Guys from the Attic Mini Album - A project that makes me Happy, Happy Happy!

Happy Tuesday, Everyone!

I hope you are having a terrific day!   I am finally ready to share the project with which I have been teasing you with sneak peeks.  The project itself was very time consuming, but oh so fun to create!  It is a Playful Pocket Flip Mini Journal honoring the guys in the attic.  (Full disclosure:  These guys aren't really in the attic; just their photos and little bits of their stuff.)

This is the completed front of the album.  When working on the album, I found the giant washer in a parking lot. With some Remnant Rubs, it makes the perfect grungy charm to hang from my Idea-ology measuring tape ribbon "belly band". 

 All of the papers are from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Lost and Found Collection.   Rather than uploading the 30 or so photos I shot and edited, I decided it would be more effective to share a video.  This is my very first craft video, so judge accordingly!

I kept things really simple, so that the photos and ephemera would be the stars.

Here are a few photos of the highlights:

 These guys like cars.

 

These guys are serious about their farm business.

 

These guys like rusty numbers.  (No wait, its me who likes rusty numbers!)

 

These guys like fishing. (I love my Wendy Vecchi Crackle Paste and Distress Ink.)

 These guys love their girls. 

 

These guys love train travel.  (I love that this album has pockets for extra ephemera, like this Distressed TH bingo card!)

 These guys love a road trip.  ( The atlas is a copy from an original from the attic. I shrunk it a lot to make it fit.)

 

 These guys love each other! They are brothers, cousins, friends, and it is clear that they love spending time together. 

 

These guys love looking spiffy!  The razor blade it is a bit less dangerous in its new custom holder than it was in the bottom of the vintage sewing basket I found it in.  (The ads are from the internet.)

 

These guys love their pets! ( I love this 1955 dog tag that I found in a button box.)

These guys love mail.  (I loved finding a spot for this pen nib  and stamps that I found in the attic.)

The theme of the current challenge over at the Frilly and Funkie blog is Happy, Happy, Happy!  Here is hostess Georgie's description:

So this is the theme :) This could be a project you love doing, a product you love using, or something that makes you so happy that it just gives you the inspiration to create something beautiful. It really is an anything goes kind of challenge, but remember to make sure you have fun!!
Oh boy!  This theme perfectly describes how I feel about my Guys from the Attic mini album.  From the surprisingly rewarding hours I spend sorting and organizing my family's attic, to combining the junky little bits that I collect there with my Idea-ology and Distress products, to making up stories for my own personal "found relatives", this is the best crafting "happy" I can imagine. 


I made the mini album base by following this video tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9C6YAqjUvw

It's really quite simple to assemble, but it takes a bit of a commitment to fill all of the pockets and pages. 

Thanks for stopping by, and sticking with me (if you're still here!) through this rather long post.  I wish you all a beautiful week!

Elizabeth

12 Tags of 2015 - May

Happy Sunday, Everyone!

Hope you all are having a fabulous weekend.  Today I am sharing my Tim Holtz inspired May 2015 tag project.  First, here's a peek at Tim's inspiration tag:

I'm pretty sure that this is my favorite so far.  (I'm also pretty sure I say that every month.  They just keep getting  better and better, as impossible as that seems!)

Here is my take.  I finally got around to adding some paint to the second "frame".  I painted a layer of Gathered Twig DP, and dry brushed on touches of Walnut Stain.

I used a mix of ephemera cut from Tim Holtz Idea-ology papers, and copies of my personal attic collection, along with Idea-ology, random bits and pieces, Chit Chat stickers, and Remnant Rubs.  My tiny roses and buds were cut with my Silver Bullet Professional cutter, colored with Distress Stains, and assembled.  

Some close ups:

 

I used a charcoal pencil to ground my ephemera on the burlap backing.  The mirrored star was alcohol inked and then rubbed with a bit of Gathered Twig Distress Paint.  (The brown circles were punched from sandpaper. I can't recall why I did that, but I sure am glad I kept them in my "junque" box!)

 

The rhinestones on the frame received the same treatment as the mirrored star; Alcohol ink followed by a bit of Distress Paint.  I didn't want anything to be too bright and shiny. I don't know who the lovely lady is, but since she was in the family attic, I'm claiming her as a relative.   You can see my stenciled and inked embossing paste peeking out from behind the elements on the left side.  I added many layers of Distress Paint to the metal label frame before adding the Remnant rub label.  It started out shiny, believe it or not! I tied it on to my tag with a simple Distress dyed seam binding bow.

I love my Penny Duncan Creations rose SVG files.  Being able to cut them in any size (less than 1/2 inch in diameter for these ones!) with my Silver Bullet and SCAL software gives just the flexibility that I crave as a crafter.  The foliage cut is also one of Penny's designs. 

Here you can see the custom charms I made using alcohol ink and a Remnant Rub on a glass charm, and alcohol ink and Distress Paint on a gumdrop in an Idea-ology Type Charm base.  I find that the Distress palette of products coordinates really well with my collection of attic ephemera, as well as Tim's  Idea-ology ephemera, which makes creating matching, custom colored bits and pieces really simple and fun. 

Creating this month's tag was a rewarding process of combining personal and reproduction ephemera, and creating custom coordinated embellishments using my collection of Tim Holtz products.  What a pleasure!

I hope you find time to have some fun playing with Tim's ideas for the May tag of 2015!

Thanks for stopping by!

Elizabeth

Feeling Bravely Experimental.... (Updated with a 'before the experiment photo")

Hi Everyone,

Happy Sunday to you!  It is a beautiful sunny day here, and I should really be outside planting, but before I go out and get my hands dirty, I am going to take a moment to share a recent project.

The current challenge over at  Frilly and Funkie blog is Snap, Crackle, Crackle.   It was just the push I needed to get out my Wendy Vecchi crackle paste and do some playing around.

This product creates the most amazing crackling in the simplest way of any of the crackle mediums I have tried.  I find the chalky finish to work very well with my vintage projects, and I love the way it takes paint and inks.  For this piece, I combined it with bead gel for a super texture-y background.

I found this sweet little tray at the thrift store. I painted over the dated brown and white polka dots with matte white spray paint.  Next, I randomly scraped bead gel and Wendy Vecchi Crackle Paste onto the tray with an old gift card.   I made sure to get some of each product on the edges of the tray.  After letting this dry over night, I added Frayed Burlap Distress Ink to the cracks and beads to highlight the texture. 

I cut all of my paper flowers and leaves with my Silver Bullet Professional digital cutter.  The flower files are all from Penny Duncan Creations.  She makes and shares the most beautiful SVG cut files on her blog,  I like to cut all of my paper elements from white paper, and use Distress Inks and Stains to add custom color. I  As you may know, I love using vintage text, and added some curls of book paper to "fluff out" the floral.  I added a printed garden quote, and a custom dyed seam binding bow, and thought I was finished.  After a couple of days of looking at the project, though, I just wasn't completely satisfied with it.

I guess I was feeling bravely experimental, because I took the project outside and sprayed the whole thing pretty liberally with the same matte white paint I had started with.  Voila!  It was the perfect way to tone down all of the bright colors from the flowers, and blend them into a much more vintage appearance.  I added just a touch of brown Distress Inks and Sprays, and stamped a Tim Holtz stamp in Tree Branch Archival over the previously  printed tag. 

Big thanks to the Frilly and Funkie gang for keeping me hopping with fun challenges this year!  And in case you didn't know, Linda is having a big sale over at the Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Almost all of her terrific products are at an additional 10% off her already discounted prices!  Thanks to a gift card from my hubby and recently being chosen as a random challenge winner, I have been able to fill my "shopping cart" with new goodies to use in future challenges. 

Now I'm off to plant those flowers!  Hope you have a wonderful rest of your day!

Elizabeth

While editing photos of another project, I found this photo:

Here you can see the original brighter colors of the project.  Of course the Distress colors are all beautiful, but I like my choice to shabby the project up by toning them down with the spray of white. 

Full on Shabby Chic!

Hi Everyone!

After a visit to my parents home, with some time spent sorting attic treasures, I was inspired to use some of the ancestral ephemera I have collected in a project.

The current challenge at Frilly and Funkie is stencil mania, I grabbed a couple of stencils and started creating a background.  Here is a shot of the leftover background, so you can how I started.  For the very first layer, I pounced Distress Embossing Ink through a wood grain stencil and applied Pan Pastels in blue and green.  Next, I applied Distress Inks through a floral stencil, then misted the leftover ink on the stencil with water, flipped it and applied it in a different area of the background, as Linda did in her inspiration piece.  (See it here.)  

