A box for chickens

My idea for this project came from Arlene Cuevas, one of the amazing members of the Graphic 45 team. As soon as I saw her creation, I fell in love and wanted to do something similar. Check out this blog for a link to the two step-by-step videos that show you how to make it.

I was merely waiting for something to decorate to copy her technique. And, when my mom gave me an embroidered doily with chickens on it, I knew it was the perfect thing to frame.

Naturally, I put my own spin on it and went through a little trial and error, but eventually my project came out looking like this:

I started with a plain black shadow box I got on sale at Michaels.

I coated the entire box with white gesso.

Then, I used Wendy Vecchi’s white embossing paste and a stencil from Christy Tomlinson Designs to cover the entire frame and provide some texture.

This is where my project took a turn …

I wanted to see what would happen if I used Piccolo 3D Enamel Gels to help provide some background color. I started with Dark Green.

And then added Clementine.

Then I glued on a bunch of random flowers, metal pieces, ribbon, keys, buttons and more to the front of the box and coated everything with gesso. This covered up all of the odd colors … my flowers were navy, hot pink, gray and peach! I kept the gesso light on the sides so the colors would show through.

Next I added a bit of Bright Yellow …

And some more green and orange … I taped off the glass front (it couldn’t be removed from the frame) and sprayed it with blue Glimmer Mist. It came out darker than I wanted, but it looked OK. (I don’t have any photos of that stage because it was a bit of a disaster).

Needless to say, Glimmer Mist does not dry on top of 3D Enamel Gel. Ever.

I tried heating.

I tried sitting it in the sun.

After a week, I was still getting blue on my hands every time I picked up the piece. I really didn’t want to start over since I had quite a bit of time and money invested in this, but I knew I couldn’t hang it on the wall as it was.

Deciding I couldn’t hurt it anymore than I already had, I ran it under the faucet. The water washed most of the Glimmer Mist off — at least the parts that refused to dry.

And I ended up with this:

The perfect box to showcase the doily my mom gave me!

Here are a few close-ups …

The flowers took on the look of molded plastic. Very cool when you think of it …,

 

The front is pretty, but the sides are amazing … I love the patina I got.

Thanks Arlene for the inspiration! I still plan to follow your instructions to do another one that more closely resembles yours!

 

Red, White and Blue Challenge

This month’s challenge at Scrap It Girl is to use red, white and blue while making a card, layout or similar project.

I decided to take advantage of the challenge to make something I have been planning for quite some time — a “vintage” sign.

I started out with some barn wood from a friend who was demolishing a barn. My husband made a little frame on the back side with scrap wood to make it really strong (the barn wood was 150 years old and was extremely dry and fragile.)

Next, I used Claudine Hellmuth’s Studio Gesso to give it a white-washed look.

Then, I used painter’s tape to mark lines and painted them with Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint. I think this is Modern Red. I also added a bit more gesso in places so things there would be crisp white in spots and dull red in others. I wanted it to look like it had been left outside for some time.

Next came the lettering. I cut out the letters I wanted to use with my Cricut machine. I used both Doodletype and Street Sign fonts. Then, rather than using the letters, I used the paper they were cut from as a stencil and painted in the letters. I kept my brush dry and dabbed on the paint, like you would when stenciling. I just held the cardstock in place. It was a little challenging around the a, e and o, but I managed to get it.

The est. date is the year we got our first chickens and planted our first garden crops.

Now came the personal stuff.

We live in the middle of nowhere, in a small town that never made it into being more than a township, several miles from other small towns and 30 minutes from any city. We have one red light, but the speed limit never drops below 45 mph, so you know how small the town is.

While we are definitely in the country, we live between two lakes, in a neighborhood where the houses are super close together. Although we don’t have lakefront property,   we live in a cottage-size house with cottage-size lots, so we feel like we live on the lake.

On the other hand, we rent the house from my husband’s parents. They also own four vacant lots that go from our house to a wooded area on a dead-end road. They graciously let us garden and keep turkeys on their property, so we are able to call ourselves “farmers.”

We have a huge garden with corn, beets, squashes, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, lettuce, beans, peas, onions, herbs and more. And, we raise turkeys, meat chickens and hens for laying eggs. This year, we also put in a blueberry patch so next year we can enjoy fresh fruit as well. I freeze veggies to eat over the winter and my husband and mother-in-law can and make pickles. We’re proud of our farming attempts and have even thought of offering some of our naturally grown products at farmers markets.

Our situation is unique. We can walk across the street to go swimming or boating on the lake and we can walk out to our garden to pick dinner. In my mind, it is the best of both worlds!

So, I wanted to show both the nautical and country sides of our life.

I started with one of the symbols of country living … a rising sun. Rather than yellow, I used paper from Authentique that features sand dollars. Then, I used a Crafter’s Workshop stencil and gesso to create the dotted rays.

I used Matte Glastique Finishing Glaze from Globecraft & Piccolo to decoupage the paper elements on to the wood. This way, I could work around the contours of the wood and make everything attached permanently.

I prefer Matte Glastique to similar products because it does not leave a tacky finish.

I used another sheet of beachside paper from Authentique, along with a die from Cottage Cutz to create the windmill. Rather than decoupage the top of the windmill on, I glued the center and then coated both the front and back of each of the blades with Matte Glastique. Then I bent them out. The Glastique keeps them strong so they will not rip.

Finally I added chicken dies, cut from both patterned paper and cardstock with a die from Die-Versions and anchors cut from cardstock with a QuicKutz die. A few pieces of twine (leftover from the stuff used to stake the tomatoes) and I called it done.

What do you think?

