Friday Feature - possibilities

Hi friends.  Melody here with your Friday Feature.  May is always a special month for me.  I have an anniversary, mother's day, and a birthday all within a week's time.  Among the gifts I received were some distress paints. 

I put some mowed lawn, salty ocean, and vintage photo distress paints on my craft sheet, and swiped a piece of white card stock through them.  After heat setting, I spritzed some water on the paint on the craft sheet and put the card stock in it again, dabbing a couple of times till I was satisfied.  I dried it and then die cut an arch with Arch Frame die and trimmed off the outer edge.  I also die cut a navy arch with the same die. 

I used some Tim Holtz stamps as well.  Two are stamped in jet black archival.  The third was stamped several times on the card base with salty ocean distress ink. 

I added some doodling on the card base with a black Pitt pen. 

I then inked only one of the pen nibs and stamped it next to the men.  I used a craft nib holder & nib to color the pen nib with salty ocean distress ink.  Then I painted some mustard seed distress paint on a piece of white card stock and cut out a candle flame.  I hightlighted the flame with distress markers and made the pen nib into a candle.  

Most of the products I used can be purchased from Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

Friday Feature - big little things

Hi friends.  Melody here with another Friday feature.  Today I have a card to share with you. 

I started by gluing an old book page to a piece of chipboard from a tissue box with matte mod podge.  Then using artful dwellings die, I die cut one of the houses from the chipboard.   Using an ink blending tool, I added vintage photo distress ink. 

I used several papers from the Alla-Prima collection.  Each piece is edged with vintage photo distress ink.  One piece was put on the lower part of the house.  Another piece was die cut with the vintage lace die, coated with vintage photo distress ink and wrapped around the house. 

I stamped the small butterfly from Nature's Discovery stamp set with jet black archival ink on the house, and cut a heart from red card stock to add to the house.  The house is attached to the card with dimensional foam tape. 

The sentiment is from Good Thoughts stamp set, stamped with jet black archival ink. 

And finally, I added dots with a black Pitt pen. 

Most of the products I used can be purchased from Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

Friday Feature - making stencils

Hi, Melody here with the Friday Feature.  I'm a little late posting, but late is better than not at all.  I really love stencils.  I would love to own every one that is available, but since I can't, I decided to try making some of my own.

I started by sketching the design I wanted on a piece of scrap paper, and then cleaning it up until I was satisfied with how it looked.  Then I placed a piece of stencil plastic over the drawing.  (What I use is some type of film that I rescued from the trash.  It's blue, which makes it easy to see.  You could also use any clear plastic packaging.)  I then trace the design onto the plastic with a ultra fine sharpie marker.  Then it is time to cut the stencil design.  I first worked with a craft knife, cutting out the design, but my index finger that was pressing on the knife started to go numb.

I know there is such a thing as a hot stencil burner, but since I don't have one, I decided to try my wood burning tool instead.  I picked the smallest pointed tip.  I worked on a piece of wood with my small craft mat on top, but I wouldn't recommend using the craft mat if you don't want to mess it up.  Apparently the wood burning tool is too hot and it left marks on the craft sheet, making the surface rough.  I'm thinking a glass mat would be better.  Other than that, the wood burning tool worked great for cutting through the plastic without much effort.  It was so much easier than using the craft knife. 

I made some flowers, all pretty much the same, but in different sizes.  I also made a leafy vine.

Another way to cut stencils is to use your die cutting machine.  The Sizzix bigz dies work especially well to cut through plastic.  I made some using those, and then I pulled out a few movers & shapers and my base tray from Tim Holtz, and cut some with those.  I wrapped duct tape around the edges on the stencils I made with the bigz dies, since you don't get a lot of margin on those, because only a 6" piece of plastic will fit through either of my die cutting machines, a cuttlebug and a Sizzix big shot. I learned that tape trick from Julie Balzar. 

Then I made a card using one of the stencils I had made.

First I sprayed a piece of watercolor paper with some adirondack color wash ink sprays in red pepper and sunset orange, as well as mustard seed made using reinker, water, and perfect pearls in a mini mister.

After that was dry, I used one of the flower stencils with modeling paste.  This was my first time using modeling paste.  I really like the texture you get with that.  After cleaning the stencil and letting the paste dry, I put the stencil back over the flower and applied acrylic paint to color the flowers.

I stamped a sentiment from stuff to say (Tim Holtz) in jet black archival ink.

I placed the watercolor paper on a bright blue card base.

To finish off the card, I drew some black around the flower and leaves, and then added some grungy lines along the edges with a black Pitt pen. 

Many of the products I used can be purchased from Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium.