I went on to add more Distress Inks, an overall layer of Rock Candy Distress Crackle, and finally another stenciled layer of modeling paste and more Distress Ink, until my background looked like this:

(See it peeking out from behind the Distress Stained seam binding bow?  I didn't take a photo before adding all of my focal layers.  Oops!)

You may be wondering what my finished card looks like by now.  Here it is:

I had so much fun adding layer after layer of vintage goodness!  The envelopes are copies of family letters.  The misspelled "sweetheart" lettering is torn from another copied family letter.  I added lots of Distress Inks to the edges of all of these pieces.  In addition to the vintage handwriting, I applied various pieces of book paper, a stamped and inked green bracket border from my scrap pile and a piece of coordinating pink designer paper. 

 

Rather than adding color to these sweet little paper flowers, I inked them with Perfect medium, and brushed them with white perfect pearls.  The leaves were punched from a project that I started ages ago and abandoned.  It involved braying Perfect Medium onto the raised portion of embossed designer paper, and brushing on Perfect Pearls.  It makes a really gorgeous background, and also some pretty little leaves for this project.

Here is one more shot of the finished card:

I have learned from my art journaling that adding layer after layer until I am pleased can be rewarding, and I let that lesson carry over into this card making session.  I'm really happy with the results.  I hope you have enjoyed seeing it as well.

Elizabeth

My April "Tim Tag" and a sneak peak....

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick post tonight to share my April 2015 Tag, as inspired by Tim Holtz.  First, here is his tag:

I'm loving the clean and simple look of these tags.  They are so fresh and evocative of the season.  Here is my version:

I didn't stray too far from Tim's beautiful original.  As I have been doing all year, I challenged myself to use tools and supplies that I have on hand.  I used a combination of a water brush and Distress Inks, and miscellaneous markers for my water coloring.  My background was splattered using a paint brush, and I cut the text using my Silver Bullet Professional cutter. 

Here's a sneak peek of some of the ephemera I have been using on my current project:

Stay tuned for more details.  I'm going to have a rare weekend to myself soon, and am hoping to blast some projects off my work table. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a beautiful week!

Elizabeth

Je t'aime, mon cheri.

Hello Friends! 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Back when I was an avid quilter, I learned that if I didn't finish one project before starting another, I would likely never have a completed project.  So typically, once I start something, I finish it within a reasonable time frame.  Recently, though, there have been a few UFOs piling up in my craft room.  I finally found time to put the finishing touches on one of them. 

Today I am sharing a mixed media project that came together recently after a long stint on the "unfinished" shelf:

The inspiration for this project was the fun collection of things that were included as a thank you gift when I placed an order at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  I just loved the vintage book paper butterflies, and the pink floral button that you see towards the top of the piece.  It definitely inspired the color scheme for this project.  I had picked up the shallow wooden shadow box on clearance at the craft store, and thought it would be fun to alter. 

 

I started by creating my tag.  I painted the manila base with Distress Paints in several pinks and vintage photo.  I cut a piece of packaging plastic to size and embossed it with a Tim Holtz embossing folder, and painted the raised areas of the reverse with gesso.  To this, I attached the die cut butterflies using my tiny attacher, and the ticket, which was also a surprise from the Funkie Junkie, to which I added the tiny butterfly stamp and Distress Inks. 

 

I finished off the tag with some Distress dyed seam binding and a vintage rhinestone hair pin.  I think it looks like a butterfly, with the ribbon wings and hairpin body.  Here's a close up of the hairpin.  I just love the art deco simplicity of it. 

 

 

The paper "doily" that peeks out from behind the tag was cut with my Silver Bullet Pro digital cutter.  I wet it, crumpled it, and inked it with Distress.  While it was wet, it picked up color from my craft mat, and the end result coordinates even better with my tag than if I had planned it! 

 

 

I love buttons, and had fun scattering them on my project.  Most of them are from my vintage collection.  In this next photo, you can see how I altered the shadow box:



I first painted the bare wood with gesso, and  aged it with Distress Inks.  I gessoed a piece of striped patterned paper, and randomly stamped it with the text stamp from Tim Holtz's Apothecary stamp set and tree branch archival ink. I also stamped the edge of the shadowbox for added interest. 

