Hi everyone!  Today I'm sharing this trinket box you can purchase at Gina's Designs.  At a generous 7 inches square, this is a good sized box with lots of room for decorating and embellishing.  I decorated the box as a pet memorial for my beloved Willie.  It contains a cast of his paw print, a disk of photos, and a little kitty angel book signed by all of the doctors and staff at the veterinary cancer care center after his passing.  I treasure this box, and every memory it holds.  The embellishments are mainly flowers and some pearl sprigs from CraftSupplies1.

I crackle painted the box and added Tim Holtz feet.  The corners and the frame around the photo are from Gina's Designs.  The resin bridge is by Prima.

Gina's Design's Products used:

Trinket Box

Fantasy Frames and Flourishes

Decorative Corners (available soon)

Other Products:

Flowers and pearl sprigs from CraftSupplies1

Tim Holtz Feet

Resin Bridge by Prima

Folk Art paints

White School Glue (used as a crackle medium)

Altered Wooden Purse for Ephemera's Vintage Garden

This altered purse is a Design Team project for Ephemera's Vintage Garden.  I bought the purse at Michaels in the unfinished wood section.  I'd always though they were adorable, but had never tried altering one.  I had so much fun creating it, and it's a very quick project.  I love the collage style of the digital papers I had to work with.  It really makes the decorating so easy.  The papers I used are from the Shabby Chic Mashup paper add-on.  It's a set of 8 printable double-sided pages designed for 4 x 6 mini journals.  They are a "mashup" of several other designs in Debbie's current digital minis line, and were designed to coordinate.  

The photo below is the front of the purse:

 I adhered the papers to the wood with matte Mod Podge and gave it a good heavy topcoat so the purse can be wiped with a damp cloth.  I used some chipboard shapes from Gina's Designs including the tiny dressform, the lacy trim at the bottom, and the key plate.  I mostly embossed the chipboard.  I replaced the wooden handle that came with the purse with an inexpensive one from Ace hardware and I distressed it with Gilder's Paste.  Flowers, feathers, and  metal pieces were all stash items.

Photo below is the back of the purse:

Below is the side where you can see how I used washi tape and hand stamping to decorate.  I used Tim Holtz metal feet to display the purse so it's standing up on my dresser.  I had planned on gifting it, but I can't part with it :)

This purse is my second Design Team project for Ephemera's Vintage Garden using the Shabby Chic Mashup add-on set.  There are more gorgeous papers in this set that I still haven't show you.  I will reveal more of them next month in an amazing wall decor piece that I am currently working on.  It's gorgeous and I can't wait to show it off!  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 have matching projects to decorate your space with.  Head over to Ephemera's Vintage Garden, to check out the gorgeous papers, and sign up for some amazing freebies HERE! 

Layout using the Scraps of Darkness February kit

Here is another layout featuring my daughter Maggie and the Scraps of Darkness February kit called "A Touch of Grey".  Initially, I'd planned on working with only the main kit, but I loved everything so much I ended up purchasing items featured in the add-ons.  The paper is all from the main kit, as is the film reel stencil that I used in the upper left corner.  I filled in the stencil with Tim Holtz black soot distress ink.  The skeleton clock at the bottom left is also in the main kit.  It is made of metal, but I dabbed it heavily with white gesso to match the look I was after.  I also used Prima's Everyday Vintage Paintables from the main kit, and I painted the piece with a touch of baby pink Prima chalk ink which I just dabbed onto my non stick mat and added a bit of water, then painted with a small brush.  I used the pink embossing powder which is included in the main kit on the left side of the page, and also on the filmstrip at left. I applied the embossing to a script stencil that I had in my stash.  From the embellishment add-on kit I used several die cuts, and a journaling spot.  Flowers are from my stash. I have fussy cut a rose from a sheet of paper from the coordinating paper add-on.  It just so happened, and being that I'm a pink girl, I had that sheet of paper in my stash.  Thanks for looking and for visiting my blog today!

Layout - A Burst of Spring!

Today I'm sharing my first project I've created for the month long cross promotional with Gina's Designs and CraftSupplies1.  This layout features my Willie boy.  The photo was taken on the day he came to live with me in the Spring of 2001.  He passed away early last Summer and I like to think he's still enjoying the gorgeous flowers in some other realm.  I really loaded this one up, and I have it hanging on my wall in a deep shadowbox frame behind protective glass.  Most of the flowers I used are from CraftSupplies1.  As soon as I saw these gorgeous flowers, I knew exactly what I was going to do with them.

