SHADOW BOX STEPPER CARD

Today I've been making this Shadow Box Stepper card for my step-daughters birthday. It's her Big "30th" so I wanted to make her something special that she could keep for a souvenir.

I constructed the shadow box from the Prima Romance Novel paper, which is one of my favourite paper collections available at the moment. It's so very pretty and yet grungy at the same time. Exactly my style.

I cut the front frame of the box using a Sizzix die called - Frame, Decorative Rectangle.

I cut the actual stepper card from black cardstock and used more of the same Romance Novel paper to line the steps and die cut the doily for the back step.

The numbers were cut from silver miri card using a Fiskars shapecutter. I then stuck all the individual rhinestones onto each number. I used a tiny Typewriter key stamp to add the word
 Birthday to the bottom step.

I added a small white resin bird

I made a paper banner, adheared it onto some bakers twine and added blinged up letters to
spell out HAPPY.  I attached it to the shadow Box frame with tiny pink clothes pegs and I
 outlined the edge of the  box with black flatback trim and added a
 Prima Resin Angel to the inside of the box.

I embellished the card with roses from Wild Orchid Crafts and brushed them all slightly
with Gesso to soften the look. 

I added  a couple of tiny butterfies cut with the Martha Stewart Punch and glued some
 bling to the centres to form their bodies.

I really enjoyed making this card and I'm so happy with how it turned out.

Hand-Crafted Junk Journal/Smash Book

I promised to create a Junk Journal/Smash Book for a friend and here's what I came up with.

The cover is made from a recycled packaging box which I cut down and painted with Gesso.

I made up 4 signatures  for the inside of my book from old  papers from  my stash and junk mail envelopes which I covered with paper and made into pockets and envelopes. I also incorporated a paper bag into the last signature, which I covered in paper and made into two large pockets. I added stamping, charms and some washi tape to a few of the pages and the rest I left for my friend to embellish and personalise  as she wanted.

For the Front  and Back Cover I used a decoupaged napkin for the main design. I added plenty of mesh bling and some flower trim which matched the roses on the napkin. 

As I sewed in the signatures I added beading to the threads on the spine which I think finished off the book perfectly. Three of the beads were word beads which spelled out the recipients name.

If you would like to see my YouTube video about this book, please click below.

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KEY TO MY HEART

Here are some pictures of my latest Art Journal page which I've titled "KEY TO MY HEART".

I know Valentine's Day is gone but I was trying to be a little more free with this page and not plan in advance what I was going to do with it. Once I'd added all the sprays and stencils to the page. It gave me the feel of an opulent boudoir and the feeling of a love affair came into my mind. So I thought of hearts and things to do with love and that's how the page evolved.

I had seen the poem a few weeks ago and I really liked it. I thought of it while I was working and decided to include it on my page. The poem reads:-

Key To My Heart

Author: Nicole C. Moore

Late at night when I'm sound asleep,

Into my heart you softly creep.

I sit and wonder how it could be,

But you must have stumbled across the key.

This key holds the secret to true 

love and more,

So take it now and unlock the door.

And I pray that we will never part,

Now that you have the key 

to my 

heart.

For the background I used Adirondac Colour Wash in Cranberry & Egg Plant. I then over sprayed with Lindy's Stamp Gang Sprays in Rhododendron Rose Red, Rudolph Nose Red,  Ramblin Rose Pink & Cotton Candy Pink. I also used Cosmic Shimmer spray in Antique Rose. I stenciled with Lumiere Paint in Indigo then used my Uniball Signo broad pen in white to doodle around the edges of the stenciled design. I used a piece of bubble wrap to stamp in random places with white gesso, then later I scribbled over these with the white uniball pen.

I began to write the poem with the Uniball pen but it started to disappear into the background. I then decided to paint the whole page with Mod Podge to seal it and then I was able to write the poem again more sucessfully.