Finally, I added a bit of French flair with words cut from a Prima ATC base and a Distressed paper rose.  I love cutting my flowers from white paper, and inking them with Distress inks and stains before assembling them. 

After missing a couple of challenges due to my busier than usual schedule, I am happy to enter this project in the Frilly and Funkie Spring Time Die Cuts challenge, especially since it gave me the opportunity to use Linda's die cuts! 

I am also entering the Hiding In My Craft Room challenge 195, Super Scraps Saturday.  My "scraps" are the doily, which is from my box of leftover die cuts, and the plastic layer on the tag, which was rescued from my garbage can. 

I wish you all a beautiful day!

Elizabeth

Soar

Hello Everyone!

Happy Monday!  I had time recently to try out Tim Holtz's March 2015 tag.  I sure am loving his background techniques this year!  They are so much fun to make, and very versatile.  I'm sure to be finding uses for them all year long.  I followed the instructions as closely as I could with what I had on hand, changing up the colors and stamps to match my style and stash. 

Here is my version of the March Tag:

 

 

 

I used a combination of Idea-ology, new metal items, and vintage metal snaps and buttons from my stash.  The round blue item is a vintage thumbtack in the perfect color to match the Stormy Sky Distress paint I used to color some of my Idea-ology findings. 

 

I used bird stamps from the Nature Walk set,  and Distress Painted Alpha Parts letters.

Now that I've finished this month's project, I can't wait to see what techniques Tim will be sharing with us in April. 

With this project, I will be linking up for the first time with the Shopping Our Stash challenge. I love a challenge that encourages me to use up what I have.   The current challenge, #191, is to use our oldest metal stash.  I have used metal snaps and buttons that are far older than I am!  They have been in my stash for at least 20 years, and resided in the attic of my parents; home for many years prior to that.  I like to think that my frugal ancestors would appreciate that I have used these carefully saved and long hoarded buttons in this way. 

It's Time for a Vacation!

Hello Everyone!

No, I'm not going on vacation.  Wish I was, but for the time being, I'm stuck here in chilly New England.  The current Frilly and Funkie challenge theme is "It's time for Vacation".  When I think of getting away, I often think of the coast of Maine.  It is one of my family's favorite spots. 

I created this coastal cottage to help me to dream of warmer, sunnier days to come.

I cut the house components with my Silver Bullet Professional digital cutter, using a cut file from SVG Cuts, Inc.  It was marketed as a Christmas file, and I've made it that way in the past.  But for this project, I think it looks like the perfect little beach cottage. 

I cut the entire house from the same piece of cream colored cardstock.  I added color to the pieces with Distress Paints.  I swiped the paint on the house piece in horizontal stripes to replicate siding. (I used Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky, and Pumice Stone.) I enhanced this by drawing on and smudging stripes with a charcoal pencil. 

The roof was painted with black Distress Paint, and embossed with the checkerboard Tim Holtz Embossing folder. The porch roof was painted with Stormy Sky, and the door with Chipped Sapphire.  Everything was assembled using my favorite glue for dimensional pieces, Scotch Quick Dry paper adhesive. 

Every beach cottage needs wild beach roses, and I couldn't resist making some for mine.  Again using my Silver Bullet Pro, I cut the bushes and tiny little roses.  The roses were scaled at .3 inches, and the leaves are even smaller!

 I cut these elements with from white cardstock, and inked them with Distress Inks (Forrest Moss and Peeled Paint for the leaves) and Distress Stains (Worn Lipstick and Faded Lilac for the roses.)

I also added a bit of brown to the stems with a Bic marker, and yellow to the rose centers.  I shaped the roses using a round stylus and a cushy mouse pad.

I placed my beach cottage in my rustic little curio shelf in the dining room. 

Unfortunately, its neighbors are not feeling so summery!

 

Methinks it's time to pack away the snowmen!

I thank you for stopping by my blog today, and wish you a wonderful, craft filled weekend!

Elizabeth

It's Time for Winter Blooms....

Hello Everyone!

Hope you had a fabulous. fun filled Valentine's Day!  I found some time this weekend to upcycle a vintage mantel clock. 

I purchased this small clock a while back at one of my favorite antique shops.  Since it didn't work, I dismantled it, and have been using the parts in projects here and there. 