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Grass and Foliage

Hot Air balloons Net Style

Scribbled Frames and Lines

Border Sticks

CraftSupplies1

Lavender Flowers

Cream Roses

Two Tone Blue Roses

Two Tone Purple Roses

Lavender Roses

.50 inch Lace Trim

Other:

Design paper and cardstock die cuts by K & Company

Altered Canvas in a vintage garden theme

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite themes again.  Nature!  Somehow for me, it's the theme that comes most easily, and gives me the most pleasure in creating.  I began with a simple application of gesso to the frame, then streaked it with some various colors of Folk Art acrylic paints.  When the paint was dry I added some Kroma Crackle.  This crackle product can take a couple of days to "cure" and finish crackling, so I just leave it and move on to other projects.  When it fully "cured", I rubbed on some Prima chalk inks in various colors to bring out the crackled finish.  I found a nature collage style of design paper in my stash that I'd picked up at Michael's, and I secured it to the back of the canvas with mod podge.  Now comes the fun part.  I began to gather my chippies and to ink, emboss and crackle them.  I looked through my "nature" stash and found nests, birds, eggs and mosses.  After that it only took an hour or so to decide on my final arrangement and to adhere the pieces to the canvas.  The gorgeous butterfly is by Renea Bouquets on etsy.

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Chipboard pieces have been colored with Prima Chalk Inks.  These are a great tool for coloring.  If you buy the big set you will have plenty of colors in the same family to use for shading.

Feather Shape Set

Tree 3 ( a portion of the tree can be seen on the inside)

Topiary Trees (basic instructions are below the post on how I colored it)

Grass and Foliage

Postage Frames

Build-a-Layout Country Living (the wagon wheel) crackled with TH distress rock candy crackle paint

Ornate Corners (inner corner top right)

Fall Shape Set (the rake) colored with chalk ink then TH distrees embossing powder to look like rust

Coloring the Topiary:

I began with a light dry brushing of gesso followed by Prima Chalk Ink.  I "shaded" the pot by leaving the thinly coated white gesso uncolored in the center to give it a rounded look.  For the topiary, after I colored with shades of green chalk ink, I added some clear glass bead gel and left it to dry.  It will dry clear.  At that point you will have lots of texture from the beads that will be stuck to the chipboard.  I then rubbed on some Gilders Paste in Vertigris over the beads and along the edges.  Done!

Layout with Scraps Of Darkness February Kit

I call this layout "Dare You".  It features my daughter Maggie May on one of her modeling shoots.  Yes, it's a live snake EEK!  Maggie loves animals, even snakes, so she wasn't bothered by it in the least.  This was my first experience working with Scraps of Darkness, and I really enjoyed it!  You get lots of matching papers and coordinating embellishments, mixed media elements, and even a sketch that you can use as a guide.  There are add-on kits you can also purchase. For my layout I worked with the main kit, and I based my first layout on the sketch.  In addition to some of the kit papers I used flowers from the kit (the yellow ones). I embossed my flourishes (A sizzix die) and the film reel (an svg cutting file) with a script stamp and the pale pink embossing powder that came in the kit.  The steampunk doily ( on top of the film reel is by Gina's Designs)The butterflies are by Renea Bouquets on ETSY.  I have plenty of paper left for more layouts and projects, so watch for them soon!

Here is the sketch I worked with:

Here is my take on the sketch:

A 12 x12 layout for Ephemera's Vintage Garden and a new DT Announcement

Exciting news!  I have joined the Design Team for Ephemera's Vintage Garden!  I couldn't help but notice the gorgeous digital designs in the Etsy shop, and at the same time I wanted to try something fresh and new.  I wanted something that would combine well with my chipboard from Gina's Designs, and the multitude of designer flowers and other embellishments I already own.  Hybrid scrapbooking, using digital papers along with traditional elements,  seemed to really fit the bill. I love that I can print out as many of the images that I need.  I am so excited to have been invited to be a part of this team, and to share my first project.

I chose to create a layout as my first project on the team.   I wanted to challenge myself to see how well these digital designs would combine with mixed media as well as traditional embellishments.  I love the shabby look, and the soft pastels.  I've featured my daughter Maggie May on one of her vintage clothing shopping sprees.

