Winter Wishes

Hi Everyone,

I bet you thought I had fallen off the face of the earth.  I'm still here.  I just haven't been crafting.  I think this is the longest dry spell I have ever had.  All of my usual tricks for sparking my crafty mojo just didn't seem to be working. I looked at my favorite blogs, read my favorite magazines, pinned a billion projects on Pinterest, and nothing.  I pulled out all of my Christmas decor and finally a little spark. The spark made me run to the craft room and pull out my Christmas box; you know the huge box of Christmas stuff you hoard for Christmas crafting? It sits beside the Halloween box, the Easter box, the Valentine's day box? Please tell me you all have these boxes and it's not time to call in the professionals for help.
I pulled out a bunch of goodies and stared at them.  Then I went to my box box(the box I keep boxes in to craft with) and dug out a small box that my headphones came in.  I knew it would make a perfect shadowbox.
I lined the box with vintage sheet music.

The box is a slate gray color and wanted to keep the color.  I rubbed embossing ink on randomly and then used Clear Embossing Powder for detail.  It wasn't enough.  I slapped on a thick coat of Rock Candy Crackle and let it dry.  While the crackle dried I worked on my interior elements.

I used the mini deer and the mini snowflake mover and shapers from Sizzix.  The deer got a nice coat of Charred Gold Embossing Powder. The snowflakes shimmer with Soft Fallen Snow Embossing Powder.  I love the Soft Fallen snow powder.  There is an iridescent glitter in it and it has a lovely twinkle.  

By now my crackle was dry, but it was lacking something.  I used Distress Stain in Tarnished Brass to highlight the cracks.  The underlayer of Embossing Powder made for some really cool crackles.  

And here is the part of the creative process where I got so excited I stopped taking pictures.

  The bottle brush tree is colored with several shades of green Distress Spray Stains-Evergreen Bough, Moved Lawn, and Iced Spruce. Once the tree was dry I used Glossy accents to get Soft Fallen Snow Embossing powder to stick on the tree.  I didn't heat the powder.  I just let the glue dry and I got perfect snow on my tree.  Once the powder was dry I used some of my vintage mercury glass beads to decorate the tree.  A mirrored star and a bit of mushroom alcohol ink tops the tree.

The tree got glued in the corner and the deer was popped in front.  I put the embossed snowflakes on the back and then using fishing line I added several Snowflake Charms.  I poked hold in the box using a craft knife and just tied tiny knots to hold them up.  To cover the holes and fishing line I made a big bow using seam binding and Barn Door Distress Stain.

The bottom was sprinkled with mica snow.  

The finishing touch was a bit of German scrap edging. 

  

A pretty little addition to the Christmas crew.  Not too shabby for a headphone box. 

Don't forget to enter the Winter Wishes Dare and you have a chance to win a $50 gift card to the shop. 

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday surrounded by friends and family.  

Merry Christmas,

Jess

Awesome Emerald Creek Supplies used:

 Snowflake Charm
Charred Gold Embossing Powder
Soft Fallen Snow Embossing Powder
Clear Embossing Powder

Snowmen and Bottlebrush Trees are a few of my favorite things

It doesn't get much better in my book than snowmen and bottlebrush trees.  When I was sent some Soft Fallen Snow embossing powder from Emerald Creek Crafts I knew I wanted to make a beautiful bottlebrush tree with it.

I used a Tim Holtz woodland tree and dyed it with glimmer mist and Iced Spruce Distress Spray.  Once my tree was dry I used Picket Fence Paint on the branches.  While the branches were wet I sprinkled them with the embossing powder.  I gently heated the powder.  Don't over heat or the tree with start to smoke! I just might have done that, maybe...  I kept layering on the embossing powder until I was happy with the coverage.  

I glued on vintage mercury glass beads and topped the tree with Mirrored Stars.

I set my tree aside to work on my snowman.  The snowman is made out of Activa Premier Clay.  I have a tutorial on how to make the snowmen here.  

His little hat is the topper from an old ornament top, a plastic Christmas light cover, a jingle bell, some tinsel, and tiny plastic Christmas lights.  His scarf is ribbon from Tim Holtz.  

Once he was finished I glued the large tree and the snowman to the tart tin.  

I added a couple tiny trees to balance out the scene.  Some teeny presents and snow complete this winter scene.  

Our Creative Corner Wish Upon a Star Challenge

Mixed Media Monthly Silver and Gold

Simon Says Stamp Hoping for a winter wonderland

Emerald Creek Dares Wishing You a Merry Christmas

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your friends and family! 

Jess

Merry Christmas from all the girls

I have to admit when I started working on this panel I wasn't sure where it was going.  The background is Barn Door Distress Spray, a gold glimmer mist, and white paint flicked on after the sprays were dry.  Once I saw the red and gold shimmer I knew it had to go Christmas.  I layered on some green polka dotted paper, random text paper, and vintage ledger paper.

 

Making Spirits Bright

Do you love vintage Christmas like I do? I hoard so much Christmas stuff it is crazy.  I love old Christmas bulbs.  I display them all around the house at Christmas time.  This year I decided to repurpose some of them into ornaments.

Pop over to Altered Pages to see what I came up with!

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Winter Wishes Clock

This vintage snowman has been needing a home and I decided to put him back in the Christmas woods.

 MME Noel paper was a perfect backdrop for this winter scene.  The bottle brush trees were dressed up with glitter and vintage mercury glass beads.  A layer of mica snow coats the bottom.

Some tinsel and wire snowflakes complete the interior.

I felt like the back needed to be dressed up on this one.  The plain black felt too harsh.

Craft Hoarders Anonymous-celebrate-season

Try it on Tuesday Christmas is Coming

Frilly and Funkie Vintage Christmas

Unruly Paper Arts 12 days of Christmas Link Up Party

What have you been crafting?

Jess