Deco Front Shadowbox with Graphic 45 Botanical Tea

Hi everyone!  Here is a fun and easy project to assemble and decorate.  The frame is beautifully ornate and I thought the Graphic 45 Botanical Tea collection really suited the Victorian feel that I envisioned.  There are many ways you could decorate this, and in many themes, FUN!

Deco Front Shadowbox

Scribbled Lines

On The Beach - Sketch Challenge entry for Scraps of Elegance/Darkness

Here's my entry for the current sketch challenge on the Scraps Of Darkness/Scraps of Elegance Facebook page. I don't have the Scraps of Elegance kit, but it was not necessary in order to enter.  I went with the sketches beach theme and used stuff from my stash. The chipboard title and shells are from  Gina's Designs and the butterflies are from Renea Bouquets etsy store. The photo is little me at Crane Beach in Ipswich MA near the town where I grew up.  We spent our Summer days there when I was young.  

Chipboard title from The Beach Themed Shadowbox Kit
Chipboard Shells from  The Beach Shape Set
Papers by Glitz Designs
Flowers by Prima and Petaloo
Butterflies by Renea Bouquets

Altered Shadowbox Frame in a Steampunk Style

Hi Everyone!  Today I'm sharing an altered shadowbox frame that began as a thrift store find.  The frame was solid wood and painted black,  and there was glass inside.  I removed the glass and the backing and the fun began!

 I left the black paint alone and painted a thin coat of metallic brass over it.  Since the outside of the frame measured 12 x 12, I thought it would be fun to lay one of our texture sheets (in this case the gears style) over the entire frame.  I simply cut out the center, used matte Mod Podge to adhere the texture sheet to the frame, and then painted it with white gesso.  The rest was just spraying some various colors of ink sprays until I got the look I wanted.  

I painted the butterfly of gears with Folk Art acrylics and added some dimensional pearls.  The stacked hot air balloon was painted lightly with gesso, stamped with script and embossed.  The waterworks frame was embossed in copper.  The steampunk lady was embossed with script, edges inked with Prima chalk inks, and the gears with various metal colored embossing powders.  The rolled roses were created with a die and papers from my scraps.  The background paper is by Mambi, and I added some sprays, yellow gelatos, and a little texture paste and stenciling.  Thanks for looking!

Texture Sheet Gears

Gears Border and Corners Shape Set

Hot Air Balloon Stack Up

Butterfly of Gears

Waterworks Shapes Set

Steampunk Lady

Altered Birdhouse for Ephemera's Vintage Garden

I really enjoyed altering this unfinished birdhouse I purchased at Michael's.  It's so exciting to watch the transformation.  This is a Creative Team Project for Ephemera's Vintage Garden, and my second project using the Spring Chic Digital Paper Pack.  These papers are just gorgeous, and the images so clear and bright!

Print these digital papers as many times as you need to complete your project, and even to create matching home decor projects.  The papers are designed to make creating handmade journals easy, but you can use them in any other application, just as you would any other design paper.  I like to create my own flowers to coordinate with my project by printing the design on two sides.  I run the paper through my printer on one side then flip it over and run it through again with one of the other designs on the other side so you get a mix of colors when you create your flowers.   Head on over to Ephemera's Vintage Garden, to check out the gorgeous papers, and sign up for some amazing freebies HERE! 

Design paper by:

Ephemera's Vintage Garden

Spring Chic Digital Paper Pack

Other supplies used were various flowers from my stash, a Prima nest, a dragonfly by Renea Bouquets, and the trim at the bottom is laser cut chipboard from Gina's Designs.

Thanks for looking!

Bird House Wall Hanging

Today I am here with a really fun to decorate wall hanging by Gina's Designs.   These birdhouses can be embellished in any theme you like.   I really love anything with a nature theme,  so I ended up creating a project with a natural outdoorsy feel.  I hope you like it!

I also incorporated one of the newest pieces from the store, the birds on key wall art, to add something special to my project.  The birds on key is also available in a set of smaller sizes.  Everything is attached with a long 2 inch wide strip of burlap.

Birdhouse Wall Hanging

Birds On Key Wall Art

Other:

Kaisercraft Limelight Collection papers and diecuts

Immortal - Layout with the Scraps of Darkness Kit Club

I used the Scraps of Darkness April kit to create my third layout so far with this kit. This layout is also one of my entries into their Facebook challenges this past week. So fun! I had this promo photo of Rob & Kristin for Breaking Dawn, and it had been so long since I'd scrapped Twilight, I couldn't resist adding to my Twilight wall of fame (or is it shame).   I own it, I'm a die hard Twihard.   Butterflies by Renea Bouquets on etsy.

Dictionary Cat 12 x 12 Layout

I created this layout for a "Dictionary" challenge at the Scraps of Darkness Facebook page this week. I think the theme was simply to scrap a word from the dictionary, but I decided to create a page with the whole dictionary/library theme. I had this library drawer paper in my stash, and I created the flowers from dictionary paper, and used dictionary design tissue tape on the banner and on the big letter. The cat background image on dictionary paper was an etsy download. The photo is of my cat Lila. Thanks for looking! The little banner under the photo is chipboard from Gina's Designs. It comes in a long strip, but I just cut off what I needed.

May sketch challenge at Gina's Designs Blogspot

Each month, on the first Monday, a new sketch will be provided .  Use the sketch to create a layout, card or other craft project.  Winner will be drawn from all eligible entries and will receive a $10 gift certificate to Gina's Designs online store.  We encourage you to use Gina's Designs products in your project but it is not required to be eligible to win.  You have until the first Monday of the Following month to enter and the winner will be announced on the blog on the second Monday of the following month.  To enter, visit the Gina's Designs blog and use the Link Up tool provided.

Here is the sketch for May

Here is my take on the sketch.  Once again I have featured my cat Willie.  I'm currently creating a whole memorial wall for him with all the layouts in shadowbox frames.  I love looking at it, it makes me smile.  I began this layout with some background stamping, and I also used our Steampunk Doily as a stencil, then turned it to the other side and layered the actual doily behind the photos.  

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Cardstock Doily Set Steampunk (I had these cut in 8 inch)

Scribbled Frames & Lines

For The Birds (nest)

Layout with Scraps of Darkness April Kit Club

Another layout I created with the Scrap of Darkness April kit club.  This layout is also my entry for the Gothic challenge on the Scraps of Darkness Facebook page.  Steampunk doily by Gina's Designs.

Vintage Style Layout - DT for Ephemera's Vintage Garden

I absolutely love the design and colors in this gorgeous paper pack from Ephemera's Vintage Garden.  I used background paper from my stash but the paper layers are all digital designs from the paper pack.  I even created the flowers and the banner to match from the papers.  It was so much fun using my dies to make matching flowers!  For the banner, I was able to resize the papers to make the most of the design.  The bird in the lower right corner is fussy cut from the paper. The colors are just stunning, and complemented my lovely cat Lila perfectly.  I will be featuring more papers from this collection called The Spring Chic Digital Paper Pack later on in the month, so please come back and have a look!

Working with digital papers is amazing because you can print them out as many times as you'd like.  It's a great opportunity to create matching home decor projects, or layouts creating your own flowers and matching banners from the papers as I have done.  Head on over to Ephemera's Vintage Garden, to check out the gorgeous papers, and sign up for some amazing freebies HERE!