Merry Winter Wishes Clipboard For A Vintage Journey

Hello everyone, it's the beginning of December (how did that happen!) and that means it's time for a new challenge over at A Vintage Journey.  Sandy is our host this month and the theme that she has chosen is Holly Jolly Christmas.  Here is the challenge brief:

This month Anything Goes as long as it says Christmas and is in one of our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.

For my Holly Jolly Christmas project I decided to alter one of Tim Holtz's Oh Deer clear acrylic clipboards (I bought it years ago and had totally forgotten I had it!).

   

It was so much fun to alter and I have a quick tutorial to share with you on how I created it.  I don't know how readily available Tim's Oh Deer clipboards are these days but you could always use a regular clear acrylic clipboard instead, there were lots of styles available online when I searched for them.

I started out by inking the deer clip with Alcohol Inks in Latte, Mushroom and Rust and then randomly added some of the same colours onto the acrylic clipboard.

The back of the clipboard was then covered with Tim Holtz's Forest Collage Paper and Distress Matte Collage Medium.  The front of the clipboard was randomly stenciled through Tim's Starry Layering stencil with white acrylic paint.

The 'merry winter wishes' sentiment was then added with a combination of Letterpress blocks, an Elementary Flash Card held on with a Hinge Clip and a Christmas Word Key.  I also started to add some of Tim's Christmas Ephemera.

More Christmas Ephemera was layered onto the clipboard with that wonderful horse drawn sleigh image taking pride of place on top of the merry Wordpress blocks.  Grit-paste was added to the deer clip's antlers and ears (this is actually Tim's Grout paste since I don't have any Grit-paste!).

More Grit (Grout!) paste was added along the top of the merry Wordpress blocks and here and there on the letters themselves.  Baubles were coloured with alcohol inks (Silver and Gold Mixatives and Lettuce) and embedded into the wet paste.

And finally a Small Woodland tree was inked with Shabby Shutters Distress Spray Stain and inserted into a Thimble. More Grit (or Grout) paste was added around the bottom of the Thimble with a couple more alcohol ink coloured Baubles and bit of Grit paste brushed onto the tree to look like snow.  Some sayings from Tim's Christmas Clipping Stickers were inked and added here and there on the clipboard and it was done.

Here are a few closeups of the finished clipboard.

 

I hope that you've enjoyed seeing how it all came together and that you have been inspired to enter our Holly Jolly Christmas challenge over at A Vintage Journey this month.  Make sure to pop by to see what the other Creative Guides made to inspire you as well, so many wonderful holiday creations to fill the season with joy!  Thanks as always for stopping by today and happy holiday creating,

Deb xo

Go Explore Pamphlet Stitch Art Journal For Mixed Up Creative Academy

Hello everyone, popping in to let you know that I have another tutorial over at Mixed Up Creative Academy for my Go Explore pamphlet stitch art journal.

There are eight book making tutorials included in Mixed Up Creative's Beautiful Books masterclass from such talented designers as: Claudia Neubacher, Monique van Dijk, Katy Leitch, Jennie Atkinson, Leslie Lineberry, Jennifer Gallagher, Erica Evans and me!

It's only £7.95 (about $14.00 CAD or $10.30 USD) for all eight of these book making tutorials and would make a great Christmas gift for someone special or buy the course for yourself and make some beautiful books as give as gifts this year. Head on over to Mixed Up Creative Academy to check it out: https://mixedupcreativeacademy.com/product/beautiful-books/ and happy creating!

Deb xo

Wooden Snowman Christmas Ornament

Hi everyone, hope you are all having a lovely weekend.  It's bitterly cold here so I've been squirreled away in the studio doing some organizing and working on projects.  While puttering about I came across a box of wood ornament blanks that my DH had cut for me years ago when I was doing a lot of decorative painting.  I decided to bring out the acrylics and the brushes and painted up this adorable little snowman ornament from Sandra Malone's 'Seasons Best Volume 3' book.

It's been quite literally years since I painted so I'm more than a bit out of practice (don't look too closely at those shading floats, yikes!) but it was fun to see this cutey come to life as each layer was added.

I do love Sandra's designs, I have several of her books and it looks like my hubby cut out a bunch of her designs for me so I think I'll paint up some ornaments as gifts this year.

Off to paint some more (and work on some DT projects, I have about three things on the go right now!) so will be back in a bit to show you what I've been up to.  Stay warm wherever you may be and happy crafting,

Deb xo

Peace On Earth Deer Canvas

Hi everyone, hope this finds you all well and that my American followers are having a lovely Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends.  I have a little 5 x 7 mixed media canvas to share with you today that was inspired by Anna-Karin of Layers Of Ink's mixed media winter landscape.

I don't have any step outs but you can view Anna-Karin's tutorial here which pretty much describes the steps I used as well.

I used Tim Holtz's Prancing Deer die and layered him up several times then tied that bright red jingle bell around his neck for a pop of colour.

