Joy ornament

Hi Everyone,

Do you remember trying to take family photos and being told to smile over and over? I think these kiddos have had enough.  I just love the grumpy faces and then giving them silly headgear.  

The oversized tart tin was a perfect place to perch these grumpy guys.  

I'll be back soon with more Christmas makes!

Jess

Frilly and Funkie- Most Memorable Gift (one of my most memorable gifts was a bike. The look on these guys faces sums up my feelings on a bike). 

A Vintage Journey- Winter Wonderland

Simon Says Stamp- Winter/Holidays

The Star of the Show

The man of the hour is making an appearance over on Unruly PaperArts today.  Pop over and see what the Jolly Old Elf is doing.

Jess

Retro Holiday Fun

I have the cutest kitten ornament over on Altered Pages today.  Check out the kitschy fun!

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Pennants with a punch

I always have so much fun playing around with old photos.  So many of them are so serious and I like to make them look a bit goofy. I have also had paper straws kicking around for some time.  Once I decided to make pennants I was off and running.
I recently got some Valentine goodies from Cavallini Papers.  They have wonderful vintage images.  I loved the tiny heart stickers and knew Lisa's Altered Art would have some great focal images to use for the base photos.

A dorky hat with a homemade enamel dot and vintage ric rac make this cutie even cuter.  I popped him up using my rosette die.  I used the centers on the bottom pennant to tie the two parts together.  The heart was plain white, so I fixed that with some alcohol ink.  

I mentioned I had paper straws.  What I didn't say was that I only had bright green polka dots, red stripes, and skulls.  So I had to paint one of the skull ones pink to make it fit with my theme.  For this one I punched holes and tied the flags on with bakers twine.  It's topped off with a mercury glass bead.  

I love these Tim Holtz dapper dudes.  I thought they looked like great contestants for the Dating Game.  A little pinup girl was the eligible bachelorette.  I'm not sure if you can see it, but this one reads "Larry, Ed and Harry knew she was out of their league".   

My final pennant for today is not Valentine themed.  This is for my sister-the coffee fiend.  

I think this sums up mornings for a lot of people!  This image is actually from and old coffee advertisement.  

I tinted her hair bow, lips, and nails with my distress markers.  She has a tiny gem in the middle of her broach. 

I am really loving these pennants and can see myself making a ton of them.  

What have you been crafting?

Jess

A Vintage Journey Use a Portrait

SSS Monday Challenge- Old and New

Mixed Media Monthly- Something New for the New Year

Ornament bonanza!

I have been a busy bee making a ton of Christmas ornaments.

These tiny deer head ornaments were at Joann Fabrics.  I got one thinking it was cute.  When I mounted it in the frame and put a wreath around his neck I went out and bought two more(it was all they had).  

The frames are from Michael's.  They were originally pink, but I painted them to work for my project.  

They are so adorable I can't stand it.  

Ok.  On to the next one.  A few weeks ago I went to the Over the Roof Top show at Sweet Salvage.  My sister saw some scrabble tile ornaments and wanted to get some.  Secret confession time:  I have a Scrabble tile issue.  I hoard them.  I love them.  Whenever I find a game at Goodwill or Savers I grab it.  I told her to hold off and I would make them for her.  

I hope she likes them.  

You can see a sneak peek of my holiday decor.  You will get to see the whole house decorated in an upcoming blog post.  

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Bottle brush tree ornaments

Richele Christensen had the cutest ornaments on her blog a couple weeks ago.  I went out and bought little paper mache boxes so I could make some right away.

This one has german glitter glass on the box.  I colored the tree using Iced Spruce Distress Spray.  I used glossy accents on my craft sheet and dragged the tree around  in it.  After I had the glossy accents on the tree I used distress rock candy glitter to make the tree sparkle.  The ornaments are vintage mercury glass beads.  

The rest of the boxes I covered with Distress glitter.   The trees were all decorated the same way, but I used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Caper Green  to color this tree.  

For the pink tree I used Pickled Raspberry  and Worn Lipstick Distress stains.  

So much fun.  They will add a ton of sparkle to the tree.

Compendium of Curiosities Challenge 17.  Still time to get your copy of Tim's Compendium of Curiosites 3!

Unruly Paper Arts 12 days of Christmas

What have you been crafting?

Jess

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

After being sick for over a week, I finally felt well enough to go back in my craft room.  This little box has been sitting around for some time now.

The plexi glass top slides off so you can get to the insides.  

I started by pulling out some Christmas bits to see what spoke to me.  I ended up going with a pink theme, rather than traditional reds and greens.  With my major inside pieces picked out I grabbed my paints.

A very light wash of pink went on the entire box.  I started very light and went back in to make it a stronger paint finish, not just a wash.  Once I had the entire piece painted I went back and flecked the box with the off white.  I also used Tim Holtz's distress paints in Brushed Pewter and Tarnished Brass.  

Now it was time to layer up the inside.  I pulled pages out of an old dictionary and glued them down with Matte Gel.

Once they were glued down and dry I did a wash of the off white paint just so the words weren't so prominent.  

Flecked the paint inside too.  

Now to make it pretty.  I just love bottle brush trees and plastic ballerina cake toppers.  

I dyed the trees pink using Distress Stains in Pickled Raspberry and Worn Lipstick.  I watered the stain down a bit and then just dipped the trees in until they were a color I liked.  Then I got out my mercury glass beads and pearls to decorate.  

The ballerinas are cute, but I wanted them to be a bit fancy for the shadowbox.  I grabbed my sari silk and dyed that to match the pastel colors.  

Worn lipstick and antique linen made the pink silk.  Broken China and a touch of Peacock Feathers made the blue.  I just wet the silk using my spritzer and ran it through the colors that I had smudged on the craft sheet.  I dried them with my heat gun. 

Fancy party dresses.  

Now I just had to put everything in the box.  

I had some of these vintage houses that used to be part of a light set.  I put some mica snow on the roof and the base.  The ballerinas got glittery crowns and shoes.  The background also got some Christmas remnant rubs.  I just tossed them in there randomly.  Once I was done I realized I made it too fat for the plexi glass top to slide back in! Now I have a piece of plexi glass for another project.  

I added one more ballerina to balance things out. 

 I got the Merry Christmas tag in the dollar bin at Michael's.  The star pin is jammed into the wood and holding up the tag.  

I think this will make a lovely addition to my Christmas decor.  I can't wait to pull it all out.

Have you been by The Robin's Nest? They have a great store and fun blog too.  Great tutorials.  

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Linking to:

Simon Says Stamp A Walk Down Memory Lane

Inspiration Emporium Happy Holidays