Season's Greetings Christmas Card

Hey Everyone, 

It's October 1st, so it's ok to post Christmas cards now!

This is one of the cards I made for the new Christmas release from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous.  I  loved this one because all of the elements really came together. And the pinecones; I'm a sucker for pinecones.  I apologize for the cruddy photos.  I had to get a new phone and these were taken with the old guy.  They are a bit darker than I would like them.

I started by taking the Stamptember set from 2018 and using archival inks in Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo.  I used specialty stamping paper and stamped the images in the corners.  I wanted a good portion of the image, but still blank space in the center so the sentiment would draw your eye.
 I blended old paper, antique linen, and tea dye distress inks all over the entire background. I lightly spritzed on distress spray stain in tea dye and quickly blotted it so it just makes the paper look like it's foxed. I added highlights using a gold gel pen.

  The sentiment is from the new Christmastime 2 set(CMS389).  It was stamped and then embossed using Ranger embossing powder in gold. 
The specialty stamping paper was then backed with brown kraft stock.

The next layer is the snowflake acetate sheet from last year's Ideaology Christmas Stack. 
The gold metallic kraftstock was stamped with the new Lumberjack set(CMS384) using archival ink in Vintage photo. 

I dyed some sari ribbon using all(yes all of them) the green Distress Inks.  I smooshed then all on my glass mat and ran the damp sari ribbon in it until I was happy with the color.  I added a bit of Vintage Photo Distress Ink to pull in the brown.  The ideaology pinecones were colored using gold and mushroom alcohol inks.  They were tied on with an ideaology tiny bell.  I glued the ribbon to the back of the layers and then used a final layer of kraftstock as my card base. 

I hope this starts to get you into the Christmas spirit!
Happy making,
Jess

Believe in Possibility

Hi Everyone,

I have an altered wooden tag up on the Blank Page Muse blog today.   Pop on over for the full tutorial.  

Jess

Salvaged Heart

Hi Everyone,
I'm up on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Blog today with this beautiful shabby chic piece.

This was really simple to put together.  Start by covering both sides of  your Dress Form Tag with the paper of your choice.  I inked the edges of my paper. 

  

Cover the largest set of wings from the Wings Assortment with gold embossing powder. Once the wings have cooled off attach them to the back of the tag using a strong adhesive. 

 Cover the base of your Flourished Heart Frame with DIna Wakley Media Paint in Blushing.  This is a bold pink and I used a wash of cheap brown acrylic paint to tone it down for this project.  

Cover the top of your frame with Finnabair Paint in Royal Red.  While the paint is still wet cover the heart with Distress Embossing Powder in Vintage Photo.  This makes the heart look old and kind of crusty.  Perfect for this project.     

Glue your frame together and attach it to the dress form tag.  Finishing the main part of the piece just took using a Tim Holtz Chip word that I banged on the side of my desk to ding it up.  Vintage photo Distress Ink covers the chip word.  

I used an old spindle to make my base.  I stuck a Tim Holtz Memo Pin in the top and then wedged the finished project into it.  I love the look of sari ribbon for making bows.  This one has a large off white bow and a smaller pink bow to cover where the pin got stuck into the spindle. 

The spindle is fun because you can just pop this piece out and change it up for the season.  

Enjoy! 

Jess

Simon Says Stamp- Grunge it up!

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.

 

Whimsical Keychains

I was at Michael's the other day just poking around and came across some plastic keychains in the kids section.  They were on sale and I knew I could make something out of them.

 

I made a bunch with scraps of paper, bits of ribbon, and Lisa's Altered Art images.

 

Some girls got glittery wings

 

Some got tiny bling on their crowns.

 

This girl got a blingy button.

 

She has glittery wings and a jeweled crown.

 

I made even more(there were 16 in the package), but you must be sick of looking at photos.  Run over to Michael's and grab a box to make your own.  How cute would these be for stocking stuffers, bachelorette parties, or a birthday bash? I'd love to see them if you make some.

Frilly and Funkie things with wings challenge

Simon Says Stamp Tie It Up CHallenge

Vintage Journey- Things with Wings

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Mini Affirmations

 I have some altered coasters for you today.  I love to use coasters for the base of my work.  They are light and cheap(bonus points for being absorbent).   They are also great for sending out happy mail since a stamp usually covers the cost of mailing it out.  

Paula Cheney had a great tutorial on her blog using Distress Sprays and the new Micro Glaze that I had to try. 

This was my first attempt and it came out much darker than I had anticipated.  I think the Rusty Hinge Distress Paint on the edges was a tad much.  Not the look I was going for, but I still really like it.  I also love the old paper someone was using for their math homework or figuring out their monthly budget.  I smudged some gesso on the side to brighten it up a tad.  

This is the same background paper I used on the first coaster.  See what I mean about it being darker than I anticipated! I put a sari ribbon bow on this one.  

Here you can see how I colored the photos using either Distress Markers or Distress Ink.  She is totally rocking that resin flower.  

This is the brightest of the bunch.  I used Peacock Feathers to color the modeling paste instead of spraying it after I used the stencil.  The edges on this one are inked using my favorite Pumice Stone Ink. 

This coaster is a tad smaller than the other three.  I used the tiny tattered floral die to make my flowers.  They are so easy to make.  I did a bunch and tossed them in a jar to grab when I need them.  I didn't do modeling paste on here since most of the background is covered.  I still stenciled a bit using Distress Paints in Worn Lipstick and Antiqued Bronze.  

Vintage Journey- Spring Colors

Mixed Media Monthly Spring Flowers

Frilly and Funkie Happy, Happy, Happy

Our Creative Corner April Showers

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog Stencils

Simon Says Stamp Monday X,Y,Z Challenge (I used my X-acto knife to trim my papers, a bunch of Yellow (paper, distress markers to tint the photos, and alcohol ink) and my favorite Zip dry glue).

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Tim Holtz Tag for February

I love the techniqueTim used this month.  Collages really just let you play.  Here's my take.

Would you believe the ring around the bride and groom was a vintage plastic scarf tie?! The power of alcohol ink.  That stuff rocks.  

Hope you enjoy my tag!

I am also entering this into the Craft Hoarders Anonymous How do I Love Thee challenge.

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