Rusted Baby Doll with Angel Wings

A poor vintage baby doll endured a lot of mixed media torture in this assemblage project. But really, this project was all about making rust--both real real and faux rust.

I began by rusting many pieces of hardware and other metal. I did so by following a vinegar, salt and hydrogen peroxide recipe that is available on many online sites.

I first decided to use a wonderful metal brush thingy-ma-bob.

However, as you can see from the finished photo, I ended up using another piece of rusted metal. The reason for this change was from a hard-earned lesson. To keep the rust from coming off, I gave it a coat of matte medium. Unfortunately, this changed the piece to a dark brown.

Although I could sand the piece and rust it again, since I was on a deadline I decided to use a different piece for the base. This also allowed me to use a metal piece that could actually stand without toppling over.

The next part of the project is a little morbid. I had to saw Poor Little Baby with a Dremel and then give her a brisk sanding. Luckily, she was very brave and didn't cry once. If you do this, don't use a heat gun or your baby will suddenly develop a deformed head.

Ohhhh noooo! Mr. Bill!

Next I painted applied Distress Grit-Paste to both Poor Little Baby and the Steampunk Wings and let dry.

Once they were both dry, I painted the wings with Iridescent gold paint and the wings with layers of Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, Espress Brown, Granite Gray and Raw Sienna to create a fauz rust that matched my rusty metal.

I then glued Poor Little Baby to the metal base, using both Lock-Tite Adhesive and hot glue. To make the skirt, I glued together 1.25" strips of paper from an old book and scored lines every .25 inches to create pleats.

Last, I glued on some gold trim and bestowed Poor Little Baby with angel wings.

There's a lot of unpleasant news happening around the globe this week. I hope you can find a little respite on this Saturday in creativity. All my best, -Betsy

Great Stuff

Gypsy Soul wings from Steampunk Set
Vintage baby doll
Vintage hardware
Vintage book pages
Gold ribbon
Vinegar
Hydrogen Peroxide
Salt
Acrylic paint
Dremel
Scoring board
Beacon Zip Dry adhesive
Lock-Tite adhesive

Oh Baby Baby by Betsy Skagen

There's a baby arriving in my family next month. Shhh....don't tell, but I am making a little book for the mother-to-be to keep memories of those precious first months.

The book will feature all sorts of pockets, fold-outs and teeny little spaces to store precious mementos and tags to record different milestones and memories. I am using some of Gypsy Soul's wonderful chipboard to add some fun elements.

Right now I am just putting together the individual pages. Once they are done, I will reassemble them back into book form.

Tutorial--How to Make a Baby Book

Begin by gently bending the wire binding and remove the chipboard pages.

Cover the pages with black gesso.

Dry with a heat gun.

Cut a pocket from black cardstock.

Adhere decorative paper to the page.

Glue the bottom flap and right side flap to the back of the page. Because of the binding on the left side, instead of adhering the left pocket flap to the back side of the page, you need to adhere it directly to the decorative paper beneath the pocket.  

Place decorative paper on the front of the pocket. 

Paint the Special Delivery chipboard element and dry with heat gun.

Cover the element with embossing ink, coat with ultra thick clear embossing powder and activate with heat gun. When cool, adhere the element to the front of the pocket.

Cut tags that fit into the pocket from decorative paper. Glue paper on the back that is conducive to journaling.

Adhere decorative papers and a tiny pink vellum envelope to the back side of the page.

To finish your page, use sandpaper to sand down all the edges and rub black ink around the edges. 

So sweet! Now I have to get busy and make many more pages before the stork brings a tiny bundle of joy. -Betsy

Great Stuff

Special Delivery chipboard element

Chipboard album

Black gesso

Authentique Paper

Assorted paper

Black cardstock

Black ink

Pink paint pen

Embossing ink

Ultra thick clear embossing powder

Pink vellum envelope

My Baby Girls first Year Memory Box

Hi everyone, it's Teresa here today and I am sharing another fun box I created to store your photos but this time it is for the first 12 months's of my Baby Girls pictures that I have saved.  This is a fun and easy way to save all those pictures/memories you have and you can have fun using all those papers that you have saved in your stash to do create it with.  Mine is done with the "Trim Organizer Box" and it's the perfect size for photos and I love how all those tags have such a beautiful shape and make it that much cuter!

With this kit you get this simple box to make and 12 tags like you see above and below.  I used all my Echo Park Sweet Baby Girl papers and ephemera cards and tags to decorate the front and inside of the box and for each of the 12 months of the year tags.  Then inside I also added 5 1/2 inch squares of white cardstock to add pictures and record all the special memories of that first year.  

It's so fun to experience all the amazing things your kids learn and do the first year of their lives with you and it's so important to save them so when they grow up they can read about it and enjoy the memories that you cherished for them to read about.  So much is lost over the years and it's important that you write down how much you love them and care for them.  

I think I am going to go back and add more goodies to my tags but here is just a simple version for you to start making your set with.

Aren't the prints in this paper line so cute... I can't wait to fill it up with pictures.

And here is just a card I did with the papers to go with it.  I was going to give it as a gift but I think I will use it for my daughter and either give it to her for her first daughter or the pictures I saved of her.

These boxes are really easy and fun to make so I hope you get a chance to stop in the GSLCuts store and see what is new and pick up a few for projects you need to make.  

Thanks so much for stopping by......Teresa

Supply List:

GSLC: Trim Organizer Box

Paper: Echo Park Sweet Baby Girl Collection

Adhesives: Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

Chalk Paint in white, scissors, paper trimmer, twine, ribbons, flowers

Sweet Little Wishes in a Jar by Betsy Skagen

At least once in a lifetime a person should receive a tiny jar full of sweet wishes. Every now and then we all need something magical to happen! You can be the one to create magic in someone else's life--and perhaps help a wish or two to come true, when you give them this card. 

Begin by coloring a tissue paper with light blue marker.

Dry brush white acrylic paint onto it. 

Next apply silver embossing powder with embossing ink to lid of Canning jar and heat set. Draw lines with a black marker.

Daub Blue Stream colored acrylic paint around jar edges and dry. Apply Fractured Ice embossing powder with embossing ink over top of blue paint and heat set.

Glue jar to tissue paper and cut away remaining tissue.

Fussy cut the baby from Paper Calliope's Precocious #1. Cut wings from teammate Nichola Battilana's Just Wings sheet and glue behind baby. Adhere both baby and wings inside jar.

Twist a brown wire  to add dimension and add it and a silver star to the baby's hand.

To finish your card, adhere a dictionary page to a greeting card base. Did you notice how I picked the page with definitions of  "fairy", "fairyland", "fairy ring" and "fairy thimbles"?  It's those little extra touches that help bring about the magic.

Rub brown ink around the edges of the dictionary page. Glue on the jar with baby.

Write "Wish" on a leftover scrap of blue tissue. Frame it with decorative scrapbook paper and adhere it to the card.

All that is left for you to do is send this sweet card to a special someone to brighten their day!

Great Stuff

Canning jars

Precocious #1

Just Wings

Silver star

Wire

Scrap of decorative paper

Old dictionary page

Tissue paper

Blue and markers

White acrylic paint

Silver Embossing Powder

Fractured Ice Embossing Powder

Embossing Ink

Brown ink