Thursday, December 22, 2016

Tall Gingerbread House Mini Album with Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts

Hey everyone!  It's Christmas time, and what's better than a Gingerbread House?  How about a Gingerbread House Mini Album Tall from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.  It's beautiful, fun, and best of all, has absolutely no calories!

Front

Back

This shape set from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts has lots of shapes suitable for decorating your very own Gingerbread House. 


Cover all album pages with the print paper.  I used the new Sweet Peppermint paper from Prima.  I also laid out some of my shapes to see how they would look.  It is always a good idea to take a picture at this time so it is easy to remember placement later.


Distress all edges with brown distress ink, and then mark and punch holes for the binder rings.


To decorate the door, I used two shutter pieces and cut them apart, as shown.  I used the top left and lower right pieces to form one solid piece that now fits the length of the door.



Cover the door with a piece of the paper from the collection and add a small brad for a door knob.  Paint the two shutter pieces with red paint and glue to the door front.


Here are the pieces I have so far.  Each of the pieces were painted with acrylic paints, as shown, and the candy pieces were glued over the topiary tree.  I wrapped bakers twine around the two columns and used pictures from the paper collection to glue behind the windows. 


Add the laser cut elements to the front page, as shown.  Add snow along the roofline, windows, door frame and topiaries.  Add liquid glass with a sprinkling of glitter to the candies on the topiaries to make them look sparkly and shiny, like hard candy.  Add tiny drops of red 3-dimensional paint to the wreath to look like berries.


Page 2:  Die cut a decorative border strip from cream card stock and  adhere to left side of page.  Add images from the paper collections with foam dots.  Paint three  candy canes with red and white acrylic paint, adhere as shown.  Lastly, punch a decorative snowflake edge that has been distressed with brown ink and add along the roof top.


Page 3:  Paint two candy canes with red and white paint, adhere along roofline, as shown.  Make a mini paper rosette and add to the center top of he roof, and then place paper images, as shown.  The train image was glued only around the bottom and sides to form a pocket for journal cards.


Page 4:  Adhere strip of paper that has been die cut with the rosette die along the roof line, and an image circle punched from the paper with foam dots.  The Santa image was glued along right side and bottom area to form a pocket.  Two pieces of card stock were cut to 3"x4", forming a journal card, and images from the paper collection were adhered, then inserted into the pocket, as shown.


Page 5:  Ribbon was adhered along roof line, and a rosette was placed in the center, as shown.  The three stockings were adhered with glue dots, along with the girl image.  A gold Dresden Christmas tree was antiqued with brown ink and adhered with the Joyful image, as shown.


Page 6:  Red Dresdent border was adhered along roof line, and the wreath with bow were painted and adhered to center of roof.  The remaining images are from the paper collections.


Page 7:  Pink ribbon was adhered along roof line, and a pink bow was tied and added to the center of the roof.  A strip from the paper was adhered to the lower half of the page, gluing only the sides to form a band to slip journal cards into.  The Cardinal was adhered over the wreath image with pop dots for dimension.



Page 8:  A snowflake punched edge was added to the roofline, along with a rosette to the center.  A trellis design was die cut, distressed with brown ink, and adhered to the page, as shown.  The bell images were adhered with foam dots for dimension.  Two gingerbread cookies and word stickers were adhered, as shown.


Page 9:  Paint two candy canes and a round candy with red and white paint, adhere candy canes along roofline, as shown.   Make a rosette from the paper and adhered the round candy piece to the center.  Fussy cut a second image from the bottom of the sheet, and adhere to the bottom of the page with foam dots.  This makes a thick pocket for holding many journal cards.  



Page 10:  Red Dresden border was adhered along roof line.  Die cut images of ornaments from the paper collection were adhered along the top, while a few were adhered with pop dots for dimension.  The Light String Border was painted with red and green paints, and liquid glass was added to the light bulbs.  This was glued along the right side of the page, along with paper elements from the collection.


Page 11:  Pink ribbon was adhered along roof line and an image from the paper was added to the center with foam dots.  The doll and cookie image were glued only along the side and bottom to form a pocket to hold journal cards.  Three round candies were paint with red and white paint and added to the background, as shown.



Back cover:  Red Dresden border was adhered along roof line.  Paper images were adhered, as shown.  Two  trees, candy cane, and round candy were all painted and adhered to page, as shown.


