She's Got a Ticket to Ride by Betsy Skagen

What does your creative process look like? For me, some vintage Silver Star tickets sitting on my desk reminded me of the old Beatles song. That inspired me to search through my stash to find the perfect saucy woman.

A lingerie model from a 1940s magazine and several elements from Gypsy Soul, including a silver star,  set me on the path to create this mixed media / altered art wagon.

Tutorial: How to Create a Retro Mixed Media Wagon.

Begin by covering a shallow box with black gesso.

On cold press watercolor paper prepare a multi-layered mixed media background using acrylic paints, dry brushes, stencils, inks and other mixed media tools. 

Use an embossing ink pen and a stencil to create the rocket cone. Add Deep Sea Baked Texture and activate with heat gun.

Cut your newly created mixed media paper to fit the inside of your box. Score where it will fold and make corner slices so you can create the box shape. Below I am showing the messy back side ( I am never a tidy crafter!) of the mixed media water color paper so you can see how I scored the paper and cut the corners.

After making sure your paper fits inside the box, Fold the paper into a rectangle, add glue and let dry.

Use paint or a marker to color the edge of your paper so that you won't have a glaring white edge.

Depending on the size of your box, you may want to trim the wheel axels so that they don't overwhelm your project.

Then cover all of the chipboard pieces--Ticket Strips, Stars String Alongs, Wheels, stars from the Celestial Shape Sets and a rectangle from the Four Panel Door with black gesso. When dry, paint the stars with metallic silver paint.

Select a paper straw that will fit through the axel and wheel holes and four washers that also fit. Paint the straw with black gesso. When dry cut the straw to fit the axel base.

Attach black Tyvek to the axels so you can strengthen the bond between the alexs and the box. I just love black Tyvek. You can use it for so many purposes such as creating incredibly strong folding hinges on books and journals. I used to color white Tyvek envelopes with a black marker until I found that I could purchase a black version of it.

Ink the Star String Along with embossing ink, cover with silver embossing powder and use a heat gun to activate it.

Punch a hole in the top of your mixed media paper box and thread the star through it. Cement the star in place with strong adhesive tape.

Adhere your mixed media paper box inside the cardboard box.

Using a strong glue like Beacon Fabrfi-Tac, adhere the axels to the bottom of the box. Slide the straw pieces through the axel, add the wheels and glue the stars from the Celestial Shape sets onto the straws. Add the chipboard rectangle to the front of the box to create a handle or carriage coupling.

Fussy cut a vintage lingerie model, adhere to black cardstock and cut around the image. Use a metallic silver paint pen to paint her shoes silver.

Tear one end of the tickets and the chipboard ticket strip. Distress the edges of vintage tickets with black ink. Adhere the tickets to the chipboard strip, then adhere the woman to the ticket strip.

Next add foam adhesive squares to the back of the woman and tickets to add depth to the project. Because I didn't have any thicker adhesive foam on hand ( and was too lazy to go to the store), I stacked three adhesive squares together to give extra dimension. Line up the tickets with the embossed arrows to create a rocket. Adhere the woman and tickets to the inside back of your box.

Use a printer or typewriter to create your title piece. Cut into a rectangle, ink the edges with black ink and adhere to a black cardstock background.

Cut a rectangle of clear acetate, score in half and adhere to the back of your title piece to make an invisible stand. Adhere inside the carriage box.

Apply metallic silver paint to a foam blending tool and stencil assorted graphics to the side and back of your carriage.

Add black Dresden trim.

Your Ticket to Ride Carriage is now complete! I hope you were able to find a little inspiration or knowledge from this tutorial. Have a great weekend! -Betsy 

Great Stuff

Chipboard Ticket Strips
Moon & Stars String Alongs
Wheels
Stars from 2 Celestial Shape Sets
Rectangle from Four Panel Door
Cardboard box
Vintage tickets
Vintage ad
Black Tyvek
Deep Sea Baked Texture Embossing Powder
Silver embossing powder
Embossing ink pen
Black ink pad
Assorted stencils
Foam blending tool
Foam adhesive squares
Black Dresden trim
Clear acetate
Printer or typewriter
Paper straw
4 washers
Cold press watercolor paper
Black cardstock
White cardstock
Black gesso
Acrylic paints
Metallic silver paint pen
Beacon Fabri-Tac
Beacon Zip Dry