A VINTAGE JOURNEY THAT'S A LITTLE BIT FRENCH

Are you ready for a trip to France?  Well, not literally, but creatively speaking.

Astrid MacLean is hosting our creative endeavor this week. It is "A Little Bit French".

This can have so many interpretations ... "Oui"? I invite you to pull out your creative passport and join in on the fun over at A Vintage Journey. The Creative Guides have some gorgeous projects waiting for you there.

Have you ever created something only to have someone say, "that's beautiful but what are you going to do with it?"  Being more of a mixed media artist, I get that question a lot more than probably someone who is primarily a card maker or a scrapbooker. Their art has an obvious purpose.  

But sometimes, don't you just feel like creating something purely for the artistic value and it doesn't necessarily have to have a purpose? I hope that I'm not the only one who feels that way from time to time. 

But I also like to create things that do have a specific purpose; usually a home decor piece.  Today, I took the "A Little Bit French" challenge and created this ....

a French shabby chic kleenex box cover. I'd never made one and thought it might be a fun thing to do.

Anyone can do this.  You just need to measure the sizes of your kleenex box and increase the numbers just a little bit before you cut your chipboard, so that your creation can easily slide over the kleenex box. In this case, my kleenex box sides measured not quite 4 1/2" wide and approximately 5 1/4" tall.

So, I cut 4 sides out of chipboard that measured 4 3/4" wide x 5 1/2" tall.  The top is 4 3/4" square and I die cut the oval in the center using the medium sized oval from Tim Holtz' Sized Ovals die cut. 

I created "structure strips" out of kraft cardstock cut into 1" strips then scored down the center at the 1/2" mark. Next add a piece of doubled sided tape (in this case I used 1/4" Scor Tape) on either side.

 Then you basically make a box without a bottom on it.  To do this, begin with your center section and adhere one of the structure strips cut to a 5 1/2" length to the outer edge of the chipboard.  Then line up a side piece (it doesn't matter which one is first) at a 90 degree angle and attach the side to your center with the Scor Tape. You will repeat this for all sides of the box. But before completing the square box, add the top of your box to what will be the front or back using the structure strips and attaching it in the same manner. Then complete the box.  At this point, all of the structure strips will be on the INSIDE of the box.

Apply more structure strips on the OUTSIDE of the box for more support. Cut each strip to fit the length of the joint and attach in place. Do the sides of the box first and then the top.  Now you are ready to cover your box.

Since this is a French themed challenge, I immediately thought of Tim Holtz' French Industrial Paper Stash. I cut these papers from the section that has the 6"x6" squares.  I cut them to fit my 4 3/4" x 5 1/2" chipboard sides.  Before attaching them to the sides of my box, I wanted to shabby chic them up a bit.

First I added some of Wendy Vecchi's Crackle Texture Paste through Tim Holtz' Harlequin Stencil.  I absolutely love this stencil for a french theme and also the Crackle Paste. It's creamy, easy to work with and you get great crackled results!

When that was dry, I lightly brushed some white Gesso over the papers.  Be careful to not cover up your images too much with the Gesso. It's fairly opaque if you brush it on fairly heavy. Then heat set it.

Time to experiment! I wanted to add color to my sides; a teal-ish color because I LOVE teal.  But I wanted to do it in an unconventional manner. Experimenting is so much fun and sometimes you stumble onto the coolest things!  So, on my Non Stick Craft Sheet, I mixed some of Wendy Vecchi's new Archival Ink Reinker colors; Leaf Green and Forget Me Not.  (These are permanent inks and once they are dry, they will not react with water). And I added a little water to dilute the ink down and added a spritz of Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls Mist.  

The color was just a tad too green for me, so I softened it with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and "Oooh La La" ... I love the teal-ish tone that I got!

The absolute coolest thing happened when I started adding my brown tones.  First (not pictured) I used my Ink Blending Tool and began adding Gathered Twigs Distress Ink to pull in the brown from the paper still showing underneath. Then the magic happened!! I used a make up sponge and started adding Wendy Vecchi's Potting Soil Archival Ink to darken the harlequin pattern and then began randomly adding it to the paper. I guess it was the Sunflower Sparkle that was in the teal-ish wash that I created; but when I started rubbing the Potting Soil ink over the colored paper, it started looking like a tarnished brass finish.  The coolest thing ever!  You really need to try that!  It's AMAZING!

