Easter Greetings from Mr. Bead, my faovorite curmudgeon.

Ah, Mr. Bead. There's something about you my friend. You are so cranky, so dour, so disarmingly grumpy. You just make me smile.
I have made a couple of other 'Mr. Bead'....pieces in my earlier paper days and he has always stuck with me. I am probably a little off center myself, but there is something about putting this grumpy guy into scenarios where most people are happy and seeing his sour-puss face that makes me laugh.
Maybe deep down he is gooey melted chocolate like a foil wrapped Easter bunny left in the sun.

This is a pretty straight-forward project and fun to do. I bega n with the ATC Shrine Box.

I glued it together and used rubber bands to keep it fitting tightly whilst the glue dried.

I measured and cut my papers for both inside and out. You can see in the picture below Mr. Bead has been getting a trim as well

After gluing the papers on and letting them dry, I gave the edges of the box a sanding.....

and inked up the edges, making it looked a bit more finished and give it some aging.

It gets a bit wordy here as I lost a few pictures to wherever WiFi takes bits you really need-kind of like the dryer eating one of your favorite stripey socks.
Next time I will not click on 'remove duplicate images from device' when downloading project pics.

I made the wee bunting letters, the phrase 'Easter Greetings from Mr. Bead' and the balloon on Illustrator.
I cut out tiny triangles of scrap paper and glued the 'Happy Easter' letters on them and glued those to the pink scrap of fuzzy ribbon.
The white string is a piece of embroidery thread I used as the tail of the balloon.
I used a piece from the Stackable Labels Shape Set which I painted green and after it dried, I glued my Mr. Bead phrase onto it.
For the foot of the piece, I used a 1 Inch Wide Wooden Finial I got from Alpha Stamps,
I glued it to a washer and painted the whole thing green and then after everything else was assembled, glued it on the bottom of the box.
I glued some bunny ears I drew and cut out on to Mr. Bead and glued a piece of foam to the back of the card stock to make him sit forward in the box. The tulips were scrap from a bit of scrap book paper I used ages ago. I put more foam on the back of the tulips and glued those to Mr. Bead.
I think he likes flowers....

I added more of the tulip scrap on top of the box, and added some glitter to the bottom edge of it, around the 'Easter Greetings from Mr. Bead' plaque and a little on his bunny ears.
He just makes me smile, he's so cranky.
The bunting went on the back of the piece and I impulsively added a couple of silk flowers left from another project.

And there it is!
Maybe you know someone like Mr. Bead. If you do, give him and extra big smile.
By the way, there is a Mrs. Bead who is equally as humbuggy as her mister. I may have to do something with an Easter bonnet for her...........
SUPPLIES:
ATC Shrine Box
Stackable Labels Shape Set

Additional Supplies:
1 Inch Wide Wooden Finial (from Alpha Stamps)
Green paint
Bo Bunny Vintage Dot Scrap book paper in Pear and Pink
Silk flowers
Cabinet card image (scanned....I never use my originals)
Various scrap (for the tulip border)
Scrap bits of ribbon and string

Thank you very much for stopping by!

Steampunk Goddess

Hi Everyone,

Jess here today with a super fun project.  

I am not a steampunk girl.  It's not really in my wheelhouse.  I dabble here and there, but when I saw this Steampunk Cage Dressform I knew I had to make something with it.  Honestly, it was super easy to make, so today's tutorial will be super short.

Cover your base using Seth Apter's new Baked Texture Embossing Powders.  The base layer here is Rocky Road.  The different patches of color are from Dirty Sand, Chunky Rust, and Patina Oxide. 

Here's another shot.

It's gorgeous and you don't have to prep the chipboard before applying the powder.  I just slapped on the embossing ink and went to town.  The secret to the layering is really just heating up the base layer(in this case the ROcky Road) and sprinkling on the color you want to add.

The dress form was covered with a thin layer of gesso and then I added Distress Oxide Ink in Cracked Pistachio. 

I covered that with Ancient Amber Embossing powder and added gears.   The wings are covered with the same ink and then embossed using Vintage Beeswax and sprinkled with Patina Oxide and Deep Sea embossing powders.  

Her back has a key to wind her up.  

I colored a vintage chandelier crystal using Alcohol Ink in Mushroom and hung it from the center of the gear to complete the piece.  

Where the pieces joined together I used black paint to hide the raw chipboard. 

I hope you like her! 

Jess

    

Easter Greetings Card

Hello there friends and happy Sunday to you all. I'm dropping in to share a very vintagy inspired Easter card I created with a lovely chippie from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.

Awww this little chap with his basket of eggs is too precious!

I'm using the gate chippie as an anchor for the focal image.

I finished the gate with a blue embossing powder that has  metallic flakes and it  gives it a perfect vintage look.

Not only does it add depth....but it also creates a barrier between the busy cut of the doily.

 A sweet and simple collection of old fashioned flowers have twine, and berry stems, and spiral stamens tucked in to create a spring inspired arrangement.

This chippie was a bit too tall to fit on the card so I clipped it in half and removed a section so it will be perfectly sized.

The finish is Atlantic Seaspray embossing powder.

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts~Gates Shapes Set

Wishing everyone a happy and productive day : ) G

VHS Cassette Tape Rental in Miniature

I was recently told that VHS rental is coming back to fashion. My first reaction was - I need to celebrate this in miniature! I've been eyeing the GSL Bookcase 1 to 12 and decided it was perfect. 

