Monday, March 30, 2015

Hoppy Easter Wreath Plaque

I love this time of year, the weather is warming, the trees are blossoming, and it's Easter time! I love to decorate for Easter, and this year I thought my old Spring wreath needed a pick me up. Here's what I came up with to pick this old wreath up, and next year I think I'll add some eggs to it. I already got the approval of the Mailman!!!
I have some great Wendy Vecchi Art Parts in my stash. I LOVE these Fancy Oval Frames, and I had two of the ovals left after putting two of the frames together. I used one for this project. I painted it with Picket Fence...just one coat so the kraft color is still showing somewhat in the background.
I stenciled in all the gorgeous Archival Inks seen here using the new Splotches Stencil from Tim Holtz! I love how the colors overlapped.
I coated the whole plaque with Ranger's Glue N Seal since it will be outside in the weather...extra protection.
I found Letterpress Letters to make my sentiment, and I even flipped some upside down to make the letter I want. I like the look. Then I painted the letters with Distress Paints.
If you follow me, you know I LOVE Ranger's new Foil Sheets. I laid the Splotches Stencil back on the dried plaque, and slipped a dark brown tone Foil Sheet underneath the stencil. I used a pen to draw invisible swirls in each circle in the stencil where the foil was underneath. Since my piece had the Glue N Seal on it gave the plaque a good grip so to speak to allow the Foil Sheets to adhere without added glue. Crazy that this works, but I've tried it on several projects, and it always works. LOVE!!! I kept moving the foil until all the circles had foil on them. Instant 'look at me'!!! I traced around all the circles on the plaque with a White Gel Pen to make them pop.
I loved the shape of the new border Industrious Stickers, and thought they would be great on the plaque. I painted them Broken China, dried them, and added them on.
I added a Carousel Clip at the top to attach the plaque to the wreath easily, still able to take it off during other times of the year. I also added a bow and the clip holds it wonderfully.
I gave the plaque another coat of Glue N Seal, and then I added Glossy Accents over the letters and borders for added shine and contrast against the background.
 
 
 

I hope you can come back soon....I have some Easter cards to show you.

Supplies:

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

Saturday, March 28, 2015

CC3C - Frameworks

Happy Saturday! It's that time again...time for another challenge in the new Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge!!!  Those of you that play along every time deserve a big round of applause, AND those of you who are new to the challenges deserve the biggest clap! Thank you for inspiring us as well, and for all the wonderful comments!  The Curiosity Crew and I always love all of the entries!
This new challenge, number twenty-five is using the Frameworks Dies. These are a cool product and very unique when it comes to dies. The possibilities using them are endless. I am so looking forward to all the entries. Please play along so you can win some fabulous prizes donated by the ever generous Tim and Mario, and this challenge's sponsor, Inspiration Emporium!!! You will have two weeks to complete this challenge and link it up to the CC3Challenge site, and you can read all the rules here. Please take the time to visit every member of the Curiosity Crew (See below.) for not only some gorgeous die inspiration, but for a chance to win some extra goodies!
Okay, seriously...don't you just love the Bird Crazy Stamp Set from Tim and Stamper's Anonymous??? I can watercolor them all day, and make up all kinds of stories and comics using them. I want to dress them all up! Seriously FUN!!! Tim put out a great Blog Worthy Links using these, so check that out if you haven't already, for some awesome inspiration. Sorry, I got carried away. Back to Frameworks Dies!!! I used them to gussy up some Easter Eggs on these cards for my parents and inlaws, and one for me because I LOVE them. Aren't they perfect for the job? They would be great on real or paper mache eggs too!  They transform any project to a WOW...very have to have dies I say!
I die cut the Sized Ovals for the eggs, and various Frameworks all using Manila Cardstock from Ranger. While mulling over what I would do with all this...yes, sometimes I roll like that...I started the background.
I wanted to do Tim's Faux Batik technique, on the background, so I started with stamping the new Floral Background from Tim and Stamper's Anonymous, using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink onto Manila Cardstock. Then I heat emboss it with Ranger's Clear Powder. I wanted three cards, so I made two more.
I inked over the backgrounds with more Distress Inks. This was great as it was, but I continued on.
I set my iron on high, and placed the cards between newsprint sheets, and ironed over them. Doing this lifts away the Embossing Powder onto the newsprint.
Even the newsprint is pretty, and I will use this for something else, as my hoarding senses tell me.
I stenciled on the flowers using the new Blossom and Wildflower Layering Stencils using Mowed Lawn Distress Ink. The layers you achieve using the Faux Batik are wonderful.
I figured out where I wanted to go with my eggs, so I colored the eggs with Distress Spray Stain. So easy.
I used the other background image called Dots from the set I used with the Floral. I can tell these both will be stamps I use a lot. I stamped all the eggs using it with Glacier White Pigment Ink. Then I added the Frameworks Die pieces to each egg.
I stamped and heat emboss with Clear Powder, the birds onto Watercolor Paper and Jet Black Archival Ink. I watercolored them with Distress Markers and a Water Brush from Ranger. I cut them out.
I die cut the grass from the Tapered Fringe Die using Kraft Core Cardstock.
I stamped and heat embossed in Clear Powder the sentiment from Handwritten Sentiments...another new favorite...using Jet Black Archival.
I free cut some bows for the birds heads, colored them with Distress Markers, and gave them and the eggs some Stickles treatment. Then I adhered and foam dotted everything on the cards. I LOVE them!!! A million birdy captions came to mind while putting these together...some not very appropriate! ;0) The Bird Crazy set is stinking FUN!!!
 
 
I really hope you play along with this challenge, as I want to see and be inspired by your Frameworks creations! AND...if you don't have the Bird Crazy set, you really need to try and get them. You will love the fun you will have playing with them. I hear them calling my name again...off to play!

Supplies:

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!