PAPER VILLAGE - TIM HOLTZ SIZZIX CHAPTER 4 FACEBOOK LIVE RELEASE

Hello friends!  I have another project to share from the Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 4 Facebook Live Release.

    I've created this home decor project using the new Paper Village Thinlits set and the 3D Engraved Embossing folder.  There are so many creative ways to use these little paper houses, I would encourage you to check out all the makers from Tim's blog post and also his instagram.

My village piece also lights up!

Isn't this pattern on the Engraved 3-D  beautiful?  I used Distress Watercolour Cardstock, slightly dampened, with the folder.  You will need two of these.

I decided to use Distress paint to colour my embossed paper.  I started with the darkest colour,  Ground Espresso, paint a light coat, and let dry.

Next, I used Pine Needle with the dry brush technique.  Apply a small amount on your brush, then wipe the excess off on a paper towel.  There will be a very small amount remaining on your brush, lightly swipe at the raised areas.  After this has dried (it doesn't take long) apply your lightest colour, which I used Speckled Egg.

For my project's base, I used three small vignette boxes and 1 medium, arranged at different heights.  the bigger medium one is slightly deeper, but the vignette box backs face the front and are flush.  For the middle I attached two together and cut out my embossed paper to cover the box backs. One piece covered the two attached boxes.  I attached these two in the middle and covered as one, because I wanted a larger solid looking piece for the center.  Cover the other two small boxes on the backs(face front) and the sides that face the outside of the complete structure.  I had also covered the sides facing the top, as I wasn't sure if the houses would cover completely, plus it looks more finished.

My village houses were also die-cut from Distress Watercolour Cardstock, textured side on the outside. the roof pieces were die-cut from the Distress Leather HeavyStock paper.  I built them with the windows and doors cut out in the front only.  This set has various window pieces to choose from.  I played around with the placement of the houses to see what fit around the boxes.  Some of the roof tops had to be cut shorter as the houses were right against each other.  After my houses were constructed,  I applied Ranger's Distress Crackle Textured Paste all over (except the roofs)  Set aside to air dry.  

Once the houses were dry, paint in the same way as the embossed paper. If you would like the cracks to show up darker, apply Distress crayon in a dark brown.

Before adhering the roofs, cut out small pieces of vellum and adhere to the inside, covering the windows.  This vellum was lightly tinted with Mushroom Alcohol Ink.

Once your houses are finished, set aside.  Your tiny lights should be attached first to the boxes.

I drilled a small hole in top of the boxes where the middle of each house would be.  Carefully hot glue your strand of lights in place (careful not to bend too sharply or damage the strand).  

This is how they will look like.  I just left the back open for access to change the battery. 

To adhere the houses, I used Ranger's Distress Translucent Grit Paste.  I applied it quite thick, mostly around the edges where the houses would go.  Press the house into the grit paste.  You might have to add more to make sure all the edges are in the paste.  While this paste is wet, apply your Rock Candy Glitter and Sequins.  The Rock Candy glitter was dyed with Alcohol ink(Patina & Mushroom).  I wanted to create a monochromatic look to my piece.  I also added some to my roof tops.

I used the stars from Sizzix's Sequins and beads and stuck these also into my Grit Paste.  You can always add more with Distress Collage Medium after the paste has dried.  

The velvet ribbon was dyed with Distress spray ink(I think it was Evergreen Bough) and a Christmas Word Band strung through it. Attach this across your structure.

Here's another look at my finished Paper Village Project.  You could have it sitting among Christmas greens, fake snow or just on a mantle.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Until next time,

Jan

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FEATHERED CARDINAL CARD - TIM HOLTZ SIMON SAYS STAMP DIECEMBER

 

Hello friends!  I am sharing a Christmas Card today created for the Simon Says Stamp DieCember blog hop with their exclusive releases.  To celebrate, they have set aside a free gift with purchase.  I am excited to show you the Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Die created for today!

I've created this Shaker card using the DieCember Feathered Cardinal Thinlits die.

I coloured a sheet of Tim Holtz Mixed Media Heavystock is the brightest Red Distress Sprays.  

I wanted to have a pattern on my cardinal, so I used this wreath from an older Stamper's Anonymous Stamp, Styled Woodlands (CMS210) and stamped the middle body die-cut with Black Soot Archival Ink.