Visit ScrapItGirl.com to see what the other designers have created with this challenge and then enter your project to win!

 

 

 

 

Inspired by Christmas

I find inspiration for my creations everywhere. It may come from a magazine ad, a piece of paper or another person’s creation. I have even been known to take inspiration from a tile wall in the bathroom of McDonald’s.

This time, I found inspiration at one of my favorite online stores — One King’s Lane. Here are a few of the ornaments I discovered in their store:

Aren’t they beautiful?

Anyhow, I decided to try my hand at my own glass ornaments … each one is totally different, since I was mostly experimenting, but I think they turned out pretty cool. I started with a box of clear glass ornaments. You will notice there are not 6 — two didn’t survive the experimentation and met their fate in the trash can.

I coated the inside of this one with a very thin layer of Piccolo 3D Enamel Gel. I rotated it several times a day for a few days until it dried and then I added Elizabeth Craft Designs snowflake stickers to it. Isn’t it beautiful!

This one I left clear and added a bit of Faux Snow by Art Glitter to the inside. The stickers are from Elizabeth Craft Designs. I coated them with Glitter Ritz glitter in cool highlight and then colored them with Copics. I love how the translucent design allows you to see through the back side.

For this one, I coated the inside with Adirondack Paint. The large stripes are done by attaching Scor-Tape and then coating it in Art Glitter glitter. The other stripes are freehand with Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Adhesive and Art Glitter glitter.

And, last but not least, this one is coated on the inside with Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint. The stars and Season’s Greetings are stickers by Elizabeth Craft Designs. The ribbon is from May Arts. Very simple, but very pretty, don’t you think?

New Piccolos from Globecraft Memories

Have you seen the new holiday Piccolo Accents from Globecraft Memories? They are really cute …

Here are a few cards I created with them …

This one is the Night Before Christmas. I coated it with Vintage Gold Enamel Powder and then glued a bit of embroidery floss behind for the string. The stamp is from Stampers Anonymous and the papers are from Reminisce.

This one uses the Lil Christmas Accents (well, a few of them …). I painted them white and black and then covered them with Glastique. The “buttons” were created with a Glaze pen. I used papers by Moxxie and velvet paper for the background. The saying is a sticker.

Finally, this one I have shown before, but I love it so much, I thought it was worth another look! It features the My Own Wreath Design Accents, which are a lot of fun because it comes with several accents and you pick what you want to go on the wreath! The dark green is Mossy Glen Enamel Powder. The red and light green are paints by Claudine Hellmuth Studio. I covered the entire thing with Glastique.

The stamp is the same one used above. Papers are from Authentique and the sentiment is stamped on paper cut out with a Lifestyle Crafts Die.

Are you making Christmas cards this year?

 

Technique Thursday: Embossed Foil Tape

When my friend Linda showed me this technique, I fell in love with it.

So, today I am sharing it virtually here and from 2-6 p.m. at Capture A Memory in Flint Township.

The technique uses Inkssentials’ Foil Tape Sheets, an embossing folder, Claudine Hellmuth Studio’s Gesso, Adirondack Alcohol Inks and Ranger Archival Ink.

Here’s Linda’s video …

And here is what I created using the technique:

The gears are made from embossed foil and then die cut with Tim Holtz/Sizzix mini gears die. I added a few other metal embellishments from the Tim Holtz line (and his papers, too)

These papers are also from Tim Holtz. The brad is from my collection.

I used a variety of Tim Holtz/Inkssentials products to turn a piece of embossed foil into a piece of jewelry. The clear beads are from Maya Road and the little gears are from the hardware store.

Of course, with every technique there is always another way … With this card, I skipped the Gesso and just did alcohol ink on embossed foil. I then cut it out with Tim’s Tiny Tabs die. The papers are also from Tim Holtz and the stamp is from Northwoods.

I also like this technique without the black Archival Ink on top. Personally, I like the bright colors!

I hope you’ll stop by the store and see me today to try out this new technique for yourself.

Candy’s Supply Book

If you are anything like me, you have trouble remembering which colors of ink, paint and markers you have at home. When this affliction strikes, one of two things is bound to happen when you visit the store.

A. You think you have the product at home, but when you get home you discover you don’t and that you must return to the store to purchase it. Or B. You don’t think you have it home, so you buy it and then you have two! Both options are time and money wasters.

When I found myself buying duplicate Adirondack Paint Dabbers, I decided to take matters into my own hands and I created my very own supply book.

This 5×5 book is ring-binder bound and can easily fit in a purse or bag so you always have it when you need it and the pages can move around, be removed or added as necessary.

I’ve even included a hinge clip at the beginning so you can write down notes for yourself the next time you are in the store. The tabs can be modified to your taste to make it easy to find what you need.

I’ve created custom pages to record Distress Inks (including pads, markers, paints, Stickles, stains and more), Ranger Archival Ink, Memento Ink, Adirondack (including alcohol ink, paint, embossing powder, Color Washes and more), Claudine Hellmuth Studio products, Liquid Pearls, Dreamweaver pastes and F/X, Perfect Pearls, Flower Soft and Stickles. Additionally, five pages will hold color samples for all 358 colors of Copic Sketch markers — printed on X-Press It Blending Card so you know exactly what the colors will look like on your project. Also included are blank pages for recording additional ink pads, embossing powders, mists and sprays, glitter, flock and beads, and pens and markers.

The best part is I’m running this as a class, so you can make your very own supply book, at Capture A Memory in Flint Township. The class is set for Tuesday, April 24 from 5:30-7 p.m. Contact the store for details.

I also plan to make kits available for those who cannot attend the class. I’ll have those up in an Etsy shop shortly.