Lucky Day Winner

All we can say in wow!!!  Thank you all for your comments and kind words.  With such a huge response to our giveaway we have decided to give away two additional bundles of goodies.  The other two bundles will be a group of my choice, but equally fun.  Winner #2 and Winner #3 we are going to let your bundle of goodies be a surprise....what fun you will have when you open your box!!

Winner of the library drawer and bundle of goodies:

the gypsy magpie said...

Wow, the possibilities with this drawer are endless... and the goodies that go with it are incredible! Especially loving the details on Ann Mabee's drawer. SO glad she shared it!

Winner #2:

 Montgomery Family said...

Awesome giveaway...like always! Y'all are amazing!!

Winner #3

 Danee said...

It is funny how a contest brings out the comments. I would love to win…in fact I have looked at this system for quite awhile but haven't jumped in.

Winners, please email us with your address and we will get your boxes right out to you.

Again, that you all for your support.

deb

Lucky Day Giveaway

Feeling lucky?  

We love the library drawer from 7gypsies especially with the latest Postale goodies that fit perfectly inside.  We thought you might like them also and bundled some items together that we think you will enjoy.

Here is a couple of ideas of ways to use your library drawer:

This one from talented Ranjini Malhotra, get more instructions on this lovely here and be sure to check out her blog here.

Also, love this from Ann Mabee (from the 7g website).....she adds the best details!

If you are feeling lucky and want the chance to win the library drawer and goodies, please leave a comment by Monday the 4th at midnight.  We will announce the winner on Tuesday the 5th.

Good luck!

deb

Watercoloring

Well, we are officially back in the rat race after a relaxing week of vacation.  Everyone is back at school today, the suitcases unpacked and the laundry complete.  Sooooo much to get ready before I leave again on Wed morning for Phoenix, Tucson and St Louis.  My friend suggested packing a bicycle helmet for St Louis since it's tornado season and us Californians don't really have any tornado training.  I assured her I was going to be with my sister that has lived in Texas for 25+ years and she has plenty of tornado training so I should be fine as long as the airport stays open this next week.

I thought I could get in one more project before I go so that is what we are starting today.  First of all I found some great flower pictures on Deviant Art.  You can download them for free (which is great). You will need a least a few flower pictures for this project or some of your own ephemera.

1.  Download the file from Mellowmint.
2.  Open the file and choose the pictures you want to print.
3.  Open Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to size...if you don't have either of these programs, just open a Word Document.  Drag photos into the Word doc.  You can size it and even add text using a text box if you like (see below).
4.  Now print...it's that easy.

 

Super easy to do... for those of you that might be shy about trying to print your own ephemera, try a few of these.  

Okay, so back to the project at hand.

                       

To be quite honest I am still not really sure what I am making yet, but this is how I started...For the foundation I am using the 7gypsies Naked Tabs (6 x 4"), much bigger than the little tabs I used in the last project.  These large tabs are made for the 7gypsies Library Drawer but of course I am going to use them for something else.  I guess I should say that the Library Drawer comes with some index tabs but they are printed with lines and the months.  These naked tabs are sold separately ($5.95 for 24), are not printed and heavier weight (which is why I like them).

You will need the tabs, a mini mister and some distress stain.

 Cover the entire surface with Spun Sugar.  You can lightly blot to give it a mottled effect.  Dry with a heat gun.

 Working quickly add some streaks of Broken China then spritz with the mini mister.  Don't worry when the paper starts to curl.  Just let the stain bleed, creating a watercolor effect. NOTE:  You can spray the water before you add the stain...I just like the effect of spraying after for this project.

 You can stand the card on end to let the stain run.  If you get to much at the bottom just blot with a paper towel.  Once you like what you see, dry the card with heat gun to stop the bleeding (and the card will go back to being flat again).

 Now add a bit of Antique Linen Stain.  

Again, spray with Mini mister, let bleed then dry with heat gun.

 Here is the finished watercolored card.  I love the fact that every time you do this it will be totally different and unique depending on the colors used, the amount of water, and honestly how fast you are.  The tabbed cards hold up well to repeated spraying and drying and still retain a great work surface for stamping.  I did a have one card I got overzealous with and the pulp started balling up, but I just dried the card and then flicked away the pieces with my fingernail. 

I grabbed a script stamp and inked it with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink, but before I stamped the card I used a baby wipe to wipe away a few of the edges and a bit of the center so there would be no straight edge to the image. Gosh, that sounds much more confusing that it really is.

 You might be able to see it here better than I can explain it.  You can see there are portions of the image missing where I wiped away the ink.  Super simple technique.

 Cut out the printed flower.

  I added a stamped image from the new 7gypsies Conservatory stamp (sorry I don't have a better picture of it) that just came in last week, a bit of dyed cheesecloth and Lille paper tape (stamps).

Well, I feel like it's 90 percent complete...I ended up spraying it with a bit of Perfect Pearls Mists - Heirloom Gold that you might be able to see in the finished card.  I may add some stitching and I still need to add a word to the tab but that will come when I finish the rest and have an idea of what I want to do with the cards. I guess you will have to stick with me while I go on this little watercolor journey.

because there are more to come...

So back to the table for more fun using the Distress Stains as watercolors...on second thought, maybe I should pack first.

cheers,

paula

Swept Away

This last week 7gypsies posted one of the projects I made for the trade show booth.  So thought I would post some info about how I made it. 
The piece is made using the new 7gypsies Library Drawer.  I turned the drawer on it's side and used it as a shadowbox.

Supplies-
7gypsies Library Drawer

2 sheets of Kings Cross paper

1 set of Industrial Gears (you get two of each shown here)

Paddington clear stamp

Cut the clocks from the paper.

Adhere clocks to a piece of chipboard with glue stick.  Don't worry that the edges of the clocks are cut off.  We will use that to our advantage.

Cut the clocks out again.

Time to add some color.  I used Vintage Photo, Wild Honey, Barn Door, Peeled Paint and Tumbled Glass.  This might seem like a lot of colors for one small project but we only use a bit of each for a subtle look.

 Use a blending tool to add a bit of each.  The colors can layer right over the next one.

Love this Wild Honey...reminds me of rust

Now your clock might look a bit bright so knock it back with Vintage Photo.  My Vintage Photo is well "seasoned" so if yours is new, you might want to dab off on a paper towel first. 

Now the little clocks... I know what the colors look like now so I can do all the little clocks at the same time.  They do not have to be matching, in fact different is good.  Remember you control the color!

The clocks are sitting in the drawer at different levels.

Here's how I did it:
I used an X-acto knife to cut some old foam core and then glued them together with my old glue gun. Then made them into little stacks or risers. I thought about using Styrofoam but since Styrofoam and glue guns don't mix I decided the foam core was a better idea (and it was at arms length).

I made some of the stacks with 4 pieces, some with 3 and I think one with 2 pieces.  I tested the depth in the tray and once I had it just how I liked it I glued a stack to the corresponding clock. 

Here are the same two pieces in the actual project with words added.
The quote says, "Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is it's current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes it's place". -Marcus Aurelius
I thought this was appropriate after I decided to use the picture of my aunts, Mamie and Flora taken in 1936.  Little did they know at the time but Flora would soon pass away.

I layered the new industrial gears with real watch parts I got in a junk shop. 
The hand came from the clear stamp (I just stamped it on cardstock and cut it out).
The hanging metal is also new from 7gypises.  I added the dangle at the bottom with the number two and hung it from the tray with a Tim Holtz memo pin. 
I used a piece of canvas as the background and mounted the picture on chip also.  I also used foam tape to lift the picture off the background.

If you're interested in the Paddington Collection...leave a comment and your name will put in a drawing 2 sheets of each of the papers.  I'll draw the name on Saturday morning.   Good luck!