Santa Heads up the Fireplace by Betsy Skagen

It is late Christmas Eve and miniature Santa has just left tiny toys by the fireplace for good little girls and boys. 

He made sure to sample the gingerbread cookies and glass of milk before he left. You can even see his nibble marks on one of the cookies. 

 

Tutorial: How to Make Santa's Fireplace

Begin by assembling the sides and back of the Narrow Victorian Fireplace. Leave off the top, top interior tier and front. 

Paint all the surface with black gesso. You can omit the interior top tier. Also don't worry about painting between the two interior walls. 

Mix black gesso with modeling paste and spread on interior back and aides of the fireplace. Use an old credit card and an old pencil to create the brick pattern. Let dry. 

Place the front of the fireplace in position and adhere with strong glue. Repeat the brick making process for the exterior of the fireplace. 

Cover the fireplace with a light gray paint. 

Paint each individual brick with assorted colors of paint including burgundy or brick, brown, red and a dark yellow.

Touch up any grout with the light gray paint. 

Cut the back and head off an old Santa ornament and insert into fireplace. Adhere with strong glue.

I decided to dry brush some gray paint onto the interior back wall of the fireplace so that it was easier to see Santa's boots. 

Cut out wood-grained paper for the top and sides of your mantel. I aged the paper using brown and black inks.  Glue it onto the fireplace.

Cut stockings from felt, add miniature candy and adhere to the mantle. 

Add tiny logs and glue in place.

Cut a bite out of some wooden gingerbread and adhere to a dollhouse plate. Drop some white paint into a dollhouse glass. Add all of these to the top of the mantle.

Cut a rectangle from an upholstery sample to use as your base. Add miniature toys, wreath and tiny vintage games.

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I hope this inspires you to make your own miniature Christmas scene. -Betsy

Great Stuff

Narrow Victorian Fireplace

Miniature vintage games

Strong adhesive

Black gesso

Modeling paste

Acyclic paint

Upholstery sample

Miniature toys

Bottlebrush wreath

Dollhouse dishes and candy

Wooden gingerbread men

Enjoy Winter

Product used: GSLC House Shrine Box, Snowy Flouries, ; Authentique Frosted One, Three & Six; Prima Warm Wishes

Beacon 3in1; Ranger Vintage Photo, Faded Jeans Crackle Paint, DecoArt Glistening Snow-Tex; RubnBuff Silver Leaf; Spectrum Noir Moonstone

LOTS of fussy cutting!

Setting up the layout...

I used the 'spare door' of the kit as scenery extension

Pom-pms were added to give the snowballs dimension

The background paper on the inside was continued onto the sides

The tree was a little tricky putting on with the wet glue so I ended up using hot glue gun

The final product! It was actually inspired by the 5+ inches of snow we got overnight!

Thanksgiving Art Journal Page with Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts

Happy Thanksgiving and many blessings to all.  In the US, we celebrate Thanksgiving, so since today is Thanksgiving for us, I wanted to use my art journal to commemorate all that I am thankful for.  I will be using some Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts chipboard to help me out.  I love using chipboard in my art journals because it adds some dimension and not too much bulk.  Also, when I find just the right shapes, it seems to get that ole' mojo started again.

I have prepared a video tutorial for you in the hopes you will enjoy watching the process.

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO MY CHANNEL

Supplies Used:

GSL The Good Life
GSL Mushrooms Shape Set
ColourArte Vivid Ultra Metallics
  Peaceful Poppy
  Black Cherry
  Autumn Leaf
  Burnt Umber
  True Metals Autumn Flame
  Bolivian Blue
ColourArte Radiant Rains Dabber
  Yellow Rose
  Nutmeg
  Mediterranean
Prima Metallique Wax
  Aged Brass
  Vintage Gold
  Bronze Age
6"x9" Art Journal (Ranger)
Studio 490 Crackled Texture Paste
Faber-Castell Glass Bead Glitter Gel
Dylusions 5x8 Luscious Leaves stencil
Tree Branch Archival ink pad
Paper Parachute AT-002 cling stamp
Viva Décor Pearl Pen - Cream

I hope you enjoyed today's project, and be sure to check out all the fabulous products found at Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.  

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a super holiday!!

Barbara

a trio of holiday ornaments

Hi everyone, it is hard to believe that the holiday season is in full swing now.
 Tomorrow will be Thanksgiving in the US which will then lead right into Christmas preparations.
Today I am sharing my trio of holiday ornaments.

These are fairly quick to put together, using multiple sets of the GSLC simple house ornament. The ornament bases are sturdy chipboard house shapes and are sold in sets of two. I used two sets of two and created the thankful ornament with the remaining base.

Select a sheet of your favorite holiday paper and adhere it to one side of each of the ornaments.  I like to use collage medium. When the glue is dry, trim around the edges with an exacto knife to achieve a clean edge. Be sure to poke a hole through the paper where the precut hole is located or it will be difficult to find when both sides of the chipboard are covered. Turn the base over and cover the opposite side in the same manner. The paper I chose had sheets of a beautiful pattern in both a black and a white background. I love the way that the pattern is the same but one side of the ornament is white and the opposite side is black. Really, the possibilities for these ornaments are endless, any styles, colors or themes would work. You could even paint the bases and design from there.

Once the papers have been trimmed completely, the next step involves adding your chosen embellishments. I gather some holiday bits and pieces and decide on a scheme for each ornament. I think these would be a great hostess gift if you were invited to a holiday party, or even used for tying on a package then later hung on the tree. The embellishments would depend on how you anticipate them being used and can be simple or complex.

