Double, double toil and trouble

Hi Everyone,
 Jess here today with an award for the best witch.

Start by embossing your Small Swirl Medallion using Oil Rubbed Bronze embossing powder from Emerald Creek.

For the base of the ribbon I took a bright green ribbon and sprayed it with Distress Spray stain in Picket Fence to give it a good base coat.  Once the Stain was dry I used various stains and paints to get the color I wanted.  This is the center of the ribbon that I popped off, but you can see the base colors.  

Assemble your Tiny Shadowbox House.  I always paint and paper my house before gluing it together.  I painted all of the edges black and stippled on gold, bronze, and green paint.  The inside of the house has patterned paper that I inked up a bit.  

The roof of the house was made using a 3d impresslit and some gold paper.  Once the paper was embossed I colored it using alcohol inks. 

I added a teeny bit of moss to the floor. 

To make the ribbon tails I used muslin. 

Using archival inks I stamped the muslin and added color using spray stains.  The edges got a bit of Distress Crayon and metallic paint.  Once they were dry I just glued them to the back of the ribbon. 

Glue the Small Swirl Medallion to the center of the ribbon.   Then glue the Tiny Shadowbox House to the center of the medallion.  

Your ribbon is finished and ready to wear.  

Happy crafting,

Jess

Thankful Frame

Hi Everyone,
Jess here today with a super fun and easy Fall decor project.  This project uses two different frames from Gypsy Soul the Flourished Open Circle Frame(Medium) and the Round Grapevine Frame(coming to the store soon).

Cover your frames in Emerald Creek Embossing powder in Charred Gold.

 Line the back of the large frame with paper.  I used Distress Crayons to age the paper .  Glue on your paper doll and give her some pops of color using Distress Markers.

The vintage flowers were dyed using Distress Spray Stain and bundled with ribbon.  Glue on paper flowers,leaves, and sentiment.

  Flick metallic and black paint all over the piece.  And just like that you're done!

A perfect little hostess gift. 

Enjoy! 

Jess

Scary Halloween Tags by Barbara Rankin

Hi everyone! Barbara here on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts blog.  Well, Halloween is nearly here, and I have a few last minute tags you can make using the new Tim Holtz Distress Oxides (DO) and the cool chippies from GSL.

Before I ever glue anything down, I like to do what I call a "dry-fit" to check how things will look.

I decided on this placement of the String Alongs - Gothic onto each Chipboard Decorative Tags X Large.  For the two tags on the right and in the middle, I simply cut the "string" section above the hole, glued that tiny piece and then moved the rest of the string along down below the hole.

Next, I used clear gesso to prime the front and back of each tag.  I used clear gesso to "seal" the chipboard, but leaving the brownish background to add the color to.  The gesso will also keep the chipboard from acting like a sponge and sucking all the paint or color up, thereby using less paint or inks.

adding gesso to back of tags first

Next, I used the Distress Oxides with a blending tool to cover the background, as shown.  I spritzed with water and used my heat tool to dry the ink.

Then I hit the chippies and the edges with the black DO and blending tool.  I spritzed with water and used my heat tool to dry the ink.

I used a soft brush to add the green DO inside and next to the chandelier, then spritzed water droplets over the background to form these circular ripples, using my heat tool to dry it.

To intensify the colors, I used the soft brush to pick up the colors from the ink pads and brushed it randomly over the tag, blending some as I went along.  The brush allows you to get close to the chipboard and to control where you put the colors.  Spritz droplets over background again and dry with heat tool.

Cut a random shape from the Brick Wall Small, lay onto Candied Apple DO pad and, using blending tool, add color to the chipboard.  Dry with heat tool.

Lightly add Black Soot DO with blending tool, just to add dimension.

Glue pieces to left side of tag, as shown.  I also darkened the chandelier string along with Black Soot distress ink, then picked up more colors with my brush and deepened the colors where I felt it was needed.

Now that I knew I wanted to adhere pieces of texture sheets to the remaining two tags, I went ahead and glued them down before adding the colors.  I used pieces cut from the Texture Sheet Diamonds on the left tag, and pieces cut from the Chainlink 8 by 8 Inch Panel on the right tag.  I also painted the texture pieces with a coat of clear gesso to prime them, just as before.

On these two tags, I added the same Distress Oxide colors using a re-inker, a brush, and water.  I liked this technique a lot because I could get stronger colors down much quicker than I was able to achieve with the pads.  If you don't have the re-inkers, you can still pick up the colors from the ink pad, as before.

