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

6

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

6

CHRISTMAS ETCETERA TAG - TIM HOLTZ CHRISTMAS IDEA-OLOGY 2020 RELEASE

 Hello friends!  Today I'm sharing an Etcetera Tag created for the Tim Holtz Christmas Idea-ology 2020 Facebook Release.

For my project, I've used a Medium Stamper's Anonymous Etcetera Tag (12 x 6 1/2").

To start, I covered the front of my tag with the red woodgrain paper in the Christmas Mini Stash TH94085.  Ink the edges.

Apply Ranger's Distress Crackle Texture Paste randomly to the front of the tag.  I avoided the center of the tag, as this will be covered up.  Once this has air dried, apply a brown Distress crayon (I usually use a Walnut Stain or Ground Espresso). Slightly dampen your finger and rub the crayon in the cracks. I also brush on a light wash with the same colours of ink.  This can be dabbed with a damp paper towel after.

For my center mat, cut out 5 x 8" red Kraftstock, then slightly smaller, Gold Metallic Kraftstock, and finally, pattern paper from the Christmas Mini Stash.  The patterned paper was machine stitched around the edge before adhering the layers today.

The music sheet was from the Christmas Layers TH94092 pkg.  and the frame was from the Baseboards TH94093 pkg.  Distress the edges of the frame.

 

My pocket in the center of the frame is actually a Christmas Box Top TH94089.  I cut it in half (it's about 2 1/2").

I painted four pieces(2 narrow & 2 wide of 5") of the Etcetera Pinking Trims with black gesso(or black paint) for the shelf.

For the Box Top pocket, cut half off the bottom flap. If you want the pocket wider at the bottom, don't cut off as much.  Fold the sides in half but I had the sides slightly slanted wider at the top than the bottom of the fold. The crease folds forward to the front.  The outer edges of the folded sides fits under the frame and glued.  The bottom flap is also folded in half, creased forward, and adhered to the back of the frame. Your bottom pocket doesn't stick out as far as the sides, the top slightly slanting out(this is so the tree, Santa and deer fit a bit better). Hopefully this makes sense!  Adhere your music paper behind the frame.

This is adhered to the patterned paper mat.

The four pieces of edging are glued together with Collage Medium. One wide and one narrow piece are glued together and flat along the straight edge. The other set is glued together like a step so the bottom narrow piece fits flush against the frame and the wider piece is against the pocket.  The other set is glued on top of the bottom wider one.  Hopefully these photos help make sense.  I applied crackle paste when the shelf was glued together.  I then applied a small amount of Red paint, wiping of the excess.  Use your Distresss Crayon in the cracks.

This is what the shelf looks like on it's end.

Glue a piece of Icicle TH93778 under the shelf.  I applied Collage Medium, then Rock Candy Glitter to the icicle.

Glue your matted pocket to the Etcetera Tag, leave enough room for the bottom embellishment.

  Take the base off your Woodland tree(TH94101) and Dye with Distress Sprays or Oxide Sprays, or even a combination.  Add in Mica flakes after.  My choice of colours are pictured below.

Paint the Salvaged Santa (TH93995) and Decorative Deer (TH93994).  I use Distress Paint, then a light wash of brown paint, wiping it gently after.  It removes some of the paint and stays in the cracks, giving it a vintage look.  You could also use Distress Crayons for the aged look.  Play around with it, for the look you want, you can always wipe it off and try something else. I remember trying alcohol ink when these first came out, and they turned a horrible purple pink colour!  I don't think the two mix well together!

  

I used a combination of alcohol inks on the Tiny Bells (94100) and as you can see here, Antique Linen Oxide Spray and Pewter Distress Spray on the tree.

I first added a bit of dried moss in the pocket and then my tree.  It is squishy, but if you flatten the back or even trim the back it will fit.  I hot glued this in so it stayed put.  As you can see here, I also die-cut different pieces of foliage from Sizzix Funky Festive 663101 and I think some from Mini Holiday Greens 661597.  They were cut from Mixed Media Heavystock coloured with sprays and inks. these were adhered on either side and a few between the pocket and shelf.

I used stickers from the Christmas Sticker Book TH94091 behind my deer.  I stuck them on black kraftstock first and then cut out, leaving a very slight black edge. This ways they are sturdy and the black makes them stand out.  Ink the edges.  I also creased the center of the book and curved the edges.  Adhere these into your pocket on the other side of the Santa.  Adhere the deer so he looks like he's coming out of the pocket.

Now for the little piece on the bottom.  

In the Christmas Baseboards TH94093 pkg. there are the inside pieces leftover from die-cut frames.  I used the inside of this green one and cut it in half, inked and sanded the edges.  Label tape 94102 was applied to the middle of each square. Each piece is about 3/4" by 2 3/8".

For my Milk Cap TH94104 embellishment, I machine stitched down the center first.  You want to secure your chipboard piece in some way, so it doesn't completely fall apart.  This is then ran under water and completely soaked.  You will see that if you carefully pull up the edges, there are so many layers.  I was doing this technique quite a few years ago with black chipboard (I don't know if any of you remember when black chipboard pieces were popular, I can't even remember what company had these!)  The pieces separated so good!  This milk cap was pretty good too and was sprayed with Distress spray, then curled up along the edges. Set this aside too dry. I attached a Christmas Token TH93997 with a brad and  a bow tied with red thick thread to finish it off.

My two pieces are adhered, lined up with the edge of the mat.  They don't quite meet up in the middle, which you don't even see, as the Milk Cap covers that.

The back of my Etcetera Tag was covered with the Holly Collage Paper TH93762.  It was a little narrower than the tag, so I covered the edges with the Silver Pinked Trim Tape 94107.  There's a thin red/white strip tape in this same pkg. which is the same width of the tag edge, I adhered this along the edges.

For my ribbons at the top of my tag, I adhered the holly Fabric Tape 94095 to a piece of Mummy Cloth, fraying the edges.  Another piece of Mummy cloth was dyed with Distress sprays.  

My Christmas Etcetera Tag is complete!

I've noticed that a lot of you ask the question, when you see these Etcetera Tags, Vignette Frames, etc. what do you do with them all?  Well, I'm a bit of a collector, and what to do with everything?  I decided to make a gallery wall in my hallway, for some those bits and pieces, photos, and Tim Holtz Makes.  If you have a few projects using the same structure or same size, these can be switched out whenever you feel like a change or for a seasonal change.  You could even have a small shelf or box for those standing vignettes.   I just started decorating for Christmas and I'm in the middle of changing out some everyday things with Christmas.  I have a small ticket board, that you can display small items like cards, tags, photos, etc.  I've enjoyed(or should I say, accumulated more stuff) my wall so much, I've started another one in our family room. 

Before you know it, November will be over and then we'll be into December. Yikes! I have a few more projects to share, and will try to get them on here soon as I can, in case you are inspired to create your own Christmas projects!

Until next time,

Jan

6