Christmas Faux Canvas Boxes

Hi everyone, Dianna here. I decided to make Christmas gifts this year and Gina from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts created a 6 x 6 Faux Canvas box for me. I have made ten of these and they are so easy to put together.

I laid out all of the boxes and created an assembly line. I used Scotch Tacky Glue.

I painted half red and half white. I then used a craft glue with glitter (think kid crafts) on the sides. You cannot see it but the sides are sparkly.

I bought paper at Hobby lobby and cut the paper 6x6. I painted the Merry Christmas white, gold or silver and used Stickles and Distress ink to make them pop.

Here is a second pair.

Thank you for looking

Items Used

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts

6x6 Faux Canvas Box Coming Soon

Other Items

Patterned Paper

Stickles

Kid Craft Glitter Glue

Jolly Little Christmas Floats with Tutorial

My kid decided he was too old for trick-or-treating this year, but not too old for a Christmas parade. Before moving here I was never really into parades. Standing around in questionable weather? Nah, thanks. Discovering night parades swayed my grinchy mind. The lights! The magic! *swoon*

And while these wee things aren't all lit up (although you could absolutely add lights!) I'm smitten with the bright sparkly cheeriness of these wee floats.

To make these little floats I simply added Wheels 1 inch Fancy and Wheels 1.5 inch Straight to Chunky ATC Blanks.

Glittered Chipboard Shingles - Pointed added around the edges complete the base.

Then it's just a matter of filling up those floats! I've used bottlebrush trees, miniature packages and decorations and a vintage looking Santa. All of those bits were bought in the holiday aisle at the discount shop.

Cute. Easy. Inexpensive. Yes please!

I have a little video to show you exactly how to put these pretty things together right HERE.

I need to make a slew of these to create an entire holiday parade for my mantle!

Want to make your own too? Here are the supplies I used:

Wheels 1 inch Fancy 

Wheels 1.5 inch Straight 

Chunky ATC Blanks

Chipboard Shingles - Pointed

Ribbon

Glitter

Holiday paper

Buttons

Bottlebrush trees

Tiny gift and ornament baubles

Plastic vintage looking Santas

White glue

Hot glue

Acrylic paint

Thin dowling or bamboo sticks

Saving the Bees

One of my favorite authors is Sue Monk Kidd, I remember reading her haunting and compelling Secret Life of Bees book many years ago. I love stories that are character driven and challenging to our senses. I like how it offered us insight to forgiveness and how many times in life we need to offer ourselves some grace. "The world will give you that once in awhile, a brief timeout; the boxing bell rings and you go to your corner, where somebody dabs mercy on your beat-up life" It also shows the difference between appearances and reality.  "Someone who thinks death is the scariest thing, doesn't know a thing about life." This is in part my inspiration for this project.

1.  Take GSLC embellishments apart, I am using Honeycomb and Bees-Small, Flourished Frame Connie, and Catweed Shape Set.

 2.  Use decorative scrapbook paper to build a substrate for your design, I glued mine on a piece of cardboard to give it stability.

3.  Before gluing decorative paper to the cardboard I distressed the edges using Wendy Vecchi Acorn Ink and a blending tool.
4.   Use versa mark and Torched Copper enamel and walnut stain embossing powders to age GSLC Connie Frame. Curing with a heating tool until you are satisfied with the process.

5.  Glue GSLC Frame on top of decorative paper, centering it.

6.   Distress GSLC Honeycomb first using Ranger Brick Embossing Powders and a heating tool. Add further layers dry brushing on Copper, Antique Gold, and Quinacridone Gold Acrylic Paints.

 

7.   Emboss the GSLC bee bodies with versa mark and Wendy Vecchi Tree Branch embossing powders and heating tool.

8.  Emboss the GSLC bee wings with versa mark and Perfect Peacock embossing powders and heating tool.
9.  Add strips to GSLC bee Bodies using a black sharpie and use also on bee legs and antennas.

10.                Start assembling composition using Weldbond and scissors to cut section of the honeycomb.

11.                Using alcohol ink and a blending tool to color GSLC Catweed Shape Set. I used autumn colors of green, yellow, orange, red, and brown.

12.                Spray with rubbing alcohol and water to further distress the Catweed
13.                Add these to your composition using scissors and Weldbond to layer on top of what you have added so far.

14.                Place assemblage inside of decorative frame.Some final thoughts.
It is sad to hear of all of the sorrows that the honey bees are encountering, in another life I'd love to be a beekeeper, to in some small way restore the balance of these incredible creatures. One of my favorite beverages is to take equal small portions of honey and coconut palm sugar and add to half and half and fill to top with iced coffee. It is refreshing and is my go to second breath after coming home from teaching all day and wanting to create in the art studio.
 One final quote from the book:
“Knowing can be a curse on a person's life. I'd traded in a pack of lies for a pack of truth, and I didn't know which one was heavier. Which one took the most strength to carry around? It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can't ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours now.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life

 

 

Supplies:  Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Honeycomb and Bees Small, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Flourished Frame Connie, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Catweed Shape Set, Decorative 5 by 7 Frame, Decorative Scrapbook Paper,  Wendy Vecchi Acorn Permanent Ink, Blending Tool, Versa Mark, Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Embossing Powders, Ice Resin Torched Copper, Heating Tool, Weldbond, Ranger Brick Embossing Powder, Wendy Vecchi Tree Branch Embossing Powder, Extreme Peacock Embossing Powder, Black Sharpie, Copper, Antique Gold, and Quinacridone Gold Acrylic Paint, Paintbrush, Alcohol Inks in Autumn Hues, Rubbing Alcohol and Water in Spray Bottles, Scissors

I cannot wait to see your interpretation of this project. Share it on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Craft Group Page on Facebook. I would love to see what new creations you are working on!

Use Your Time Wisely - ATC Shrine

Hello crafty friends!  It's Susan on the blog today, sharing a little of my time with you.  Heh.  Get it?  Time.  Ahem.

I've always felt a niggling irritation with myself when I hear "I'm sorry, I didn't have time" come out of my mouth.  "Really, Susan?  Why couldn't you make time", I ask myself.  Then I get distracted by something shiny and move on.

Then I found a perfect time quote from a Chinese philosopher and made a shrine for it.

I used the ATC Shrine - Time since the clock face door is perfect.  Inside are two Chunky ATC Blanks with time quotes that spoke to me.

First, coat everything with black gesso, then decide to paper the surfaces anyway.  As it turned out, gesso wasn't needed except on the shrine's front edges and the clock face door.

I glued the shrine sides and top to the back wall first, then measured out the inside paper.   Once that was fitted (along with the inside top), I inserted the door hinge notch into the top and glued the bottom piece on.  The bottom paper and outside papers were measured and added.

Paper layers for the ATC blanks are measured and cut, then added with mod podge.  One dry-ish, I sanded the edges down and decorated.

I hope you make time to check out the themed selection of ATC Shrines with doors!  Thanks for your visit today.

Cheers,
Susan


Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Used

ATC Shrine - Time #ED5N
Chunky ATC Blanks #C33O


Other Supplies Used
Bo Bunny "Timepiece" Paper
Liquitex black gesso
White craft glue
Liquitex black acrylic paint
Liquitex matte varnish
Dresden trim
cheesecloth
Stickles Diamond

Altered Metal Ornaments

Hey people! Lynne here with a couple ornaments that I rescued from the thrift store-they were actually a promo from some business and had their logo and name stuck on to them, and thus rather ugly. Fortunately it was done with a type of sticker and I was able to scrape it all off. Yay!

I started by attaching my chipboard pieces with Aleene's Tacky Glue-I held them down for a few seconds to be sure the pieces adhered properly to the curved surface. I added embroidery floss to the row of stockings and some letter stickers for my festive phrases.

I brushed on a coat of clear gesso-I love this stuff! It goes on white but dries clear, so you retain the look of the surface, but can apply different mediums to it. I wanted to use mist and it doesn't adhere well to metal.

The mist came next, then a little ink around the edges and across the letters to create contrast. 

I precoated the stockings with red acrylic paint, then brushed them with white glue when they were dry and applied flocking. The snowflakes were brushed with white glue then sprinkled with glitter. I added a second layer when it was dry to make them stand out a little more. I used a white glitter gel pen on the letters. Simple ribbon hangers and bows finished the ornaments off.

I'm putting my Christmas tree up over the weekend, so I took these photos of the ornaments hanging on my little Charlie Brown Christmas tree, so please imagine lush green boughs...

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you're enjoying your Christmas preparations, or at least anticipating them!! Have a wonderful week! xoxo

GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED

Winter Shape Set-contact store
Snowflake Shape Set
Tiny Christmas-coming soon

OTHER ITEMS USED

Aleene's Tacky Glue
Tattered Angels mists
Doodlebug designs flocking
diamond glitter
ribbon
Embroidery floss
Blue, green, and white inks
white glitter gel pen

Christmas Artist Trading Coins

Hi everyone!  Leigh Ann here today with a set of three artist trading coins.   I've had these coins by Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts at the front of my "to-do" basket for a bit now.  I love how thick and sturdy these coins are.  They will hold up to the messiest of mixed media products.  

  

 Aside from just wanting to use these coins, my inspiration was this set of glitter Christmas stickers and pastel Christmas paper.  I love pastels for Christmas, but usually don't have a place for them in my regular scrapbooking. Keep reading for a step by step tutorial on how I made these. 

My first step was to color the edges of the coins with white Distress Stain.  I wanted them to be white, but not too perfect.  The stain worked out great.  Once the stain was dry, I added Christmas paper to the fronts with liquid adhesive, cut them to size, and sanded the edges.

I then added some gold splatters with a Heidi Swapp spray, and also rubbed some more Distress Stain around the edges of the paper to help then blend. 

My next step was to use collage medium to adhere the paper dolls.  When they were dry, I added the gold glitter stickers.  My last step was to add some holiday word stickers to each coin.  These were all from an older Simple Stories Christmas collection.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial.  Follow this link to find the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Artist Trading Coins that I used:  Artist Trading Coins