I'm not quite ready for spring yet, so I went for a snowy white and icy blue color combo for my embellishments.  I cut the flowers from white cardstock using my Silver Bullet Professional cutter.  I gave the white peonies just a hint of color, with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink on the edges.  For the flower centers, I painted jingle bells with Picket Fence Distress paint, in keeping with my wintry theme.  The smaller flowers were inked with Tumbled Glass and Broken China Distress inks, as was the seam binding bow. 

 

The leaves were inked with Vintage Paper and Bundled Sage Distress, and then over stamped them with a script stamp and Frayed Burlap Distress.  I thought a mini clock face would be a fun detail on my full sized clock.  I lightly dabbed Tumbled Glass and Frayed Burlap Distress Paint on the Idea-Ology clock face, dried it just a bit with my heat gun, and then wiped most of it off.  I finished off its center, as well as the centers of the little blue flowers with turquoise rhinestones from my stash.  

 

One of my favorite elements is the gesso 6" wide, loosely woven jute. I placed it in the clock frame from the open back.  It was a happy accident that it bows out from the inside, adding dimension that I didn't expect. 

 



 

I considered painting the clock case white, but after cleaning it, I realized that it has a terrific

authentic patina that I don't want to ruin.  I also like the contrast between my bright and icy elements and the dark finish.   



I am happy to be playing along again with the current Frilly and Funkie Challenge, Winter Blooms,

and the Lessology Challenge 44 - Tick Tock,  Along with upcycling the clock case, I also used recycled telephone wire to wire the jingle bell centers, and re-used a piece of poster tack to attach my seam binding bow to the clock case.  (I tell you this in case you didn't know it could be reused.  I almost never throw the stuff away!  I keep a wad that looks like chewing gum stuck to my work table at all times, LOL!)

A vintage romance...

Hello Friends!

I hope the winter weather is treating you well!  We have had numerous snowstorms over the last couple of weeks,  leaving us with plenty of beautiful white snow everywhere.  New England is a beautiful place to be in the winter!  (Especially if you have a wonderful hubby who takes care of all of the snow moving duties!)

My favorite snow day activity is to hole up in my craft room with multiple cups of tea, NCIS reruns, and an inky painty project!  Here is my most recent make, a romantic Valentine's Day Banner:

I feel the need to apologize for the photos. (I pretty much always feel the need to apologize for my photos.  Maybe I should add a permanent apology to my blog heading?)  I try really hard to use natural lighting, but at this time of year, there's not much natural light available, especially with 15 inches of snow covering my skylights! Please excuse the dark shadows cast by my flash.

My central item is an altered doily, left over from Christmas.  I used several layers of Distress Paints, and Distress Inks to take it from red to pink, As I was playing with it, I realized that it could be folded into a heart shape!  I included a wedding photo of my parents, layered, distressed and stitched onto cardstock, along with a layered ticket and some hearts cut with my Silver Bullet cutter from That's Scrap, Inc., and distressed with my T.H. Tonic edge distresser and Distress Inks. 

I made four mini bouquets with reclaimed paper flowers (they were part of an Ugly with a capitol U shadow box from the thrift store), a rosette cut with my Silver Bullet, and Distress inks and stains.   I threaded the stems through a hole pierced through the corks of the altered mini apothecary bottles.

It took layers and layers of Distress Paints and Inks,alcohol inks, and Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint to get these to look the way I wanted. 

As a final step, I inked up a Tim Holtz scroll stamp with Tree Bark Archival and rolled each bottle carefully across the stamp. 

Distress died seam binding was tied around the necks of the bottles.  After tying the bottles with a long length of Distress Inked bakers' twine, I tied on little flags of seam binding, and ribbon scraps which were, of course, inked with Distress Ink. 

I used lots of different brown Distress products on this project, including Tea Dye, Tree Branch, Brushed Corduroy and Walnut Stain.  The pinks I used are Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet and Tattered Rose. 

I am happy to be playing along in the Frilly and Funkie Be My Valen-twine challenge, and the Try It On Tuesday Add a Photo Challenge.

 I am also entering the A Vintage Journey It's Time to Play Tic-Tac-Toe challenge.  I used paint, ephemera and die cuts for three across. 

As always, thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful day!

Elizabeth