Use binder rings to bind the book, and tie pretty ribbons onto the rings.  As you can see, it has become quite fat and chunky, but I love it like that.  


Supplies Used:

GSL Light String Border
Prima Sweet Peppermint Paper Collection
Tim Coffey Christmas Embellishments
Spellbinders S4-436 Anne Border Strip
Cream card stock
Gold Pearl 3D paint
Distress inks:  brown, green, evergreen
DecoArt Americana Chalk Paint
  Vintage
  Romance
  Rustic
DecoArt Americana Multi-Surface Satin
  Cotton Ball
DecoArt Media Liquid Glass
Assorted Brushes
Timeless Twine (Bella Creationz)
Mini brad (for doorknob)
Sizzix dies: Mini Paper Rosettes, Label Trellis
3D Foam dots
Decorative punches (Martha Stewart)
Assorted Ribbons

Thanks for stopping by, and have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Holidays all!!

Barbara

Friday, December 16, 2016

ColourArte Mixed Media Christmas Ornament Remake

Hello friends!  I just wanted to share my latest video tutorial of a very large Christmas ornament I found in my local craft store.  I thought the decorative elements were pretty, but the color was not really to my liking.  So, I decided to use my beautiful ColourArte paint products to personalize it.



ColourArte Supplies used:  

Silks Acrylic Glaze
  Celadon
Vivid Ultra Metallics
  Solar Gold
  True Silver
The Solution
Primary Elements
  China Black
  Forest Green
  African Jade
  Black Emerald
  Bronze Medallion
  Burnt Umber

Large Christmas Ornament (16" long) (Michaels)
White gesso
White crackle paint
Assorted Brushes
Sponges
Gold cording

I hope you were inspired by my video and learned a few things along the way.  I also hope you would consider subscribing to my channel, and please be sure to give me a thumbs up!

Thanks for watching, and have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Barbara

Thursday, December 8, 2016

#ColourArteVideoHop - Holiday/Winter and Giveaway

Happy Holidays everyone!  I just wanted to let you all know that ColourArte is having a fun-filled video hop to help warm you up for the holidays.  Beginning Thursday, December 8, 2016, at 10:00am CST, you can be completely inspired by the holiday and winter ideas for DIY projects you can make yourself.  And if you comment on the videos, you might win one of several prizes from ColourArte.com.  How fun is that? 


 

And here is my video link.  I hope you will consider subscribing to my channel!    




Please see the OFFICIAL GIVEAWAY RULES BELOW. After you have viewed this video and entered the contest, click on the first video link below. This will take you to the next designer’s video. Continue to click on the FIRST link after watching each video. When you return to the first video you will know that you have maneuvered through the entire video hop. Enjoy the hop and good luck in the giveaway!

Daniela Rogall  https://youtu.be/W61iN98JdkQ
Arantzazu Sangrador  https://youtu.be/IXzTqqCyYqk
Vicki Louise Neil Ross  https://youtu.be/UOdUr17WYN8
Karolina Bukowska  https://youtu.be/Wfair3m5FFQ
Barbara Rankin  https://youtu.be/tHIOy0DGXwY
Sandee Setliff  https://youtu.be/dCZKVFwXdE8
Athanasia Papantoniou  https://youtu.be/XQgB-QG3rKM 
Linda Ann Smith  https://youtu.be/sz6DIZVlMEE
Cindy Porter  https://youtu.be/v5x0jIUynro
Yasmina Tin Sang  https://youtu.be/SGqKjLA48Dk

OFFICIAL GIVEAWAY RULES: 
1. To enter post a comment on the video. You are welcome to comment more than once, but only your first comment will serve as the contest entry. You have 10 opportunities to enter since there are 10 designers participating in this hop.
2. The Contest begins at the beginning of this video hop on Thursday Dec. 8, 2016 and ends on Thursday, December 15, 2016, at midnight CST. Winners will be chosen by random drawings and announced on Sunday, December 18, 2016 on the ColourArte Open Studio Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/colourartepaintstudio/ and on ColourArte’s youtube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWBXg1xhRGAAdfyLSX8Z5vA Once a winner is chosen he/she is not eligible to win again during this hop on another channel. One prize will be given for each designer’s video consisting of the following the new Primary Elements 6-piece Shaker Set with The Solution medium. 
4. Winners have 48 hours from the time the announcement is posted to claim the prize and provide their mailing address, or the prize will be forfeited and a new winner will be drawn. 
5. The giveaway is open internationally, except where prohibited by law, and all entrants must be at least 18 years of age to participate. 

