She has butterflies in her stomach

Hi Guys,
Jess here today.

I recently got this cool Art Doll Nicho(coming to the store soon) from GSL and immediately thought I needed to put butterflies in it.


The doll comes in three pieces. I started by cutting a dress out of a bright bold patterned paper and glued it to the main body piece. Then I was stumped.  I realized I don't do bright often.  So I tore that dress off and went with a more neutral paper (read grungy).  Once I did that she really started to come together.  The paper was splattered with Black Soot Distress Paint.  The edges were inked up using Distress Ink in Pumice Stone.  The gold is Dina Wakley Gilt(this is quickly becoming my go to gold color).

 The large butterflies on her dress are from the Tim Holtz French Flight stamp and die set.   I cut them using mop up paper I had on my desk.  The tiny key centers are from Ideaology.

  The large wings were die cut using the Fanciful Flight Die using the same mop up paper I used to cut the small butterflies.

Her arms are from the Santos Doll.  They are painted with Dina Wakley Gilt.  Then stamped using the Blank Page Muse Correspondence Script stamp in Black Soot Archival ink.   I used craft thread to make the joints and attached them to the body using a strong glue.

The second piece of the doll is the head.  It's really just a circle that you can use to support the head of your choice.  I had this art doll sheet from Art Chix Studios and used one of them.  I gave her a halo using the Medallion Impresslit.  Some teeny butterflies finish her halo.  I wanted to give her a little necklace since the doll head has a long neck.  I used some chain from the Tim Holtz Assemblage line to make her necklace and the pearl dangle. The butterfly is a another one from the French Flight set.

  The last piece is the little belly box that needs to be folded up.  The box is tiny.  Use a good strong glue to keep it together.  I painted the inside using Peeled Paint Distress Paint and added a flowery paper to the back.  The butterflies were cut using the Tim Holtz Butterfly Frenzy die.  I spritzed several colors of Distress Oxide ink on my gel press and used a piece of vintage book paper to pull my print.  Once the paper was dry I ran it through the Vagabond.  The butterflies were glued down to fill the cavity.  There are a couple teeny butterfly brads in her belly too.

The legs are vintage ceramic doll legs.  I poked holes into the belly box and ran craft thread though to keep them on the box.  They are tied on so they can dangle and move.

I hope you like her! 

Jess

Easter Greetings

Hi Everyone,
Jess here today.

It's almost time for the Easter bunny to hop by and leave us some candy.  We always go to my sister's house for Easter dinner so I thought I would make her a little home decor piece.

I started by using the Build  a Layout Easter Set.  The frame was painted with Deco Art Crackle Paint and then I rubbed Antiquing Cream in the cracks.  I didn't like the sheen on the paint so a layer of Collage Medium made it matte.

The largest bunny was painted with Dina Wakley's Elephant and then sanded so it looks like it's been around for a bit.  The bow tie was painted with Sky Blue and sanded as well.
The small eggs were embossed using the Tim Holtz Impresslits and 3d Embossing folders(Medallion andimpresslit, Kaleidoscope and Botanical 3D folders).  Once they were dry I painted them using Dina Wakley Turquoise and Lemon.  The Lemon Egg was toned down a bit with a layer of ELephant Paint.  The third egg was painted using Victorian Velvet Distress Paint.  Each of the eggs were sanded to reveal the raw chipboard and a layer of Walnut Stain Distress Ink finished them.

The nest is from the For the Birds set.  The base is painted with Dina Wakley Gilt and the top is painted with Distress Vintage Photo Paint.  I couldn't see much of the gold peeping through as I wanted so I added a tiny bit of gold  foil to the top layer of the nest. 

I measured how  the frame sat on one of the Super X tags and decided to bend the bottom three inches of the tag to create a base.   If you score the chipboard you can gently bend the tag until it makes a 90 degree angle.

 I covered a Super X tag with a patterned paper. Then splattered on Black Soot Distress Paint and Dina Wakley Gilt.  Behind the fame there is a piece of Tim Holtz's Worn wallpaper. The frame and wallpaper were glued directly to the tag base.  The bunny and eggs were glued down next.  The nest was attached using foam tape since the bunny and eggs were rather thick and I didn't want the nest to bend.   Distress Crayon in Hickory smoke added a grungy halo around the bunny.

