Masquerade mask Powertex style

Hi my lovlies, it's really great to have you here. Well this months project pack is absolutely enormous and I didn't even manage to use all of the pieces I still had some left over feathers and fans. Here is the second piece I created to inspire. Hope you have as much creating as I did. 

Top Tip:Always layout your items to give yourself an idea of where they are going to go. And take a photo on your phone to remind yourself. If it changes later on it doesn't matter.

I took some lace and cut it to size so the two fans had some added texture and pattern to them.

Top tip: Use a glue gun to create added dimension to your mdf pieces. My glue happens to be blue so it shows up nicely on the picture.

I also wanted the opening on the mouth to be smaller so snapped either side of the mdf shape and used some Powertex to hold it together in a different position.

I stuck everything down in place on the right side with Bronze Powertex. I used some 3D sand mixed in with the Powertex as some added texture in places. On the left side I used some stone art powder with Ivory Powertex and brown bister to build up a textural layer. And give it as soft stone art effect.

I coated the base layer in Ivory Powertex and mixed some Easy 3D Flex together and spread it across the left side and sprayed with brown bister.

I applied heat with the hair dryer to encourage the cracks to appear. I then dry brushed some Ivory back over the the texture and sprayed more bister and repeated until I was happy with the depth and tones in the finish.

Top tip: The heat from a hair dryer is less intense than a heat gun making it easier to control. 

I stuck the top piece of the mask down to the bottom piece using Transparent Powertex. The Easy 3D base layer is just subtly peaking through in places.

 Then dry brushed the Bronze Powertex with rich gold and bronze gold colortricx and varnish.

Then I just had to add some bling, so placed some gems from my stash on with Transparent Powertex.

And voila. The final result. This one was a little different for me if not ever so subtle. I found it very enjoyable to create a piece that pushed my boundaries though. I can't wait to see your creations do share them with us in the Powertex Studio. And do let us know if you have been inspired by any of the Design Team. We love to hear that you are getting inspiration from our projects. You can find more of my work @RosehartStudio. Toodles Anna xXx

Come and join the Masquerade

Well, what can I say other than Tracey has truely spoilt us with the Venetian Masquerade project pack she had put together for the month. It's such a big bundle of crafting goodies that I just had to create two projects. And even then I had some bits and pieces left over. 

So my first project is the half mask. I was looking at some of the traditional masks and was inspired by the Jester mask, their hats were made of cloth, were floppy with three points and had jingle bells on the end. So I wanted to incorporate this into the mask minus the bells just because I didn't have any but if you do you could always add them to the design. 

I made three points by taking some foil and folding it into a triangle shape which I then moulded round and used masking tape to hold in place. I also placed a roll of foil and taped into place across the brow of the mask to make the top of the curve more prominent. I then took some Easy Coat Mat and book pages and covered the rest of the mask.

Using some Bronze Powertex and kitchen roll I covered the hat section, added some wavy textile yarn around the points and a strip of lace ribbon across the bottom of the points.. And then place wavy textile yarn across the raised brow in Ivory Powertex. I put a light coat of Ivory over the book pages to dull down the text a little.

I broke apart the really large piece of swirly/ leafy detail mdf. And painted it with Ivory Powertex. 

Top Tip: You don't have to use the mdf pieces as a whole I gently snap them between my fingers. 

I found some little flower beads in my stash which I couldn't help but add to mdf pieces for extra detail. After painting them in Ivory Powertex I sprayed them with brown bister and then dry brushed in gold colortricx and varnish. This gave a lovely antique finish.

Then I must have got slightly carried away and forgot to take photos. However my next step was to add the Venice rice paper by spraying with a little water and using the Easy coat mat to stick it in place.

Top tip: You can layer the rice papers on one another to give extra detail. In this instance I had used book pages underneath so the writing showed through in places to add extra detail to the piece.

 Then around the edge of the mask I dry brushed some Ivory Powertex and then used some Gold colorticx as an accent. 

I found a metal element in my stash and an oval glass cabochon. I painted them with Ivory Powertex and then sprayed with brown bister for an aged look and then dry brushed the centre with turquoise powercolor and the metal surround in gold. Once dry I stuck the whole element down with Transparent Powertex and a little kitchen roll to hold it in place as it was at an angle so the paper acted as a bumper between the two.

I then heavily dry brushed the hat points and the wavy textile yarn on the brow in a mixture of turquoise and moss green powercolor. The wavy yarn around the points and lace detail was dry brushed in gold colortricx. 

I admit I felt a bit daunted by this months theme as it was unfamiliar territory for me but as usual pushing oustide of my comfort zone has made me really enjoy the project and end result. I have learnt some new techniques and explored areas I wouldn't have necessarily chosen myself, it's good to push outside of your comfort zone once in a while. Hope you enjoy creating with this one as much as I have. Do let me know what you think in the comments. Follow more of my work on my page Rosehart Studio. Do share your creations with us on Powertex Addicts United or in The Powertex Studio on Facebook. Toodles Anna xXx

Unicorn Sherbet Dream

So something pretty exciting happened to me recently. It's almost a year since I made my tv debut on Hochanda and I was given the fantastic opportunity to share my knowledge and passion to the world through my mentor Tracey Evans at Powertex UK. 

And yet another opportunity arises that Tracey puts me forward for. All I had to do was come up with the idea, concept, execute it and write a step by step. Well the above picture is the Powertex Project design I came up with and the magazine below is where is it published. 

Should you wish to pick up a copy with yummy mixed media projects and lovliness follow the links to get a copy of the magazine. Go to www.craftstamper.com for subscriptions, www.mags-uk.com for single print copies, digital copies from www.pocketmags.co.uk. 

Here is a little video I made to try and capture the bling I added to the canvas. Hope you all managed to grab yourself a copy with the project in. And I hope I have inspired you to have a go! You can find more of my work at Rosehart Studio on Instagram, Facebook, and if you wish to own a piece of my art and help me to feed myself then hop on over to my Etsy store. Toodles Anna xXx