Winners will be announced shortly thereafter.  


Happy Holidays and good luck in the giveaway!!!


Barbara


Countdown to Christmas Mixed Media Tree with Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts

Hey everyone!  So, how's your Christmas crafting coming along?  You may have noticed that the design team has fallen in love with these Christmas Countdown Trees from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts, so I am going to share yet another variation to help inspire you. 


Tree Front
Tree Back with box to hold number tags

On the back side of script paper, trace the tree.



On a second piece of script paper, reverse the tree, not the paper, so you can continue to trace on the back side of the paper.  The tree is not symetrical, so this is important.



Cut out both pieces of paper and adhere to both sides of the tree, matching up the edges.  You may notice that I have not covered up the notches at the bottom so they will fit inside the notch holes in the stand.  Use a sanding block to remove any excess paper, and an emery board to get into the smaller areas. 



For the stand, cut two pieces of script paper 4" x 11-1/2".  Adhere top piece first, and cut out notches, as shown.



Adhere second piece to the bottom, which will cover the notches and notch holes for a finished look.



Cover both sides of the small rectangular notched piece, leaving the notches uncovered.  Cover these two small rectangular pieces that fit along the sides of the notched piece.



Seal paper with matte medium on both sides of tree, the small rectangular notched piece and sides, and the stand.



Spread modeling paste through stencil on both sides of tree, small rectangular notched piece, and the top of the stand.


 

I used Tattered Angels sprays to cover all the chipboard pieces that have been covered with paper.  I used a heat gun to dry the paper between colors.  Continue adding colors until you like the result.



Edge all pieces with a gold gilding paste and highlight stenciled areas on the tree.



Edge the stand and small rectangular notched piece and sides, as shown.


Stand and box parts


Assemble the tree into the stand and add the "box" piece using the small rectangular notched piece with the two sides to the reverse side of the tree.  

Front of tree


Back of tree with "box"
Glue a piece of gold tinsel around tree and clamp until glue dries.


Paint the numbers and words with white gesso.



Spray numbers and words with one of the Tattered Angels colors.  I used the purplish color.  Let dry.




The quickest way to cover all of the little number tags is to run a piece of print paper through a Xyron.



Remove the backing paper and lay each tag on top of the sticky side.  Cut apart with a craft knife, and  punch your holes before covering the other side.



Repeat this step for the back of the tags, and punch the holes again.


Back side of tags
Add gold gilding paste to letters and words, and around the tag edges.  Adhere the numbers to the center of each tag front.  (See Figure 1 below)



Mix some of the green mist with white paint and sponge the color onto a sheet of snowflake shapes.  Repeat this for the other side in case some of the snowflakes extend past the tree and will be seen.



Let that dry, then spray both sides with a pearl mist.  When that is dry, separate the snowflakes from the sheet.



Begin adding the embellishments.  First, determine where you plan to place the words and number tags.  To make the words show up better, I used Silver gilding paste on them, and adhered "Days Until" to the tree, as shown.  Use the tags to mark placement for hooks.   I used a paper piercer to make tiny holes, but did not go all the way through the chipboard.


Figure 1

I cut two tiny screw eyes apart, as shown, to make a hook for hanging the tags.



I gently screwed the hooks into the chipboard, and kept my finger behind the screw to feel if it was going to go through.  It did not, so these were just the right size.

Hooks for hanging tags

Embellish with snowflakes, flowers, leaves, berries, and lastly, adhere the word "Christmas" to the front edge of the stand, and place your remaining number tags in the box for storing.

  


Supplies used:

GSL Christmas Countdown Tree Kit  (Coming Soon - Contact Store)
GSL Snowflake Shape Set
Acrylic paints
Tattered Angels Mists
Gold and Silver gilding paste
Floral embellishments
Gold tinsel ribbon
Stencil
Molding Paste
Matte Medium
Assorted brushes
Sponge dabber

So, let the countdown begin, and thanks for stopping by.

Barbara