Moss was glued to the entire base and then the two bunnies that are part of the banner from the Build  a Layout Easter Set. were added.  They were painted and sanded the same way as the large bunny.  Vintage flowers and some old plastic craft eggs were added to complete the base.

A tiny bouquet of vintage flowers were added to the top of the tag.

I hope you have a very Happy Easter!

Jess

Spring Cleaning

Hi Everyone,
Jess here today.

Well it's time to do some spring cleaning and that includes my desk.  I try to be a neat crafter, but my desk always ends up looking like a large bomb exploded in the general vicinity.  For today's project I used only items that were on my desk or within reach of my desk.  I will admit some of these are mop up tags, so I don't know exactly what is on there.

Adventure is out there tag-

The butterfly man background was made using Vintage Photo Oxide Spray and then I added Hickory Smoke ink through a stencil(THS091).  I shifted the stencil and added Peeled Paint Oxide Ink.  I splatted on some Black Soot Distress Paint and then stamped the flourish(CMS070) in  Ground Espresso Archival Ink.  The edges got a bit of Vintage Photo Distress Crayon for shadow.

The paper doll was inked up using Tsukineko Inks.  His buttons and watch chain were colored using gel pens.  Then got a pair of wings and  glued them to the tag.  I had a snippet of the mini provincial impresslit left so I popped that in the top corner.  Chic chat words were inked up using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and glued down.

A snippet of the Meadow Flowers was on my desk so I added a couple layers of gesso and once that was dry I added PaperArtsy Infusions in The Sage to the stems.  I added grit paste to the flowers and used Peacock Feathers Distress Ink to color them.  There was some leftover Distress Crayon on my desk from edging the tag and I used that to dirty up the flowers.  Once that was glued down, I added detail using gel pens.

Eccentric, but very estimable gentleman-

For the eccentric, but very estimable gentleman tag I used a mop up tag that had some blues and purples on it.  I added some leftover rust from when I was rusting up bits and some Seth Apter Stamps.
The circles are from the Mixed Media Fragments 1 Small.  I rusted them using PaperArtsy's Rusting Powder and then added Verday Paint from 10 Second Studios for the oxidized brass bits.  I cut the circles into three segments and attached them to the card using glue.  I added Tim Holtz Hardware heads to make them appear to be bolted down. I added alcohol ink in Patina, Mushroom, and Coffee to the hardware heads.  Then I popped on a bit of Distress Crayon in Cracked Pistachio for a bit more dimension.

I tied a little brass heart to his wrist and glued him down.

 Clipping stickers make for really fun stories and gel pens add the final bits to this tag.

The Proprietor of Ideas-

This little guy gets stuck in all kind of things.  Today I popped him in a lightbulb from the Steampunk Lightbulb Set.  The lightbulb was painted white and then the bulb portion was given a layer of DecoArt Crackle Glaze.  Once the glaze was dry I added Distress Crayon in Black Soot and Brushed Pewter.  A thin piece of acetate was added behind the bulb and colored with mushroom alcohol ink.  The tiny crown on his head will be coming soon to the GSL cuts store(I cannot wait for you to see all of these teeny crowns).

The base of the bulb was painted with Tarnished Brass Distress Paint and then pounced with Mushroom, Latte, and Coffee Alcohol Inks. I snuck in another hardware head here and a story stick.

This tag was made by using Oxide Spray on my gel plate.  It makes such gorgeous and dreamy backgrounds.  I used a Tim stencil for the words and numbers.  I used Hickory Smoke and Black Soot Distress Ink for the coloring.  White paint is splattered all over the back, Perfect Pearl spray, and gel pens finish the background.

The main title is from the Tim Holtz Noble Gent set.  That was stamped in Black Soot Archival.  The little halo around the bulb is the same set.  I used Dina Wakley Paint in Ancient and Gilt to stamp out the halo.  Be sure to clean paint off your rubber stamps right away!   

Do you save all of your little bits to make projects with later or do you toss out the scraps?

Jess

Merry and Bright Lantern

Hi Everyone,
Jess here today with a Christmas Lantern.

I have to admit I had one idea for this lantern and it turned into something completely different.
I started by assembling the lantern, just to be sure I was doing it correctly and so I would know what I would need to paint.

I disassembled it and started painting.

This is a really heavy duty chipboard and paint doesn't absorb into it like it does with thinner chipboard.  I did not put down a layer of gesso. I just went right in with a thin layer of black acrylic paint.  The entire piece was covered.  Once the black was dry I stippled on metallics.  I used bronze, gold, and silver.
To decorate the top I used the snowflake border from the Winter Shape Set.  Two snowflakes fit perfectly on each side of the top.  The snowflakes got a quick coat of silver paint.I wanted to add glitter, but didn't want to deal with using glue to make the snowflakes tacky. I decided to run them through my Xyron sticker maker on the painted side.  I added a clear glitter and had very little mess.
The snowflakes were glued to the top.

Here's where I changed my mind.  I decided I wanted to make this look like an actual lantern and not a winter scene inside the lantern like I had originally planned.  I took plain tissue paper and Tim Holtz's Frosted Film to line the inside of the panels.  Vellum would work too, but I like the frosted film because it gives an icy look and feel.  I did not attach the one side that isn't notched so you can add a flameless candle inside to make it look like a real lantern.

Grit paste with glitter sprinkled on top made the snow on the lantern.  The top was covered with grit paste and my pieces were stuck in while it was still wet.

The front of the lantern has a holiday wreath and the sentiment.

Journey with Gypsy Soul and Canvas Corp

Hi everyone,
This is a really fun match up with Gypsy soul and Canvas Corp!

Cut your canvas down to a size that suits you and pull out strands to fray the edges.  Spray canvas with water and crumple.  Flatten canvas and spray on your Glimmer Mists(Crocheted Doily, Gilded Gold, and Stone). Dry the canvas with a heat tool.

Add parchment rub ons just to the top and bottom area where the Architecture sticker won't cover.  Tear the edge of your architextures sticker and glue sticker onto canvas.

Paint the back of your Double Window Ornate  with a metallic red paint.  Cover the top with Charred Gold Embossing powder.

 When your paint is dry glue the two pieces together and then glue your focal image to the back of the window.

Paint the word Journey from the Chevron Words Travel Lg set using Black High Impact Paint. Stipple on High Impact Paint in Gold and then go back in and stipple on another layer of Black.  

Paint one set of the Wings using White Acrylic, Dina Wakley Paint in Elephant, and a touch of Black High Impact.

Attach wings to the back of the   Double Window Ornate and adhere to the background using several layers of foam tape to add dimension. 

Cut Ticking to size and glue down your word.  Attach the ticking to the background using staples.  

Add vintage hat pins and a charm to complete your piece.  

Happy Crafting!

Jess

Just be yourself

Hi Guys,

Jess here today with a simple and fun technique. 

 These guys started off as an experiment.  I wasn't quite sure what I was thinking would work, but after playing for a bit I love how they turned out.

Use the smallest crown from the Steampunk Shape Set.  I embossed this using a couple colors from Emerald Creek.  

Put on his fancy pants.  

Paint your fragment.  I used Dina Wakley's Magenta here.  This one is from the Mixed Media Fragments 2 set.  In the final product you can see I also used pieces from the Mixed Media Fragments 1 set.  I used the same technique on all three tags.  I used a foam brush and dabbed on the color to get some texture in the paint. 

Use Distress Ink to create your tag.  I used the same four colors on all three tags.  

Flick on paint in black, silver, and copper.  Add Black Soot Distress Ink and Crayon on the edges.  

Flick your fragment with paint at the same time.  I also just tapped the brush in various spots. 

Glue your Fragment to your tag.  Use foam tape to adhere your paperdoll.  Add your sentiment and any other final touches.  

Super fun and really easy project.  

Jess