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

Friday Feature - faux birch bark

Hi friends.  Melody here with another Friday Feature.  I have always loved the look of birch bark in crafts, but hate to hurt the trees to get pieces big enough to use.  So I thought I'd see if there was a way to make a look-alike.  I checked online for tutorials and didn't come up with much.  Although there are a few, I wasn't really thrilled with the final product, but I did get some ideas. 

I started with some brown paper bag.  Since birch bark has a very matte finish, I decided to use my snow white paint dabber.  But rather than using the dabber top, I simply opened the cap and poured some on the bag and used a foam brush to spread it, keeping my strokes all in one direction. 

Once the paint was dry, I sponged on some tea dye and gathered twigs distress ink, and then proceeded to add LOTS of little black lines with a black Pitt pen. 

I then inked up two stamps from Nature's Moments (Tim Holtz) with distress markers, spritzed with water, and stamped them on the 'bark'.  The sentiment was stamped with jet black archival ink. 

To give the bark an even more realistic look, I snipped the edges with a scissor and curled them with my bone folder, allowing some of the brown from the underside of the bag to show.  I also used a distressing tool and mess the edges up even more.  I really love how much it looks like real birch bark. 

I glued it to a pacific point (SU) card base that matched the faded jeans really well. 

Almost all the products used can be purchased from Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you'll try this technique. 

Friday Feature

Hi friends.  It's Melody with a new Friday Feature.  I recently got some new Tim Holtz dies, so I thought I'd use some on my card. 

I started by die cutting some watercolor paper with the movers & shapers cameo frame and ovals.  I stamped the image (La Blanche) on the oval with jet black archival ink.  Then I added some color wild honey, tea dye and spun sugar distress markers.  I used an ink blending tool to add some tumbled glass and vintage photo distress inks to both the oval and the cameo frame. 

Then I embossed the frame with wood grain texture folder.  I went over the embossing with vintage photo ink to make the texture stand out. 

The card base is a light aqua, to which I added some vintage photo around the edges.  Then I glued the frame down and attached the oval with dimensional foam tape. 

Next, I die cut the wreath on the regal crest die twice from navy card stock.  I cut them apart at the center, so I could change the curve a bit to fit around the oval.  After gluing them down, I die cut some buttons from a SU sweet buttons embosslit die.  I added color with sponge daubers.  Before attaching the buttons with foam dots, I pierced some holes in them and added thread. 

Most of the products used on my card can be purchased from Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

Friday Feature - fan card

Hello friends.  It's Melody with another Friday Feature for you.  Last week in my monthly technique class, one of the cards we made was a fan.  It might seem complicated, but it's really quite easy to make.  A note or a sentiment can be put on the back. 

The first thing you need is a pattern for your fan blades.  There is a free pattern available here, but I ended up making my own.  My blades are about 6" long, and 2-1/2" to 2-3/4" wide at the widest part of the blade, and taper to about 3/4" wide at the base.  If your blade is narrow, you will need more blades to make your fan.  If you have a wide blade, you will use fewer blades in your fan.  You want your fan to open to about a half circle. 

To make a pattern, fold a piece of paper in half, and then measure about 6" along the fold for the length.  On one end, measure out from the fold half the width you want, so if you are making a blade 2-1/2" wide, measure out 1-1/4" and mark it with a pencil.  Draw the shape of the top of your blade.  This can be straight across, a gentle rounded end (trace the edge of a plate), or a point at the center, or you can get creative and make it fancy.  The widest part of the blade will be where the top comes down and meets the side (see picture below).  Taper the blade from the widest point down to the bottom, at just under 1/2" from the fold.  Then cut it out and open the fold.  I trace the paper pattern onto cereal box chipboard, but you could also use clear packaging material, so you can see through your pattern.  This would be helpful if you are tracing the pattern onto pretty paper and want to capture a certain part of the print.  Here are three different blade patterns I made.  You can also vary the shape of the narrow end, as you can see in the picture. 

The first fan I made had six blades, but I like five better, because the uneven number is more pleasing to the eye.  Here is my first prototype that I made.  It's very simple and has all kinds of craziness on the back, since I was figuring out all the steps to put it together. The last time I had made a fan similar to this was about 7 years ago, so I needed to rethink a little bit. 

The next one is my sample for my class.  You will note that the blades are a different shape.  As explained above, it is very easy to change what shape you use for the blades. This one has more stamping and details.  I also added a tassel, which I made from embroidery floss.  I did a Google search for instructions, and found many.

Here is a closer look at the details with the fan closed. 

I wanted to make a new fan for this blog post, and to also include directions on how I stamped and colored the blades.

If you want your fan to have a consistency from one blade to another, then it is important to make each blade the same.  You want a heavy card stock, so your fan isn't flimsy.  Trace and cut as many blades as you need for your fan.  I used five.