  

Next I added some Black Soot Distress Ink using a small eye shadow sponge just to the raised harlequins and a touch around the edges of the paper.  That really added a lot of definition to the papers.

Here's a trick for adding stamped images to surfaces that are not flat ... I stamped some "french" images from Tim Holtz' stamp sets; Paris Memoir, Papillon, Mini Classics, Attic Treasures and Paris To London onto white tissue paper using Jet Black Archival.  I heat set the image and then tore out around them. Then I lightly brush Matte Multi Medium over the area I was going to apply the stamped image. I laid the stamped tissue paper in place. Then lightly brushed more Matte Multi Medium over the top. The tissue just "melts" into the background.  I actually lightly brushed over the entire paper with the Matte Multi Medium and let it dry.  Once dry, I added highlights to some of the images using a spritz of Sunflower Sparkle on my Non Stick Craft Mat and a Detailer Water Brush.  In the photo above, you can see the stamped images and also the subtle golden highlights.  I also used the eye shadow applicator to add some Florentine Treasure Gold Guilding Wax to the raised harlequins and randomly along the edges of the papers.  

Once all four sides had the stamped additions to them, it was time to attach them to the chipboard sides.  I did that with 1/2" Scor Tape.  When all of the side papers were in place, I added Tim's Tissue Tape to cover the edges. Then I inked the tape first with Peacock Feathers followed by Potting Soil and finally some random swipes of Florentine Treasure Gold.  

I created the top for the box in the same manner that I did on the sides.  I Tissue Taped the edges and it was time to finish embellishing each side.

  
Side One ~ I added Tim's Ribbon Flags cut out of scrap paper from the French Industrial Paper Stash. I distressed the banner with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink and a touch of black on the edges.  Then I stamped "REVE" which is the French word for "DREAM".  I then brushed Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint on top and let it dry. I gently pounced the banners with Gathered Twigs and glued them to a piece of black cording that I draped across the top. I added two small Ideaology Fleur De Lis (with their charm tops clipped off) from Tim's Adornments to cover the ends. Finally, I altered the two silver Pen Nibs with Gold Paint Dabber, some Florentine Treasure Gold and a little black acrylic paint to represent dried ink and glued them in place. 

Side 2 ~ I added Tim's Plaquette that I distressed with Potting Soil Archival Ink. Then I die cut the flowers from Tim's Tattered Flower Garland from more scraps from the paper stash.

I distressed the leaves with Evergreen Bough and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks.  The flowers were distressed with Picked Raspberry and Mustard Seed.  Then all were brushed with Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint and left to dry. After drying, I edged all of them in black. I added a piece of vintage tulle behind the flowers and leaves and glued them in place.

Side 3 ~ I added the Prima resin picture frame that I had distressed with black acrylic paint then a Gold Paint Dabber and a touch of Juniper (greenish) Paint Dabber (for a patina look) and a touch of Florentine Treasure Gold. The metal crown at the bottom is from Tim's Regal Adornments It originally was a pewter color but was altered with Green Amber Treasure Gold, a touch of Silver Treasure Gold and Florentine Treasure Gold.  The decorative metal piece at the top was a little "treasure" in my stash of stuff.

Side 4 ~ I added Tim's Ornate Plate with a computer generated "AMOUR" which in French means, Love.

Once again, here is my finished very vintage/shabby French kleenex box cover! 

"Je pense que c'est très joli. Aimez-vous?"  
English Translation:  "I think it is very pretty. Do you love it?"

I'm glad that your vintage journey led you here today!  I hope you will join us at

A Vintage Journey with your own "A Little Bit French" creation.  You could be the lucky winner of our generous sponsor's £10 gift voucher at

Have a wonderfully crafty day and enjoy YOUR vintage journey!

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS CANVAS AND TUTORIAL FOR MY ARTISTIC ADVENTURES

Hello friends!  Welcome to my blog.

Once again, I am honored to be a guest designer for the lovely and talented Heather Hudson of My Artistic Adventures. The theme of this week's challenge is "On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me ... TWO ..."  emphasis being on Christmas and on the number TWO.

I love Christmas any time of year and making this vintage Christmas canvas for Heather's challenge using her lovely collage sheet was a lot of fun!

I have been working on a project using papers from the Twelve Days of Christmas, so that song has already been revolving around in my head for over a week. So when Heather told me the theme for this challenge, I immediately thought of "two turtle doves".  While the birds I used on my Christmas canvas are not turtle doves, I could not resist the two gorgeous blue birds on Heather's Shabby Vintage Chic Victorian Blue Birds/Music Tags.

(Click on the photo to see this collage sheet at Heather's Etsy Store)

Wouldn't this collage sheet make the most gorgeous Christmas gift tags?  In this tutorial, you will see how to create the tag I used on this canvas as well as the embossed canvas that it is attached to.  So, sit back, relax and enjoy!

1. Place Tim Holtz' Holly Bough Stencil on the right side of a 5x7 canvas. Using something like a hotel room key or an art spatula, wipe Wendy Vecchi's White Embossing Paste (love this stuff) onto the canvas.  Remove the stencil and immediately rinse it and the spatula off.  Gently heat set the embossing paste and repeat the process on the other side of the canvas.

The canvas will then look like this.  Pretty, huh?

2. Paint over the entire canvas using an acrylic brown paint of your choice and mixing it with a little water to dilute the paint just a little bit. I used DecoArt Americana Light Cinnamon. (I did this because I wanted the base of my canvas to be brown).

4. Next add 1/4" Scor Tape to all of the sides of the canvas and then top it with one of the rolls from Tim Holtz' Seasonal Tidings Tissue Tape.  (I used the Scor Tape to help assure that the Tissue Tape would hold.) Then lightly brush a bit of brown paint/water mix on top of the Tissue Tape.

5. Paint Wendy Vecchi's Crackle Texture Paste (love this stuff even more!) over the canvas.  The heavier the coat, the heavier the crackle. Some areas of this canvas are painted heavier than others.  Let dry.

See the gorgeous crackling effect from the texture paste?  The brown will show underneath the crackling.  I also dabbed some of the crackle paste with a paper towel to remove bits of it as I was brushing it on.  To the far lower left, all of the tiny crackles are where I dabbed away some of the crackle paste with a paper towel.  Fun to experiment!

6. Spray the textured and crackled canvas first with Dylusions Vibrant Turquoise and dab off excess with a paper towel.  Repeat until the desired hue is achieved. Then spray Dylusions Melted Chocolate in random areas of the canvas.  Dab off the excess spray.  Repeat if needed.  Heat set the ink spray. Lightly spritz the canvas with Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls Mist.  This will also reactivate the Ink Sprays so heat set quickly.

7.  Using your most sensitive finger (mine is my middle finger) lightly add Florentine Treasure Gold Guilding Wax over primarily the raised areas of the holly and branches.  But also gently add some wax in the low areas of the canvas for added interest.  Also rub some wax on the sides of the canvas.  Then add some Aquamarine Treasure Gold Guilding Wax on the canvas to bring out more of a goldish teal in certain areas of the canvas and sides. 
** Note - if you do not have Treasure Gold Guilding Wax, Rub 'N Buff or even a very light coating of an acrylic paint close to the wax colors would work.  Add some distressing at the edges using Walnut Stain Distress Ink and a touch of Black Soot.

In this photo, you can see the detail of the raised embossed holly and branches, the brown showing through those gorgeous crackled areas and the lovely highlights that the guilding wax provides.

9. Spray a piece of kraft paper with some Melted Chocolate to create a darker background for the sheet music tag to be mounted to.  Here you can see the ink spray on the left side of the kraft paper behind the tag. Dab the excess ink spray and heat set.  (I distressed the sheet music tag with Tea Dye Distress Ink and distressed the edges with a Chestnut Roan Cats Eye Ink Pad.  When I had finished dabbing up the excess Melted Chocolate spray, I lightly wiped the paper towel over the tag and added a bit more brown to it).

10. Die cut a piece of Tim Holtz' Vintage Lace from a piece of plain kraft cardstock.  Rub over it with a Gold Paint Dabber.  Heat set.  Then lightly go over the painted cardstock with Mercury Glass Stickles.  In the photo above, you can see the progression of this step: the far right is plain cardstock, the center has been rubbed with a Gold Paint Dabber and the left side has been stickled with Mercury Glass Stickles.  Let dry.

