Winter Wonderland Snow Dome... Wintery Sparkle to Enjoy Through the Season

Hello everyone! I have been spending the month taking care of my health as January is going to take off from zero to the moon for me. I woke up this am realizing its December 28th {yikes} and I haven't shared a couple things I have done this month.

This project served as my Christmas Tree and my hubs found a cute little train to match at CVS. Spending the holidays at home this year in hot and sunny South Florida doesn't really feel like Christmas... a trip home to Chi-town is on the TO-DO list soon!

For this project I combine Amazing Crafting Products and items from the December Frog Dog Studio kit... to create this wintery wonderland dome created using a recycled seltzer bottle, wine cork and tape spool... and my DIY AMAZING No-Gelatin Printing Plate, too!

  

I applied Pearl Viva Colour Modeling Creme on my AMAZING No-Gelatin Printing Plate to make some fabulous monoprint texture resembling snowbanks. 

I will tear this paper into sections and layer to create some some snowy layers...

Working quickly - I dipped the tree directly into the resin, rotating to hit all the tips of the tree branches. As the Amazing Casting Resin Cures - it becomes an opaque white. You have to work quickly - the Amazing Casting Resin has about a 5 minute open time before it cures {especially when you mix a small batch}.

To see how I put glistening snow on my tree... CLICK HERE.

  

With a scraps of patterned paper a, ribbon, some tulle and a pretty button - my recycled bottle and tape spool are transformed into a "Winter Wonderland" dome.

I want to take a moment to say thanks to all of you for following my adventures through another year. I slowed things down a bit these past few months, but I promise... 2014 is going to DARE to be an awesome adventure. I wish you all a healthy, merry and bright and shiny new year in 2014!  Sb :)

Was it April... or CHRISTMAS in Paris??? Art Journaling in my Christmas Holiday Travelogue

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Good Morning! I can't believe Christmas is just two days away. This holiday season has flown past as this elf has been committed to a lot of bedrest recovering from this year's round of cold/flu. I haven't done very much creating - no handmade cards either. But I have made a new page in my Christmas Holiday Travelogue that I started last year {CLICK HERE to see the post}.

Many years back my hubs and I traveled to Europe and visited Paris in April. That year I photoshopped a wreath and some festive hats and I had some Christmas postcards printed. One of these has been posted on the side of my fridge so I snagged it and gave it a permanent home with stamped goodness!

Please CLICK HERE to see the full HOW-TO

that was featured over at Viva Las VegaStamps!

"We'll Always Have Paris..." It only took 13+ years - but now this trip is properly documented with a perfect painted sky to tie it all together :)

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Viva Las VegaStamps used: "Paris Address" #17539; "We'll Always Have Paris" #17529; "Bonjour" #17525; Holly Leaf 3760; "Parisien #17541; Polaroid Print Standard Size #17543; Polaroid Print Small #17544; Grunge 1787 Writing Background #17545; Pretty Lady Stamp/Cancellation #17538; Jingle Bells Sheet Music #10686; Washi Reverse Grid Background #19075; "Paris Skyline" #10995; Dotted line from the December Daily Plate #1430; and Checkerboard Border #7952. Supplies used: Vellum Cardstock; Recycled planner calendar; Stone Grey Staz-On Ink; 1/4" Miracle Tape; various colors of Ranger Distress Paints; Snow Cap Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint; and various Cat's Eye Chalk Inks. Background page painted using my AMAZING No-Gelatin Printing Plate.

I wish all of you a very Happy Monday... this elf is off to try and get some last minute packages off!! Sb

A Vintage "Holly Greetings" Tag for Week 3 of Anything But a Card Challenges No. 30

Good Morning Everyone! Today begins week three of Challenge Number 30 at Anything But a Card Challenges. CLICK HERE to jump over to the challenge intro and where to LINK UP your creations. Today my work is featured with a few of the other designers... CLICK HERE to check out the other design team projects today for some amazing inspiration!

The current Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #30 - Anything Goes... With a Holiday Twist! This challenge is an open theme – but we love the holidays too and can't wait to see what everyone is creating! Please share any current project you have created, and if it's Holiday themed that's perfectly OK, too! JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge AND please mention and LINK BACK to this challenge. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight Dec. 21st...so you have one week left  to play along and ENJOY the creative process! I hope you a chance to squeeze in some Cre8tive playtime and join the fun.

 

Today I'm sharing my take on T!m Holtz' December installment of the 12 tags of 2013. If you missed my tag for November... you can click here to view {I promise it's worth a peek}. I took some liberties with creating this month's tag. Using my stash of Viva Las Vegastamps! and other crafty bits already on hand, I experimented and created my own dimensional frosted plastic. I had a bit of fun with this and the result is STUNNING!