The background paper is a mostly plain paper from my stash, and all other paper, and paper layers,  are from Ephemera's Vintage Garden.   The digital papers I used are from the Shabby Chic Mashup paper add-on.  It's a set of 8 printable double-sided pages designed for 4 x 6 mini journals.  They are a "mashup" of several other designs in Debbie's current digital minis line, and were designed to coordinate.

Digital Products Used:
Digital Papers from Epemera's Vintage Garden (Shabby Chic Mashup)

Other Products:
Chipboard and small doilies from Gina's Designs
Petaloo Flowers
Dragonfly by Renea Bouquets
Liquitex Modeling Paste
The Crafter's Workshop stencils
Dylusions ink sprays
Prima Junkyard Findings

March Sketch Challenge at Gina's Designs.

Hi everyone, here we have our sketch challenge for March, revealed on the first Monday of each month.  You will have until the first Monday of the next month to upload your project, using the sketch, to our gallery.  Your entry must be entered into the area of the gallery designated for sketch challenges, and into the proper month.  You will find this in the categories section of our gallery in the upper right of the home page.  Winners will be chosen randomly by drawing from eligible entries and will receive a $10.00 gift certificate to the Gina's Designs online store.  Winners will be announced on the second Monday of the following month. We encourage you to use Gina's Designs products but it is not required to be eligible to win.

Below you will find the March sketch and my own sample entry.

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Wrought Iron Set

Texture Sheet Swirled Hearts

Doily Set 8 inch

On this layout, I used some photos of me as a youngster.  Don't know how old I was, I couldn't find a date on the original.  On a recent visit, my Mom brought a lot of old photos and I scanned a bunch of them.  I'm excited to have some new photos to play with :)  Thanks for looking, and I hope you will enter our sketch challenge!

An altered tin as a mermaid aquarium

Hi everyone!  I might be rushing the season just a wee bit, but when Gina designed these new mermaids, I simply couldn't wait to have some fun with them.  I'm calling this piece a mermaid aquarium.  The mermaids are available as a set of 12 in varying sizes.  I used the 4 inch size thinking I'd start small then once it gets closer to Summer, I can go much bigger with a 12 x 12 canvas project.  For this fun project, I used a tin I'd had in my stash for a couple of years.  It's a little bit larger than an altoid tin at nearly 4 x 6.  I used mod podge to apply Japanese lace papers to the tin for texture, used ink sprays in ocean colors, then coated it with clear glass bead gel.  I painted my mermaids with twinkling H2O's and then applied glass microbeads over a coating of glossy accents.  I also used our new catweed shape in the background, a clump of chipboard grass at the bottom, and a section of palm tree at the top for some extra tropical appeal.  Everything else I used was already in my stash.  My favorite part of a creation is looking through my stash to find things that are perfect, and it's so exciting when I find just the right pieces.  I wanted it to look like an aquarium so I found various wood pieces to create a stand.  I hope you like it!

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Mermaids Shape Set

Palm Trees Shape Set

Grass and Foliage

Catweed Shape Set

Fanciful Elements

Other Products:

Glass bead gel

Prima Lady Bird flowers

Japanese Lace papers from Dick Blick

Ink Sprays

Wooden decorative elements from Hobby Lobby

Gilder's Paste

Twinkling H2O's

Glass microbeads

Butterfly by Renea Bouquets on Etsy

An altered frame in a vintage shabby style

Today I am sharing this altered frame that I created as a gift for my friend.  Before I mailed it to her, I added this photo of my paternal Grandmother.  She passed away when I was young but I still remember how we used to sit outside in her yard and enjoy the sunshine.  I began with a 12 x 12 unfinished frame from Michael's.  I have altered several of these, and they are so much fun to play with as each one comes out so different.  This one I decided to paper instead of paint, but also did some stenciling with paint over the paper for a mixed media effect.  The project came together quickly and easily with some Gina's Designs chipboard shapes and some flowers.  I hope you like it!

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Chicken Wire (large)

Miniatures Shape Set - Guy Thing (antique bike)

Feathery Flourishes Set

Banner Border Strips

Skeleton Clocks

Steampunk 2 Shape Set (pocket watch)

Words and Phrases 1

Cardstock Doily Set - Sreampunk

Other Products:

Petaloo Flowers

BoBunny "The Avenues" Design Paper

TCW Damask Stencil

Folk Art Paints

Prima Chalk Inks

Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder

Prima Butterfly

Bo Bunny Trinket