Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Return of the Quirky Turkeys!

Hello, I am pleased to share that I am a guest on my friend Helen's blog today. She is participating in 31 Days Creating Joyfully that is running through the month of October. It's been a month of sharing awesome creativity! My creative contribution will take you right into next month.

Last year I made a Thanksgiving decor piece with the fun little Quirky Turkeys that Tim Holtz showed us how to make back in 2011. They were admired by my family and I decided to make two more to give to my Mom and Mother-in-law. I know they will like them!



You can find the instructions for making the turkeys here on Tim Holtz's blog. I wanted to give each turkey a "nest" to hang out in and I came up with two options. For the first turkey, I painted a leftover ribbon spool and glued a piece of ribbon around it. I also die cut a scalloped circle to fit on the top. (See, it's good to hoard leftover packaging and odds and ends - you never know when they'll come in handy.) The second base is made from the Sizzix Cupcake Stand die. For both turkeys I made their nests out of tissue paper cut with the Tapered Fringe die, scrunching the base and sticking it around the perimeter of a large Gluber. That worked really well, no burned fingers from hot glue but no messy wet glue and dry time either. I embellished them with diecuts from the Autumn Gatherings die. You could make your own to use as Thanksgiving dinner name card holders or create a whole flock to decorate your home. Be sure to visit Helen's blog and look back through her October posts for lots of inspiration for fall and Christmas project ideas. Thanks for stopping by!

I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge "Anything Goes" and the Frilly and Funkie "Thanksgiving" challenge.


Most of the materials I used on my project can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Follow the links below and use my code JUICE to save 10% if you go shopping. Thanks!



Friday, October 25, 2013

Spooky!!

Well, this isn't that spooky but I think it's a fun Halloween decoration. Last December I made some Christmas themed thimble domes and I wanted to make more with other holiday themes. I thought the Tim Holtz die Halloween Shadows would be perfect for cutting out little bits to assemble into a mini scene that would fit in the dome. I think it worked:



Without the glass dome you can get a clearer view:


The base is a chipboard circle that I covered with Super Heavy Gesso. I stuck the fence and other elements (after inking, glittering etc) into the gesso and let it dry. Afterwards, I very carefully painted the "ground" green and then glued some of the landscaping foam on top to create some texture. The circle is not glued down to the base so I can swap out the little scenes and reuse the thimble dome for different seasons.

I hope you enjoyed this and it sparks some ideas of your own. I'm entering it in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog Spooky challenge and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog Halloween challenge.



Most of the materials I used on my project can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Follow the links below and use my code JUICE to save 10% if you go shopping. Thanks! 



Sunday, October 20, 2013

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Today is my Grandpa's birthday and he is 92! He says he doesn't need anything but I knew that he would like a cute photo of his three great-grandkids so I made this little mixed-media photo project for him:


I started off with a rectangular piece of foam core board. I covered the front and edges with a thin coat of Super Heavy Gesso. After that base coat was dry, I used the Tim Holtz Rays stencil to apply another layer of Gesso through the stencil. The heavy gesso works perfectly to make a nice raised design. Once all the gesso was nice and dry (I let it dry overnight) I was able to start having fun with the inking and painting. I used mist and the Stars stencil first. Then I dabbed on various colors of Distress Paint and then misted that heavily with water. I tipped the board this way and that to make the runny paint drip and flow along the crevices of the gesso. Once the paint part was all dry I used the Dot Fade stencil and Distress ink to make another layer of texture. A final bit of stamping with archival black ink added some more texture.

The tag behind the photo I created using the Eroded Metal technique I just learned in the Tim Holtz's Creative Chemistry 102 online class. I also used the Rusted Metal embossing technique from the class on the diecut gears. (That class is so wonderful!! Just sayin'.) For the photo itself, I wanted it to look vintage. I tried some hand tinting on a black and white version but I didn't like the effect for this project. I ended up desaturating the color photo a bit using Photoshop and that worked better.

So my Grandpa really liked this and has it sitting on the table beside his favorite chair. =)

Most of the materials I used on my project can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Follow the links below and use my code JUICE to save 10% if you go shopping. Thanks!