I adheared some white lace in two stripes across some of the page. Then diecut 2 sizes of hearts from corrugated card with the X-cut Scalloped Hearts Dies. The larger heart was gessoed then darkened with distress ink in Gathered Twigs and hot glued down across the lace. I stained the edges of the smaller heart with the two colour washes mixed together. I then painted the centre with Lumiere paint in  Super Sparkle and blended it into the colour wash. I tore the heart down the middle when dry and added some eyelets. I then threaded the eyelets with ribbon and tied a box. I hot glued some red lace to the back of the heart around the top edge and added some muslin which I had died pink to the bottom. I then hot glued everything onto the larger heart.

I die-cut a key from chipboard and heat embossed it with copper and then verdigris embossing powder to give it an old and rusty look. I then hot glued this onto the heart.




If you would like to watch my step-by-step video of me working on this page I have added this below.

It's Valentine's Day today where we're all supposed to reflect on the true meaning of Love.

For me it's spending time with my family and being grateful that we're such a happy family unit.
I send you all my good wishes.

I thought I'd like to share a couple of Valentines projects that I made. The first two are cards and the third a Tussie-Mussie Chocolate holder made from the chipboard inside of a toilet roll. It's amazing what you can make with these little rolls and a great way to recycle.

LOVE BIRDS

I layered black & gold card onto a white card base and distressed and slightly lifted the edges of the gold layer. I then added black  acrylic paint stenciled through sequin waste to some of the edges and then white acrylic paint circles made randomly with a bottle top. The heart was die-cut from corrugated card and sprayed red with Lindys Stamp gang Rudolph Nose Red Starburst Spray. I stencilled the two love birds with modelling paste and then painted them with black acrylic when dry. I attached a small wooden dragonfly to the right hand top corner.

I made a small flag from white card and attached it to a piece of white wire. I used a lable maker to type the word "LOVE" and adhered it to the flag. I created a small banner from white card and stamped "Birds" with Black Stayzon Ink. I attached the banner pieces to a length of gold elastic string tied into bows at the ends and adhered to the card across the corner.

In the bottom right corner a attached a small length of Music Note ribbon. 

LOVE STORY

On this card I used the front layer of a Knapkin which I adhered to the card front to create my background.
I then used a die-cut from Tim Holtz by Sizzix called Vintage Typewriter. I printed out my sentiment then trimmed and aged it with  Antique Linen Distress Ink from Ranger and then slotted it into the front of the typewriter to resemble a typed page. I slightly curled the paper with a pen to create dimension. I mounted the typewrite onto silver card and trimmed this to fit the die-cut, then adhered it all to the card front.

On the inside of the card I covered one side with Valentines paper from an old collection by Papermania. I created a pop-up spring using a strip of acetate which I folded concertina style.
I adheared one end of this to a Tim Holtz Movers & Shapers die-cut called "Love Struck", the bottom was attached to the card and covered with another die-cut heart by X-Cut.


TUSSIE MUSSIE CHOCOLATE HOLDER

I closed off the bottom end of the TP roll and painted the inside white. I then covered it in Valentines paper. I then adhered beaded trim to the bottom and lace to the top and bottom. I added several designs of pearl trim and created a handle from burgundy flat back pearl trim. I used another of the Tim Holtz cherub die-cuts to embellish the front. I made a flower from silver heart die-cuts and a stick on button which reads "I Love You". I attached this to a strip of acetate then attached this onto the side of the TP roll so it appears to be floating in the air. I then filled it with Heart shaped Chocolates and Valentines Chocolate pennies.

MIXED-MEDIA ART JOURNAL PAGE - INSPIRE

I've finally found some time to get back to my Art Journal and I'd like to share with you the latest page that I've created.

I've titled it "INSPIRE". - I always seem to have lots of thoughts going around in my head that sometimes gel together into a project which people often tell me has inspired them. In my mind, if I can inspire just one person to create, then everything is worthwhile. I'm very pleased with how this page has turned out. I hope you like like it and also feel inspired. Big Hugs. Lynn

I wanted to give this piece a mystical feel so I painted this Masquerade Mask and whitened face with the cogs spilling out of the top of the head to represent creative thoughts released.
The background was made by first using NeocolourII water-soluble crayons in Black, Red & Yellow, blended with water then over-sprayed & blended with Lindy's stamp gang sprays in Rudolph Nose Red and Screaming Banshee Black. I then stamped script with gold Ink randomly all over the page and painted in the eyes with black acrylic paint.

