WINTER WONDERLAND VIGNETTE TRAY

Hello everyone!  We're already at Week 3 of the Tim Holtz Holiday Inspiration Series and I hope you are all enjoying the amazing creations from his designers as much as I am.  Today I am sharing my second project,  my Winter Wonderland Vignette Tray.

I recently went to my favourite garden centre where there were so many beautiful Christmas treasures, trees and thousands of decorations.  A grouping of Christmas shadowboxes that were filled with white and silver silhouettes inspired me to create this Vignette Tray, using just gold and white.

I'm starting my tutorial on creating the insides of my Vignette Tray. I really wanted to use these wonderful Christmas Transparent Tiles (TH93657) in this project.  I love that they are transparent, don't they remind you of frosty windows in the winter? When I was little, the frost would form in beautiful patterns on our windows on those cold winter days.  I used to love looking at them, but we don't see those beautiful patterns anymore, thanks to much better windows and insulation! 

I've made a narrow shaker box with my letters and a sheet of Idea-ology Frosted Plastic(#93153). I've had this package in my stash for awhile, I think it's still available, or if you're like me, have quite an substantial stash of Tim Holtz products from the very beginning. Time to use some of it!  These sheets can be used with your Bigz dies too!  Any clear plastic sheets or from packaging will do also, but I liked this frosted look.  To make the shaker box, I measured 1/8" along the edge and with my Tim Holtz Design Ruler(it has a steel edge which is great for cutting with a craft knife)I lightly ran the knife along the 1/8" marks, taking care not to cut but just score. Next score 1/4" from the 1/8 score mark. Your plastic will bend easy with a nice clean edge.  Next, measure the height of your letters (approx. 1.75") from the 1/4" line, then 1/4" again, measure 1/8" again, but instead of scoring, cut on this line. You now have the back, top, and bottom of your box. Here, I just applied double faced 1/8" clear adhesive tape to my 1/8 edges after bending the score lines, and adhered my letters tightly together across. If you are worried about leakage from your filling, just adhere your letters to a strip of clear plastic and then adhere to the box front.

This is what your box will look like.  My word ended up being longer than the length of my plastic, so I had to add another section on the end.  For the ends of the box, I just measured out a narrow piece 1/4" wide and 1.75" high to fit the end.  I've just taped it to the box, with clear tape or use double adhesive tape as you are not going to see it. I try and tape or glue behind the white parts so it's not visible from the front.  Leave one end open until you fill your box with glitter, imitation snow (I've used imitation mica snow), beads, whatever you can think of and tape up the end after filling.  I'm sure I'll start looking at those clear boxes that little things come in, differently now...another thing to save for future projects! Now that I think of it, doesn't samples of the good chocolate come in those narrow long clear boxes, hmmm.

The gold cardstock I have used for this project is Idea-ology 8x8 Metallic Kraft Stock Paper Stash (TH93586).  This is my favourite metallic paper to use, it can be distressed or sanded to look old, it die-cuts easy, and the package has silver and gold papers.  Just make sure you keep it in the plastic wrapping when not using, as it has a tendency to curl when left out, especially in my dry climate.  I created a stencil with this snowflake die that is included in the Winter Wonderland Thinlits set (662426).  Cut out your metallic kraft piece ( I had to add a small piece on one end to fit my Vignette box, but the seam is easy to cover up with embellishments) and apply Texture paste with your stencil.  Set aside to dry.

Next I die-cut my large deer with thin chipboard a 3 or 4 times for a thicker piece.  Glue these pieces together.  I die-cut another pieces with the gold metallic cardstock that is adhered on top.  To get the snowy look, just randomly dab on a bit of embossing ink with Ranger's Emboss It Dabber.. you don't need much and then Ranger's White Embossing powder. If you find you have too much, and would like a little more of the gold to show through, tap some off.  If you just have an clear embossing ink pad, dab it on your craft mat, lightly touch your deer to that, or use a small paint brush and randomly apply it that way.  This method is also good when you just want to emboss the edges or 3-d items and want better control where you are embossing.  Heat with a heat/embossing gun.

This is my new favourite foliage set!  Love all these tiny pieces, they are perfect for small projects or cards. I've die-cut lots from the gold kraft stock and Tim's Festive Greens (662425) set.   I also randomly applied white embossing powder to some of these die-cuts. Now, if you had a new Tim Holtz Sidekick machine, just think how fast and easy to cut all these small die-cuts out!! I can hardly wait to get mine!  This would make a perfect Christmas gift for any crafter! 

I was trying to keep my white and gold theme and wanted to add in the word, wonderland.  This package of Christmas Remnant Rubs (TH93635) has 2 sheets, one black, one white, all words in different fonts.  The white doesn't show up in my photo, but it's exactly the same as the black sheet.  I used the back side of one word band in the Christmas Word Bands Findings set (TH93630), applied my rub-on word, then lightly dabbed the band edge with Gold alcohol ink.  If you don't want to use a band that you already like the wording on it and want to use it on another project, I'm sure some of you have  some old metal embellishments around.  Maybe they have a word or etched picture on them that you might not want to use, so just turn it around and use the back side.

I used all three of the smaller deer from the Winter Wonderland Thinlits set and also die-cut two layers from thin chipboard or cardstock first, then the gold. I know this is extra die-cutting, but when I'm creating a dimensional project, I like some of my pieces to be sturdier when they aren't adhered flat.  It also makes those main pieces stand out more and gives them more polished look.

 These were also embossed lightly with white, mostly on the upper part of the deer.  Once you have all your inside embellishments finished, you're ready to build your Vignette Tray.  Before adhering everything, I used a white wash on my small vignette tray (TH93568) which measures 9 x 4 3/4".  Take a small amount of white paint (I used Distress Picket Fence paint) and add a bit of water to it.  I just dab some paint on my craft mat and spritz with water until it's diluted to the amount I want. If you're not sure how much white you want to add to the wood, just start of lightly, you can always reapply to add more white.  Paint this on your vignette tray.  I didn't apply it to the inside tray bottom, just the sides, as I was covering it with the gold kraft stock.  I added a Tim Holt Curio Knob (TH92840) that the silver was touched up with a bit of gold alcohol ink to the top of my tray.  You will need a long screw to go through the wood and Tim has created this Vignette Hardware Findings package (TH93668) which makes it soooooo much easier to attach the knobs, pulley wheels, or other findings to your wood surfaces.  This package even has those little nails, hooks and screw eyes.  I know things like this are probably near the bottom of your list to purchase, when there's so much amazing stuff that's always being released, but these things are so good to have if you enjoy creating those 3-d projects.

After your snowy gold back is adhered to your tray, adhere the shaker box.  Again, I just applied my adhesive around the edges, where the tiles are white, so you can't see where the adhesive is.  I adhered a few foliage pieces in the corner, before the large deer went in. His back end is tucked right into the corner.  You can add in more around him where you need it.  I have a few pieces covering that seam, where I needed to add extra paper. Tie a piece of Metallic Trimmings (TH93646) in a bow on the one side of your Word Band. I used a small nail from the Vignette Hardware Findings to attach the other side.  I have to admit, I was holding my breath nailing this in, the wood was starting to separate so if you choose this, be careful, as it's such a narrow piece of wood! I used adhesive on the back to also secure the word band.

To attach the tree, I took off the small wood base, poked a hole in the shaker box, placing the wire stem in the hole and used a bit of glue near the top at the back of the tree to the tray.  Adhere all your foliage, deer and bow using glue dots, and foam dots for extra dimension.

Here's a look at the knob on the top.  I adhered two pieces of foliage on either side, with the ends tucked under the knob.

Here's another look at my finished Winter Wonderland Vignette Tray.  The best part, is this can be left out all winter, not just Christmas!  

I hope you enjoyed this project and tutorial.  I've had so much fun creating for this Tim Holtz Holiday Inspiration Series, I love everything in this new release.  The hardest part, is having to choose what to use in each project, I just want to use it all.  Which is why I have to keep making another project so I can use everything!  There's more to come, so I hope you visit me again!  Make sure you check Tim's  Facebook, Instagram, and every Saturday on his blog he has a recap of the week's projects from all the designers, you don't want to miss any of them!  Don't you love how we all have been given the same product, but everyone has a different idea that can make it look completely different.  There's so much inspiration and the tutorials are fantastic, how can you not be inspired! 

Thank you so much for all your comments, they are much appreciated!  See you soon!

Jan