Continue adding colors with the brush and re-inkers.

Next, use blending tool to add Black Soot DO to the edges and chipboard embellishments on top of the tags.

Mist backgrounds with water and water droplets for the organic look from the Oxides and dry with heat tool.  Use brush to pick up any colors and "dry brush" any areas that you feel need improvement, such as blending or deepening colors.

Place a drop of Black Soot DO from re-inker onto craft sheet.  Use wet paint brush to make a wash and flick drops of the black over the backgrounds.  If you don't have re-inkers, just rub the pad onto the craft mat and make a wash with the ink from the pad.

Add spooky phrases to each tag.  You can computer generate them if you don't have these stickers from Tim Holtz.  Use a black pencil to shade around each sticker, and add distress oxide colors to blend in with the background.

 

Supplies Used:

GSL Chipboard Decorative Tags X Large
GSL String Alongs - Gothic
GSL Brick Wall Small
GSL Texture Sheet Diamonds
GSL Chainlink 8 by 8 Inch Panel
Distress Oxides Ink Pads & Re-inkers
  Spiced Marmalade
  Wilted Violet
  Twisted Citron
  Candied Apple
  Fossilized Amber
  Black Soot
Distress Ink - Black Soot
Blending Tools (Ranger)
Tim Holtz Halloween Clippings Stickers
Paint Brush
Water mister bottle
Wire edged ribbon

I hope you enjoyed my creepy Halloween tags, and that you will be inspired to make some for yourself with any of the laser cuts available from Gypsy Soul.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a super safe and fun Halloween!

Barbara

Tell Tale Heart

Hi Everyone,
It's Jess back with some more Halloween fun for you.  Today I bring you a little bit of Poe.

 Here's how you can make your own.

Take a brown paper sack and crumple it up.  I crumpled and uncrumpled mine several times to get the wrinkles the way I liked them.  I glued the bag to the Faux Book Box using Distress Collage Medium.  Once the collage medium was dry I used Distress Stains to color the paper. I kept adding and wiping away the stain until I was happy with the color.

I added Distress Crayon in Ground Espresso to the book to highlight the wrinkles.

Next I embossed a couple Stackable Labels and glued them to the cover of the book. 

Printers Ornament Corners were added to the spine. 

I added a little sticker to the side. 

The inside of the box is covered with a paper that looks like weathered wood and the edges are embossed.  

A faux pocket watch has a picture of Poe inside.  I colored the edge with alcohol inks.  Silk sari ribbon was dyed using Distress Stains and Alcohol Inks.  

The heart was painted a bright red mixed with some umber.  Once the paint was dry I added a layer of crackle medium.  When the medium started to dry I heated  it up.  This caused lots of bubbling.  I added another layer of paint and the dripped alcohol ink on it too. 

I added the heart to the box using a bit of wire.  The heart hangs in there freely so it bumps against the box.  Very appropriate for the Tell Tale Heart.  

Happy Halloween!

Jess

Gypsy Soul Laser items used:

Faux book box

Printers ornament corners

Stackable labels

Beach Dreams

Hi Everyone, 

Jess here with a fun postcard inspired post for you. 

I've been dreaming of the ocean.  I grew up near the beach and every summer all the girls in our family used to spend a week in York, Maine.  I am now in Arizona and don't get to the beach nearly enough.  I think this postcard is as close as I will get this year.  Here is how you can create your own. 

I started with a piece of paper mounted on a piece of mat board.  I randomly added crazing medium and then added Distress Crayon to show off the cracks.  

Both umbrellas were colored using Distress stains.  I did not prime them with gesso.  I wanted them to look slightly faded and the stain seeps into the chipboard.  Once the stain was dry I covered them with Emerald Creek's clear embossing powder. It's not completely covered.  I left some blank spots so it looks a bit tattered and sun faded.  

The waves are all embossed using various embossing powders and then layered.

The sand dollar was punched with white acrylic paint using a dry brush so some of the chipboard color is still visible.  The starfish and shells are embossed. Don't the starfish look real?

The sand is torn paper that is inked with Disttess Ink and then glued in layers. I love how her foot is buried in the sand. All of the little pieces are tucked into the sand. 

 My sentiment is the finishing touch; 

I added some shadow around it, and the lady.

Anyone want to take me to the beach this summer?

Jess