I prefer the look of a finished edge, especially since I have used two different colored papers on the piece. To achieve a unified look, I coat an edge of the covered base in versamark embossing ink then dip in embossing powder. The embossing powder is heat set; and, when cool, the process is repeated for all edges of each ornament. On one of the ornaments I chose to paint the edges with black soot paint instead of the embossing powder. Each method provides a unique look. Depending on the style that you intend to finish your ornaments, you could treat the edges in a manner that would be complementary.

My first ornament contains a gold embossed edge, and an embossed stamped sentiment also in gold. Beneath the sentiment I added a paper bow and some die cut greenery pieces. The reverse side was left unadorned. This ornament is tied with golden string.

The second ornament is embossed around its edge with spiced candy embossing powder. The focal point on this ornament is a glittered, stag die cut which stands in front of a gathering of die cut evergreen pieces. It hangs from a piece of sheer red ribbon.

The third holiday ornament is more whimsical than the others. Reminiscent of the north pole, strips of red and white striped paper are adhered to each side towards the bottom.  The edges of the ornament base are painted with black soot paint and when dry, a red wired tinsel is adhered to angled roof edges with collage medium. Three red jingle bells hang from the bottom by means of alcohol inked jump rings. An ephemera Santa is raised off the paper background by a piece of trimmed fun foam. He stands atop a "snowy" Christmas quote chip and is  ready for his midnight journey round the world.

 I loved being able to create a few holiday gifts with these Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts simple house ornaments. They are really versatile, I already have ideas for a few more designs.

I hope that you are able to set aside some time to create during this busy holiday season, I always feel that when I give handmade I am giving something of myself; a work of heart.


Wishing you and your families a very Happy Thanksgiving.
~Ann


Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts used:
simple house ornament

It Could Be A Fairytale

Hello all! Lora here taking my turn for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts!
This triptych is definitely telling a story. But what is it? When I started making it, I really didn't have anything in mind, but the more I looked at it, the more it became something.
I showed it to my sister and she said (roughly) "He's reading the flower like tea leaves and he can see her in it. Blue sky and green grass turn dark and wicked. Ooh."
Fabulous!
Better than anything I thought up.
What story do you see in it?

I started with the Arch Top Triptych 8 Inch.
I cut my papers for the backs of each piece and set them aside.

I cut four pieces of linen hinge tape about 4 inches long. (you can get it HERE)
Line up your triptych pieces and make sure all the bottoms are even with each other and attach two pieces of the tape to the chipboard to connect the pieces. making sure the tape is pretty even as well.
Then I turned the piece over and attached the other two pieces of tape, going into the dip between the chipboard pieces so I had a solid connection with the exposed sticky bits of the tape on the other side.

I glued the paper I cut to the back side of the triptych.
NOTE: the three components of the triptych are slightly different from each other, so I used EACH one as a template for the paper I cut. That way, all the bottoms and outside edges fit. I set it aside.

Next, I gave the arches a good coat of gesso. I love gesso.

After the gesso dried,  I painted the arches red. I really like Golden's Napthol Red Medium.
I let it dry completely. And then!!!
And then....because I wanted a little added richness, that super bit of drenched color, I painted a coat of Quinacridone Magenta on top of the red.
Oh, double biscuits, is it ever pretty!
I set it aside and let it dry.
After I stopped staring at it.

Then I started playing with bits of torn paper and the original image that got me going in the first place.
I made gently sloping hills and began drafting my collage, letting it unfold and bring in the red arches from time to time to check overlap and flow.
This is where I started.......

And this is where I ended up.
In the picture below, nothing is glued down and no fine details are added.
I usually take a picture at this point as a reference for where everything goes before I take it apart and glue things down.
Next, using matte medium (I use either Liquitex or Golden Matte Medium) I attach all the paper bits one layer at a time.
After it dries completely, I put on at least one coat of matte varnish. Two is what I do mostly, letting each coat dry thoroughly before applying the next one.
Varnishing your pieces is really important for permanency. Paper is ephemeral and varnishing gives it a lot longer life, and makes it as waterproof as paper can get.

After the varnish dries, I glue the red arches on the triptych. Make sure you glue them on the correct pieces.
After the glue dries, I applied another coat of varnish, back and front. (for this piece, this was the second coat of varnish.....I wanted to make sure the arches got a coat as well)

I added painted details, like all the little dots and swirls and painted in the stones on her head piece...

making sure I added those same detail dots and swirls to the wizard's panel for continuity.
and added a few metal findings at the top of the arches.

Don't for get to sign your work!
Also, for anyone that is interested, the image of the woman is called 'Head of a Lady in Medieval Costume' by Lucien Victor  Guirand de Scevola. Painted about 1900.

SUPPLIES
Arch Top Triptych 8 Inch


Graphic 45 French Country (for the sunflowers) Communique (cream and black harlequin for the hills)
Ella and Viv Watercolor Paradise Scrapbook paper (the sky)
Bo Bunny Double Dot Vintage (for the hills)
Acrylic paints
Varnish
Matte medium
Metal findings

Thank you very much for stopping in!

Simple Christmas

Hi Everyone,
Jess here today with a couple of super simple Christmas card ideas.

  The Star Medallions come in a set of three.  For these two cards I used the small and medium medallions.  Paint both of the medallions using Dina Wakley paint in Gilt.  The small medallion got some pearl dots added to the points.

For the background on this card use navy blue paper and emboss it using the Sizzix 3d Winter Snowflakes Embossing folder.  Cut out your sentiment using the Tim Holtz Holiday Words Script die. It's hard to tell here, but there is a tiny line of gold paper layered underneath the embossed paper.  

Mount your background on to  a white card.  

Add your bling and you're done! 

The pink card follows the same idea, but the center is made using the tiny tattered floral die and the festive foliage die from Tim Holtz.  

That's it! You could bust out all of your Christmas cards in an afternoon making them like this!

Jess