Crackle It!

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a Tim Holtz fan... and if I'm a Tim Holtz fan, that pretty much makes me a Ranger fan as well.  This month's Vulnerability kit has a wonderful new crafty item for me to play with, and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.  Meanwhile, over at the Inside Out forums, our very own Nancy read my mind and shared this great tutorial using the Crackle Medium! 

First Christa, now Nancy... the design team just might have developed a new mind reading skill!  Did Nancy read your mind too?  Here's some tricks and tips (and really fancy technical terms) for using Ranger's Crackle Accents:

Creative Ideas for Ranger’s Crackle Medium

by Nancy Doren

This month’s kit contains the very cool Crackle Accents medium from Ranger. 

It’s a bottle full of a clear gel that dries to a pretty crackle finish.  It’s the perfect technique for all your pages about Vulnerability—very symbolic!  Here are a few ways to use Crackle Accents:

I created crackled flowers on my Only You layout by applying the gel over the flower, then swooshing (yes, that’s the technical term) it around with a paint brush. 

I tried a thin layer first, but after it dried there was almost no crackling, so I went back and applied a thick layer.  I found through my experiments this month that the Crackle Medium works best in a really thick layer.

Let the flower dry, and you’ve got a lovely crackly bloom!

I also used Crackle Medium on the Pink Paislee transparency.

And on the metal badge. I love that it looks like a “broken” heart!  To apply it to those surfaces, I just squirted some on and smooshed it around with my finger.

My favorite way I used Crackle Accents was on paper. I applied the gel to my ruffled paper strip like this:

Then I used my paintbrush again to swoosh the gel around.

After it had dried, I gently bent the paper to create more cracks. The paper was actually very flexible and had an almost rubbery feel to it.

And here’s the finished product:

Another fun way to use Crackle Accents is as a kind of enamel.  I used it to create these butterflies:

I created the butterflies by trimming them from the Dear Lizzy lace paper, then backing them with patterned paper. I did this by tracing the “holes” in their wings, then cutting out each bit of paper. Here’s what the back of the butterfly looks like:

Then I filled each hole with the gel medium, being careful not to get it on the wings.

Then I let it dry and it looks like this:

I also tried using it on chipboard letters, then used my heat gun to make the drying process faster. This did not work. :D At least not in the way hoped for. What actually happened is the gel heated up and bubbled. I left it the way it was because I kind of like the look, but it’s definitely not crackled.

I know that you are all such clever crafters and will come up with lots of fun ways to use Crackle Accents. Let us know what you discover!

Whoo Hoo!  Well, my kit arrived in the mail today so I know the first thing I'm going to play with.  Have you ordered your kit yet?  If not, and you want one, better hurry before we're sold out!  And, as always, join us in our community for more inspiration, sharing and tutorials like this one!