Thursday, November 29, 2012

Painted Ornaments

A few more painting projects to share.  I still can't believe I finished these in early November! 
I painted these paper mache ornaments for a niece and nephews.  The wreath design is on the back of each, along with name and year.   A super inexpensive surface that is so easy to paint on.  And non-breakable so they're perfect gifts for kids!
 


The design is adapted from a current design by Maxine Thomas.  
You can get the instructions in the Winter 2012 edition of A PAINTWORKS CHRISTMAS.

Monday, November 26, 2012

More Holiday Painting



Decorative Painting Month may be over but I have some new painted items I'd like to share with you.  I painted these items to match the dishes and wineglasses I posted about HERE.  They were sold this weekend (along with the other pieces) at the Wertz Warriors charity auction for Michigan's Winter Special Olympics.  The design is adapted from a current pattern by Linda Hollander.  You can get the instructions in the Winter 2012 edition of A PAINTWORKS CHRISTMAS.
The candlesticks and salt & pepper set were raw wood pieces I'd had in my stash.

The dishes, wineglasses, candle holders and S & P set made a great set for the auction.  
Final bid was $50 and went to a couple I know!
I also painted a lamp using this same pattern.  The lamp is a garage sale find and I should of taken a "before" picture of it.  I was thrilled to find a matching shade at Wal-Mart.  I saved this lamp to donate to next summer's Relay For Life auction.
To prep the lamp, I simply sanded the pieces and applied a coat of JoSonja's All Purpose Sealer.  It sealed both the wood middle part and the metal base and cap.






Friday, November 23, 2012

SVG Saturday Sale!


You've heard of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.  
Well, I wanted to offer my customers something special too.  
Tomorrow only (Saturday November 24th) 
all my SVG files are 1/2 Off.
Click HERE to go to my store.  
Choose from 117 different SVG files...as low as twenty-five cents on sale!  

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Happy Hanukkah Card

Today I am the Guest Designer over at CARD A DAY BLOG and this week we are featuring cards for Hanukkah.  For my card, I used SVG diecuts from my HANUKKAH SET
Even though I am not Jewish, I created this set because I thought it was important to offer something for those crafters who are.  I hope I included elements that can be used to create beautiful cards and layouts for the holiday.
I cut the sentiment from blue paper and then added Distress Ink shading to the bottom of the letters.  I did the same thing to the Star of David.  I wanted to make this card sparkle so I added Stickles to the Star of David, menorah base and the candle flames.  I used a strip of aluminum duct tape and embossed it.  I attached the letters to it with Glossy Accents.
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Monday, November 19, 2012

Snow Globe Easel Card


 I've always wanted to make an easel card but never did.  So when I created this new SNOW GLOBE SVG file, I thought it would show off best as an easel card.  First thing was to figure out how they're made.  I found a simple tutorial over at SPLITCOAST STAMPERS.  I cut the card base from white cardstock and it was super easy to score it using my MS scoreboard.  The blue background paper is from a new 6" x 6" pad (MME "The Merry Days Of Christmas").  I cut the snow globe on my Cricut using scrap card stock.  I also used a repurposed piece of acetate to cut the top layer of the globe. 

 Here's how I put it all together:
1.  I cut the globe base from a piece of dark gray CS.  Using Distress Markers (Black Soot & Picket Fence) and a water pen, I added the shading and highlighting to give it dimension. 
2. I used a lighter shade of gray CS to cut the globe.  I cut the tree from dark and light green CS, the star from yellow CS and the snow from white CS.  I assembled the tree and glued it and the snow to the globe.
3.  I added the globe's "floating snow" using Clear Rock Candy Distress Stickles.  I added lots to the white CS piece of snow (so it looks like it had piled up on the bottom of the globe) and then added the Stickles around the globe and over the tree.
4.  Once all the Stickles were dry I wondered how to attach the acetate top of the globe.  (You wouldn't have to add this but I thought it would add a great "glass look" to the diecut).  But any way I would glue this would show through the acetate.  I finally found that if I added Glossy Accents over the tree and star it would hold the acetate nicely and just make the tree look shiny.  Then I cut very thin pieces of  scotch tape and attached it to the edge of the acetate and the back of the globe here and there around the outside of the globe.  That seemed to hold everything together just fine and the tape didn't show on the front.
  5.  Finally, to complete the globe, I painted the shine highlights on the acetate using white acrylic paint.
Above is the view of the card folded for mailing.
To keep the  top "easel" portion of the card upright, I cut a strip of the same paper as the base and raised it up slightly (to hold the base better) by gluing a layer of white CS underneath.  I embossed the sentiment (Inkadinkado "Christmas") with white EP and added three punched snowflakes.  I distressed this strip and the card base with Distress Ink (Weathered Wood).  Once everything was dry, I attached the snow globe and globe bottom to the card base and the strip to the card bottom with HD tape.
Above is the side view.  



Monday, November 12, 2012

SVG Freebie: Christmas Holly

Ready to start working on some Christmas projects?  
Get this SVG file FREE for one week.  
After November 19th you may purchase this file at the same link.  
Get the file HERE
Check out the other new files now in the store...
 DOGS
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Monday, November 5, 2012

Poinsettia Ornament & Tutorial

I created this ornament as my Design Team entry for the newest SVG (or similar file) Challenge:  Christmas--Not A Card over at CREATIVE CUTTING CHALLENGE.  This is the same glass ornament (with flat sides) that I used last year in this POST and this POST but with a new technique, which I'll detail below.  The center poinsettia is actually paper, made from cardstock using my POINSETTIA SVG file:

You can use any glass ornament but I prefer these flat sided ones as it is so easy to decorate them.  For the poinsettia ornament I used strips of poinsettia printed tissue paper which I ripped into small pieces and then glued to the ornament with Glossy Accents.  Once the ornament was fully covered with the tissue paper, I went back over it with a thin layer of GA.  Now to decorate the ornament!
Shown above are the pieces for the ornament.  I cut the poinsettia layers using three shades of red cardstock.  The darkest shade for the bottom and the lightest for the top layer.  The leaves were cut from two shades of green cardstock.  The gold medallion sticker came from a garage sale find and was the inspiration for this ornament's design. 
Since the tissue paper had flecks of gold in it and the paper medallion was gold, the silver top on this ornament just wasn't going to do.  So I brought out my Gold Mixatives alcohol ink and changed the color.  After it was dry, I used some GA over it to make it shiny again. 
To make the poinsettia lifelike, I got out my Distress Markers and the water pen.  I edged the pieces with the brush end of Walnut Stain and Fired Brick, using the water pen to soften the lines.  Notice the dark spot in the center of the largest red piece?  That shadowing gave dimension to the bottom layer.  I did the same thing on the middle piece, although it is lighter and doesn't show up to well in the photo.  Once dry, I went over the pieces with the DM's fine point, adding the leaf veins.  Once dry, I bent and curled each petal to give them dimension.  I put the flower together using GA and then added Gold Stickles stamens to the center.  I added more Stickles (Gold, Red, Green, Clear) here and there on the petals.

 
I attached the medallion using GA and once dry I used my finger tips to rub gold acrylic paint lightly over the entire surface of the ornament.  Not to cover it, just to add gold here and there.  It brings down the brightness of the tissue paper and gives an "antiqued" look.  I used a round pop dot in the center of the medallion and stuck on the poinsettia...giving it even more dimension.  Finally I added gold Stickles dots on the points of the medallion.  I think it has a very vintage Victorian look!

Entered into the following Challenges: