Valentine Plaque

Hello folks! Valentine's Day is just around the corner so I was inspired to make a fun Valentine Plaque using the Mini Display Tray-Heart. I chose this partly because when I was thinking about making a Valentine, it struck me as I picked it up that it's about the same size as a smallish box of Valentine chocolates.
Having had that thought, I immediately had to paint it chocolate brown and then the rest of the piece fell into place.

I started out with my usual coat of gesso and while that was drying I cut and glued the paper to the back piece. A nice rich shade of brown with some gold highlights.

I painted the top frame piece with a matte acrylic brown, making sure I got the sides and all the inside bits.

I cut out my collage images and played with the arrangement until I got the visual I liked, and then trimmed off what wasn't going to show.

I glued everything in place and added all the details........

I used Liquid Pearls in gold and pearl to highlight her jewelry and to make her crown really pop, I put a few Swarovski flat back crystals in the centerpiece. Now she really has a great 'jewel' in there!

I added Liquid Pearl details and some Dresden trim to the phrase and the curly top piece. Which, by the way, is a portion of one of the frames from the Filigree Frames Shape Set. I use bits and pieces from these all the time to add pretty details to my pieces.

This piece is pretty straight forward to make and it's fun. Hope you make one yourself!

SUPPLIES:
  Mini Display Tray-Heart
  Filigree Frames Shape Set


Additional Supplies;
Acrylic paint
Liquid Pearls in gold and pearl
Various collage images
Matte medium
Glue
Bo Bunny Vintage Dot Scrapbook Paper in Chocolate Brown

Thank you for dropping in!

A Trio of Tags by Lora Mahaffey

Hola everyone, it's Lora here, but this time I am taking my turn as an official Design Team Educator and I couldn't be more thrilled to be on such a great team with all of these very cool ladies!

Today I'm keeping it fairly simple with this pretty trio of tags......

I started out with the Chipboard Decorative Tags Large and the Chipboard Decorative Tags X Large. I used the tags as templates for the paper I chose and traced enough for both sides of the x large tags and for one side of the large tags. I brushed a light coat of matte medium on the paper and another, heavier coat for each tag and stuck 'em together.

After they all dried I inked the edges with gold and I glued the smaller tags (large tags) on to the bigger ones (x large tags) making sure the smaller tags were centered and that the papers were complimentary to each other.

Whilst they were drying, I painted the smaller three frames from the Filigree Frames Shapes Set a lovely shade of black. I love the fun stencil 'opposite' the paint made when I lifted the frames up for drying. Hmmmm, that might be a fun project for another day!

Make sure you lift the frame up off of whatever you are painting them on and set them on a piece of plastic or wax paper to dry. Otherwise, the paint may act as glue and you'll be peeling the poor things off of your scrap cardboard. Not that I've EVER done that.

After everything is dry, I cut narrow strips of paper borders and glued them to the center of the smaller tags and then glued the frames on the tags. Once that is done, it's just a matter of embellishing and adding bits and pieces until you are happy with your results.

The papers I used were all from the Graphic 45 'Olde Curiosity Shoppe' 8x8 paper pad, which is one of my favorites. I also used a fine black marker to make dots and lines around the bits I wanted a little extra shading on. You can see that really well in the picture below;

I strung the tags on some pretty green velvet ribbon, threaded a big wooden bead through the ribbon and added a bit of glue on the bead to secure it. A little brass filigree flower and a tiny crystal added to the center for a bit of sparkle and glued on to the ribbon where it goes through the center hole of the tag completes the pieces.

SUPPLIES
Filigree Frames Shapes Set
Chipboard Decorative Tags Large
Chipboard Decorative Tags X Large

Additional Supplies
Graphic 45 'Olde Curiosity Shoppe' 8x8 paper pad
Black acrylic paint
Black permanent marker
Green velvet ribbon
Filigree brass flower stamping

Thank you for taking a look!

So In Love Cards for Valentine's Day

Hey chipper gang!  Barbara here, and it's my turn to share a project with you today.  I love February because I love making vintage, shabby chic cards for Valentine's Day.  Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts has the most beautiful collection of filigree and fancy cut shapes that work well for card makers.  Combine that with Graphic 45 papers, and you cannot go wrong.

Painting the chipboard pieces with a variety of distress paints allowed me to achieve a close match to the colors in the paper.  I painted the clock hands, Lost in You, and the lattice hearts with Malted Milk, then Bundled Sage and Salty Ocean distress paint.  The filigree frame, Love, solid heart, and one lattice heart were painted with Malted Milk, White, Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Rusty Hinge, and Wild Honey.  The key was painted with Tarnished Brass.

Here is an example of how I did not actually blend the colors but dabbed the colors, leaving a mottled, variegated effect, mimicking the colors in the papers.  

Love Card and close ups

Lost in You Card and close ups

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Used:

Filigree Frames Shapes Set
Words & Phrases 1
Border Sticks Hearts
Keys & Plates Shape Set
Clock Hands Shape Set

Other Supplies Used:

5x7 Blank Kraft Cards
Graphic 45 A Ladies' Diary Paper Collection
Distress Paints:  White, Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Bundled Sage, Salty Ocean, Tarnished Brass
Ranger Malted Milk paint dabber (Jenni Bowlin)

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts has more chipboard shapes and designs coming out regularly, so be sure to visit the online store.   For more inspiration from the fabulous design team, be sure to visit the GSL Blog regularly.  Please check out Ginny's blog post that is up on the blog today as well!

Thanks for stopping by, and stay crafty, my friends!

Barbara