Up-cycling Archives - Ann Butler Designs

January 17, 2017 By Ann Butler 1 Comment

Recycle that Old Cardstock with Iridescents

Most of us have extra cardstock in our stash that could use a new look! Maybe you bought too much of it, no longer have a need for it, or simply no longer like it! I know that I have a lot of cardstock that I will never us as is…so I decided it was time to Recycle that old cardstock with Iridescents!

Recycle Old CardStock with Iridescents before picture

Above is a picture of one piece of card stock I have that I will never use as it is.

I decided to collage it a bit for a new look and make it something I would actually use in some of my projects. I love mixed media and thought it would be the perfect solution to recycle this old cardstock!

This post contains affiliate links, if you click on them I may make a commission at no cost to you:0)

It was time to Recycle that Old Cardstock with Iridescents.

Step 1:

Dry brush Earth Safe Finishes White Gesso over the cardstock, as desired.

Step 2:

Tear up some old paper or music sheets. Adhere randomly to cardstock with Earth Safe Finishes Gel Medium.

Step 3:

Brush Ann Butler’s Iridescents, in colors of choice, onto the cardstock. Apply more gesso and then, Iridescents until you get the desired result.

Step 4:

Add rub-ons, if desired.

Recycle that Old Cardstock with Iridescents…

Here is a picture of the final piece!
It has great dimension and can be used for so many things.
It turned out wonderful and was quick and easy.

Think Green and give it a try!
Turn some of the cardstock you have piled up
but might never use as it is so, recycle it into something you will use!

CreateForLess.com - Create More, Spend Less

Ann Butler Design’s Products used:

Ann Butler Design’s Iridescents from Earth Safe Finishes, Sheer Gold

Partner Products:

other products:

Old Decorative Cardstock
Old Paper or Music Sheets
Rub On’s, optional
Glue Stick, optional

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May 6, 2016 By Vishu Reberholt Leave a Comment

Up-cycled Stenciled Bookend

Hi, Friends! Vishu here today to share a fun Upcycled Bookend using Ann Butler Designs. This makes for a great gift that can be personalized.

My mom loves books and has a lot of them so I created this cute project which was very quick and easy for Mother’s day an Upcycled Bookend using Ann Butler Designs.

Products Used:

Colorbox Crafter’s Ink by Ann Butler Designs Limelight, Deep Woods, Tangelo, Berry
Ann Butler Designs Iridescents Limelight
Ann Butler Designs Art Screen by ColorBox®- Lattice
Paper flowers, leaves and button for embellishment

Instructions:

First I applied a coat of Ann Butler Designs Iridescents Limelight and let it dry.
I wanted it to be little bit darker so applied another coat and let it dry, that what I love about the iridescent you can get the exact shade you are looking for.
Once dry I daubed the Ann Butler Designs art screen using the crafter’s ink in deep woods and let it dry.
Lastly I embellished the booked by paper flowers and leaves which were colored using the crafter’s ink and you have an Upcycled Bookend using Ann Butler Designs.

Below are some closeups of the project.

Hope you enjoyed the Tutorial and enjoy the upcoming Mother’s Day.

September 28, 2015 By Steph Ackerman Leave a Comment

Upcycled Jar with Iridescents

Hi everyone, Steph Ackerman here today with a Upcycled Jar with Iridescents creating a fun altered project. Using Earth Safe Finishes Iridescents you can upcycle anything for a fabulous new look. We’ve all got lots of jars and bottles around so why not alter them and make them pretty.

Supplies:
Earth Safe Finishes – Iridescents in Aquamarine, Ocean Surf, Limelight, Onyx
Adhesive – Helmar’s Decoupage and Craft Paste
Flowers – Prima
Rhinestones – Want2Scrap
Ribbon
White tissue paper

Tear tissue paper into scraps. Adhere the tissue paper around to a glass jar with Helmar’s Decoupage and Craft Paste. Once the jar is covered, paint on a layer of Decoupage and Craft Paste to seal the tissue paper.

Allow to dry, then paint Aquamarine Iridescents about the jar until it is completely covered.

Next, paint Ocean Surf Iridescents over the Aquamarine Iridescents selectively. Let it dry then add Limelight Iridescents.

Allow to dry completely, then paint on Onyx Iridescents. Use a baby wipe to wipe away the Onyx Iridescents. You never wipe it away completely because, as you can see, it hugs the recessed portions of the tissue paper and provides a fabulous aged look!

Decorate with ribbons, flowers, and bling. Doesn’t it look fabulous? I am thrilled with how it turned out.

Please stop by my blog – I’ve upload a short video on how I created this project. And I’d love to know what you think of it.

Thanks for stopping by today.

September 17, 2015 By Design Team 1 Comment

Repurposed Table using Ann Butler Art Screens

Hi everyone! Paula here today with a fun way to repurpose an old or outdated table.

Supplies:

Piece of furniture to alter/paint
Primer paint
Paint (I used a product called Wood Icing Furniture Glaze) in Black
Ann Butler Art Screen in Waves
Painters tape, paint brush, dropcloth to protect floor

I found this old table at a sale many months ago. When I saw it, I knew I had to do something with it! It sat in my garage what seemed like “forever”. I have had this idea for some time to use either Ann Butler Faux Quilting stamps or Ann Butler Art Screens. I opted for the art screen in the Waves pattern. Here’s how I did it:

1) Original table

This original table looks like it had some type of crackle paint on it. It was looking pretty rough. I started with a base primer coat. I didn’t sand it. I just cleaned it well before painting. Let dry.

2) After the primer coat dried, I started painting the bottom portion of the table with the Wood Icing Glaze. This took two coats for the look I wanted, which was a really deep black. Because I needed to do areas in different stages, after the first coat was done, I started working on the top.

3) This is the fun part. You can do any design you wanted, but I wanted a fairly even pattern. I started by laying strips of painters tape diagonally across the entire top, covering the whole surface.

Yes, this looks really odd, but bear with me. After covering the whole top, then I started removing every other strip. I only did this in order to keep the lines even.

4) Once I had strips in one direction, then I started the entire process with the painters tape in the opposite diagonal direction. Then, once again, I removed every other strip.

5) Now time to paint. I used Ann Butler’s Wave Art Screen, almost as a stencil, and applied the wood glaze to every other square. I rotated the position of the art screen each time I moved it. The other squares were painted with solid glaze. Let the paint / glaze dry for 24 hours before removing the tape.

6) That’s it. After the top had dried completely, I had to go back and finish painting the edge, and doing touch-ups. Again, I always let it dry in between coats / steps for at least 24 hours. Yes, this project was an “over-time” piece.

I hope you like it! It now sits in my living room with a plant on it. Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Paula

June 24, 2015 By Design Team 1 Comment

Up-Cycled Stamped Can

Hello, everyone! Kristi here today and I wanted a fun pencil holder with style so I repurposed a noodle can for the perfect addition to my table! So I’m doing step by step on this one! I start with my container and remove the label!

The label is my “pattern” so I cut my ivory paper to size and now the fun begins! I used stamps from Ann’s Line from Clearsnap and the wonderful Colorbox Crafter’s Ink® in Blueberry!

I stamp the primary design then come in with the secondary design and layer the designs and the ink color. Sunshine is the second color added. I did heat emboss the entire image.

I hope you can see the shine from the sparkle embossing powder I used on the entire project! And yes, I have to add the bling.

Next I attached the paper to the can and added my bling. I then used Makin’s Clay to make some heart embellishments. I did dry them on the can so they would have the slight curve.

I painted all of my heart pieces with Earthsafe Finishes™ in Ann’s Colors! The hearts were then attached with Tombow Mono Multi Adhesive.

Now I have a really fun and functional pencil/pen holder and upcycled my noodle can! It also has bling appeal.

What can you repurpose/upcycle??

Kristi

March 19, 2015 By Ann Butler 7 Comments

Up-cycle Plates from Drab to WOW!

Today I am showing you how to Up-cycle Plates from Drab to WOW! I decided to take some old plates that I picked up at a thrift store and use my Iridescent’s on them.

Making up-cycled plates are oh so easy to do. First, I used a foam brush and just dabbed on Lagoon Iridescents and waited for it to dry.

Then I used Earth Safe Finishes Gel Medium to apply a decorative piece of tissue paper and let that dry.

I applied a layer of Earth Safe Finishes Eco Epoxy following the manufacturer’s instructions and let that dry.

You can see on the picture above (if you look closely) the Eco Epoxy is not quite dry.

Although this picture does not do it justice, just look at that brilliant shine…..what will you update?

Now to enjoy some more quick and easy recycled craft projects check out:

January 12, 2015 By Design Team 3 Comments

Creating a Card with Up-cyced Cardstock

anniversary card

Hi, and welcome to the Ann Butler Designs blog. This is Roberta and I am happy to share a card I made for my husband for our anniversary yesterday, 16 years together and where has the time gone?

Using Ann’s new background stamps makes paper crafting, and making cards super easy.

I chose the ColorBok card stack because I’ve had it for a while (I’m honest) and it has many coordinating items, including stickers.

Instructions:

I cut my cardstock to create a 5×7 card. I chose a light pattern so I could use all my luscious inks and show off my stamp.

cardstock before ink, stamp, and watercolor

Blending several inks together,I distressed the front of the card.

Next, I inked up the chunky stamp with aquamarine to stamp down the right side of the card. I left a 1″ space to insert and glue a reverse-colored piece of cardstock to add contrast. ( I painted it with the inks)

Next, I chose the floral and butterfly graphic to fussycut and watercolor with Ann’s inks, and glued down once it was dry.

