Immortal Beauty

 Even though it's summer, in my craft space Halloween/Fall is creeping around the corner. Just imagine stepping outside, taking it all in with the cool crisp air, falling leaves, and chopped wood for evening fires. I made a mini slimline card to depict one of my favourite holiday seasons.

The Base:

Kraft heavy stock for the base, distress ink walnut stain + mini ink blending tool, start blending around the edges of heavy stock, blending out towards the centre. Distress archival ink in vintage photo, stamp 'her immortal beauty' from TH/SA cms409 tiny text halloween in random sections of background. This stamp set is perfect as a background or as a simple saying.

Making wood is an all time favourite for me. There's a lot of various tools you can use to create dimension. The 3D texture fade cracked is perfect for this card. Distress archival black soot + ground espresso go into the cracks very nicely. Tim has a really cool demo on this technique. You can find it here. It's at the 1:24:02 mark. To give the background more depth, using a mini ink blending tool, apply distress ink in scorched timber around edges softening as you go.

It's all in the Layers:

I never thought I'd have a blast collaging with Tim's idea ology halloween ephemera until I took his Christmas in July class with Heidi from Simon Says Stamp. Now I'm addicted to collaging! LOL 

It's easy peasy! If you'd like to learn more about collaging with awesome tips, you can find the class here.

It's at the 1:53:46 mark. However, I highly recommend watching it from the beginning. A lot of great education, inspiration. For the base I used a #8 tag from SSS, halloween ephemera and a few pieces of ephemera from expedition to make the collage.

This next step is a turning point for me. I wanted to create the illusion of crackle for the leaves as if they were laid to rest on the ground. Tim's/Sizzix leaf fragments is the perfect die.

Giving the leaves a spooky creepy vibe, I chose a little paper doll (I call her 'little gypsy girl') and die cut her in the same shape as the base leaf. Bringing the leaves to life using 3D texture fade crackle. I started out with distress archival vintage photo, found that it was too dark, to make the veins of the leaf more authentic, I swiped distress oxide antique linen over top with a mini ink blending tool.

Back to the collaged tag..... I decided to crop it and add cello tape in random areas. 

Deciding the right saying and style for this card..... Halloween tiny text to the rescue! LOL I chose 'her immortal beauty' on black kraft stock, distress embossing ink + ranger embossing powder white. And of course my all time favourite Ranger handle IT tool. Definitely my go to for embossing. My goal was to have the saying slightly faded but somewhat legible. After a few attempts, I finally mastered imperfection. LOL Skipidy bits for the win.

Finishing touches:

Before assembling the card, I machine stitched a little zigzag motion in opposite corners of the collaged card. Used pop ups for my gypsy girl, saying and collaged card.

Introducing.......

'HER IMMORTAL BEAUTY'

With Brave Wings she Flies

 Have you ever looked through your stamp collection and realized one of your favourite stamp sets was at your fingertips? Tim + SA cms213 perspective. I use the butterfly a lot, always wanted to try out the numbers background stamp. There’s a first time for everything.

The Base:

Starting with a piece of watercolour card stock for the base, smoosh distress ink lost shadow and distress oxide pumice stone onto craft sheet, mist with water, then tap card base. Dry between layers.

It’s all in the layers:

Using the background number stamp from the stamp set perspective and distress oxide in pumice stone, ink portions of stamp to go on background in random sections.

Apply texture paste sparkle through your favourite stencil, I used dot fade. This stencil has been loved a lot lol. Let air dry.

One of my favourite stamps and most loved from this set is the butterfly. Distress watercolour card stock is my go to for mixed media and especially watercoloring. First ink the stamp. I used Simon Says Stamp VersaFine Clair in Nocturnr. Any permanent ink will do. Using my all time favourite distress watercolour pencils to colour the butterfly. The beauty of these pencils is they blend like butter. With or without a water brush. 

Normally I don’t have the patience for fussy cutting, however I discovered an easy way to persevere through it. Draw an outline of the butterfly, using Tim’s recoiling scissors carefully cut around outline. They have a really good grip and easier control to cut.

TH/SA cms394 tiny text is so versatile. You can use it as a background or choose different sayings to put on cards. I chose ‘with brave wings she flies’ distress embossing ink on black Kraft stock and heat embossed with Ranger embossing powder in white. Making sure I have my Ranger Handle It tool. Less likely to burn my fingers lol.

Finishing touches:

Next I machine stitched part way in the upper right hand corner and lower left hand corner to give balance. Then added a mini action wobbler to create the illusion of the wings fluttering away.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina

Choose to Shine

 Receiving Simon Says Stamp card of the month kit for February ~ distress vintage notes ~ I knew the possibilities would be endless. With coordinating dies makes it easier to cut, no fuss and easy. I adore the flower stamp and music notes, and thought they would be perfect on a card. This is what I came up with.

Starting with distress watercolour card stock, distress oxides in tattered rose, saltwater taffy and old paper creates a nice soft background with TH/SA cms293 brushstrokes stamp set.

Giving the brushstrokes more definition lightly stamp the musical notes with coordinating distress inks.

The flower stamp from sss vintage love notes is the perfect size for this card. Stamped with distress archival ink makes it easier to use with distress watercolour pencil crayons. The beauty of these pencil crayons is they blend like butter. No water needed. I wanted to keep the colour family by using tattered rose, saltwater taffy and old paper. Using the same colours in different distress gives the card dimension. sss vintage love notes comes with coordinating dies. Perfect for the flower 

TH/SA cms394 tiny text has a type set font that is the perfect size for this make. 

I picked up a tip from one of my crafty friends, Kath Stewart, by creating a soft blend just around the edges of white card stock with distress oxide in tattered rose. 

Creating the border, machine stitched with cream thread creating an elegant yet messy look by leaving loose ends at the corners.

Hope you enjoyed my tutorial and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina

Berry Wishes

 Winter is here. We had our first snowfall warning for the season, up to 25cm for this weekend. There is a mountain ash tree out front (it has always been a late bloomer) and looks so beautiful especially with all the snow on top of the berries.

I was inspired to make a Winter + Christmas card with all the warm + cozy vintage feels.

The Base:

Distress watercolour card stock is my go to for card bases. Smoosh distress ink lost shadow, distress oxide in pumice stone, distress sprayer for movement, heat set between layers. Spray distress spritz in weather wood in random areas of card base, then heat set.

It's all in the layers:

Creating depth on the card base using texture fades birch trees and falling snow. Distress ink pumice stone for definition.

Adding more layers for depth. Branch birch die + 3D texture fades lumber. Using the poking tool from my sidekick to get all the negative shapes out of the branch birch die. 

Giving the trees a little more character by adding a blend of distress inks frayed burlap + lost shadow. Ending with an even blend on top of lost shadow. This gives a soft wintery effect.

I love the size of birds from the vault series lovebirds. They are perfect for this make. Die cut the bird twice, blend distress inks pumice stone, old paper, distress oxide antique linen to the body and feet of the bird. Distress inks lost shadow + scorched timber for the wings (cut out wing from second bird) and head. Use pop up dots to adhere wing on top of bird. Make sure to leave an opening white on the face of the bird. 

Giving the illusion of snow on the birds wing, using a splatter brush + distress paint picket fence.

Making twigs for the winter bird to perch on with wood planks from my stash + vault wildflowers.

Tim's + Stampers Anonymous new stamp set Florist Floor is definitely another favourite. I love the scale of these stamps. I chose the twig of berries. Stamped in archival ink + coloured with distress watercolour pencil crayons, on the branches and berries. 

Tim's new recoil scissors makes fussy cutting a lot easier. The comfort grip gives you more control when cutting the details of a stamp. Fussy cut the berries from florist floor, then apply texture paste sparkle. Let it air dry. The results are amazing. Gives the right amount of sparkle and give an elegant look of snow + frost on the berries.

