My January 2013 Tag, based on the Tim Holtz 12-tags-of-2013 tutorial

Here is my version of the January 2013 tag following the Tim Holtz 12-tags-of-2013 January tutorial!

Time Flies When You're are Curious! It's a reminder to start off the new year right, by chucking the clock in favor of your curious self. Have some fun, and "work, play, live, today"!

After taking the Tim Holtz online course Creative Chemistry 101 I can finally complete a tag!!!

I used mostly Tim Holtz products, a few other stamps I have, and a shrink plastic January on ink-jet printable shrink plastic printed with a letter-press image from the internet somewhere.  I printed the words on ink-jet acetate because I didn't have a stamp that said what I wanted. I had fun making the tag!

"Fun happens!"

Thanks for the great tutorials!

Charm Bracelets using Shrink Plastic Vintage Ephemera Charms

Here are some Charm Bracelets I made from ink-jet printable shrink plastic that I printed with Vintage Ephemera graphics.

I've had some ink-jet shrink plastic for years but never tried it out. I found some charm bracelet tutorials on the web. I used the images from the tutorials, but I also used other vintage images I liked, and for some I used a combination of ink-jet printing and stamping with rubber stamps.

After the charms were printed, I cut them out and punched a small hole in them (1/8" punch). Then I used the ranger heat gun on the heat resistant craft mat to shrink them one at a time. When I finished shrinking one charm, I put a book on it to flatten it out. I coated the backs and sides of each charm with gold leaf paste and I just used my finger. Then I either sprayed varnish on the front of the image, or I coated it with a glossy coating. (I have the uv-cured coating, or you could use glossy accents or dimensional magic.)

Here are the great tutorials I used. Kathe Holden at Just Something Made has the best tutorial. She provides several sheets of images you can print on your shrink plastic here Ephemera Sheet 1, Ephemera Sheet 2, Ephemera Sheet 3. You will recognize the images in my bracelets. Thanks Kathe!!!

I also used a tutorials from Yours Artfully that showed a clever use of Tim Holtz Stamps and Shrink Plastic to create charm bracelets. Thanks again you creative people!!!

I made three charm bracelets and here are the results. I used random charms that I thought looked vintage and wired up some beads that went with the other charms. I like to mix metals so it looks like random bits of vintage treasure.

Here are all the Photo's of my shrink plastic Vintage Bracelets.

I still have enough charms to make a few more bracelets. I also found some vintage cheese label images that I might try to make charms out of, along with some mouse charms obviously. =)

Oh, and I also found some vintage ski posters that would make a cool vintage ski charm bracelet that I will definitely try AND I have a few ski charms that I could use!!! Excellent.

So that was my fun project. It takes a while to do this project as you have to find the images you like, (or you can use the images I used from the tutorials), then you have to print them, shrink them, paint the backs and sides, spray a clear coating on them so they will be water resistant, then you have to collect some charms and beads, then make the charm bracelets.

It's also a fun project because if you goof up, it just looks more vintage. I wore one the other day and it was like wearing treasure!!! The charms are also light weight because they are plastic!

Sometimes I get carried away when making charm bracelets and I load them with so many charms that they are too heavy to wear around. These are light weight because the charms are plastic!!!

My Vintage Joy Project

I got some Huge "JOY" wooden letters from Crafty Wood Cutouts last year.

I painted the letters and I used some vintage scrapbook paper images. I also used some of the 2-step crackly finish from Anitas. And some antique medium to make it look old.

It's hard to tell how big the letters are, but they are sitting on an old treadle sewing machine cabinet top if that gives some perspective.

Here is the HUGE image so you can see it better.

Here are a few other projects from Crafty Wood Cutouts that I painted.

 

I painted these all last year and had fun because they are easy and I wasn't trying to be all that creative, I just wanted to enjoy the Christmas season by getting some paint on myself.

Merry Christmas!!!

Countdown till Christmas Blocks using the Authentique, Festive Paper Collection

Here's my Countdown 'till Christmas Wood blocks I made with my Favorite paper, the Authentique, Festive Collection!!! I have the 12 X 12 paper pad, and I just got the 6 X 6 as well. Sometimes it's hard to find, but it's my favorite Christmas paper for 2 years now!!!

I cut up a 4 X 4 cedar wood fence post for the blocks! The blocks smelled good like cedar before I painted them. Now they smell like varnish.

I love the paper!

I used vinyl numbers and lettering, cut with my old cricut. I hate that thing! The only thing I can make it cut is vinyl. Paper always seems to have some kind of problem. Either it shreds or it cuts right through the mat, OR the paper sticks to the mat. Really. I'm sure I'm not doing something correctly. I think it was the first cricut ever made back in the day. Anyways I finally got it to cut a few numbers for my blocks and they look nice. So I take it all back now about the cricut. =)

So I had fun making these (except for the vinyl numbers)!!!  The phrase Christmas worked out well without any trouble. And the "Days Until" are just letter stickers.

"And to all a good night", from me and Abominable.

Christmas decoration - Wooden Christmas Blocks, Digital meets Old School

I made some wooden Christmas Blocks using digital graphics from Little Dreamer Designs.

For a few years I have subscribed to their monthy download of digital images that are very professional and cute! This year I took some 3" wooden blocks I had and sanded them down with my electric sander that you can get for cheap at Harbor Freight. It's the sander with the triangle shape. Mine is battery powered. It's handy but a pain when it runs out of battery power during the middle of a project and you have to stop and recharge it. (I should have got the corded version as I probably don't need to sand out in the wilderness where there is no power.)

Then I painted the edges of the blocks green with acrylic paint. You don't have to paint the whole block as only the edges will show.

Then using microsoft word I used some of the Little Dreamer Designs digital background papers and sized them to 3" in word. The I took some of the digital elements and placed them on top of the digital papers creating my little 3" blocks. For 3 blocks I created 18 squares. The Little Dreamer Designs are so cute I had a hard time narrowing it down to only 18 images. Then I printed them out on an inkjet printer on injet cardstock.

For a few of the squares I used some scrapbook paper. You can use scrapbook paper for all the squares if you would like. I even stamped a few squares with rubber stamps.

So after I had all the squares cut out, I used my favorite Colleen's Collage Pauge to glue the squares onto the blocks. You have to work quickly, especially with ink-jet printed paper. If you take too long, or paint too many strokes the ink-jet ink will bleed all over and make a mess. I use ink-jet printed images on ink-jet coated paper for decoupage all of the time without any trouble. Coat 1 side of the block with the glue and quickly place 1 paper square down and rub it with a dry finger to get any bubbles out. Then quickly coat the whole top with college pauge to cover completely. Use a real (flat 1/2" or so) paintbrush for this, not a foam brush. After coating the top of the paper once do not touch it! The paper and ink will get soggy for awhile and if you touch it again, you might lift the ink image off the paper, or it will stick to your fingers lifting off the image and ruin the image! So only do a few squares at a time so you won't have to touch the squares you've already done. Let them dry. That's why it helps to work on 3 blocks if you are impatient. You can do a few sides of each block and them let them dry and come back to them later.

After the whole square has images and the collage pauge is dry, I like to coat the whole block with varnish. The varnish dries to a hard finish while the collage pauge always seems to stay tacky and the blocks will stick together.

My favorite varnish for this type of project is Americana or Decoart DuraClear gloss varnish. It's a Polyurethane gloss varnish that is usually found near the acrylic paint section in a craft store. It's a brush on varnish that washes off the brush with water. It's sold in small bottles as small as the standard acrylic paint bottle, or in my favorite 8 oz. size which is about 7" tall.

The varnish has to dry for a few days so the blocks won't be tacky when you stack them. Look at the vintage Santa image in the middle. It's my favorite.

Don't worry if you make a mistake or the picture comes off in places. You can fix it by putting a christmas sticker over the mistake. Or you can distress the block a little with some smudges of paint. I always make mistakes and I just incorporate them into the project. If you get a bubble you can sometimes slice it carefully with a sharp craft knife blade and paint more decoupage glue over it.

