Vintage Valentine

Hello and welcome to another week here at the GSLC Blog. This is Yolie with a last minute vintage Valentine using  Banner Border Strips and the Scribble Frame Hearts.

I prepared the laser cuts by cleaning off the soot with a damp cloth. Using tweezers, I pressed the Scribbled Frame Hearts directly onto the embossing ink pad and then sprinkled a generous amount of  Emerald Creek's Hammered Metal embossing powder. I did the same with the pendant  Scribble Frame Hearts but used the Charred Gold embossing powder. The banners are 12" in length and you can easily cut to fit your project with sharp scissors.

I distressed, inked and dogeared the paper. I added the filigree brads onto the grey pattern paper and then layered my pieces.

Here's a closer look at the amazing faux metal pieces. The Charred Gold has a bit of mercury glass finish. They both look fabulous.

I hope you enjoyed my vintage Valentine. Enjoy your week and make it a creative one!

Supply List:
Banner Border Strips Item D34D
Scribble Frame Hearts Item D23D
DCWV Vintage Stack
Beacon Power-Tac Glue
Emerald Creek Charred Gold Embossing Powder
Emerald Creek Hammered Metal Embossing Powder
Embossing Heat Gun
Embossing Ink
Black Cardstock
Black and Brown Ink
Filigree Brads
Black Mini Rhinestones 
Dauber
Mini Stapler
Black Jute

Two of Hearts

Hello!! Happy Friday everyone. Jennalee here today with a quick little Valentine project inspired by these amazing Heart Playing Cards (coming soon) from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts. The instant I saw them I envisioned them all rusty as a frame for some antique photos. Although this was a super easy project I am so pleased with the outcome.

The frames come in a 2 pack and there are 4 pieces total with the fronts and backs. 

Run the frame backs thru your Xyron and apply short hand book text. Trace around the frame opening and then paint the outer edges of the back gold. This gold accent will pop thru once the frame is put together. 

 

For the top of the frame pieces I used my favorite faux rust treatment. 

 Using a cosmetics sponge apply brown paint and then dip directly into cinnamon. Pounce on more brown paint and heat set. If you have a heat gun that runs hot you can burn the cinnamon for that great crusty effect. But be careful!! 

Photo copy your vintage images. Heat emboss using Baked Texture Vintage Beeswax. Die cut with Stitched Oval die. I heat embossed my images before die cutting so that the die cut details would stand out. 

Cut a length of vintage patterned seam binding and adhere down the center of the frame backs. Adhere the photos centered in the cutout area. 

Adhere frame to the back. And voila you have a super easy antique inspired Valentine in just a few minutes. 

Although its a quick and simple project I love the way these Heart Playing Card frames take the main stage. And be sure to stay tuned on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Blog this coming Monday Jess from Two Mad Dahlias has a tutorial using these amazing frames as well!!

Happy Creating ~ Jennalee 

Valentine Doll House

Hello and happy Friday!! It's Jennalee here today. I love Valentine's crafting, the pink and red make my heart happy. This project doesn't have any pink in it but the bold red and black were fun to experiment with.

I started with the Mini House Shadow Box 3. I thought it would be fun to make a "doll house" and have the house be the doll's body and contain a heart full of love.

I started by painting all pieces of the Mini House Shadow Box 3 with black gesso. 

I then cut a template out for the main wall of the shadow box. I cut out a piece of white cardstock slightly larger than my template. Using a black sharpie and a messy cursive strip I wrote out 'I Love You' repeatedly across the paper. I also did this for strips to cover the outer roof of the shadow box. It was a nice meditative exercise to write out such sweet words. 

I then cut strips of black and white polka dot scrapbook paper to cover the rest of the shadow box walls. I ran all the pieces thru my Xyron. It makes for super easy application. 

To finish off the inside of the house I heat embossed the floor with a red glitter embossing powder before assembling the Mini House Shadow Box 3. Using foam dots I attached a red glitter heart in the middle of the shadow box. I stamped and colored a paper doll and attached to the back of the house. I will admit this project took on a life of its own as I went, but sometimes the process of making is the more fun than the end result. 

I hope you all find some creative time this weekend!! Happy Creating ~Jennalee

GSLCuts item used:

Mini house shadow box 3

A Valentine for Winter

I love winter.
I know there are lots of folks who don't like it one bit and that is okay.
For me, winter has always been magical and a little bit mysterious. I love the beauty of a snowfall, the glistening and sparkling that happens on a calm moonlit night.
The dazzling brilliance of a white blanketed, blue sky day.
Winter sunrises....such beautiful, delicate light.
Snowflakes, brisk air, sleeping forests.
It's also a time of great creativity. The tasks of summer are all done until the next season. Everything is at rest and there is time to turn inward and let all those creative sparks grow into ideas and visions.
In the heat and loud fecundity of summer, I dream of the coldest, quietest season.
Here is a little offering for winter.
A valentine.

 This project began as a Half Scale Arch Front Room Box.

I assembled the box, setting aside the arch front. Painted the interior of the box and cut papers for the exterior.

You can see here, I was playing with various bits and decided on mot everything but the clock to add to the piece.

I used the Bead Strand Heart Dangle for the main focal point in the box, painting it a delicate pink and adding pearly details and a little sparkle.

In the picture below, you can see the little dot details I added to the inside rear of the box ( I used a Sharpie Poster paint Marker) and then added snowflakes from the Winter Shape Set and the Snowflake Shape Set popping them up a bit with foam core poster board. I did the same thing with the Bead Strand Heart Dangle, but used more foam core, setting it up closer to the front of the box.

After I got the major players glued down and dried, I attached the arch front of the box and then began playing with the placement of the trees and exterior snowflakes, adding little dots of 'snow' with my marker in the background on the arch front.

I added flat back pearls to the center of each snowflake with the exception of the one in the center of the big heart. That one I covered with glitter and glued a Swarovski flat back crystal to the center.
I glued a white painted candle holder to the bottom, but thought it was a bit too low. I had a tin Jello mold sitting on my desk and impulsively painted it white, turned it upside down and glued it to the candlestick.
Perfect! A little bit whimsical and rustic.

Thank you for stopping by and Happy New Year to all!!

Supplies:
Half Scale Arch Front Room Box
Bead Strand Heart Dangle
Winter Shape Set
Snowflake Shape Set

Additional Supplies from Alpha Stamps:
Retro Bottle Brush Tree Set - Green
Snow and Cocoa Bottle brush Tree Set
Stickles Diamond
Candlestick Holder
Mixed Sized Ivory Flat-Back Pearls

Other:
Bo Bunny Winter Wishes 6x6 Paper Pad
Tin Jello Mold

Valentine card

Hope your Christmas was full of blessings!  Cherry here at the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts blog today.

Is it too soon to be thinking Valentines?  Not for me.

I have an easy card to share.   I covered the cardstock in one solid piece of pattern paper and layered it with this Deco Lattice Panel 1 painted with red paint.

 Than I simply wrapped with ribbons and tied a bow and added stamens.

After that I added my main image and surrounded it with flowers, more stamens, and these Victorian Corners 1 colored with a glitter marker.

Thanks for always visiting the GSLC blog, cherry

GSLC Supplies-

Deco Lattice Panel number 1

Victorian Corners 1 brackets 

Valentines mini book

It's almost Valentines day and time to spread the love and create amazing memories for the ones that you love.  Today I have a fun mini book that I did to put pictures in of the fun things that we do this year and my friends and family.

Below I have a quick tutorial on how I did the pages and the embellishments.  Enjoy!

 For my mini book project I used a brand new album called the "Art Journal".   I really loved using this album, first because it has so many pages that I can create on and second because the pages have tabs and they have corrugated pages between each of the tabs.  I love all the texture and it's perfect to use lots of mixed media on with all the different kinds of pages that are in the book.  Just an idea :)

So first-- start by separating all the pages and cut papers to cover them.  Let them dry.

The papers and stickers are from a new line from Simple Stories called "Love and Adore".  It has lots of fun little bits so it was super easy to make it up quick with my chipboard book.

And then you can just go crazy and add places for pictures and other fun pockets to put tickets or cards that you get from everyone.   I Love, love, love this book.

And here are a few pictures of the finished book for details just in case you want to make one too.

Here is the link again to buy this amazing Art Journal book.

Thanks so much for stopping by and be sure and check back tomorrow for more design team inspiration..   Have a very fun and crafty day!!

Teresa

You can't cage your heart

Hi Everyone,
I love to create for Valentine's day.  I have a fun necklace for you today and it was really easy to make.

Start with your birdcage chipboard.  I used the 3 inch version for this project, but it is available in two additional sizes.
I embossed both sides of the top piece.

The heart is a die cut piece of paper that I wet and crumpled into a ball.  I flattened it, dried it with my heat tool, and then sanded it to highlight the wrinkles.