The fourth layer involved cutting out the beige flowers from the cardstock, gluing it down, and then attaching the single butterfly and sentiment sticker.

: layering

As a final touch I used the DecoArt gold paper effects (with special tip which is included with the bottle)

Ingredients

ColorBox® Ann Butler Background Basics quilt-themed stamps
ColorBox® Ann Butler Crafters’ Ink, Aquamarine, Limelight, Night, Lilac
ColorBok cardstock
DecoArt Paper effects, Vintage gold
Clearsnap® ink blender
ektools clear tacky glue

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope I was able to inspire you.

December 10, 2014 By Vishu Reberholt Leave a Comment

Re-cycled Stamped Bangles

Happy Holidays everyone! Its Vishu here today popping in to share this quick recycled bangle.

I really enjoyed working on this project and can’t wait to wear these bangles this holiday season. I think they make for a great gift too.

Products Used

Ann Butler Design’s 1″ leaves all over

Ann Butler Design’s Crafter’s Ink by Clearsnap: Berry

White Cardstock

Colorbox Glitter

1/4″ wide double sided glue tape

I brought some bowls from Ikea and had these cardboard rings between two bowls. Since the rings were narrower I glued two rings together.

Then I stamped the image using crafter’s ink in berry.

I then cut out the image in the width I need

I stuck these pieces to the cardboard bangle

I then colored the edges with crafter’s berry ink color. Finally I stuck the double sided tape to the edges and poured the glitter.

Hope you enjoyed this project and thanks for stopping by………….

November 17, 2014 By Design Team 1 Comment

Upcycled Cardboard Mini Canvas

Hello and welcome to the blog . This is Roberta and I hope you like my project for today.

Upcycling is always a fun challenge for me. Today I have created an adorable mini canvas from discarded cardboard packaging. This little square wedge is really a diamond in the rough.

I forget where it came from, but my first instinct was ‘Gee, that would make the most awesome stamp!’. And it did. I inked one of the sides a delicious blue and it created a stunning image.

Here is what I did:

Apply DecoArt gesso to prime and seal the canvas.
once dry, stamp background using Ann Butler Designs EZ-Des faux-quilting stamps. I used Clearsnap Colorbox stamping ink in Night (black) because it is amazing on almost every surface. I think these stamps in black, against the white background really anchor the canvas and make everything else pop!
create more texture with a stencil and DecoArt texture paste. Let it dry.
Color the dried medium by painting or rubbing, and embellish as desired. I used Stickles and DecoArt acrylic paints.

: thick and dense cardboard 4×4

: Priming with gesso

: gesso top and 2 ‘uglier’ sides, paint pattern sides

: stamp with faux-quilting stamps onto gessoed surface. The surface is a little irregular so stamping will not be even.

: place and secure stencil

: using DecoArt texture medium to create a raised feature

Added Bonus! Once I removed the stencil there was enough residual medium to get a second impression so I grabbed some patterned paper and got another raised floral feature.

Thank you for visiting the blog today!

February 27, 2014 By Design Team 16 Comments

Up-cycled Home Decor Gift Idea

Hello Everybody! This is Roberta and today I would like to show you how easy it is to create an up-cycled home decor gift working with Ann Butler Designs stamps and inks.

First Impressions are very important!

Yes, I suppose the pun is intended, but I would like to start by sharing my own first impression of the products. Like so many of you, I have used TONS of different inks and stamps over the years. Many of them are interchangeable and really don’t stand out.

Ann’s inks pads, Crafter’s Ink by Ann Butler Designs can be described in one word,’ JUICY!’ They are super juicy and such a pleasure to use. There is no struggling or tapping the pad to your stamp numerous times because once is quite often enough.

The stamps are also excellent quality; super clingy and they really grip your inks resulting in rich, crisp images every time.

And now on to the show!

What did I use?

4 wooden blocks, 2” square
Acrylic paint, Wedgewood Blue
2” stamps
Paint brush
Textured shelf liner
EZ-De’s Easy Design Elements for Stamping Alphabet stamps
Ann Butler Earth Safe Finishes Iridescents in Lipgloss
Unity Stamp Company 1″ faux quilting stamps ( Leaves all Over, Stripes.Dots.Hearts. and Diamonds & Plaid)
InkadinkaClings
Wet wipes

I grabbed these wonderful 2” wooden blocks for $2! They are solid and have a nice weight to them. They have been sealed which means I couldn’t stamp directly onto the blocks and instead of sanding them (yuck – messy) I chose to paint them with DecoArt acrylic paint first which covers the surface beautifully and dries very quickly. With my blocks freshly painted I can start decorating them.

Instead of spelling out a word or just stamping random images I decided to ‘break up the set’ and create 4 individual gifts. I chose 4 friends and for each one I am making them an alpha block with the first letter of their name.