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

The Liverpool Three

 Hello friends,

Thought I would share a fun project using another of the new Paper Dolls GROUPS.

As I thumbed though the pack of Backdrops 2, I spotted a vintage map of Liverpool.  I loved the colors of the orange and blue together and knew I had found the catalyst for the project.  Next I went to the bag of Paper Doll Groups and picked these three young men I could see working at the docks.  Of course here they are on their day off!  Well lets get started so I can explain more of the details!

I started with the small Vignette Tray as my substrate. It was the prefect size for the three young men.  I covered the outside of the tray, including the lip edge, with Backdrop paper that looks like an old piece of crackled wood.  On the inside, I added the Liverpool map making sure I centered the word, Liverpool, at the center top.  Once the tray was fully covered with paper, I painting a thin layer of Collage Medium over the top to seal the surface.

Backdrops are smaller than the paper we have produced in the past so I did not have enough of the crackle paper left to cover the entire back of the tray.  That was not a problem as I just chose a couple other papers from the pack to cover the back.  The Backdrops work together so seamlessly, crackle can go with typography which goes with pattern.  It's just that simple.

The next step is to add the shelf. I used one of the Eclectic Elements Pinked trim pieces since they can be easily cut to size with Tonic Scissors. I cut the trim piece and glued it into the tray with Collage Medium, leaving it to dry for while I worked on the Paper Dolls and some of the metals.  Once it was dry, I added a strip of the same crackle paper that I used on the outside of the tray.  I brushed Collage Medium over the top of the paper to seal so I could use my Walnut Stain Distress Crayon (with a damp paint brush) over the the surface - especially in the corners.  I also took a little bit of Speckled Egg Distress Paint on my finger tip and ran it along the pinked edge so the blue paint would skip along the surface.

You might be asking how I knew where to glue the shelf?  Well I placed the Tin Top (the thing with the star on the front) into the bottom of the tray.  I knew the shelf had to be just above the Tin Top - just that easy.

I wanted to add the wood Number Block 3 to the right side using the new Hook Clasp.  The Hook Clasp is the same one that I used as the closure on my Shrine project in my last post.  I added an eye screw to both the top of the Vignette Tray and the Wood Block. The eye screws are easy to twist into place if you start with a pilot hole made with an awl. 

I colored some string with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and dried it with my heat tool.  The string was looped through the eye screw then evened up.

I had previously glued a Hitch Fastener to the left side of the tray.  Once it is was secure, I was able to wrap the string around the Hitch Fastener and secure it with Collage Medium on the backside.  Once it's set, it's not going anywhere.

The new Paper Doll Groups have some wonderful characters to work with.  The three boys were colored with Distress Crayons.  I only colored one of boys suits - obviously it's the suit on the right.  I used the Chipped Sapphire Distress Crayon directly on the suit, then rubbed it with my finger till I could see the details of the coat.  The flowers were colored using a dry Water Brush (I like how the stiff bristles of the Water Brush move damp crayon onto the Paper Doll surface).  The Paper Doll Group was added to the tray with small wood blocks to give them the needed height over the string that runs behind them.

I grunged up some Mini Sprocket Gears with paint and Alcohol Ink and added them beneath the feet of the group. The string is just some cheesecloth I added to mimic straw.

For the bottom portion of the tray, I created a grungy bottle using Distress Crackle Paint Clear Rock Candy.  To do that, coat the Corked Vial with Collage Medium and let it dry.  Rub Distress Crackle Paint over the surface and let that dry.  Drip Mushroom Alcohol Ink over the Crackle Paint to color the bottle.

I also added Remnant Rub numbers to a Metallic Sticker and a bug to the tiny tag.

To complete the bottle, I rubbed some paint into the recessed portion of a Machinery Head and added it the top of the cork.

On the right side of the lower section, I added the Tin Top, Mini Flair and two of the new Industrial Gears. Both the Tin Top and the Industrial Gears have a wood block behind them for support. I used a small amount of shredded cheesecloth to disguise the wood block that sits right behind the center of the gears. I bet you can't even see it. I just glued the block in place, then added the gears with more Collage Medium to the Tin Top and wood block.  Once set, the Collage Medium holds everything like cement (those gears are not going anywhere).

I liked the idea of an industrial handle at the top of the tray.  I used paint and Alcohol ink, Distress Crayons to grunge up the handle and the added Hardware Heads.  Once glued with Collage Medium, I kept the tray in a standing position until it was set.

As you can see this tray is easy to create.  You just need to include some drying time to add the Hitch Fastener, the shelf and the Industrial Gears.  Other than that, it moves along quite easily.

Thanks for stopping by to read my post...I really appreciate it!

Now carry on,
paula