The wings are painted with a couple light coats of acrylic paint and then grunged up with a brown ink and some bronze paint.


The back of the birdcage that the heart will be on is embossed in a slightly different color than the front and it doesn't have full coverage. I wanted some of the chipboard to peep through. The back of the piece is embossed in the same color as the top piece of the cage.

The wings are attached to the heart using foam tape.  I used foam tape and a strong adhesive to attach the heart to the back of the cage.

A large jump ring holds the two pieces of the cage together.  The cage pieces are not attached in any other way.  I want the cage to swing open when I wear this piece.

I hope you like it and maybe make one for yourself!

Jess

Sorting Valentines at the Postal Station by Betsy Skagen

Hello! After serving as a guest designer for a couple years, I could not resist making the leap to joining the official educator team in 2017. The opportunity to work with so many talented artists and play with the boundless creative opportunities of Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts products was a dream come true.

To kick off the year, I created this miniature Valentine Postal Station. I hope you tour all the tiny details--from the miniature millinery cabinet, to the mail bags filled with itty-bitty love letters, to the minuscule chocolate kisses.

Designed in 1:12 scale, this sorting station is a mix of old and new. There's no computerized robotics to sort the lovelorn postcards, the cute Valentine puns and the packages filled with chocolate truffles; yet you can see a few modern-day postal boxes.

To make the Millinery Cabinet, simply assemble and glue the pieces together and then paint with a brown acrylic paint.

Except for one or two of the brown paper packages (tied up with strings) that were store-bought, a friend and I made the rest. To make these, simply cut pieces of florist foam into rectangles, wrap them with Kraft paper, creasing the edges with a bone folder. Then, wrap the packages with a narrow string.

I also made the Priority Mail packages. I mistakenly thought since they were government issued they were public domain. Oops--I was wrong. So I designed new mail packages for you to use, as well as stamps, additional Valentine packages and postcards.

The Chocolate boxes are from the Tiny Valentines Collage Sheet and the Calendar is from the Valentine Packages Collage Sheet.

To make the base, assemble and glue a Cottage Base and adhere cardstock that looks like distressed flooring--super easy!

To make the walls, cut two 9" x 9" x 10" pieces of foam core and adhere together at a 90 degree angle. Add some cardstock that looks like distressed wood. I've been watching too much of the Fixer Upper TV show lately, so I gave the cardstock a light whitewash of gesso to make it look like shiplap. Heh heh. Use a strong glue to adhere the walls to the Cottage Base. 

To make the table, just assemble and glue the 1:12 Round table and chairs and paint with off-white paint. 

Create teeny-tiny chocolate kisses by first making a huge sacrifice and eating one or two real chocolate kisses. I know, I know, the difficult things we must do in the name of art. Cut the paper strip into tiny strips and shape the foil into tiny kiss shapes around the paper strip. 

I hope you noticed that Valentine's Day could not be complete without some Conversation Hearts nearby to snack on during break time?

Make the canvas mail bags by cutting a piece of lightweight canvas, gluing together, and folding the inside edge over a string and hot gluing the edge down. Of course, a person could actually sew a bag, but I avoid sewing at all costs. Stamp the letters M-A-I-L in red ink on both sides of the bags, stuff the bags most of the way with pieces of paper towel and then top off with packages and letters. Add a final touch by painting a curious little mouse with a white paint and placing nearby.  

Prime the Border Sticks and Narrow windows with white gesso. Then color with red paint. Adhere the windows to blue polka-dot cardstock and glue to the walls. Also adhere the borders sticks to the left wall above the cabinet. Make a chandelier by hanging a small Christmas decoration from a piece of stiff wire that runs across the top of your walls. 

This project is easier than it looks, I hope you consider trying all or some of it for your Valentine decor. 

Great Stuff

Millinery Cabinet 1:12
Cottage Base
Round table and chairs 1:12
Border Sticks
Narrow windows 
Valentine Packages Collage Sheet.
Tiny Valentines Collage Sheet
Little Letters Collage Sheet

Glass jar

Tiny metal mouse

Beacon Fabri-Tac Adhesive

Distressed flooring cardstock

Distressed walls cardstock

Blue polka dot cardstock
Kraft paper

Small pot

Red star

Wire

Canvas

String

Paper towel

Stamp letters

Red Ink

Chocolate kisses

Miniature pencils

Miniature plant

Foamcore

White gesso

Brown paint

Off white paint

Red paint

White paint pen