick. I said to Trudy, "Have you ever seen a glue dot like this?" Needless to say, everyone had a good laugh at my expense and Trudy found me some regular glue dots.

But, now I'm glad I bought those dimensional, super-thick ones because Dawn Ofner from Memories in Motion up in Canada taught me how to use them to make cute flower centers.
Here's what to do:
1. Cut off a glue dot still attached to it's backing paper. Take some string or yarn and wrap it around the glue dot working toward the center. I used a varigated string, which gives a really nice effect. When you get to the center, clip the string.
Then you need petals. I used ones that looked like this.
You'll notice that the paper is from Lil Man, except that blue floral from Everafter (my favorite paper from that line!). I molded the petals a bit and distressed the edges before assembling. Also, I cut my petals too large for the little snot dot center, so I cut bigger center to layer under it, this time from Snorkel paper.

Now, for the layout!
I placed everything on the layout, without glue, for placement and then rubbed on all the rub-ons. I used the Girl Friday rub-on booklet. After the rub-ons are adhered, take off everything.
This is a little scary, but it's awesome, so don't be afraid to try it! Take some watercolors. I have artist quality watercolors in the house, but I used Crayolas for this project and they're not half bad! Just don't try the other kid brands, Crayolas have the most pigment! I know from experience, I am not getting paid by Crayola!! Don't use the kid brush. My kids don't even tolerate them. I like to use them for glue or sidewalk painting. Anyway, with a nice fairly large brush, dip into some water and mix into the blue paint until you have a nice, dark blue color loaded into the brush. Now, take the brush and starting at the top of you page (skies are darker the further they get from the ground) run the brush side to side. As you go down the page, you will run out of paint, don't re-dip into the paint, instead, dip into the water. Continue this way down the page and you will have a sky that gets lighter gradually just like the real sky.
By the way, the rub-ons will resist water color. Just paint right over the top of them. If you see little beads of paint form on the rub-on, simply wipe off with your finger or a tissue. This is a fun technique that is great on cards too!

Another Paper Flower

Good Morning! Do you remember about a week ago when I posted several flower techniques. Well, I got a little side tracked, but I still have more flowers to show you. So, here is another little cutie. I haven't used these in a project yet, but they are fun and easy to make.

Here's how:
(I apologize for the poor photos. It's snowing and there is no light in my studio!)

First, gather your supplies. You'll need glue, paper scraps, circle punch and a flower punch (although this is optional as you could cut your own base for the flower.)
Next, use your punches to punch out the five circles of one color, one circle of a coordinating color and one flower.
Then, one at a time, pinch each of the five matching circles as shown and glue so that they'll stay pinched.
Then take these five petals and glue to the punched out flower shape. I know this photo is blurry, but you'll notice on the back of the petal, that there is a little flat area right before the fold. Put your glue here and down the fold.

After all the petals are glued in place, take the coordinating circle and glue on top for center of flower.
Ta Dahhhhh! Super cute and easy!

Natasja's Class, The Final Episode

Good morning! Today we will finish up this class.

tutorial 2-3 from Natasja Verbeek on Vimeo.

I think it's amazing how well Natasja speaks English..... her vocabulary is huge! When she sent me this video yesterday she said that after she had filmed the entire thing, she realized she had spelled "please" wrong. She asked me if I wanted her to do it over again, saying she couldn't believe she could do something that dumb. THAT DUMB?!?!?!  She is speaking in a foreign language, in front of a camera. How many of us can do that? I mean, I make spelling errors all the time, in my native tongue, when I'm completely relaxed, sending an email with auto spell check! Needless to say, I told her not to worry about it, that it would just endear her to us all the more!

If you have any questions about yesterday's or today's segments, please leave us a comment. Natasja will answer all of your questions here on the blog. Oh, and please, if you do make this project, or even just the flowers, post a link so we can see them.