Letterpress Christmas - Altered Decor

Hello and happy Monday!

I'm sharing a set of altered letterpress words that I bought from the local $ store.

They were plain wood when I bought them but I stained, painted and distressed them to get some wonderful new pieces to add to my holiday decor.

I also have a Youtube video so you can watch me create these.

Products Used:

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Art Journal - I'm Working

Hi! Today I am sharing a layout I created in my art journal.

I was very much inspired by the art journal style of  Vicky Papaioannou & the
online class she taught for Wanderlust 2017. 

 Here is my finished layout - 

I created these pages on the inside cover of my altered calculus textbook.
I started by first painting the pages with gesso. Once this layer was dry I added my stenciling

I started by applying Distress Paint - Cracked Pistachio & Tumbled Glass - with a blending tool & slightly damp foam.  My next layer was the same paints but this time applied with a brayer.

Here are my pages up until this point. The brayered paint gives a subtle highlight

 to the stenciled areas.

My next step was to apply 2 more darker colours of Distress Paint - Stormy Sky 

& Evergreen Bough - with the brayer.

I added some script stamping with Archival Ink - Hydrangea.

To finish off my background  I added some white & black splatters.

I used my Tim Holtz stamping platform to stamp my images with Archival Ink - Jet Black.

I then coloured them in with watercolour paints and waterbrush pens.

My stamped images are Peacock Girl & Magic Maker from Viva Las VegaStamps.

The quote stamp is from the Dylusions "Fabulous Called" set from Stampers Anonymous.

I used matte medium to adhere them to my page.

Products Used:

(this blog contains affiliate links)

Viva Las Vegas Stamps

Another Altered Book Journey

Hello my crafty friends! Welcome to my blog. As you can see by my lack of posts, the warmer the weather gets the less I craft. It's just too darn nice outside!

I am here to share another altered book....this one more of a diorama style.

I was inspired by this quote:

'I don't want to just read books, I want to crawl inside of them and live there.'

I love books.....all kinds of books but especially the old ones. The yellowed, musty pages and just so lovely. For this project I chose a 50 year old book on the "Principals of Economics". Snoresville, am I right? Perfect for taking an x-acto knife to and cutting a rectangle shape through the cover and about 2/3rds of the the way through the book.

I glued into my book a lovely forest scene from another old book that belongs to my craft bestie - Nicole Wright. I also borrowed her set of Stabilo 3 in 1 Woody Pencils to watercolour in my forest scene. These pencils are fantastic and keep their gorgeous bright colours even after they dry!

 Once this was dry I closed the book and used a white glue to seal all the edges of the book. A giant clip helped hold everything together while the glue dried.

Once everything was dry I started building my scene with moss, and pieces of wood from my stash. I added a few Tiny Tattered Flowers and Leaves and some Paper Dolls.

The quote that inspired this project was made using words I found in a couple of books I had.

I am so please with how this turned out. Another home decor item to add to my book shelf.

Red & Black and Altered All Over....

Over the holidays, I went to the my local liquor store and was told I was getting a free

gift with my purchase. Oooooo.....free stuff!

I opened up my free gift when I got home and was stumped.

I had no idea what it was. I almost tossed it into the trash (as I am trying to curb

by hoarding ways.) when my son came into the room and dropped his phone

into the slot. It was a smartphone amplifier and it must be altered! With all the "Something New" Challenges out there I thought this was the perfect project to get started with!

First step ~ I sanded it to remove the shiny finish.

Next step was to paint on 3 shades of red. Lightest shade first, then the next 2 shades were randomly painted on.

After that layer was completely dry I painted on one coat of black gesso. I used my heat gun to only dry it until it turned matte then used a baby wipe removed some of the gesso to reveal the red underneath. 

I love the aged look it gives it. I added some gold metallic rub-ons as well.

All my metal embellishments were painted before I adhered them to the wood base with 3D gloss gel.

I used metallic rub-ons to highlight the details on the metal pieces.

Here is my brand new iPhone amplifier! Perfect for playing tunes while being crafty!

Have a wonderful day everyone & thank you so much for visiting my blog today!

Be sure to visit the Emerald Creek Dares blog and join our 

We are on out way....NEW Adventures Challenge

for a chance to win a $25 credit to use at 

Emerald Creek Craft Supplies

~~stay crafty~~

julia

Submitted to the following challenges:
Try It On Tuesday - Letters & Numbers
Shopping Our Stash #234 - Something New (smartphone amplifier)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - January Challenge
SanDee's & amelie's Challenge blog - January 2016

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from Paradise Lost & the Emerald Creek Design Team

2015 is quickly coming to an end and what a year it has been for me!

If someone had told me a year ago that I would be living in Edmonton, Alberta,  have my own blog and be on a design tem I would thought they were crazy! 

But here I am and I am so happy! 

I hope, that no matter how you spend this holiday season, you are able to spend time with your family & friends making memories! I really appreciate each and every single of you that follow or visit my blog ~ you bring crafty inspiration into my life and I am forever grateful!

Now on to my Holiday project for Emerald Creek Craft Supplies.

This project is a bit of a de-stash project, with  a whole lot of Sizzix dies, Tim Holtz Idea-ology and my favourite charms & embossing powders from Emerald Creek.

 I used a 6 frame shadow box from KaiserCraft that I had in my stash. The 'Merry Christmas' sign sitting on top is also a KaiserCraft and a long time lurker in my stash.
Let's take a closer look at each box and some of the techniques I used.

Oh! Look! More KaiserCraft! I decided that these wood veneer 'ornaments' would make a great base for a wreath. I first used Barn Door & Lucky Clover Distress Stains to add colour before using Walnut Stain Ink to tone down the bright colours. Festive Foliage die set was used for the wreath and I added a few Pinecone charms from Emerald Creek Craft Supplies.

I bought a set of Tim Holtz Holiday LetterPress just for this project. I added some Distress Paint before dipping my letters in Distress Crackle Clear Rock Candy. I just love the look of this stuff when it dries!

I just love bottle brush trees. I usually will tint my trees with Distress Stain but for this project I decided to leave them natural. Except in the next frame - I decided to add some Soft Fallen Snow Embossing Powder from Emerald Creek Craft Supplies to the tips to give my tree a frosty feel.

 The Candy Cane Charms from Emerald Creek Craft Supplies

make the perfect decoration for my mini tree. I added some Poppy Red alcohol ink from Ranger for a bit of colour.

The burlap panel is hard to see in the background but here is another photo of it while I was working on it. I used some Soft Fallen Snow embossing powder mixed with transparent 3D gel to add a snow texture to the edges of this panel. I used the same mixture with my snowflake layering stencil.

Here is the snowflake panel used in another frame with some stacked snowflakes dies and Snowflake charms from Emerald Creek

I couldn't resist using a few Found Relatives for this Holiday project & Festive Ephemera

 from Tim Holtz.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today and I wish you and your loved one an very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday!

Please take some time to visit the rest of the Emerald Creek Design Team for more holiday inspiration.

Diana Hetherington

Cathy Potosky

Katelyn Grosart 

Karon

Claudia
Shilpa

Check out the new challenge at the Emerald Creek Challenge blog 

for a chance to win a $25 credit to the online store

 

Our Amazing Life.....De-Stash Project #4

I have another De-Stash Project to share and this is using my last metal frame from Prima. I am half sad and half excited. Sad that this is my last metal frame but excited that these frames are finally out of the stash and on display. 

My goal for this project was to use up the last of these fabric flowers. 

Unfortunately, they were patterned yellow & black fabric flowers.

No worries, a coat of gesso and couple coats of Distress Paints and they were perfect for my project.

A chipboard leafy vine from Dusty Attic ~ a coat of gesso, stamped with a pattern, coloured with Distress Paint and finally finished off with Bronze Distress Paint ~ perfect for my birdhouse frame.

I can't have a birdhouse without a bird so I just had to use this crowned bird from Leaky Shed. My wee bird is sitting in a nest I picked up at the dollar store last year.

I had a few bricks left over from my De-stash Project #1 so I had to use them to add some texture to the outside edges of my frame.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today. 

Please leave my a comment and your blog info so I can come visit.

Don't forget to visit the Emerald Creek Dares blog and enter your Festive projects for a chance to win a $25 credit to the online store!

~~stay crafty~~