The background was stenciled with Southern Ridge Trading Companies Stars stencil as well as with Tim Holtz's Starry Layering stencil.  The 'peace on earth' Christmas Word Band was inked with Stonewashed and Mushroom Alcohol inks and then the words emphasized with a Picket Fence Distress Crayon.

The Snowflakes were embossed with Emerald Creek Craft Supplies Soft Fallen Snow embossing powder and I used real mica flakes scattered around the canvas (I have about a pound of the stuff from my primitive crafting days!)

Ranger's Matte Opaque Texture Paste was used for the snow and I spritzed it with Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter and my Glitter Duster while it was wet.

Thanks to Anna-Karin for the inspiration and hope you've enjoyed seeing my version of her lovely mixed media canvas, enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone and happy creating!

Deb xo

Flurry Of Snowflakes Mixed Media Plaque For Mixed Up Creative Academy

Hello everyone, just popping by to let you know that I have a tutorial over at Mixed Up Creative Academy for my Flurry Of Snowflakes mixed media plaque as part of their Winter Wonderland mini course.

Icy foiled snowflakes, a textured background and lots of layers on this wintery home decor piece; I love how it turned out!  You will receive my step by step tutorial along with three more winter themed mixed media tutorials from the very talented Lisa Nygaard, Carissa Zglobicki and Riikka Kovasin in this mini course, head on over to Mixed Up Creative Academy for all of the details and pricing: https://mixedupcreativeacademy.com/product/winter-wonderland/

Happy creating!

Deb xo

Christmas Gift Tag Holder Ensemble For Therm O Web

Hi everyone, I've got a tutorial over on Therm O Web's blog today for this little Christmas gift tag holder ensemble for our Gift Idea week.

I used Therm O Web's Deco Foil Flock Transfer Sheets (they have just released some lovely new colours!) along with their Deco Foil Foil Transfer Sheets and Brutus Monroe's new Snow Day Clear Designer Toner Sheets.  I also used some lovely Christmas Market scrapbook paper from Carta Bella that they very generously sent to me, thank you Carta Bella!

Tim Holtz's Mini Retro Ornaments Movers & Shapers dies were gussied up with some foil and some flock, who doesn't love a fuzzy ornament!  The sentiment is from his Holiday Drawings stamps set.

The inspiration for this little gift tag holder came from those wonderful gift tags that were included in the Christmas Market Collection Kit and the holder itself was adapted from a design by PaperCrafter45.

Another foiled and flocked Mini Retro Ornament inside along with a sentiment from the Carta Bella Christmas Market Element Sticker sheet.

And since I had to have something to put the Christmas gift tag holder in, I designed a gift bag using the Brutus Monroe Snow Day Clear Designer Toner Sheets and then used the negatives left on the Deco Foil foil to create a coordinating card.

Tim Holtz's Mini Swirly Snowflakes were embossed on the background panel of the card and a sentiment from his new Modern Christmas stamp set finished it off.

Hope you will be able to pop by to see the tutorial, this set would make a great little hostess gift or you could use each element individually whatever your gift giving needs.  See you over at Therm O Web's blog and be sure to pop by all this week for Gift Ideas from the rest of the Design Team.   Happy creating,

Deb xo

Winter Wonderland Tunnel Book Tutorial

Hi everyone, just popping in to let you know that I have a tutorial for my Winter Wonderland tunnel book over at A Vintage Journey today.

Hope you can pop by for my how to and that you'll consider entering our Window On Your World challenge at A Vintage Journey, see you there!

Deb xo

Winter Wonderland Tunnel Book For A Vintage Journey

Hello everyone, it's the start of a new month and that means it's time for a new challenge over at A Vintage Journey.  I am hosting our challenge this month and have chosen the theme of:

Window On Your World

This month we would like to see some kind of window or tunneled element in your creations. Think hollowed out books, multiple layers with openings to see what has gone before, hidden flaps or windows that when opened reveal a secret element. Just remember to create in one of our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.

I made a winter themed tunnel book for our challenge, building on all the fun I've been having making tunnel cards lately.

Here's the outside of the book, I just dyed a piece of Crinkle Ribbon to keep it closed.  Tim Holtz's Mini Paper Snowflakes and Tree Line dies were used on the outside.

I'll have a step by step tutorial over at A Vintage Journey on November 15th with all the details and my how to so until then here are a few closeups.

Tree Line and Woodlands dies with Tim's Starry layering stencil.

Mini Swirly Snowflakes, Mini Holiday Greens and that wonderful buck from the Winter Wonderland die set.

More Tree Line die cuts in the background and the wreath around the buck's neck is from the Village Christmastime die set.

Hope you can pop by to see what the other Creative Guides made for the challenge and also hope that you'll be inspired to join in our Window On Your World challenge, can't wait to see what you create!

Deb xo