I Embossed the fancy part around the outside of the mask with gold embossing powder and then added  mica flakes from Cosmic Shimmer randomly attached with PVA glue. I then embossed the centre of the mask with gold embissong powder but only until it just melted to give a sort of bumpy texture.

I glued cogs into the eye sockets. All the cogs used in this page were also embossed with gold embossing powder. I then did some random patches with copper embossing powder and then some more random patches with the Cosmic Shimmer Mica Flakes onto PVA glue.

I painted and cut out a top of the skull to match the rest of the face and  inked all the edges with brushed corduroy Distress Ink and black Promarker pen. I positioned it onto my page so it appeared that the skull had split open and lifted up as if on a hinge. I found a quote on the Internet, printed it out onto plain paper and cut around it. Glued it into the centre of the skull and rubbed some paint around the edges to try to blend it in to the skull.

I positioned all the cogs so that they appeared to be spilling out of the skull and floating away.

I glued a gem into the centre of the headdress.

I had stamped with a Tim Holtz script stamp randomly in gold ink all over the canvass. I then used another Tim Holtz stamp in the top left & bottom right corners. This staming helped to link the gold of the centre image in with the background.


If you are interested in watching a step-by step video of how I created this page you can watch my YouTube video below. Please visit my YT Channel and subscribe:-

MIXED-MEDIA NEW YEARS CARD FOR 2013

I've been working on a design for some pretty but quick & easy New Years cards that I need to make quite a few of to send to family & friends who live in France & Spain. They tend to celebrate New Year more so than Christmas. Here is what I came up with for this year:-

I've used a White card base and I inked the edges with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink. I've cut a piece of cream patterned paper, distressed & inked the edges then adhered it to the card. I've then taken a piece of corrugated cardboard and removed some of the paper to expose the ridges inside. I then painted this with Gesso leaving some of the natural colour showing. Once dried I adhered a January Calender print, which I downloaded from Tonya Gibbs (Psychomoms on YouTube) Web Page - http://www.psychomoms.com/ and then I wrapped cream organza & cream satin ribbon around one on top of the other and adhered it at the back. I then created a bow using the same two layers and glued it to the bottom of the bow to look like extra tails. I made a Happy New Year banner which I printed on my computer then cut into the banner & inked. I also made a flower from several layers of cream & craft coloured die cuts and a butterfly using a Martha Steward Punch. The butterfly has 3 layers. 1) cream card 2) cream pearlised card and the top layer is gold patterned velum.

I hope you like my creation and hope you will leave me a positive comment below.

There are some more close up photo's below and at the end my You Tube video which includes a step-by step tutorial of how I made this card.

Thanks.

Here is my YouTube video showing a step-by-step tutorial of how I put this card together.

MIXED-MEDIA MOZAIC ART TILE CANVASS

Another project from 2012 that I wanted to share is my Mosaic Art Tile Canvass. I was inspired to make this by Linda of liveartnow on Youtube who has some great ideas for altered & mixed-media projects.

It's a good way to use up images or scrap papers and can be adapted to any style. I chose to go with the Christmas theme for this one, but I'm sure I'll be making others in the future. I have posted a link to my YouTube video below which explains how I made this. Check out Linda's Channel too for more ideas.

I have used a selection of stamped images, cut outs from Xmas Cards, Xmas paper, die cuts & ribbon.
I made faux metal tiles using metallic tape stuck onto paper then embossed and cut into tiles. I also stuck on small embellishments
that I had in the Xmas theme to enhance certain tiles, i.e. the wooden reindeer & the tiny holly spray on Santa's hat.

Below is my YouTube video explaining how this was made.