SIMON SAYS CHALLENGE - A CHILDHOOD MEMORY

First of all I have to say....I AM HEADING TO CHA IN A COUPLE OF DAYS!  This will be my FIRST TIME to go and I am excited beyond description! All of the incredibly talented designers, product developers and new products that I will be seeing there are AMAZING! I am sure I will be on CREATIVE SENSORY OVERLOAD...but I will be like a big sponge...just soaking in every minute of it!

Here is my entry into this week's Simon Says Challenge - A Childhood Memory.  I made a series of blocks titled "FAMILY".  One block for each letter.  This is part of the "M" block that I share with my husband.  This particular side is my side of the block devoted to my younger self. 

It is a simple wooden block that is covered in different papers on all sides.  Each side is then finished out in pictures and elements and tells its own story.  My idea was to have a family album that is on blocks rather than in a book that gets put on a bookshelf and no one ever looks at.

On this side, I attached a "pull out" using some G45 cardstock that serves as a matting for my pictures.  It is folded into 3 equal sections. I then sized my pictures to fit in the sections.  I added a little Vintage Photo Distress Ink to the pictures and black photo corners to the edges.  I love the black photo corners with the sepia tones of the photographs. I was trying to achieve a real vintage and heirloom feel with these blocks. 

Finally, I added various metal letters to spell my name and a metal heart hanging by a paper clip on the other side.  The paper clip and the heart serve as an embellishment when the pictures are folded out.  When the pictures are folded in, the paper clip holds the pictures together.

Have a wonderful week and take time to play!  It's SOUL FOOD!

JUST A REMINDER...

I will be at Scrapbook Generation this Wednesday, January 19th from 10 - 12 for

"Distress Inks 101"

It's FUN ... it's FREE ... and everyone is invited!

Everyone who attends will be given a sheet of the information about Distress Inks and the techniques that I will be covering.  Then you will be able to try the techniques out for yourself at the different "play stations" that will be available.  You will be amazed at how easy they are to use and what wonderful results you will achieve! And... the instruction sheet will be a handy reference for you when you try the techniques again at home!

So, come in out of the cold and warm up your creative juices at Distress Inks 101!

~ REVISITING THE CHRISTMAS BOOKS ~

I have had some people comment and email me asking me about the Christmas books I pictured on my blog back in December. They were wanting to see the inside of the books. I have pictures of three of the four books and will gladly share them with you. The books started off as plain paper mache books from Hobby Lobby. I painted the exteriors with various colors and painted the "pages" to look like those old edged pages. The covers of the books were images I found online and sized to fit the approximately 5"x7" cover of the book. I distressed the covers to make them look "vintage" and then applied various colors of Stickles to make the look more festive or like old Christmas cards with all of the glitter.  

Here is the interior of "The Night Before Christmas".

I found the page on the left online and sized it to fit the interior cover of my book. I made the little bell corsage on the inside cover out of little silver bells that I glittered gold and wired them to a couple of little pine cones and a piece of evergreen garland...finished off with a red velvet bow. My mother always wore corsages similar to this at Christmastime when I was a little girl. Then I distressed and stickled the page. The interior of the book was done with various miniatures, mostly from Hobby Lobby. The "wallpaper" is some of that wonderful Daisy Ds vintage Christmas paper that is discontinued. I loved that paper and miss it! I made the fireplace using paper that looked like brick. It is flat but the distressing makes it almost look 3D. The mantle of the fireplace is Grungeboard that is inked. The Christmas tree was a plain bottle brush tree that I added ornaments and tinsel garland to. Santa was a little ornament from Hobby Lobby. He was the perfect size! The stocking hung by the chimney with care is actually a piece of snowman print felt. I cut out a little stocking shape and stickled around the outer edge of it then I glued it to the mantle.

This is the interior of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. That was my favorite Golden Book of Christmas stories when I was little. So, I wanted to leave the interior cover of the book to look like the interior of my original cover of the Golden Book I loved so much. The Santa and reindeer is an ornament that worked perfectly. I attached a 3D silver metallic star to the top of the interior of the box and it freely hangs over Santa. He is mounted on a "rooftop" that is made out of Grungeboard and covered in little wooden shingles like are used on dollhouses. The tree in the corner helps support the reindeer. I added Snowtech to the tree and to the rooftop as well as the base of the box. Then I added a little string of plastic lights to the gutter of the roof.

Frosty the Snowman...another of my favorite Golden Books. I made the interior of the cover and sized it to fit. Then I added a few snowflakes, a candy cane and some mica flakes to give it even more of a vintage look. I made the snowy scene for the background of the interior using a scene out of the original book and adding some stickles. The characters are the actual ones in the Golden Book. I sized them, cut them out, added some cardstock behind them for strength and then used small little wooden blocks to mount them in various places. I added Snowtech for that really snowy look. Of course, they are outside in the snow, so I had to add some snow to their shoulders and backs as well. I hung snowflakes from the top of the box to finish it off.

I hope this helps those of you who had asked me to post pictures of the interiors of the books. I intend to add "A Charlie Brown Christmas", "It's A Wonderful Life" and "A Christmas Story" to my "library".

Thanks for spending a little bit of your day with me! I always appreciate your visit.  Leave a comment if you're so inclined. I enjoy reading them!

COMPENDIUM OF CURIOUSITIES CHALLENGE #27 & SIMON SAYS STAMP CHALLENGE

I finally had a chance to work on my creations for the Compendium of Curiousities Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Challenge for this week. Fortunately both challenges are all about masking! I don't use this technique very much. Not because I don't love it, but because I just forget about it. There are so many wonderful techniques in Tim Holtz' book, Compendium of Curiousities. If you haven't participated in either of these challenges, I would encourage you to do so! It's so much fun and it really does challenge you to experiment with Tim's techniques and expand your creativity!

Here is what I created for these challenges....
 

Without giving away the technique, I will go through the steps I did to create this tag.

I inked Tim's Photographic Studio stamp using Vintage Photo, Fired Brick and Walnut Stain Distress Inks all at once. Then I stamped the image onto a #8 manilla tag. I love the look of multicolor stamping. It adds a lot of depth and variance of color to the image.  Then I stamped the image again and used the children as one of my masks on this tag. I also cut out the "97724" and the little girl dressed in the light dress to pop them up off of the tag using adhesive pop dots.  I added just a touch of Vintage Photo Distress ink to the little girl and inked around the edges of the little girl and the numbers with Walnut Stain. I think doing that pops the image even more.

Next I used one of the masks from Tim's "Borderline" mask set across the top of the tag. I sprayed the tag with my own concoction of Broken China, Kiwi Perfect Pearls and water in a Mini Mister as my background color.  I love the softness of it; especially when it is distressed with Vintage Photo and a touch of Walnut Stain Distress Inks. Next, I stamped "Who Where You Before You Put Yourself Last" in permanent black ink onto a piece of cream cardstock. I lightly added some Vintage Photo and accented the edges with Walnut Stain.  Then I brushed just the edges with Black Soot. 

I love this saying!!  It so thought provoking and I thought the little girl in the cream dress looked as though she was thinking that very thought! I glued the saying onto a piece of cardstock that I inked with Fired Brick Distress Ink.  I clipped the cardstock down to just accent the edges of the saying. I went around the edges of that red matting with Black Soot.  I popped the numbers, the girl and the saying in place.

I sized some little vintage pictures of children to fit inside Tim's Film Strip Ribbon and applied Glossy Accents to hold them in place. I love the way the Film Strip Ribbon ties in with the Photographic Studio theme of the stamp. I also love the way it finishes off the top of the tag.

Finally, I colored two pieces of white Hug Snug seam binding; one was sprayed with a concoction of Fired Brick, Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls and water in a Mini Mister.  The other was rubbed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I tied them onto the tag and added a "Moments" Muse Toke with Tim's Ball and Chain.

Thanks for checking out my blog. I hope you liked the tag and I hope it inspires you to try some of Tim's techniques out for yourself!

SIMON SAYS STAMP CHALLENGE - NEW OR UNUSED STAMP

What?! Who among us has an unused stamp? Umm...guess that would be me! I LOVE stamps! I seem to collect stamps! ...And, I use stamps...I just haven't used all of them ...YET! But, that is why this challenge is so wonderful! It made me use a stamp I really had forgotten I had!

I looked through my stamps and found one that I fell in love with three years ago when I found it in Arizona. It is a Santos Paper Doll stamp. 

I loved this stamp because it is a complete jointed paper doll...head and body, arms, hands, and even a jointed skirt. I love the fact that she can be stationary or free to move...whatever your heart desires!