I wanted a vintage antique look, almost beeswax looking, so I used Distress Antique Linen Embossing Glaze TDE70948 with clear embossing ink and embossed several layers to give all the die-cut pieces a thicker glassy coat.  Once it had cooled, you can bend it to crack the glaze to create cracks.  In these cracks, I applied a Distress Walnut Stain Crayon, rubbed it in.  I wiped the surface with my paper towel(a few sprinkles of water to take the paper's dryness away) to remove the excess crayon.  It will leave your embossed bird slightly duller, which I wanted; but if you like it shiny wipe more off of the crayon off, or do not use it.  Adhere all the layers together.

I also die-cut foliage with Sizzix Holiday Brushstroke Thinlits set and Mixed Media Heavystock coloured with Distress Sprays and Distress Oxide Sprays.

I've used Sizzix's 3 1/2" Shaker Domes, filled with Sizzix's Sequins & Beads Festive and  Green Tea sets.  I also used the Sizzix Framelits Circle set that coordinates with their domes to die-cut the circle in my Tim Holtz Christmas Mini Stash patterned paper.  I used the negative die-cut paper and machine stitched around the outer edge.  I also die-cut a circle from Black Soot Kraftstock and using the negative piece, handcut about 1/8" around the outside of the circle, ending up with a ring, that is placed around the dome(on top of the patterned paper).  Fill your dome with the sequins and beads, adhere the green Cardstock behind (with a Christmas Remanent Rub-Merry Christmas), another mat in red, then onto your green card base.

Adhere your Holiday Brushstroke foliage in the corner of your card, then your Feathered Cardinal.

Your card is finished!

This free die is available today with a Tim Holtz Brand purchase, but I'm sure all of you Tim Holtz addicts know, that it won't last long, there are limited quantities! 

This is only available at Simon Says Stamp:

"To celebrate dies as one of my most favorite crafty products (after stamps, of course ;)), we are hosting a month-long DieCember® celebration. Throughout the month you will see special features, sales, education, and inspiration that focus on die cutting. For more inspiration be sure to visit the DieCember Gallery"  Also, there is a Simon Says Stamp blog hop with all their talented designers.  If you leave a comment on each blog, you'll earn a chance to win a $25.00 Simon Says Stamp Store shopping spree! Have fun!

Thanks for visiting!

Until next time,

Jan

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VINTAGE CHRISTMAS BOOK - TIM HOLTZ CHRISTMAS IDEA-OLOGY 2020 RELEASE

Hello friends!  I'm sharing another Tim Holtz Christmas Idea-ology 2020 project today.  I was hoping to get all of my projects created this year posted before December, but as usual I'm behind!  I took a short break to decorate for the holidays and work on my other hobby addiction, sewing.

This is my Vintage Christmas Book.

This is the Vignette Box (TH93279) inside my book.

It even lights up inside!

This is the inside vignette, lit up.  Now, for the tutorial!  I seem to have lost my step by step photos of the inside vignette box in the book, but I will try to explain what I did.  Are you ready?  

This was the worst part of the project for me.  How do people carve out books so nicely?  I've seen some that are perfectly done, not in this case! I had started to carve this vintage Reader's Digest Hardcover book previously and gave up.  It started out ok and then the deeper it went, the more things shifted.  I checked to see if my book was deep enough for a vignette box and it was,  I immediately thought, ok, maybe this could work.  I had to go back and start cutting out the hole bigger, you can see the original size in the middle.  Because it was pretty close to the edges, I stabilized the carved out area by hammering in nails all around, which held all the pages together. No, I did not glue all the pages together! My nails stopped just before the back of the book. This doesn't look pretty, but I knew I could cover it up with paper.  I would try and find a book slightly wider than your vignette box, so you have a little bit of wiggle room behind the box.

Prepare your outside of the book by sanding it front and back, this will be covered with paper.

I drilled a small hole in the back cover, so my Tiny Lights strand can fit through.

The battery pack will be outside.

Now for covering the messy top page.  In hindsight, I would have taken out a few of the top pages, allowing for more room in-between the cover and this inner front.  It wasn't thick paper but, it did put a bit of strain on the binding of the vintage book.  Cut out the proper dimensions of your page, using patterned paper from the Christmas Mini Stash TH94085.  To cut out and fold the inner part of this overlay, I cut out a big X from corner to corner, place over the inner book, mark where to fold in. Trim the unwanted inner part of the paper, properly fold in and ink the edges,  Make sure your vignette box fits in the hole  Adhere the top page to the inner front of your book.

Drill a hole in the vignette box for you lights.  Cover the inside of the vignette box with Christmas patterned paper.  Adhere the Christmas Trim tape TH94107 along the edges. This is how the box looks when it is fitted inside the book. 

I really debated about cutting out this hole in the front cover.  I thought, well, if I don't like it, I can always  put back the centre pieces and cover with paper.  The shape of this hole was determined by the shape in the 5 1/2 x 4" Christmas Box Top(TH94089) that I used. Because my box top opening was full of curves at the bottom, I wasn't going to attempt to cut that with my craft knife, so I cut it below the curves straight across.  If you aren't going to use a box top, you can always just cut out a rectangle.

This is how the hole looks in front. I cut this part out ,before working on my vignette box scene, so I could see the placement of everything  as seen from the outside.

I have a little empty space between my book back cover and the vignette box, which is perfect to store that thicker part of the Tiny Lights cord. 

This section will tuck in-between the box and book back where the paper is cut away.  I waited until the book was finished, to adhere the back page to the back cover, just in case!  I used a wide double adhesive tape.

Cover the front and back of the book (not the spine) with Christmas Mini Stash Paper TH940845. Distress and ink the edges. Glue the battery pack to the back of the book

Before I inserted the box I planned what I wanted to do for my vignette.  It can't be done before it's placed in the book, as you need to place your Christmas Tiny Lights(TH94106) in the tree and behind the frame. I used a frame from the Baseboards TH94093 package and a Santa vellum piece from the Vellum Scenes, TH94094 adhered behind that. I cut pieces of foam about 1/4 thick and adhered them around the back of the frame, close to the inside circle.  This is so the frame is slightly raised and to keep the lights from the center. The Tiny lights are are wrapped around once on the outside of the foam pieces, ending up in the bottom corner close to the tree. The baseboard frame was also distressed and a touch of Rock Candy Glitter TDR35879 in random areas. I took the base off of the Tree(TH94101), dyed it green with Distress Spray Ink and Rock Candy Glitter added.  This was glued inside a Tim Holtz urn (Grave Relics TH94083) that was lightly painted with Distress paint.  Glue this into the box, wrap the rest of the lights around the tree. On the bottom of the box, I applied Ranger's Distress Texture Paste around the urn and across the bottom.  While this was wet, stick in a few Tim Holtz Baubles (these are randomly covered in texture paste and Rock Candy glitter ahead of time and let to dry), your tinted Paper Doll (TH94096) and Christmas Ephemera (94087).  The doll also had some fabric tape(TH94095) to look like a scarf and black thread with some tiny bells (TH94100) placed in her hands.  Once you have everything glued down, you can add Rock Candy Glitter to other areas for a bit of sparkle.

I wanted the Christmas Paper Doll to be visible in my window.  Now onto the front of the book.

I used a Christmas Box Top TH94089 for my front.  I cut off the sides and machine stitched around the edges.  I had a piece of Mica (ArtQuest Mica Tiles) big enough to fill the opening, peeling off some of the layers, so that there were thicker layers on the edges.  This was adhered behind the box top, the rough layered side facing the inside.  I also added a piece of the patterned paper that matched the inside cover, to the back at the bottom where the box top is curved.  This part is visible on the inside of the cover, so it will look finished off. Then the box top was adhered to the front of the covered book.

This is what your front looks like before adding embellishments.

I glued a piece of clear acrylic against the inside window of the cover to protect the mica piece. Cover the inside front of the book cover with the same patterned paper as the opposite side.  The edges were also inked. 

I added in some Christmas Ephemera TH94086 and around the window edge is the Pinked Trim Tape TH94107.  You can see here where I covered the back of the curved box top with patterned paper.

For my spine, I lightly sanded off the original titles with steel wool. White Christmas Remanent Rubs TH94096 were added.  For the front cover, I die-cut Sizzix Foliage, added some Alcohol Inked Berries TH93779, Christmas Flair Button TH94105, and Velvet Trim TH94108.

Here's another look at my finished Christmas Book! 

Thanks so much for visiting!

Until next time,

Jan

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