Using a section of a recycled #6 take out container, a scrap of vellum cardstock and a section of Miracle Sheet {double sided super sticky tape in sheet form} - I fashioned my own faux frosted plastic by adhering the two together. If you have made your own DIY shrink plastic using a recycled #6 plastic container - you know that the plastic will warp and bend when heated. If you heat it a lot - it will shrivel up into a shrinky dink.

I stamped Holly Large #18930 repeatedly onto the vellum cardstock side using Timber Brown StazOn and then fussy cut out all of my pieces. This vellum is cardstock weight so it's not as translucent as regular weight vellum. I have both - yet the lighter weight remains illusive so I used what I found first.

I started out this month's tag painting the base tag background by dragging tag through smattering of Old Paper, Antique Linen, Antique Bronze and Picket Fence Distress Stains. I distressed the edges with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. 

Then I began adding my stamped images (Holly Small #18929; Holly Leaf 3760; Leafy Border #6292; and Ornate Corner Left #18928) creating a border using Timber Brown StazOn Ink. I wanted to keep with the vintage feel so the dark brown ink really compliments the background and will make my colorful holly "POP". I added pattern to the background using an ink blending tool with the Harlequin Mask from UmWowStudio; first using Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. Then I shifted stencil over to hit reverse areas with Iced Spruce Distress Ink. It was a little bright now, so I toned the background down by brayering on a layer of Picket Fence Distress Stain. I finished off with some splatter dots of Picket Fence Distress Stain - the splatter is subtle, yet gives the snowy effect.

Now it's time to color my holly leafs. They all got a quick douse of color with Peeled Paint, Brick Red and Vintage Photo Distress Stains. When dry, I added more detail and color with various Distress Inks and an ink blending tool.

I know it's hard to see here in the photo - but these are my heated and curled dimensional holly leaves. Holding with heatsafe tweezers, I gently heated and shaped each leaf to my liking. In a couple areas I heated the leaves a little too much and the plastic began to shrink a little, but it just added to the charm of the shaped leaves. It's clear and on the backside - so it's not really noticeable.

For the final assembly - I added some Diamond Glaze to add some "POP" to the holly berries and to accent details of the holly leaves (here and there). I layered the sections of holly to my liking and added a piece of black 3-D pop dots to anchor leaves down as they lay naturally. I finished off with adding some pink sticky back crystals and pearls for berries that I colored red with a permanent marker (now they match perfectly). 

Happy Holly Greetings!

This tag is complete... all tied off with a shimmery gold/red satin ribbon. I'm pretty happy the way that it is at this point, but I may go back and add the white splatter for snow. I'm feeling in this case "less is more".

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Viva Las VegaStamps used: "Holly Greetings" #6043; Holly Large #18930; Holly Small #18929; Holly Leaf 3760; Leafy Border #6292; and Ornate Corner Left #18928. Supplies used: Vellum Cardstock; Recycled #6 plastic take out container; Timber Brown Staz-On Ink; various Ranger Distress Distress Stains; various Ranger Distress Inks; Versafine Black Ink; Miracle Sheets, Harlequin Mask from UmWowStudio; Diamond Glaze Dimensional adhesive; Red permanent marker; sticky back pearls and gems; black 3-D pop dots; and ribbon from stash.

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Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you find a little time to do some creating amongst all the holiday hustle and bustle. I look forward to seeing what you create {CLICK HERE to LINK UP your projects}.  :) Sb

The Holiday Season is Here... and a New Anything But a Card Challenge - No. 30

Good Morning Everyone! It's a new month and a new challenge Number 30 beginning at Anything But a Card Challenges. CLICK HERE to jump over to the challenge intro and where to LINK UP your creations. CLICK HERE to check out the other design team projects today for some amazing inspiration!
 

The new Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #30 - Anything Goes... With a Holiday Twist! This challenge is an open theme – but we love the holidays too and can't wait to see what everyone is creating! Please share any current project you have created, and if it's Holiday themed that's perfectly OK, too! JUST REMEMBER... create anything EXCEPT a card for this challenge AND please mention and LINK BACK to this challenge. ALSO - Please new projects only {no-backlinking}. :)

**A REMINDER** This Challenge will go through midnight Dec. 21st... giving you 3 weeks to play along and ENJOY the creative process! I hope you a chance to squeeze in some Cre8tive playtime and join the fun.

Earlier this week I shared a birthday with my husband's niece and she just turned 17 and we celebrated at the family Thanksgiving gathering. I love making personalized gifts and this was a perfect occasion to make a star book journal for her using 7 Dots Studio Papers and my Viva Las VegaStamps!

To see how I created this book please CLICK HERE. Our niece loved the gift and really appreciated the handmade keepsake that she can fill with photos and mementos. Everyone at Thanksgiving dinner thought it was pretty special, too.

A 'STAR' of a GIFT is Born...

The cover is collaged background using several of Viva Las VegaStamps! images; finished off with glittery We R Memory Keepers Sticker lettersand sticky-back bling colored to match with a green permanent marker.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic day! Only 24 days until Christmas and this elf needs to hop to it!  :) Sb