I stamped the doll onto a heavy manilla folder using Timber Brown Stazon ink. Then I added Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Inks to the shaded areas indicated on the doll.  I stamped another torso and the skirt out of one of Tim Holtz'  wonderful solid papers from his Lost And Found paper stack. I embossed the torso with the Cuddlebug "textile" folder and used some Antique Gold Rub N' Buff to lightly accent the high areas of the bodice of the dress to give it a "brocade" look. I also highlighted the skirt spokes. All of the joints are put together with antique copper brads.

I then dressed the doll using pieces of antique laces for the bodice of the dress. Her hair piece is also made from antique laces. I added a touch of "bling" to her hairpiece and her bodice. Next I colored a piece of cream lace with a color I made using Tea Dye Refill Distress Ink, Sparkling Sunflower Perfect Pearls and water in a Mini Mister. This became my paper doll's shawl. 

I chose to weave a strand of heart lace in and out of the skirt "spokes" because I wanted to make this doll with a bit of a Valentine theme. I sized some vintage Valentine post cards to make a Valentine banner. I inked the edges of the postcards with Vintage Photo and rubbed Rock Candy Stickles over the fronts of the postcards to pop the color...and it did! Then I glued the postcards onto a small piece of red ribbon and intertwined it in the doll's fingers.

For the finishing touch, I colored some small white flowers (from Maya Road) and used the same color spray technique I used on the shawl. The flowers are sprayed with Spiced Marmalade and Worn Lipstick as my Distress Ink colors. I used the flowers in her hairpiece and along the ribbon of the Valentine garland.

Now that I have used this stamp, I am sure that I will use her again! She has so many possibilities!

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Have some fun and make some art! IT'S SOUL FOOD!

COMPENDIUM OF CURIOUSITIES CHALLENGE #26

This week's Compendium of Curiousities Challenge was the RUSTED GRUNGE technique as seen on page 45 from Tim Holtz' Compendium of Curiousities book. This is a simple but really fun technique because of the amazing textures you get. Check out Tim's book and see how to do this technique. You'll LOVE the results!

I mixed two Distress Embossing Powders - Antique Linen and Vintage Photo to achieve the rusted look on my iron gate fence.  Then I added a little Black Soot Distress Ink to age it even more.

I used Tim's Texture Fade that looks like brick as my "castle" background. First I inked the texture fade with Pumice Distress Ink and ran it through my Vagabond. That made a really cool looking mortar. Then I colored the "bricks" with Fired Brick. I made another partial wall that I could curve in the front so that I could simulate my little angel girl sitting atop a castle tower.

I used that wonderful foliage stamp that is part of Tim's Fairytale Frenzy stamp set. I stamped it twice; first with Forest Moss and then I partially overlapped it with Bundled Sage to achieve an effect of vines running up the castle wall.

I attached the front wall to the tag, curving it and really making a cool 3D effect. Next I stamped my little angel girl, cut her out and tinted her with Spun Sugar. Every angel has to have wings...right? So I stamped the wings using the pair from Tim's Mini Ornates Stamp set. I mixed Queens Gold and Copper embossing powders to get a vintage yet regal looking pair of wings. I cut them out and attached them to my angel. Next I pop dotted her onto the tag. Finally, I took some very fine copper tinsel and put a little of it behind "I Believe In Angels". 

I experimented with spraying some white Hug Snug with Bundled Sage and then spot spraying Tim's Perfect Pearls Copper Mist. I LOVED the result! It looks very Shabby Chic and a perfect compliment for the green in the tag.

THE VINTAGE VALENTINE TRINKET BOX

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a "Sneak Peek" for the Vintage Valentine Trinket Box class that I will be teaching at Scrapbook Generation in Springfield, Missouri on Thursday, January 13th.

Here he is ... my Vintage Valentine Trinket Box!

I am really excited about teaching this class for a couple of reasons.

Scrapbook Generation will be open tomorrow in their brand new, larger location (right next door to their previous location). The entire store, including the classroom space will be much larger and the gals at Scrapbook Generation are excited to have so much more space to continue to carry the latest greatest of everything!

This will be my first class to teach at Scrapbook Generation...which is really exciting for me!

This little guy is so much fun to make and he will definitely add a vintage "I LOVE YOU"

to your Valentine decor!