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Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Being Thankful -- Part II

I promised a three-post series.  Well ... that has unfortunately been compressed to a two-post series.  Life has a way of taking over my plans.  So, I am back to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving from the US with my 2nd post on being thankful. 


As I said in my previous post, I was inspired by my family.  It is my biggest blessing and I thank God for them.  The techniques and materials that I used for my "thankful" card sort of spilled over onto some Thanksgiving-themed decor pieces for our upcoming Thanksgiving get-together.  The first piece is a a decorated grapevine wreath.  I started with some grunged flowers made Tim Holtz's Tattered Pinecone die and Tattered Flower Garland strip.  I began with some mixed media paper that I stained with a mixture of Ripe Persimmon and Spiced Marmalade Distress Stain.  This was cut with the pinecone die and distressed with sandpaper and Walnut Stain Distress Ink.   The centers are just yellow cardstock cut from the tattered flower garland strip.  Tim Holtz Ideaology Gum Drops, colored with yellow and Caramel Alcohol ink, were adhered with Matte Multi Medium in the middle.  At the bottom of the wreath, these flowers were accessorized with raffia, lace, and some tattered "greenery" from the aforementioned dies.


Tim's Family Die amazingly fit right in the middle of this grapevine wreath!  I used the die to cut two thin chipboard sheets.  I then cut the Tim Holtz Woodgrain cardstock that I wanted to use.  I lined up the die cut images and glued together the three layers (the two chipboard pieces on bottom and the Woodgrain piece on top).  I trimmed the layered piece to the rectangular sign shape that I wanted in the center of my wreath.  The edges of the die cut "FAMILY" were colored with Ground Espresso Distress Marker.  I colored the woodgrain cardstock with Distress Crayons in a variety of  brown hues and Black Soot. A thin layer of Gloss Multi Medium was used to give the "wood" a varnished look.  The sign was completed with a piece of dictionary-print scrapbook paper (I can't remember who made the paper ... sorry!  It was in a remnants box that I keep.)  I used the distress marker to outline the Die Cut on the paper.  Another cardstock tattered flower was added to the top of the sign and I was finished with the sign.  I hot glued it to the back of the wreath.


The top of the wreath was adorned with more pinecone flowers, including a rose made from the same die and multi media paper stained with a mixture of Ripe Persimmon and Abandoned Coral Distress Stain.  More laces, other trimmings, pine "branches" made from mercury glass printed paper, and a chitchat "blessing" sticker were added.  I wanted a little more movement on the piece. I grabbed my wire again; this time it was swiped with Walnut Stain, Barn Door and Mustard Seed Distress Paint.


Now let's talk about the second decor piece that I made.  My mother's favorite animal is an owl.  I found a lovely wood and metal figurine at Michaels.  I knew it would make wonderful Thanksgiving piece for her kitchen.  I used the left over Tim Holtz recipe-printed paper from my card and covered the face of the owl.  This time I used Distress Crazing Collage Medium.  Love this stuff!  Of course this was grunged with sand paper and Distress Crayons in various brown hues!


I was trying to think of what to use to embellish the owl's face.  I found some vintage bottle caps for the eyes.  Sunflowers and black-eyed susans are my mom's favorite flowers.  So I used some Jolie floral embellishments colored to look like these lovely fall flowers to be the irises of the eyes.  The beak was more of a challenge.  And then I found the guitar pick in my stash.  My dad, who is no longer with us, loved to play the guitar.  I colored it with orange alcohol ink and we had a beak!  More raffia and orange twine set off the cutest pumpkin charm (that came free in an order from the Funkie Junkie Boutique last year -- Thanks Linda!) around the neck of this adorably grunged owl.


The back was covered with more Ideaology paper and stickers that spelled out my mom's initials.


Here is a final project of the entire owl.  So cute.


Well, that's it before I hit the road for Thanksgiving.  I am going to enter my decor efforts in Frilly and Funkie's Give Thanks! Challenge

I have so much to be thankful for and you, dear crafty friends, are up there at the top of my list!  -- Mary Elizabeth



Saturday, November 11, 2017

Being Thankful


Hi all,

I'm back with the first of three posts.  We are quickly closing in on the Thanksgiving holiday here in the States.  For me, it's a time to get to spend time with my family.  There never seems enough time to spend with them these days.  I started with a card celebrating how thankful I am for my family and it morphed into two other projects.  So here is the piece that started it all.



I seem to being doing several collage pieces these days.  I need to replenish my Distress Collage Medium!  I began with a kraft card. I created my collage on a piece of black cardstock.  The papers are from various Tim Holtz's Ideaology paper stashes and some other pieces of scrap paper in the same vintage "brown" color scheme.  The star of the show is a paper from Tim's Seasonal stash that has all sorts of Thanksgiving recipes on it.  Our family get-togethers revolve around really good food.  So I thought this was extremely appropriate for this card.  Again, Matte Distress Collage Medium was used to adhere the paper and apply a top coat (to prime the paper for use of a Black Soot Distress Crayon around the seams)


Sorry for the sad photo of this card. It was a bit "front heavy" by the time I finished it and it got a bit of a bend to it when a I stood it vertically for a quick pic.  I should have photographed it flat ... hindsight is 20/20.  Here is why it was so "front heavy".  I decided to play with Tim's Distress Woodgrain cardstock.  I die cut it and and a piece of chipboard using Tim's Pumpkin Jack die.  I cut the woodgrain diecut into strips (like slats of wood).   These strips were colored with Rusty Hinge, Carved Pumpkin, Spiced Marmalade, Walnut Stain and Ground Espresso Distress Crayons (using a waterbrush to spread the layers of color).  Then I distressed the edges of the strips of woodgrain paper with sandpaper.  I adhered the strips of paper to the my chipboard pumpikin die cut and distressed the edges of the entire  pumpkin with sandpaper.  Now, I grabbed my Ground Espresso Distress Marker and went over the sanded edges.  Love the distressed wood look!!  I added a few Ideaology Tiny Attachers in spots to look like the  wood slats had been nailed or screwed to a backing board.  Brown Alcohol ink was used to make it look like the screws had rusted.  The stem of the pumpkin was given a similar treatment. 


The pumpkin was adhered to the collaged background with Ranger Matte Multi Medium.  Some foam squares, gave the stem some support.  I embellished the pumpkin with a Little Yellow Bicycle wood leaf (stained with Peeled Paint Distress Stain, d1istressed with sandpaper and edged with Walnut Stain Distress Marker ) and some brown wire that wound around a pencil and swiped with Peeled Paint Distress Paint.


A simple  "thankful" chitchat sticker, backed on a small black cardstock rectangle, was mounted on the pumpkin with foam squares.  And I called it a day!


This week I'm playing along with 

Let's Craft and Create Challenge #131 - ANYTHING GOES + option FALL COLOURS/THANKFUL
Simon Says Stamp Thanks/Thanksgiving Challenge
Frilly and Funkie's Timeworn Challenge
Words 2 Craft By Abundance Challenge 

Well, I will be back soon with some home decor pieces that were inspired by this card.  Have a great weekend!  Mary Elizabeth