Monday, October 28, 2013

Christmas Pins and Ornaments

Christmas Ornament
HI Friends,

These are some Christmas pins I completed this weekend.  They are on their way to their  new owners but they also serve as the pattern for the ones I'll be making for holiday gifts and for my Etsy shop.

All of them start with a TH Rosette and an Ectasy Crafts Epoxy bubble with a Navity scene image.  The images were purchased from Etsy at this shop: "The Photo Cube". 

I used traditional Christmas colored findings from my stash (left over from last year!) and embellished around each image.  The pins each have a tiny object dangling from them and the backs have pin clasps.  The ornament is adhered to a plastic, sparkly snowflake (from HL) and has a ribbon attached for hanging. 


And this is the photos of them in their packaging. Nothing too fancy!!  :)



What do you think?   I'll be making more to put in my Etsy shop.

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Altered Matchstick Holder



Happy Weekend Everyone!

This is a vintage matchstick holder that I altered as a gift for my sister Tina's birthday.  (The picture on the left is NOT the one I altered but I forgot to take a "Before" picture so it's just a sample of what they look like when they're in the original form.)  The one I used was unpainted, bare metal and banged up; nothing as nice as the red one in the photo!! LOL!



I painted the bare metal with a base coat of gesso, then dry brushed Turquoise and copper acrylic paint over it until I was happy with the faux rustic, patina color.  I downloaded a sheet of vintage images from this Etsy shop and chose one of the photos of a little girl with a flower cart to use on the back.  I printed it out, distressed the edges then glued it to the back of the holder.  I also added a faint smudge of TH "Worn Lipstick" distress ink on the flowers.




Next I picked out some vintage trims from my stash that matched the color scheme and glued them around the holder.  From there, I went through my stash of paper flowers and chose different ones that I thought went with the trims and the overall color scheme.




After getting those glued on, I chose to use this cute little straw and paper barn owl that I got from Hobby Lobby. It came on a card of three in the natural flower supplies section.  I just positioned him on the front of the holder and added more trims and flowers.

I also used some natural white flower-bud sprays that I got from the same section at HL along with some brown wire that I coiled, and just inserted them behind and among the flowers and trim.



Finally, I had these small rustic tin birds, that I picked up in Santa Fe during the same trip home this summer, that I wanted to use on the holder.  I added a tiny satin rose and feather to the front of one of them and glued a strong magnet to the back.  So now it comes off and can be used as a note holder on the tin or just completely separately. 


This is the holder without the little bird:

The back side showing the vintage image and some metal tags saying "Happy Birthday"
The only problem I had was getting it to sit on the table top without falling backwards!  It kept falling over when I put pens or scissors in there as a test to see if it would hold anything. Because it was originally designed at an angle to hang on the wall - that would allow the matchsticks to roll forward so the well stayed full - it would not stay standing!! Boo!!  So Carl, my amazing husband to the rescue.  He cut a piece of heavy wood as a base to accommodate the slant, screwed it onto the bottom, and now it is the perfect little desktop tin holder!  I love it!!

Here's some photos from other angles:
You can see here how much of an angle the slant was at.


View from the top - You can see how it is banged up in the back
My "vision" of it being used as a desktop accessory for pens and business cards!
Hope you enjoyed this post!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Framing Flowers




Today I'm posting a card that is inspired by one of my all-time fav stampers, Darlene Devrise.  She is the "Featured Stamper" this week over on SCS.  I didn't even know she had a gallery there!  I have always just followed/subscribed to her posts on YouTube!

So it is an honor to be casing a card of hers that I had "Faved" long ago -- her "Frame of Paper Flowers". Be sure to stop by her blog or check out her technique vidoes on YouTube.  You will be hooked just like me!




For my card, I started by glueing Prima flowers to a vanilla piece of cardstock.  I went with a blues and beige palette. 

Next I ran the piece thru a TH embossing folder to get some texture.

Then I ran the piece through my Big Shot with a Labels 6 Spellbinders die to cut out the focal piece/panel.   

I added a few more Primas on top of the die cut panel and a few silver brads to add dimension to the texture.  I traced around the outside of the same die that I used to cut the focal panel to create a 1/8" larger layering panel on Navy cardstock.  Finally I adhered the piece to a vanilla layer and then attached it to my card base.

Next I used a Simon Says banner die and coordinating sentiment set called "Tilted Banner Sayings" to create the banner under the panel.    



This is my interpretation of Darlene's amazing card!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!