May Day

Happy May Day!
 When I learned that my first post for this month was on May 1st, the thoughts that came to mind were centered around May Day Celebrations. Memories from my childhood of dancing around the Maypole and crowning the May queen; as well as the tradition of hanging May baskets, are the inspiration behind todays project.

I begin with a Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Bagatelle Box 1.5 x 4 (coming soon). There are many size options available for this box. I chose this size to accommodate a basket handle that would be able to hang from a door knob (as is tradition) when complete. I paint the top and bottom edges of the pieces with antique linen Distress paint and allow to dry. The interior faces of the box sides are then covered with decorative paper to mimic a pretty spring lining for the "basket." I prefer to adhere the decorative papers prior to constructing the box. When this method is selected, be sure to keep the interlocking tabs free from paper. The photograph below shows how I have covered some of the surfaces.

Once the adhesive on the lining pieces is dry, I glue the box together and set aside. 

Next, I ink pieces of Distress woodgrain cardstock with Distress Oxide ink in scattered straw and fossilized amber. Drying the inks with a heat tool between layers. When I am satisfied with the coloration, I then use Distress Ink in brushed corduroy and walnut stain to give the cardstock the look of real wood by accentuating the wood graining.

These pieces are cut into strips that will be woven together to create the "basket."

The edges of each strip are inked with coordinating inks to hide the white core that is exposed when the strips are cut, then I begin to weave the pieces together, using the bagatelle box sides as guides.

I continue the weaving to completely surround the box base. 

With the basket portion complete, it is time to begin filling it with flowers. Tradition has it that May baskets are filled with the blooms gathered at the end of April's showers. To start, I use the fringing method to cut a piece of peeled paint colored card stock, creating a serpentine of "grass" that will assist in filling the basket. I add a thin line of quick dry glue along the bottom edge of the grass piece and secure it into place.

With the grass in place, I begin arranging the flower pieces that have been colored with Distress inks in shaded lilac, wilted violet, and bundled sage. I also add some leafy stem diecuts that have been painted with peeled Paint Distress paint. All of the various pieces are glued into place. 

The final step is attaching the basket handle. Due to the length of the basket base; as well as wanting the basket to be able to hang from a door knob, as is tradition, I cut two strips of the same width from the remaining inked piece of woodgrain cardstock. (Note: I have inked both sides of this piece of woodgrain cardstock so that when viewed, the underside of the handle looks the same as the top. This is important since the handle bends and slips into the sides between the box and the woven paper giving exposure to both sides simultaneously.) These two pieces are overlapped and glued together at the top. I add a stamped and colored butterfly to the handle to complete the project. 

I am off to deliver this May Day Basket to its special recipient, and carry on this wonderful tradition.

I hope that the coming days are filled with May flowers and perhaps they inspire you to create something beautiful. 

Thank you so much for stopping by, I truly appreciate it.

~Ann

    

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts used:
Bagatelle Box 1.5 x 4 (coming soon)

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

She was a good egg

Hi Everyone,
Jess here today with this altered tin.

My crafty mojo has been on a major hiatus the past couple of weeks.  You know when you sit down and everything you make is just blah? Or you just sit there and stare at all of your supplies and you've got no ideas? That's been me.  I decided to just play.

I started by taking the Feathers and some PaperArtsy Infusions to colorize them.  I gave each feather a layer of gesso.  Once the gesso is dry I made a puddle of white paint and sprinkled in some infusions.  The infusions will react with the paint, but if you lightly spritz it with water they really come to life.  I dipped and dragged the feathers through the paint.  On a few of them I sprinkled some extra infusions on top of the first layer and spritzed with water. I inked the edges(on the feather I used on this project I used Peacock Feathers) and added a bit of gold using a paint pen. Now I have a whole bunch of feathers in different colors and shades for future projects. 

A while back I got a blank tin from Gina(Ms. Gypsy Soul) and I decided it was time to use it.  I painted the tin using a layer of clear gesso.  I added a crackle glaze from Deco Art.  It's a super fine crackle and I ended up covering most of it up with my paint job, but in certain areas the crackle peeks through.  

The main color is Dina Wakley Turquoise mixed with a hint of Umber.  The speckles were added using Distress Oxide Sprays in Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain.   I wanted the tin to look like a robin egg.  

For the inside of the tin I added Tim Holtz Collage paper to the shallow side. I used collage medium to adhere the paper to the tin.  Using water on my finger I ran it around the edge of the tin to rip the paper.  I didn't want it to be exact in the tin.  If you peek there are little spaces where the silver of the tin can be seen.  The frayed and wrinkled edges make me happy.  You all know by now that perfection is not my thing!I added some clipping stickers and edged the paper with a gold paint pen. I love how it looks like loose gold leaf on the ragged edges.  

On the deep side of the tin I cut a piece of paper to fit the back and glued it in using collage medium.  I took one of the Scalloped Tin Inserts and ran it though my 3d Kaleidoscope embossing folder.  Using my finger I ran a thin layer of white paint over the surface.  Before it was dry I rub it to expose the raw chipboard underneath.  I ran my Hickory Smoke Oxide pad over the top to age it too.  The inside edge was inked gold using the paint pen. 

The good egg fairy is sitting on a small plastic egg that I smushed so it was dented on either side.  This gave me a flat surface to glue to the bottom of the tin and a concave side to sit a second egg in.  She is propped forward by placing a small wooden die behind her.

The fairy is a tiny Tim Holtz paper doll that was coated in clear gesso and colored using distress markers.  She has tiny shrink plastic wings and a crown.  The "good egg" was trimmed out of a dictionary and glued to her dress using collage medium. 

To finish the outside of the tin I layered up three washi tapes and glued them to the tin. I used a rub on word in the bottom corner and used foam tape to attach the feather.

I feel like I am back in the groove and hope to start making more projects! 

What do you do to break out of a creative funk?

Jess

I adore you

Hi Everyone,

Jess here today.  It's that time of year when everyone starts to think about hearts and flowers.  When I saw these Heart Playing Cards(that will be coming to the store soon) I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
The cards come in two pieces.  You get the front decorative side and a plain piece of chipboard that makes up the back.

Start by running the back piece through your Xyron machine to cover the piece.  Add a piece of decorative paper, then emboss using the Tim Holtz 3d Botanical folder.  I wanted to make the back out of velvet, but I didn't have any velvet paper.  I tried several different things to create my own velvet paper and nothing looked quite right.  If you have ideas give me a shout! I ended up deciding to use this red paper that looked aged enough to appear as though it had been held many times over the years.

Paint the reverse side of the back piece using red paint.  I went with a metallic red, but really any red will do.  Don't worry about getting paint in all of the cracks as most of this will be covered and you won't see any patches.   Set the back pieces aside to dry.

While the back piece are drying take your photos(these are Tim Holtz found relatives, but you can use any old photos) and cover them with a layer of Vintage Beeswax embossing powder.

Once your powder is melted you get this wonderful look.  You can add lots of layers to make it smooth or even crack the finish.  This is a technique my fellow teammate Jennalee likes to use and you can see what that looks like here.

Emboss the heart overlay using Charred Gold embossing powder.  Adhere the photo and the overlay to the back panel.  See how the red just peeks out from behind.

Emboss your floral diamond with a very thin layer of Charred Gold powder.  Stipple on alcohol ink in slate, mushroom, and latte to age the finish.  

Add a metal flower on top of the diamond and then add a typed token with a bit of twine on that to complete your cover detail.  

I hope you have a great week!

Jess

Winter Greetings

Hi Everyone,
Jess here today with a great gift card holder.

 It might look complex, but really there's not much to it.
Start by cutting out your Sizzix and Tim Holtz gift card holder.  Since the gift card I was putting inside had snowmen on it I decided to go with a snowflake theme.

Take the mittens from the Snow Fun set (coming soon to the store) and emboss them using Charred Gold embossing powder.  Using the Snowflake Shape Set Minis emboss two medium sized flakes with Soft Fallen Snow.  Emboss one tiny flake using Hammered Metal.

Glue one flake to each mitten and on the top mitten add the tiny snowflake. Edge the top of each mitten with tinsel twine that has been colored with alcohol ink in Mushroom. 

Glue the mittens to the front of the holder, right on the ribbon running down the center.

Emboss two flakes from the Snowflake Shape Set and glue them to the back of the holder.  You don't have to decorate the back of the holder, but this could be turned into an ornament so I wanted the front and back to look pretty.  

Cut out several metallic branches from the Tim Holtz Funky Festive die set.  Cut out a small berry branch in two shades of blue and white.  Assemble the berries so the centers are blue.  You just want a pop of blue.  Glue the branches under the bow.  

Stay warm! 

Jess