Upcycle / Recycle items for your layouts | By Lisa-Marie Watling

Hi there friends and fans of Off The Rails!

It's no secret that our incredible craft can be a bit of a pricey one, so today I want to share with you how I incorporate everyday items to upcycle or recycle into my layouts, canvases, art journals and / or tags.  Honestly, not just from a money saving perspective, but also from a potentially sentimental point of view as well!  I hope that in doing so, I can inspire you to look a little further and include some rather unexpected items in your work!

Here is my little video:

I hope you have enjoyed my hints and tips!

Until next time!

Yours in craft,

Lisa-Marie

Making your own flourish with Rosemary

Hi Crafters

Rosemary with you today.

A great way to create another layer for your page or card is to create something yourself.

I made this flourish for my Steampunk page.

Step 1 - gather your supplies

non stick mat

silicone mould of choice

Anna Griffin Embossing Paste- White Finish

In this case I used Finnabair Art ingredients Mica Powder - Rust

My trusty spatula !

Step 2

I scooped up a generous dollop of Embossing paste and added some of the Mica Powder-

A little goes a long way.

I wasn't totally sure how the colour would turn out but it I knew it would be in the brown tones which I needed for my page.

Step 3

Mix it well

It looked weird at first but it dried to a beautiful chocolatey colour which suited me perfectly

Step 4

 Swipe the paste across the silicone mould as one does for texture paste and stencils.

Be careful not to have too much over the edges off the pattern. 

 I left it overnight to dry properly.

Step 5

Gently remove from the mould

When you take it out out it is quite flexible.

Step 6

I found I needed to tidy up some of the edges with a scalpel.

                                                                and there you have it

There is quite a range of silicone moulds available , feathers, leaves, lace etc.

Here is a link  from the store I bought my supplies from which shows in much greater detail all the great things you can do with this technique.

embossing paste and silicone moulds

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and I'm looking forward to viewing this months challenge entries!

Happy Crafting

Rosemary

Making your own flower embellishments with Joan

Joan here today ... 

I love making my own embellishments and found that I could make some unique flowers out of pop cans.  So pick your pop can(s) of choice.  Mine just happen to be Pepsi cans.

Step One:

I made sure my cans were clean and dry.

Step Two:

I used a X-Acto knife to make a hole in the side of each can.  I used a pair of scissors to cut down the side of the cans…being VERY careful not to cut myself on the sharp edges as I went.

Step Three:

I cut the top and the bottom of the cans off ... it will look like this.  Discard the tops and bottoms of the cans.

Step Four:

I carefully smoothed out the middle of the pop cans and placed them on top of a Sizzix flower die that I have.  I then ran it through my Cuttlebug.  The Cuttlebug cut through the metal pop can like butter.

Step Five:

I then ran the die cut flowers through the Cuttlebug using an embossing folder.

*** Again use extreme caution ... the sharp metal cans will draw blood ... I know from experience.  ***

After die cutting the metal pop cans and embossing the flowers, the edges of the flowers are dulled and not as sharp.

I decided to use my flowers on a layout.






Thanks for visiting.

Joan

OTR DT

DIY - Washi Tape

Hi Lynn here with you today.

Last month I kicked the tires on making your own enamel dots.

I loved doing that and decided that maybe I'd

test drive making your own washi tape.

Again - there are a bunch of tutorials out there and I thought I'd narrow it down.

You'll need parchment paper and I used a 1 inch roll of masking tape.

I did  pick out some paints and stamps and then decided to change things up a bit.

 Lay out strips on your parchment paper - which allows you to remove

the finished product without losing the sticky.

 I used a craft smart mustard yellow enamel paint and slapped it on the tape end-to-end.

 The next I wanted to try a Ranger dauber - green - but all it says on the label is earthtones.

 I also tried an ink pad - that has chalk in it.

  It does take the chalk ink a bit longer to dry.

 And depending how much color you want you have to dab a few extra times.

 Since there was a lot going on I decided that StazOn ink would be best.

 I'm not the greatest stamper in the world - but I really liked the outcome on each.

 I liked the swirly texture from the dauber and used another chalk ink-Studio G 

to stamp the adorable "prima looking" flower stamp from Studio G.

 So far so good.

 Went back to StazOn because I wasn't sure of chalk ink on chalk in.

And the stamp is from Creative Cafe. A total blast from the past.

 And wa-la used the heat gun to get them dry and left them under the lamp for good measure.

As you can see the "washi" tape lifts right up.

 I used pincher clothes pins to wrap the "washi" around.

You are good to go as long as the front and back don't meet. 

So wrap the first little bit around one of the pins.

 From there you can wrap around both pins and it won't hurt the "washi"

doing that. It pulls off rather nicely and rips off easy.

There you have it - 3 varieties of "washi" of which I used one for a page.

Guess?

 The green worked out so perfect on this page.

Blending in nicely with the watercolors and embellishments.

 Used it in 3 places and love how it turned out.

 Can't see much of the flower but it works.

The finished product.

I'm not concerned about the tape per se, as I kept it from the photo.

Also I really don't get overly concerned anymore about items not acid and lingen free.

I found a scrapbook my mom made back in high school with

all the things they tell you NOT to use - and after 60 years it was practically

pristine. It was kept in a cedar lined chest for some time but,

I have been a rebel for about 12 years and never had issues with using

shall we say, non sanctioned scrapbook supplies.

Paper Studio, Kaiser Craft and Bo bunny papers.

Make your own enamel dots with Lynn's tutorial

Hi everyone, Lynn here with you today. You may or may not have seen the various tutorials about your on enamel dots.

So this is not my idea - and isn't that annoying.

I decided, however, that I really wanted to try it for myself and then

why not share the experience with you, my scrappy pals.

I bought the pony beads at Michaels $3.99 a pack - I wanted to have different sizes

and I didn't want to be overwhelmed. You can also use perler beads, which they had for $6.99

and had about a bazillion beads in them.

(Those beads look the same to me).

As if 1,360 isn't overwhelming.

 The tutorials recommend you spread your beads on parchment paper

in cookie sheets, preheat your oven to 450 and bake for 30 minutes.

Weeellll.....

I did preheat the ole oven.

I did use parchment paper.

I did spread those babies out.

 Below is the result. 

I didn't spread them out enough. 

The beads have a tendency to move

during the putting them in the oven process.

Also, during the baking process when the pan "jumps."

And when the paper is isn't flat - it also moves the beads.

I also pulled them out of the oven after 12 minutes.

 There was a lot of melting together going on.

 Therefore, I did what most tutorials said to do, and laid them out

with lots of space between them, because they move.

Alot.

When you put them in the oven.

When the paper moves.

 I also learned to cut the parchment paper down so it 

doesn't curl up on the sides.

I switched the bigger beads to the bigger pan and

smaller beads to the medium pan. DOh!

And I also switched the big beads to the bottom rack and smaller to the top rack.

 I didn't change the temperature of the oven from 450 degrees

 but I did change the time from 12 to 8 minutes.

The brown beads that only come in the smaller pack - are not pretty. 

LOL. Just saying.

And they really didn't melt well.

Those couple of changes gave me much better results - 

and toward the last couple of batches,

I changed the time to 7 minutes.

 I also managed to cut myself on these bad boys - you can break apart

the ones that melted together but there are some sharp edges going on.

 I also found that the change in temperature to 7 minutes made the

small beads bake smaller.

The pans and parchments cool rather quickly - and that helps the process move along.

 These are the results - I have 1,360 small, medium and large sizes in various colors.

Does that rock or what.

And I kept some of the beads that melted together. They sort of look like molecules.

They are not all perfect - but that's part of their charm.

And here's the test - which ones are the ones I did hmmm???

Below are my dots used on a page in various places.

 So rounding up - 2 packs of beads for $8.00, 1.5 hours of time

I have 1,360 various colors of dots.

Or you can pay $4.99 a pack for 60.

ANSWER: The black, beige and white enamel dots are the ones I baked up.

I did have some trial and error going on - and I hope if you try it, I narrowed it down

some for you. 

My oven is a gas, convection oven and if you let the beads go too long they will burn.

I have no idea what the ovens in the tutorials were, but had I used their times

I'd have burned the house down.

It took about 1.5 hours to complete all 1,360 beads.

Even knowing that they rolled around, I still had to make myself NOT

fling a bunch on the pan. So don't do that.

Let me know if you make your own and how your experience went.