Sometimes the projects with mistakes have the most character and turn out unexpectedly well. I have even decoupaged entire pieces of furniture, and the insides of drawers before, and the process is the same, and is never perfect, but some of the best projects have been the result of a goof-up.

No worries! (See my mistake below was covered up by some brown ink shading dots around the edge.)

So thanks to Little Dreamer Designs for their cute images that inspired me to create a decoration so I can look at the cute designs during the Christmas Holiday Season!

The square below on the left is some scrap book paper, the rest are from Little Dreamer Designs. See another mistake below covered with some stickers. =)

The square below in the center is some scrapbook paper, the rest are from Little Dreamer Designs.

Fun project and you can stack them differently every day during the holidays!

Make a table out of scrabook paper!!!

I always get frustrated when I purchase a new favorite scrapbook paper design because I don't want to hide it away in a scrapbook somewhere. I want to look at it. Some of the designs are suitable for framing, or in my case for making furniture out of...

So I started making tables with my favorite sheet of scrapbook paper on top!  
That way I can always look at it.

For this table I took a piece of pressboard 13" square. I decoupaged a red sheet of paper on top, and a favorite sheet of scrapbook paper on top. I bought some table legs at home depot, the kind that come with brackets that you can screw into the bottom of the table top. Then you can screw the legs into the brackets. I then got some trim for the table and had it mitre cut and used a nail gun to nail the trim to the table top. Then I stained the whole table and then varnished it. I like the oil-based varnish for tables. I used glossy. Then I could not leave it alone, so I put glue and mica glitter around the table as well. Viola. I can look at the scrapbook paper all of the time, PLUS I can put even more gobby Christmas decorations on it! Excellent!

Here are some more tables with scrapbook paper on top.

For this table I used some shelving laminate with the fake woodgrain already done. I just decopauged the sheet of scrapbook paper right over the laminate. I love the legs on this table! They are the same type of pre-done table leg with the screw in brackets. If you want it to cost less to make, you can cut your own table legs out of wood and screw them into the table top. Then you can glue another piece of wood on top of that for your table top. Somehow I found a few sets of square embellishments from the scrapbook store and stuck each one around the table. Then the varnish kind of stuck them down permanently.  I love this little table!!!

I used music tissue paper on this table. I stuck it down with decopauge glue which made it wrinkle for a different effect...we'll say it was on purpose...then I stained it a little to make it look old. It was originally the white music print tissue paper. Then after I varnished the table it looked a little vintage.

This blog post made me remember that I have several other tables I wanted to make, so I'll be gathering my supplies for when it's warm. It's hard to make the tables in the garage when it's cold outside as the varnish never dries. It freezes. So wait until spring but don't forget to save your cute Christmas scrapbook paper for a new table top. I'm going to make a halloween table this year!!!

My Santa Elf Doll from "Tildas Christmas Ideas" by Tone Finnager.

I made this Santa Doll last year from a pattern in the book Tilda's Christmas Ideas by Tone Finnager. The doll is pretty tall, about 18 inches tall, but it's arms and legs are very skinny. I finally finished it this year!

My Crazy Santa Doll from "Tilda Christmas Ideas" by Tone Finnager.

First I had to sew the doll body and stuff it. Then you make the clothes and finally you embellish the Santa to give it some personality. My Santa does not look all tidy and organized like the book. Mine looks like a slightly wild elf that went a little crazy with the Christmas colors. 

I had fun making Mr. Santa Elf, but I didn't finish him for 1 year. He just sat next to my desk without his pocket sewn and no buttons, with his disheveled beard. So this year I finally gave him some buttons that look like suckers and some bows and some bells on his toes, and one on his hat. I left his beard the way it was and called him done!!!

I can identify with my Santa Elf. This Christmas I was a little disheveled, a little haphazard with my holiday outfits, with a bewildered stiff-in-the-arms look on my face, but ready to take on the holidays none the less.

Merry Christmas, from me and my Beardy Santa Elf!