11. Place the darkened kraft paper behind the sheet music tag and cut out around it, leaving a visible edge.  Using a Tonic Paper Distresser (or scissor edge) distress the edges of all of the two tags and the blue birds post card.  Distress the edges of the kraft tag the heaviest, a little lighter on the sheet music tag and very little on the blue bird post card.  Then distress ink all of the edges using Gathered Twigs or Walnut Stain Distress Ink (or a Chestnut Roan Cats Eye Ink Pad) followed with random areas of Black Soot.  Gently crumple up all of the tags to give a more aged appearance. (That was not done on the kraft tag or the blue birds postcard in this picture).  Add a piece of vintage lace to the bottom of the sheet music tag using 1/4" Scor Tape.  Leave enough lace to turn under on the sides of the tag when they are all put together.

12. Find a piece of paper to create a rosette. In this case, it is a scrap from Graphic 45's Communique papers.  I sprayed over it with a mix of Gold Paint Dabber and water in a mister bottle and heat set.  Then I die cut the largest rosette from Tim Holtz' Mini Paper Rosettes. Use Glossy Accents to glue the two ends together and let dry.  When dry, form the rosette and hot glue the center to the backside of the rosette to hold it in place. Lightly ink the edges of the rosette with a Chestnut Roan Cats Eye Ink Pad and then lightly add Mercury Glass Stickles to the raised folds and the outside edges of the rosette.  Hot glue a little gold tinsel trim to the center and then add the top of the middle of the rosette.  Dab a Gold Paint Dabber over the Tim Holtz Mini Numerals "25" and heat set.  Hot glue in place in the center of the rosette and lightly add Mercury Glass Stickles.  Let dry.

 **Note - after cutting the rosette, add a strip of Scotch Tape on the BACKSIDE of the rosette strip. This will give it more strength on the perforated lines so that the strip won't rip apart when you accordion fold the rosette. 

13. Put the tag together by adding 1/4" Scor Tape to the underside of the sheet music tag and pressing it in place on top of the crumpled kraft tag.  Be sure NOT to flatten the tags.  Just add the Scor Tape around the outside under edges of the tag.  Add the distressed vintage blue bird post card to the top of the tag in the same manner. Turn the Vintage Lace die cut and the vintage lace to the underside of the kraft tag and hold in place with a little piece of 1/4" Scor Tape.  Lightly add Mercury Glass Stickles highlights to the postcard and finish off by adding Xmas Red Stickles to the three holly berries to the left. Let dry.  When dry, punch a hole in the center and add a vintage tinsel tie at the top.  I also added a vintage bell and a small gold jingle bell that I then added Mercury Glass Stickles to. (You can see those in the final project). 

**Note - this would make a lovely gift tag for a Christmas present.  You could also make a pocket tag out of this by only adding Scor Tape to the bottom and sides of the tag or the blue bird post card when stacking it onto the kraft paper tag.  

  14. Add a Tim Holtz Seasonal Word Stick to the bottom of the canvas using twine.  Before I added the word stick, I used a very small amount of Florentine and Aquamarine Treasure Gold to colorize the antiqued silver word stick into more of a gold-ish with a hint of teal metal piece.

15.  Then arrange all of the remaining pieces on the canvas and glue in place.  

First I hot glued the tag in place by gluing the bottom left and top right sections to the canvas; leaving the tag to be raised and crumpled.  Aren't those two blue birds just beautiful?  They are my "surrogate two turtle doves".  

Next I hot glued the rosette in place in the upper right corner. 

Finally, I thought my canvas needed something to the right of the tag, so I die cut these branches from Tim Holtz' Bird Branch die cut onto kraft paper, painted them with a Gold Paint Dabber and then added Mercury Glass Stickles.  (The branches to the left are complete).  Let dry.  

When dry, I cut them into small branches and hot glued them underneath the tag.  I think they add an "airy-ness" to the canvas and delicately fill up that space.

So, did you enjoy my Christmas canvas and tutorial today?  I hope that maybe you learned something about my creative thought process or perhaps a technique or two.  I'm wishing you a happy, healthy week and some time to PLAY! Remember...it's SOUL FOOD! 

Be sure to check out Heather's My Artistic Adventures Challenge and see if you'd like to play long.  Her Etsy store has all sorts of beautiful collage sheets.

I am also linking this piece up to Craft Hoarder's Anonymous Challenge Blog where they are having their first challenge ... Your Style.   There is some awful pretty stuff over there!

Until next time ....