As with all of my projects, I start by laying out all the pieces to see how everything fits together. This one is super simple to figure out.

I decided to give the inside of my bookcase a neutral finish to make the shelf contents stand out so I gave the inside surfaces a coat of gesso as primer, followed by a coat of off-white acrylic paint.

Once dry, the bookcase was assembled using tacky glue. I used rubber bands to hold everything in place while the glue dries. Once dry, I gave the exterior a coat of gesso followed by a bright red acrylic paint finish.

The GSL Filmstrip Mini Sheets made the perfect décor for the sides of the case. I gave each one a coat of black acrylic paint.

Next came the fun part! Searching for images of some classic movie posters that I resized to perfectly fit inside the filmstrip openings.

Once assembled, they were glued onto the sides of the case.

To make the tapes, I started with dollhouse construction bricks I've had in my stash forever. If you aren't able to find them, you could also use scraps of wood cut to size. I painted the bricks black to mimic a tape cassette. Searching for images was fun. I was surprised how many VHS tape covers I was able to find. I adjusted the size for print, cut them out then used a scoring board to make the creases nice and crisp then glued them onto the bricks.

I knew I wanted to have some candy and popcorn on the top shelf because every VHS rental place I've ever been to sold to-go movie snacks. The popcorn box and Snickers display were free printable miniatures I found online. Same for the M&M's. To make a display case for the M&M's, I cut a tongue depressor and some coffee stirrers to size, painted them red then glued them together with tacky glue. The little Snickers and M&M's packages each got a small piece of coffee stirrer glued inside as a filler. 

Final touches include a Starship Enterprise that started life as a Hallmark mini ornament, a ceramic popcorn bucket from my stash of miniatures and a Be Kind Rewind sign made from cardstock glued to one of those dollhouse bricks to make it stand up.

 Thanks for stopping by!

Gypsy Soul Laser Items Used

Bookcase 1 to 12

Filmstrip Mini Sheets

Other Items Used

Gesso

Acrylic paint

Tacky glue

Printed images

Scoring mat

Dollhouse bricks or wood scraps cut to size

Wooden tongue depressor
Wooden coffee stir sticks
Bits and bobs

Free to Fly Folding House Shrine

Hello and happy Friday!! It's Jennalee here today with a variation on the Folding House Shrine. I had pulled out the house shrine a couple weeks ago to make but at the time my vision for the piece was not working the way I had envisioned. For some reason, I thought it was supposed to be a box. So my original plan was out. So there sat the Folding House Shrine. Then inspiration struck!! Instead of using the original chipboard "hinges" I decided to use ruler pieces.

I started by coloring the 3 house pieces with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I colored both front and back. 

While I had my ink out I added a bit of color to Tim Holtz Idea-ology Ruler Pieces. I cut one Ruler Piece down to size to fit the shrine pieces. 

I covered the front of the house pieces with vintage shorthand text. I cut to size and ran thru my Xyron. I applied the collage elements to my background pieces at this point. 

Once the backgrounds are adhered to the house pieces. I heat embossed all 3 pieces using Seth Apter's new Baked Texture in Vintage Beeswax. I used a Versamark pad to coat the background and then apply the powder. I did one layer. This picture shows the before (on bottom) and after of the paper. Once the piece has cooled add some depth and detail using Tim Holtz Distress Crayons. 

The wings are printed on dictionary text with a layer of Distress Crazing Medium. Once the Crazing Medium air dried I added some depth to the crazing with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and Tarnished Brass Distress Crayon. Not shown here I added a gold heat embossed edge all the way around each wing. 

The center panel of my shrine features an Idea-ology key that I colored with Vintage Photo Distress Crayon. I added a few drops of Seth Apter's Baked Texture Patina Oxide. I wrapped the key with a length of Tim Holtz Craft Thread dyed with Twisted Citron Distress Oxide. 

I then measured out my holes on each of my house pieces and punched the holes with a drill punch. 

To attach the Ruler Pieces to the Folding House Shrine pieces I cut a 16 inch length of  20 gauge craft wire in Antique Brass. Start on the left and work across. Begin by threading wire up from back about 3-4 inches and wrapping a messy spiral. Once knot is desired size wrap around Ruler Piece making sure your wrap is tight enough to hold the Ruler Piece. Be sure to leave 3-4 inches for a messy knot on the next panel. Wrap wire the same way for the remaining holes. 

Attach the key to the middle panel using a strong hold glue. 

I adhered the wings at the base leaving them loose enough to have a flutter effect. I then cut a length of black sewing thread and rolled between my hands to get a messy look. Using an embossing dabber add a random bit of embossing ink and sprinkle on some gold embossing powder and heat set. While the powder was still hot I used  tweezers to apply the thread in the powder. I then added a bit more embossing ink and another sprinkle of gold powder and heat set. 

To finish off the back of my piece I tried out a new technique Eileen Hull shared a couple weeks ago. Using a sponge apply matte medium to an embossing folder and insert paper. I used a brayer to roll the folder to transfer the medium to my paper. I then applied my foiling. Set aside to dry. Once dry peel away foil sheet. 

 

I really love all the different textures and mediums I was able to incorporate into this piece. The finished project is a perfect size for displaying on a shelf. Thanks for stopping by and spending a few minutes with me today. I hope you have a weekend full of creative inspiration!! Happy Creating ~ Jennalee