The Finishing touches:

Adhere the winter bird with pop up dots, twigs + berries for the bird to perch on with collage medium. Tim's idea ology label stickers 'wishes' 

The final touch that ties everything together, a machine stitched border, leaving a few loose threads at the corners. 

I hope you enjoyed all the warm + cozy vintage feels of this make and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina 

Favourite Things

'brown paper packages tied up with strings ~ these are a few of my favourite things' 

Tim Holtz + Stampers Anonymous cms498 Home for Christmas is an awesome stamp set. It has all the vintage feels. I chose the wrapped parcel for my make. I was inspired by my friends Nico Scrap and Vicki Evans. You can find his make on his IG post. and Vicki's make on her IG post here. This is what I came up with.

The Base:

Starting with distress watercolour card stock, and distress inks in antique linen, old paper and frayed burlap, I did a watercolour wet-on-wet technique. 

It's all in the Layers:

Building up the layers on the base. Distress ink in frayed burlap with background stamp ticking and grain. Randomly stamp on base.

Layering stencil sparkle fade with texture paste in sparkle adds the right amount of bling to the make. Let the paste air dry.

Tim + Ranger distress spritz adds the perfect amount of shimmer to any make. Antique linen is my favourite and it pops out nicely on the background. Distress ink in walnut stain, blended around the edges for a more defined yet softer look.

One of my favourite pass times is colouring. It's very therapeutic and good for the soul. I used distress watercolour pencil crayons. They are easy to colour with and blend like butter. I chose walnut stain + gathered twigs for the shading and old paper + antique linen for the hi lights. This colour combo is perfect for the parcels from the stamp set Home for Christmas.

One of my favourite stamp sets from Tim + Stampers Anonymous is Classic Favourites ~ Classic #10 SCF010. It's one of the first stamp sets I owned. The saying from this set is perfect for this make. 'brown paper packaging tied up with strings ~ these are a few of my favourite things. First mask out the bottom wording of stamp, then ink the top with distress archival in frayed burlap.

The finishing touches:

Have you ever had a 'what if' moment? Those ideas can be very surprising. I grabbed some twine, then tied them up into little bows to go on top of the parcels. Died the bows using distress spray stains in my splat box, then heat set. 

I chose mermaid lagoon, uncharted mariner and speckled egg. Machine stitched the border in cream thread.

Sometimes it's fun to think outside the box and be inspired by others. You never know where it will take you.

Christina 

Dashing Through the Snow

 Tim Holtz + Stampers Anonymous Home for Christmas stamp set has all the vintage feels. Especially the vehicle with the Christmas tree on top. I made a Christmas card using this stamp with a twist.

The Base:

Distress watercolour card stock as the base. Distress inks in antique linen + pumice stone, distress oxide in antique linen, spritz with water dying between layers. Next add droplets of distress spritz in antique linen for a nice sparkling finish.

It's all in the Layers:

Alterations texture fade in falling snow has been my go to this year. It adds the right amount of texture to any make. Another go to for me is distress ink walnut stain. It's perfect for blending edges.

I had a 'what if ' moment. Making a wood panel for the side of the car. Using distress wood grain card stock + a blend of distress inks in antique linen, gathered twigs + vintage photo.

Stamp the vintage car twice, masking out the tree. Distress watercolour pencil crayon in aged mahogany for car base, then cut out door panel from wood grain background. Adhere panel to car.

I chose a different tree to place on top of the car from the stamp set Into the Woods, with distress inks in forest moss + vintage photo.

Finishing Touches:

Tim's re-coiling scissors are awesome for fussy cutting, especially being left handed make it easier. Fussy cut the tree, then adhere to top of car. I love the type written font stamps from Home for Christmas. I chose the saying ' dashing through the snow' masked out the word 'snow' then stamped the top portion to the card. The font from Tim's new vault seasonal sketch dies is awesome. Die cut the letters 'S' 'N' 'O' 'W' from Kraft stock classic in red and place them under the saying. 

To complete the card, I machine stitched the border using cream thread.

Hope you enjoyed all the vintage feels and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina