Springtime Vignette

Hello friends,

With Easter right around the corner, I thought it was time for a little springtime project that could easily be completed in a day or two. I covered the boxes on day one. Along with painting the rabbit, eggs and Toadstools so they could dry overnight. Day two was putting the scene together and cutting the Sizzix flowers. I hope you'll follow the following easy steps to create your own little springtime garden scene!

I started with two Square Vignette Boxes (I did not use the smallest box that comes with the set). I cut 4 patterns of Worn Wallpaper to cover the two boxes, then adhered the paper with Collage Medium.

Once the paper was adhered I covered the surface with a thin layer of Collage Medium and set the boxes aside to dry while I worked on other things.

Lets start with the things that need to be painted so they can start drying. 

I used hot glue to add a Salvaged Rabbit to a big popsicle stick for easy painting. I used Ground Espresso Distress Paint for the rabbit, but any color will work. I gave him two coats for good measure.

After he was dry, I sanded off the shine with steel wool. Now you can pop him off the popsicle stick.

Next up are the Tiny Eggs. I really didn't know what color I wanted so I painted up a few of each using Speckled Egg, Squeezed Lemonade, Dried Marigold, and Worn Lipstick. I just used my fingers, wiping my hands between colors. I also painted, or should I say rubbed, Scorched Timber over the entire Barrel.

Once the eggs were dry, I flicked paint over the top with a small paintbrush. 

While the eggs dry, I painted two Toadstools with Speckled Egg Distress Paint. It took two coats over the tops to get full coverage. Once dry, scribble Walnut Stain Crayon over the paint and rub it in. I also used a wet wipe to pounce over any dark spots. I love the way they turned out with such little effort.

NOTE: you can see how I added a chipboard base to each Toadstool so it will be easy to secure them to the Vignette base when the time comes. A little hot glue works perfectly to secure the chipboard to the Toadstool - you just need to hold it upright while the hot glue cools.

I thought this metal plaque from the Factory Tags pack would work brilliantly on one of the Vignette Boxes. I just needed to add a bit of Picket Fence Crayon to fill in the recessed areas and a couple of the smallest Screw Heads.

One more thing before we start assembling...a sentiment. This time I took a stick and wrapped cardstock around the top with a Metallic Sticker. The bottom got the same treatment as the Toadstools so I can adhere it to the Vignette Box with ease.

Lets add some reindeer moss around the bottom just to get started.

Now we need the boxes that we made earlier. I used a Walnut Stain Distress Crayon to age the Wallpaper, because that is just my style. You know I like things to look a bit beaten up, lol. 

So here we go...lets start gluing the mail things to the smaller of the Vignette Boxes. I took this shot so you could see approximately where I placed things. 

NOTE: I previously added the Metal Factory Tag to the center front when the Vignette could be on it's side. You can also use 1/2" Scor-tape to add the tag if you don't want to wait the drying time. There is also a much better photo of the tag at the end of the tutorial.

Once the main pieces had some time to dry, I added more moss...both reindeer moss and spanish moss.

Now for the last go round...

I started at the back to fill in more of the space. I added some spanish moss and after it was dry, I pulled apart small pieces of moss and tucked it inside the spanish moss. The flowers and rocks were added last.

NOTE: the tiny rocks were found at Michaels, but I think any craft store would have them in the flower arranging section or even in miniatures.

All the flowers were made with the Sizzix Brushstroke Flowers Mini Thinlit.

I did not end up using any of the pink eggs - they just stood out too much. 

So easy to tuck the Tiny Eggs into any little spot! The detail work is my favorite part!

Now add the two Vignette together with Collage Medium. 

And there you go! 

I enjoyed making this project with all the pastel colors and nods to springtime. I also love how even mixing the Worn Wallpaper works perfectly with this color palette. Ready for Spring!

Now carry on,

Paula

Vintage Ring Book for Simon Says Stamp

Hello Friends,

I am happy to report that today I am sharing a tutorial over on the Simon Says Stamp blog!  I created a Ring Book with Distress Mixed Media Heavystock cards, Worn Wallpaper Scraps and Paper Dolls.  I hope you will follow the LINK to the Simon Says Blog, to see the easy to steps to create this cute book.  Truth be told, I've also spelled out lots of tips and tricks about working with Distress Crayons.  Hope you will stop by.

now carry on,
paula

Ladies Who Lunch

Hello friends,

Hope you are well today and that you had a wonderful week! I have been lamenting the lack of traveling as we always take a vacation over Easer break when my husband has time off (he's a High School teacher). Well, no traveling for us so we have been busy doing a few things around the house and trying a few new recipes. Enough about what is happening here and onto sharing the project for today.

This piece was all designed around the group of ladies from the new Paper Doll Groups.  They fit perfectly in the large Vignette Tray so I started with that and then filled in.  Let me show you the details...

I took a few step-out along the way but I need to explain how I got to this point.

I have covered the tray with Worn Wallpaper from the new pack called Worn Wallpaper Scraps. We called it that because there is a mix of traditional wallpaper as well as cut pieces. No fussy cutting, we've done it for you. You might notice in later photos a strip that says "made in England", that is on one of the papers that I did not choose, so I just cut it off in a long strip to ad later. 

Once the Worn Wallpaper was added to the tray with Collage Medium, I added a layer over the top to seal so I could use a Walnut Stain Distress Crayon over the now slick surface. The Distress Crayon always adds to the age of a piece. Here I scribbled it on and then used a damp paint brush to move it around, especially into the corners and where the papers meet.

I love the new wooden Vignette Advert Panels. They come in a set of five, this is the largest panel in the set. To "color" the wood I use a two part technique. First, rub a Hickory Smoke Distress Ink pad directly over the panel. Then, using my finger, I rubbed Collage Medium over the surface of the wood to allow the water-reactive ink to "bloom". You could use a paint brush for the Collage Medium but the ink will react with the wet medium and you could transfer the ink into the jar. Dry the Collage Medium with a heat tool. TIP: use the back of the panels to test multiple colors of ink if you are unsure and note that the ink looks very different once the collage medium is added.  It also dries a lighter shade than when it is wet.  Testing is good (and you will never see the tests on the back).  

Rub white paint over the surface of the metal Adornments Butterfly. Once dry pounce with Mushroom Alcohol Ink. Adhere to wood panel with Collage Medium, let dry.

Now to assemble - 

Adhere the wood Advert Panel with 3D Foam Squares to raise it off the surface of the tray. 

Adhere the large cut floral with Thin 3D Foam Squares.

Adhere the metal butterfly with Collage Medium.

If you look closely you can see the I have cut off the leaves on the lower right side.  This area will be hidden by the Paper Dolls so I determined to cut off the leaves and use it elsewhere on the tray.

The ladies are from the new Group Paper Dolls.  I love that polka dot dress, don't you?  The only thing I did with the ladies is tint the group using a detailer water brush and a variety of Distress Crayons.  what you cannot see here is that the group of ladies is pushed out from the Advert Panel with three 1/4" wood blocks.  One block is behind the neck of the standing lady, one is in the center of the group and the last one is at the base.  The wood blocks make a huge difference in the dimension of the tray.  By using the blocks, it created the exact amount of space needed to slip the CROWN Tin Top between the Advert Panel and the Paper Dolls.  Notice the use of the snipped-off leaves?  That little element ties the right side to the left...now that I like.

On the right side I used 3D foam to adhere a Timepiece with added Clock Hands (did you know the have Clock Hands?)  The Timepiece got the same treatment as the Butterfly, then I sanded down the high points to reveal the metal numbers below.

I used more Worn Wallpaper Scraps + tiny pieces of ephemera from the Field Notes Snippets pack.  I love the TINY pieces!  

Clippings stickers were added to the Advert Panel.  There is more to the saying I created but I didn't want to cover more of the wood so I placed it on the bottom lip edge of the tray (you can see it in a later photo).

Here are some photos of the finished tray.

You might notice that I gave the standing lady a "halo" of sorts.  This is just a white and gold sticker from the Metallic Sticker book.

I also added a vintage button next to the Snippets butterfly ephemera.

And there is the rest of the saying, "as if this were a travelled road", right at the bottom.

I hope you like this tray as much as I do!  I love working with the new Worn Wallpaper Scraps as well as the paper.  I also love these new Paper Doll Groups...more people to tell a story about! 

now carry on,
paula