Memory Box from Gina's Designs in an Alice in Wonderland Theme

These 5 x 7 memory boxes from Gina's Designs come in the same themed shapes as our ATC shrines.   I chose the one with the time theme thinking I'd either do an Alice in Wonderland themed project, or something steampunk.  It had been awhile since I'd indulged myself and created a detailed fantasy project.  I love to create a little world that tempts me to step into it.
The memory box could certainly also be used to display a favorite photo.  I thought about that possibility as well, and come to think of it, I just might need another one :)

I began by taping off the little notches with masking tape then painting the box with gesso.  You can skip the masking process, but you might have to do some sanding afterwards so that the notches will fit together properly when you assemble it later.  I applied some Japanese lace papers in shades of blue and green adhering and protecting it with golden gel medium.  Then came various ink sprays and finally some Kroma crackle to further distress the finish.

I created a little book covered with leather-look paper on the outside, and a little drink me bottle

 I love how the background came out both inside and out.  I then added lots of mosses, die cut leaves etc to create my fantasy forest. The tree on the inside is also by Gina's Designs.  The Alice in Wonderland images were purchased on Etsy and I doubled up the heavy cardstock before fussy cutting and then covered the images with triple thick gloss medium by Deco Arts  to make them very sturdy, shiny and durable.

 On the backside of the box I decided to lay some of the new chipboard bricks (coloring them with chalk inks and using some texture paste as my grout.  At the top of the brick wall I added one of Gina's curly trees also colored with chalk inks and stickles.
 I had so much fun, I hope you like it!

Gina's Designs Products used:

Time themed 5 x 7 Memory Box

Leafy Branches with birds

Bare tree

Brick Wall

(Gina's Designs products listed as coming soon are available by request and will be listed in the shop soon)

Other Products:

Japanese Lace Paper (I purchased mine online from Dick Blick Art Materials)

Golden Gel Medium in matte finish

Prima Chalk Inks

Prima resin mushroom

Various mosses and things from my stash

Tim Holtz glass bottle

Images from Etsy

Distress stickles by Ranger

Rub n Buff in gold

Gesso in white

Texture paste by Liquitex

A layout featuring chipboard peacock feathers

I just love these peacock feathers.  This is my second time using these awesome feathers in a project and this time I simply colored them with Prima chalk inks and a bit of distress stickles in black soot.   I thought they were perfect for this simple layout of my cat Tulip.

Gina's Designs Products used:

Peacock feathers

Intricate Doilies

Other Products:

Kaisercraft Miss Empire Collectibles cardstock die cuts

Petaloo flowers

Butterflies from Renea Bouquets on Etsy

Hanging resin lamp from Prima

Design paper by DCWV the Garden Tea Party stack

Stencil by Heidi Swapp

Fairy Flight to Heaven

I'm still missing my Willie so much, and I like to imagine that perhaps he flew to heaven on the wings of a fairy.  This layout was created from my heart.  I hope you like it.  I have used two of the small fairies from Gina's Designs, and one of the medium fairies as well as one of the large shuttered windows.

The fairies were painted with clear gesso followed by Twinkling H20's in a gold tone, then dotted with some glossy accents.  I covered the wings with glossy accents then gold glass microbeads.  The steampunk doily is new at Gina's Designs and should be in the shop soon.

I used some Prima resin embellishments to represent the rainbow bridge, and more doilies.

The bricks are also new at Gina's Designs.  The window was dry brushed with gesso and acrylic paint in pastel colors followed by Grecian Gold rub n buff.

Gina's Designs Products:

Small Garden Fairies

Medium Garden Fairies

Cottage Windows Large

New Gina's Designs Products:

Steampunk doilies (will be available in white or black)

bricks

Vintage Beach Canvas - More Fun with Gina's Designs

I have so much fun playing with the chipboard shapes from Gina's Designs, especially when I'm getting inky and messy with a canvas at the same time.  Every Summer I like to create a canvas with a vintage beach theme.  I grew up at the beach and I really miss it a lot.  Although I enjoy mountain and desert views these days, there is nothing like the smell of the sea, the sounds of the surf and the feel of sand in between your toes.

I covered the canvas in gesso, stenciled the ledger pattern from Crafter's Workshop, then used various ink sprays, and finally a little more gesso over parts of the canvas.

These chipboard shells from Gina's designs were fun to decorate.  First I covered them with gesso for some texture, then I used Prima chalk inks in various colors, a little diamond dust, and finally a coat of Tim Holtz distress clear rock candy crackle paint.  The fence in the background, also from Gina's Designs was painted with gesso using a dry brush technique, inked a little bit, then embossed in areas with Tim Holtz distress embossing powder.

The palm tress, one of my favorite shapes from Gina's Designs were inked with Prima Chalk Inks, then covered with Tim Holtz distress crackle paint in clear rock candy.

From Gina's Designs:

 Palm Trees

Grasses

Also from Gina's Designs (but not listed on the site at this time) are:

Sand & Surf title

Sea Shells & Seahorse

Fence

(you may request these items directly from Gina by going to her website)

Bird House Shelf

This birdhouse shelf is so much fun to decorate.   It's meant to be a wall shelf, but since I have a thing for "feet", and I don't have a lot of wall space left,  I decided to use the Tim Holtz feet instead of hanging my birdhouse on the wall.  Either way, it would be great.  I can think of other ways to display this as well.  I was originally thinking of attaching the entire house to an 8 x 10 wooden plaque that I bought at the dollar store.  I'm sure I'll want to play with at least one more of these.

Since we are featuring the lovely feathers this week, I've used them as well on this project.  They are so "feathery" they pick up color really well.

I began by painting my bird house with gesso, followed by two shades of teal in folk art paints.  On top of that I applied Kroma Crackle and various shades of Prima chalk inks.  The Tim Holtz feet were distressed using rub n buff in white and patina.  I used the smallest sized intricate doilies in the windows and the vine frame which I cut apart to use as ivy over the doorways and windows.  After coloring the vines with gesso, then Prima chalk ink,  I applied glossy accents.  The roof was covered in script paper.  The entire house was coated with Tim Holtz Distress rock candy crackle paint.  The feathers were painted with magical mica's in various shades, mostly gold.

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Bird House Shelf

Feather Shapes Set

Vine Frame

Intricate Cardstock Doilies

Keys and Plates Shape Set

Jungle Kitty

When I printed this photo of my recently departed kitty Willie, his pose and expression reminded me of a wild animal peering through the foliage in an exotic and tropical jungle.  In reality he was only standing on the back of the couch.  I found some zebra print in my stash,  and the project took off from there.  No fancy design paper here, or any planned coordinating collections.  I fussy cut a patterned paper also from my stash, and even the chipboard from Gina's Designs were various pieces that I cut up.  I had so much fun putting all of this together.

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Flourishes One

Cattails

Butterflies

"Stalker" - Layout featuring my cat Missy and Gina's Designs

This month the Design Team combined Gina's awesome chipboard shapes with animal print papers from The Robin's Nest.   I chose the leopard print and I distressed it with some script stamping, then dragged it through some Tim Holtz distress inks that I watered down on my non-stick craft mat.  It came out tea dyed just like I wanted.  I surrounded Missy in grasses from Gina's Designs, and some ferns I had in my stash from the floral dept. of JoAnns.  The leopard butterflies are by Renea Bouquets. I hope you like it!

Gina's Designs grass and foliage

Robin's Nest leopard paper

R.I.P. Willie

Willie was an indoor only cat until his illness. I let him enjoy some back yard time during his final months. The lazer cut chipboard bamboo and chicken wire are by Gina's Designs..

Photo Display tray "The Cat's Meow"

Today I have one of the Gina's Design's Photo Display Trays which currently are available in six styles.  This one is called the "Cat's Meow".   This was so much fun to create using one of my kitties "Timothy" as my inspiration along with shapes from our Nancy's Garden collection, and other favorite pieces from Gina's Designs.  These Photo Display Trays are made of sturdy wood, and are so versatile and easy to work with.  In this project my pieces were mostly colored with Prima Chalk Inks.  In some cases I've embossed with either clear UTEE, or Stampendous crystal embossing powder.

Above is the finished piece

Here I used one of our intricate border sticks, an ornamental bird cage, and the small leafy tree which I cut up into pieces.

Some of the grids come with overlay pieces.  Here the word "meow", and two of the skeleton fish are overlays.

I framed this section with one of our ivy corners

The word "love" is also from Gina's Designs, from the 10 word package.  You can also see another view of the lace border stick and pieces from the leafy tree.

I've framed this section with the smallest sized palm tree.

Gina's Designs Products used:

Photo Display Tray - Cat's Meow (please also see the other styles)

Border Sticks

10 words package

Small Leafy Trees

Ivy Corners

Palm Trees Shape Set

Ornamental Bird Cages

Layout - DT Project for "Make it Manly Week" at Gina's Designs

I'm calling this layout "Driven by Chaos" because the reality is that chaos and a hectic day are what I thrive on.  While I might complain about it, and how little free time I have, I've never been one to twiddle my thumbs, it drives me crazy.  In keeping with the manly or masculine theme for this week I chose to create a Heritage/Steampunk style layout.  This theme was a little bit out of my comfort zone, (OK, more than a little bit).  Yikes!....No flowers!,  but I really enjoyed the challenge.  Once I began looking through my gorgeous chippies, the project came together easily.  I'm really happy with the end result.  I think this would make a great gift for the man in your life when mounted inside of a 12 x 12 shadowbox frame under glass.

I used a variety of techniques on this layout.  The vintage photo came from a free collage sheet I'd downloaded.  I printed it out then cut it into four strips and mounted the strips on a mat.  I think it gave the photo a little more interest.  The chipboard pieces were colored using different techniques.  The hot air balloon was colored with gelatos, I punched holes in the bottom section of the balloon with my cropodile and connected it to the top section with jump rings.  The antique car was embossed with stampendous shabby black embossing powder. The clock faces were inked with Prima chalk inks in various shades.  The hinges were given a rusty look with Tim Holtz distress embossing powders in vintage photo and antique linen.  The clock hands were embossed in copper.  The antique bike was inked in black and trimmed with a little gold rub n buff.  I really enjoyed incorporating all the collage elements with the chipboard pieces.  I hope you like it and that I've inspired you to try something different.. 

To see  more "Make it Manly Week" projects, visit Gina's Designs new blog on blogspot!

Gina's Designs Products used:

Hot Air Balloon from Steampunk Shape Set

Faux Typewriter Keys (in gold color)

Antique Car from Guy Thing Shape Set

Skeleton Clocks (sets of different sizes)

Hinges Shape Set

Gears from Gears Shape Set

Antique Bicycle from Guy Thing Shape Set