I stamped Dylusions background love (flower stamp) just once on each blade, trying to stamp in the same position on each.  I used jet black stazon ink, so I could color the flowers with twinkling H2O's, again making each blade the same.

There was quite a bit of blank space on each fan blade, so I used the wood grain cover-a-card stamp from Impression Obsession to stamp over the complete blade with sepia archival ink.  After stamping, I immediately wiped over the flowers with a paper towel to remove some of the ink from that area before it dried.

I then lightly sponged tea dye distress ink over each blade and then applied vintage photo distress ink along all the edges.

Now that the blades were finished, it was time to put the fan together.  Stack all the blades together and use a crop-a-dile to punch a 1/8" hole about 1/4" from the end on the narrow part of the fan blades.  Insert a paper fastener (or a fancy brad if you prefer).

Spread out the fan blades to the position you want them to be when the fan is open.  Carefully turn the fan face down on the table.  Make any necessary adjustments in the position of the blades, and place a post it note across the blades to hold them in place.

You will note the arrow is pointing to the blade that is now on the top of the stack.  You will start to attach your string or ribbon at the opposite end of the fan.  You only attach your string on one edge of each blade.  (If you do it wrong, your fan will not close.)  On the final blade (on left), I attach the string on both edges, because I think it looks more complete.  I used score tape and copy paper for the little tabs that hold the string in place.  Be sure to press firmly to make sure your string doesn't slip.  Once your string is attached, trim the ends and remove the post it.  You should now be able to gently open and close your fan.

I wanted a little tab attached to make it easier to pull the fan open, so I used half of a small oval and just attached it to the back of one side of the fan.

I really like how the wood grain stamp makes this look like the blades are made from wood.  The tassel on this one is made from crochet cotton. 

If you compare the open fans, you can see that the last one opens differently than the others (the front blade is on the left instead of the right).  I liked the design better when it opened this way.  I don't think it really matters which way your fan opens, but this is where that little pull tab is helpful to open the fan correctly. 

Just for fun, I have two more to show you.  These are tiny - less than 3" long and only 1-1/2" wide.

For my technique class, we always make a small sample of the technique for reference, and that's what these were for.

Some of the products used on my fans can be purchased from Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium.

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and will give it a try. 

Friday Feature - fabric flowers

Hi friends.  Today I have some fabric flowers that I made as my submission for Tim Holtz' tattered florals challenge. 

I pulled some fabric from my stash and die cut LOTS of flowers with the tattered florals die.  I used large flowers, which I folded into fourths.  I stitched across the folded corner to keep them from unfolding and then glued layers of four onto a fabric circle.  I put on three layers of the large flower and two layers of the small flower.  Then I added another layer of small flowers in between the two sizes to smooth the transition from large to small.  I added a pearl in the center.  This flower is actually quite heavy with all the layers and glue. 

I made a second flower, using the same folding technique, but stitching the pieces together instead of gluing.  There are only two layers on this one, with one small flower in the center underneath the button.  This one is not nearly as fluffy as the other one. 

The tattered florals die is available at Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today. 

Friday Feature - a little steam

Hello friends.  I've been doing some monthly challenges on the Motley Soul Mixed Media Art blog.  February's challenge was to make 20 4"x4" heart cards.  In other words, a 4"x4" card with at least one heart on it, and each one needed to be different.  Mine are all shown on my blog, lilacs & butterflies, tagged 20 hearts.  This is a scheduled post, so at the time of this writing (Feb. 25), including this heart today, I have 15 finished.  Hopefully, I'll get five more done before the end of the month.  It's been a real challenge for me, because I don't normally use hearts very much. 

For this one, I decided to go with a steampunk theme, something that doesn't come naturally for me, although I find it fascinating. 

The base of the card is made from cereal box chipboard. I then cut a 4" square of card stock, cut it at an angle and covered each piece with wide duct tape.  After trimming the excess, I ran each piece through my cuttlebug, one using diamond plate embossing folder and the other using riveted metal embossing folder.  Then, using a cotton ball to make sure the ink got down into the crevices, I dabbed alcohol inks (black, gold, copper, and silver) all over the pieces and then rubbed some of it off with a paper towel.  The pieces were then attached to the card base. 

I cut a heart from cereal box, the die cut a bunch of gears with gadget gears & mini gears dies, as well as the clock hands from weathered clock, from cereal box.  I glued a bunch of the smaller gears to the heart and trimmed off any that extended beyond the edge of the heart.  Then I placed some metal foil tape over the gears and pressed the tape down into the crevices.  I used a stylus to get the tape tight around the gears.  I trimmed the tape to about 1/4" around the heart and folded it over to the back side.  Then I used the same technique with the alcohol inks on the heart.  I also used a sanding block to take off some of the ink.  Then I glued the heart to the background. 

I wanted a clock element without actually putting a clock on the piece, so this was also made from gears.  I glued two together for extra strength.  The same alcohol ink technique was used on these pieces as well.  The clock hands were too long, so I just trimmed them to a point, short enough to look right with the gears.  Glue and a brad hold the clock together. 

At this point I was really loving my card, but I felt like something was lacking.  Even though each part has a unique finish, there was still a sameness to the whole piece, and I really thought it needed an accent color.  Hence, the red heart, which was cut from red card stock and strengthened with cereal box chipboard.  I wrote 'hot' on it with a Pitt pen and then generously coated it with glossy accents, which I have a tendency to touch before it's dry and leave finger prints, so I made myself leave it alone and let it dry overnight. 

I used black quilling paper and a quilling tool to roll up some tiny paper beads to dangle from the heart on some black thread. I coated them with decoupage medium. 

I'm really happy with how it turned out. 

Many of the products used here can be purchased at Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Friday Feature - winter arch

Hello friends.  It has been awhile since I've posted here.  Shame on me.

The OWSE Yahoo group has a monthly arch swap, with a new theme each month.  Although I didn't join the swap, I was intrigued by the arch shapes and wanted to try my own.  I thought I would follow the theme that the swap group is using.  January's theme was winter wonderland, so my first arch is a winter scene.  I searched online for arch shapes, because I wanted a different shape for each month.  I found some great arch shapes, but settled for the less elaborate shapes, since I had to cut them by hand. 

My arch base is cereal box covered with recycled coffee filters, and then coated with gesso.  This one I painted with white acrylic paint.  I created snow covered hills by cutting white card stock and lightly adding some tumbled glass distress ink on the top edges.  The one in the foreground is raised on dimensional tape.

The trees and bird are all Tim Holtz Sizzix dies.  I added some details with a black soot distress marker and added white paint with my finger to create snow covered branches.

The word winter is an old retired SU stamp, stamped with jet black archival ink.

As a final touch, I added star dust stickles on the snowy branches and on the hills.

Most of the products used can be purchased at Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium.

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

Friday Feature - bloom with joy

Hello friends.  It's Melody here with another Friday Feature.  I've been working on a monthly challenge at Motley Soul Mixed-Media Art.  The challenge is to make 21 (4"x6") cards.  This is actually my 21st card, although I do plan to make more, since I'm having so much fun doing them.  I've been making mine two-sided, so the back side of this one is still blank. 

I recently made an Inspiration Jar for myself.  Although the idea is not original, I tweaked it to make it work for me.  I've been reaching into my inspiration jar for ideas to get started on each card.  For this card, I pulled out the words, black, stencil, and chipboard.  I didn't use the word chipboard other than the card is made from cereal box chipboard covered with recycled coffee filters. 

I started by painting the surface black.  My paint dauber top is all hard and dried out, so I just opened the bottle and used a brush to spread the paint.  Once the paint was dry, I used my mini bricks stencil (Crafter's Workshop) and, since I don't have any texture paste, I spread some light spackling through it.  I've never used this stuff with a stencil before, so I guess I was a bit heavy handed, and some pushed underneath the stencil.  The bricks are quite as defined as they should be, but that's OK.  It dries very fast, so I proceeded to add color with a sponge and a number of different distress inks (tumbled glass, mowed lawn, mustard seed, spiced marmalade, picked raspberry, barn door, and seedless preserves), working gently, since I have no idea if the spackling is going to flake right off the card.  So far, it seems to be holding.  I hope it continues.  I'll just have to handle it gently. 

I stamped a bunch of flowers from Heartfelt Creations on a piece of white card stock with jet black archival ink.  I heavily sponged several with spiced marmalade distress ink, cut them out, and then sponged the edges with picked raspberry distress ink.  On three of the flowers, I removed some of the petals, so that when I placed them over the full flowers, the blossom looks fuller.  Two flowers were sponged with mowed lawn distress ink.  I cut the petals apart to make leaves.  After figuring out an arrangement I liked, I glued the flowers and leaves onto the card.  I then added some white dots in the center of the flowers with a white gel pen. 

The sentiment was handwritten with a white galaxy marker. 

Some of the products used to make this card can be found at Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium. 

I'm really happy with the bright colors over the black background. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

Friday Feature - happy new year

Hello, friends.  It's Melody here with another Friday Feature.  I normally make my own Christmas cards to send out, but every few years, I just don't get them done.  This was one of those years.  As an alternative, I decided to send out a some New Year cards.  Since this is the only paper crafting I've done this week, other than a couple of cards for my class next week, I thought I'd share it with you.  It's a very simple card, since I was making a bunch of them. 

My card base is light aqua and the sun and hill both started as white card stock.  Along the top and sides of the card base, I sponged turquoise and blue to give the look of the sky just starting to lighten at sunrise, with that lighter glow around the sun.

The sun is Spellbinders lotus pendant die.  To make it easy to release the card stock from the die, I used wax paper between the die and card stock.  I then added mustard seed and spiced marmalade distress inks to the sun with a sponge applicator.

For the snowy hill, I cut a curve freehand and then embossed the piece with musical flourish embossing folder from Provo Craft.  I added light aqua ink to highlight the raised embossing.

I glued on the sun and hill, and trimmed off the excess hanging over the edge.  The sentiment (SU) is stamped in jet black archival ink.

Some of the products used can be found at Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium.

I want to wish you all a Happy New Year, and, as the sentiment inside my card says, "

May God

bless this trip

around the sun

with joy and

many amazing

moments.

 Thanks so much for stopping by today. 

Friday Feature - enjoy the journey

Hi friends.  It's Melody with a Friday Feature for you.  With all the family things going on for Christmas, I didn't get a chance to sit down and create until today, so I'm a little late posting. 

My project today is a tag that could be attached to a gift.  I started with a pre-cut tag and swiped some distress stains onto it -- peacock feathers, ripe persimmon, and wild honey.  While that was drying I die cut a rosette from some pattern paper and put it together with hot glue.  I love how the geometric pattern on the paper changes when formed into the rosette. 

I stamped the tag with Dylusions stamp set, around the edge, in jet black archival ink and colored in the leaves with shabby shutters and crushed olive distress markers.  Then I added some vintage photo distress ink with a foam ink applicator and distressed the edges with a distressing tool. 

On a piece of ivory card stock, I stamped the sentiment from a Tim Holtz set, just thoughts, and cut it into a flag shape, adding vintage photo distress ink and distressing.  I attached this piece to a black flag with my tiny attacher. I pierced lines along the top and bottom. 

I used a strip of black card stock and punched several 7/8" circles, which I cut in half and added along a couple of the edges of the tag.  I decided to use the negative piece as well, tucked in behind the sentiment. 

To help the rosette stand out a bit, I cut two black squares and offset them behind the rosette.  Both the rosette and the sentiment piece are attached to the tag with dimensional foam tape. 

My tag just wasn't complete without a butterfly, so I dug one out of my stash of die cuts (Tim's mini butterflies movers & shapers die), and added it to my tag. 

The tie is made from black cord.

Many of the products used on this project can be found at Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

Friday Feature - blessings

Hi friends.  It's Melody, here with another Friday Feature for you.  Today I have a card that was part of my technique class yesterday.  The technique featured stamping on canvas. 

I started by stamping the green card base with a background stamp, victorian diamonds (Rubbernecker), with dark brown ink.  Every layer on the card is edged with vintage photo distress ink. 

At the bottom of the card is a piece of rust card stock, stamped with a sentiment from an older set from SU, graceful words. 

The die cut circle is part of a brown paper grocery bag, stamped with a Penny Black background, circles and lines. 

For the main image, I die cut a piece of canvas with mini labels movers & shapers (Tim Holtz/Sizzix).  I then stamped the leaf from natural beauty (SU) in jet black archival ink, holding the stamp against the canvas a bit longer than normal to make sure the ink settled into the fibers. 

My canvas is just yardage from the fabric department at my local Walmart, but you could also use sticky back canvas.  I heat set the ink with my heat gun to make sure it was dry. 

The next step was adding color.  I decided to try watercolor pencils (I'm using Inktense) to see how well they worked on canvas.  As you can see on the center leaf in the photo above, I just added a small amount of the pencil and then used a water brush to blend it and spread it out, being careful to stay within the lines. 

In the above closeup, you can see the color is more vivid when wet (bottom leaf) and fades a bit when it is dry (top leaf).  I dried it with my heat gun. 

I wanted to add some vintage photo ink along the edges, so I very carefully used a small sponge dauber and pounced on the ink rather than rubbing, so that the threads didn't fray.  Sometimes that would be OK, but on this piece, I didn't want fraying.  I again heat set the ink before attaching the canvas to my card with Fabri-Tac (Beacon Adhesives).   And here is my finished card. 

I'm really happy with how well the watercolor pencils worked on the canvas. I hope you get a chance to try this technique.  I would love to see what you make with it. 

Some of the products used can be found at Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium.  Thank you so much for stopping by. 

Friday Feature - eggshell ornament

Hi friends.  Melody here with another Friday Feature for you.  I love being able to create something from an item that would normally get thrown out in the trash.  Some time ago I came across a tutorial to make a trinket box covered with crushed eggshells.  I loved it, so I started saving egg shells.  I always rinsed them well, removed as much of the thin membrane as possible and let the dry thoroughly.  In order to save space, I then would crush them up a bit.  I just pressed on them with a glass or bottle.  In order to use them, however, it was necessary to crush until the bits of broken shells were quite small.  I put some in a plastic bag and used a rolling pin to crush them. 

With Christmas just around the corner, I chose to make an ornaments for the tree instead of a box.  I made a total of 12, which ended up as gifts for the most part.  I still have four of them.  This one is hanging on our tree.  With my limited photography skills, I had a hard time getting a clear picture with the tree lights on. 

Being a huge fan of recycling, I started my ornaments with corrugated cardboard.  I die cut circles of corrugated cardboard (old boxes, of course) with a Sizzix circle die that's about 3" across.  To get a bit of thickness and stability, I glued 3 or 4 layers together with Mod Podge.  Then I roughly cut some larger circles from an old encyclopedia and glued one on each side, wrapping the edges around to the other side.  This covered all the openings in the edges of the corrugated cardboard. 

I used a very long needle (I think it's for making dolls) to pierce through the center of the ornament from one edge to the other, so I could add loops to attach beads and a hanger.  It was a little tricky getting the needle to go exactly through the center, but if the first shot missed, it didn't matter if there was an extra hole, since it would be covered over later.  Once I had a hole, I pushed a piece of wire through it and made a loop on each end.  And then the fun began. 

I applied decoupage medium with a foam brush and then poured a generous amount of crushed eggshells over the wet glue.  Then I gently pressed the eggshells into the glue with my fingers, because I wanted a nice solid surface without any spaces or air pockets.  Then I let this dry for at least a few hours, but usually overnight.  It actually took several days to put all the eggshells on -- two coats on each flat side and two coats around the perimeter.  I was careful to keep the wire loops free of the eggshells. 

Once all the layers were on, then it was time to paint.  I used white pearl Lumiere, again applying two coats to all the sides.  This paint dries quickly, so the waiting time between coats was a lot less than for the glue.  I pretty much used up what paint I had in the bottle and don't know if there is any place locally than sells this type of paint.  The store I purchased it from originally has since gone out of business.  I did purchase another brand of shimmery white paint, but it was more silver than white, so I decided to not use it for this project.  I think there are some places that didn't quite get two coats, but you can't tell by looking at them. 

I added a beaded spangle at the bottom and an ornament hook at the top.  I think they look like snowballs, but my daughter is convinved they are cookies coverd with shredded coconut.  They are slightly more than 1/2" thick, and surprisingly heavier than I thought they'd be, but not too heavy for hanging on the tree. 

Although these ornaments did require quite a bit of time, they were still very easy to make.  I hope you give it a try.  You could easily make these another shape, or use a colored paint instead of white for a completely different look.  So many possibilities. 

Some of the products used on this project can be purchased at Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Friday Feature - Peace Tag

Hi friends.  It's Melody with a Friday Feature for you.  I thought I was going to create a quick tag... well, I did create a tag, but it sure wasn't quick.  I think to reproduce it would be quick, but I tend to be very slow when I create.  I rarely have a plan; I just decide what I'm going to do as I create.  Even when I start out with an idea in my head, the finished project usually has no resemblance to that idea. 

I started out thinking I wanted to use a rosette made from some very old gold wrapping paper that I have.  So I made that and knew I was going to like that on my project.  I was going to die cut a shape to use as a tag, but tried a couple and didn't like either one, so I pulled out a pre-cut tag to work with. 

I used the wrinkle-free distress technique to add color to the tag.  I used iced spruce, evergreen bough and scattered straw distress inks, smooshed them on my craft sheet, spritzed with water and then pressed the tag into the ink.  I dried it with my heat gun, and then repeated putting it into the ink and heating it a couple more times. 

Then I randomly stamped some snowflakes from a Recollections Christmas stamp set with pine needles distress ink.  I added vintage photo with a foam ink applicator. 

I stamped the sentiment with jet black archival ink on ivory card stock, cut a 'V' into the ends to create a banner, added vintage photo ink and backed it with some hunter green.  I put a couple of pleats in the banner and attached it to the tag with dimensional foam tape. 

I cut three 1/4" strips of red card stock and glued them to the tag.  I attached the gold rosette over the strips and then made a flower from the smallest blossom on the tattered poinsettia die and a small flower punch.  Both of these were also edged with vintage photo ink.  In the center of the flower, I made a bunch of dots with a black copic marker and covered it with glossy accents. 

I cut some green and white yarn and attached that through the hole in the top of the tag. 

It was hard to get a good photo, because the rosette is so shiny and refected the camera flash. 

Many of the products used can be found at Outlaw Women's Scrapbook Emporium. 

I hope you enjoyed my tag today.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Friday Feature - one last sunflower

Hello, friends.  It's Melody with another Friday Feature here on the Outlaw Women's blog.  I'm not sure where last week went, but I completely missed getting a post up.  It seems if I blink, another month is gone.  Is it really December tomorrow?

Today I made a card using one new die and a couple of older ones.  I just love using the wonderful dies that are available.  It saves so much time not having to cut things out by hand.  I recently purchased the tattered poinsettia die by Tim Holtz/Sizzix, so I wanted to put it to work, but not as a poinsettia.  Don't be surprised... I've always been somewhat of a rebel, with a need to be different.  I wanted a sunflower.  Although we don't have any snow on the ground yet, we have had some flurries, but I'm just not quite ready to leave autumn behind and face winter's cold and snow. 

My base card is kraft and everything else is die cut from a manila file folder.  I used a lot of ink to change the color, though. 

I die cut a vintage cabinet card and then embossed it with the bricked embossing folder.  I randomly added color with a foam ink applicator using tea dye, scattered straw, brushed corduroy, aged mahogany, and weathered wood distress inks, and then added vintage photo around the edges. 

For the sunflower, using the tattered poinsettia die, I cut two each of the small and medium flowers, the flower center and a few extra petals from the medium flower to use as leaves.  To color them, I pulled out mustard seed, peeled paint and vintage photo distress stains.  I also swiped the peeled paint over another piece of card stock, and then cut a stem from that.  I added some rusty hinge and vintage photo distress ink to the flower petals and vintage photo to the edges of the leaves.  To give the flower more dimension, I curled the petals a bit with my fingers, and also attached some dimensional foam tape underneath.  I used a black marker to add some veins on the leaves. 

For the sentiment, I die cut one of the styled labels, stamped the sentiment from Impression Obsession with jet black archival ink and then trimmed off the ends of the lable.  I wanted it to match the background piece, so I used a small square punch to remove a bit in each corner. 

A few extra details were added with black ink and 1/4" square punch outs.

I hope you enjoyed my card today.  Many of the products used can be purchased from Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Friday Feature - no turkeys allowed

Hello, friends.  Melody here with another Friday Feature.  A year ago, Tim Holtz posted a tutorial on his blog for making turkeys from his rosette dies.  At the time, I didn't own any of the rosette dies.  But I absolutely adored his turkeys and knew that I wanted to make some, so that meant I needed to purchase those dies.  Well, I now have both of Tim's rosette dies, but I still haven't made any turkeys. 

Thinking about perhaps making some turkeys for the Thanksgiving table this year, I suddenly got the idea that I could use the same technique, but make a peacock instead.  I checked the internet for a picture of a peacock, so I'd get at least some of the features recognizable, and proceeded to make a peacock.  I followed Tim's instructions, using some blue and turquoise papers and sponging on some brilliant blue and pacific point ink. Since his template for the turkey head has parts that distinguish it as a turkey, I trimmed those off, and then used a copic marker to color it blue.  I could have used blue card stock, but that would have meant tracing and cutting a second head (lazy). 

I wasn't sure what to use for the tail feathers, but again wanted something that would be fairly quick and easy.  I decided to try one of the flowers from the tattered flowers die.  I cut three, not knowing how many 'feathers' I would need.  I sponged around the edges with pacific point ink.  For the dots, I pulled out a new pencil and used the eraser as a stamp.  Then I cut all the petals off the flowers.  On the end that would be glued, I squeezed the sides together so they could conform to the shape of the folds on the rosette, and then glued one feather to each of the outside folds.  Perfect peacock feathers!

I was so excited that it actually turned out like what I had in mind!  That doesn't happen too often.  One change I might make, if I make another one, would be to add another row of feathers attached to the middle rosette, but since I already had that part all glued together, it would have been difficult to insert the feathers between the rosettes, so I opted to leave it with just a single row.  It's possible that a second row of feathers is too much.  At this point, I just don't know and can't quite visualize how it would look, and whether or not I would like it. 

Although you can't see it, I die cut a scallop circle and added it on the back to finish it off and cover the ends of the feathers where they are attached. 

Some of the products for making this project can be found at the OSWE store. 

I hope you enjoyed my project.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Friday Feature - Butterflies

Hello Friends.  Melody here with another Friday Feature.  Today I have a very quick and easy card for you, using several Tim Holtz products.

On a white card stock base, I swiped mustard seed, spiced marmalade, and barn door distress stains.

The butterfly silhouette is black card stock die cut with the butterflies on the edge die.

The sentiment, from good thoughts, is stamped in jet black archival ink.

I wanted the free-flying butterfly to really stand out from the rest, so I pulled a blue butterfly, die cut with mini butterflies movers & shapers die, from my stash.  I don't know what ink I used on it.  I glued it to a butterfly die cut from cereal box chipboard to give it more stability, and then popped up the wings with dimensional tape.  And I was done - easy peasy!  I hope you like it.

Most of the products used can be found at Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Felonious Friday with Outlaw Gal - Vintage Vintage Vintage

Hey everyone another Friday and I have a little tutorial for you all on how to get that Vintage Look to your work. I have created a 3x5 using Corrugated Cardboard. I love love how Corrugated Cardboard looks after it's been altered.

First Cut out your Cardboard to the size you want it to be. In this case I cut it at 3x5. Then tear out the insides so that the cardboard looks likes stripes going down. Or that it has been embossed.

After I got it the way I wanted it to look I then painted it with Distress Stains.

You can use Acrylic Paint if you want. Just give it an all over coat.

I then took this wonderful Product called

Rub n Buff

and using very little on my fingers I

put it on the lines going down and a little bit in the crevices.

this gives it that aged look.

Warning! just put a tiny amount on your finger. It goes far..

The Rub n Buff color I used was Gold Leaf.

As I do with most projects I do I went around the edge with

my Distress Ink "Walnut Stain"

I always do this because it makes the piece look aged..

Browning the edges give an old used look..

Maybe I should brown my edges .. I'm old and used!! ROFL!!

I printed off my Image at this point..

I buy a lot of my Digital Images from

Lisa's Altered Art.

Her prices are reasonable for digital Collage sheets.

I buy Digital because I can re-size the image to what ever I need.

I also can cut out one image from the sheet instead of printing the whole

thing out.

The program I use for this is Paint Shop Pro.

Years ago I taught how to use this program

when I did my Signature Tags..

oh here I go off the subject again.. LOL

Back to my piece.

I like to color my flowers to fit my pieces..

I also wanted a shimmering look so I used Perfect Pearls to color with.

I used white flowers from Petaloo

They have a line called

Color me Crazy

A little tip about using the perfect pearls to color with..

I spray some water onto my Craft Mat with a Mini Mister

then I dab a small paintbrush in the Perfect Pearls and add it to the water on my mat.

I'm working directly from my Crafts Mat. Mixing the Perfect Pearls into the water

and applying it to my flowers..

The Petaloo Flowers seem very limp when wet but they dry nice and hard so you

can add them to your piece and they won't tear or rip..

I glued my image down using a

Uhu Glue Stick

I have tried a lot of different glue sticks and have found Uhu to be

the best for this type of work..

It is fast to dry but will let you move the piece around while your placing it..

I don't like a glue that dries too fast. I am always needing to figure out where

I want to place my image and need the time..

Uhu Glue comes out blue but dries clear..

Trust me on this I have tried many glues.

You should see my shelf full of different glues... LOL

On my computer once again in the program

Paint Shop Pro I created the saying I wanted to use

and printed it off.

Cut it into pieces and yup I browned the edges of the little pieces

with Walnut Stain. I go over the whole word very lightly with the

Walnut Stain to give it an old look and it's not so white and glaring.

I wanted my words to pop out so I used

Foam Strips to adhere them.

I put my flowers together and added the small brad..

I did color my brad with Alchohol ink but it didn't take.

I then grabbed a Copic Marker.

My suggestion for this is to use the Copic Markers to color your metal brads.

The Markers do a wonderful job and I should have used them first..

Almost done at this point I wanted more more more.

I never know when to quit!! LOL

so I added the Vintage Lace to the bottom.

Adhering it with Glossy Accents.

I used to use my Hot Glue gun to adhere the lace on the bottom..

Then I went to the Glossy Accents once again to have the time

to place it where I wanted to.

I really think the Corrugated Cardboard gives it such a wonderful

Vintage Feel and it's a free substrate!! LOL

So that's it a nice and easy project that looks fabulous when finished..

Product List

Craft Mat

Distress Inks

Distress Stains

Rub N Buff

Petaloo Color me Crazy Flowers

Perfect Pearls

Foam Strips

Uhu Glue Stick

water - My Bathroom Sink

About the Uhu Glue Stick

OWSE can get these but we have to buy at least 12 at a time

I bought mine from Michaels

I didn't need 12.. LOL

Thanks for looking everyone

see you next week..