Hi everyone! Welcome back to my first blog post of the New Year. I was thinking about all the Christmas and New Year's celebrations and get togethers, and the opportunity for photos to capture those special moments. Now, you are going to need a place to display them, and what better place than a specially made Snowman mini album. This is a new one from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts, and I am tickled to share my ideas with you.
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| Front Cover |
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| Back Cover |
There are six chipboard pages, and I traced each side onto print paper and cut them out. Remember, the front and back of each paper will need to be mirrored to fit each side of the chipboard properly.
Apply adhesive to the back side of each paper piece. I like to use my Xyron Creative Station for speed and efficiency, but you can use any adhesive you have on hand.
Adhere papers to each chipboard page, front and back. Trim off any excess paper, if necessary.
Punch holes in binding edge of each chipboard page. I used a Cinch tool, but if you don't have one of these, you can punch two or three holes in each page and using binder rings to hold the book together.
Edge each page with white acrylic paint. I used Adirondack Snow Cap in a dabber bottle for quick application.
Use the chipboard pieces from the Winter Snowman Banner to trace each shape onto various pieces of the paper. I decided to glue a snowman to each page inside my album, so I cut 12 pieces of each shape, remembering to mirror them so they would fit properly.
With the exception of 10 of the snowman body, I ran all these paper pieces through my Xyron Creative Station. I edged the chipboard pieces with the white acrylic paint.
These pieces are not symmetrical, so I figured out which way to lay them on top of each other. I marked them with a directional arrow to indicate which way to place the chipboard snowman on top of the album page. The top hat has a direction, too, as does the scarf. You will know right away that it is not quite right if you place it down wrong. Then I adhered the paper pieces to the chipboard pieces.
I used gem stickers in various sizes for the eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons. I used German Dresden scrap pieces from my stash, one for his hat band and another to center over the scarf. Lastly, I used a waterbrush and Blue Ice watercolor to add shading and delineate his arms down to the mittens.
I also painted the tiny German scrap pieces with the Blue Ice watercolor to tone down the shiny gold color before adhering them.
I decided to turn each of my snowmen into a pocket on the remaining interior pages. Just run a line of white glue along the outer edge to attach him to the page. I worked in assembly line fashion, where I continued to do the same step for each page. This allows the glue to dry while I'm working ahead. By the time I get back to the first page, the glue is usually dry.
Now you will have room for tags, more photos, ephemera, or any items you want to slip into the pocket, and still have room for photos on each page background. Then come back and decorate each snowman with his clothes and facial features, just the same as for the cover snowman.
Paint snowflakes and word ribbons with white paint, let dry. Brush a coat of gloss varnish over the word ribbons only.
Add a coat of white crackle paste over the larger, more solid snowflake and let dry.
Paint the snowflakes with a wash of Cerulean Blue acrylic paint. If you want a darker color, just add another coat after the first coat dries.
Paint a darker wash of the Cerulean Blue paint over the word ribbons, as shown.
For added shimmer, add Vintage Silk Opal Magic wax to the word ribbons and snowflakes. You can see how it add highlights to the word ribbons.
Make three rosettes following the directions with the rosettes dies. Adhere them to the front cover of the mini album, as shown in the finished photo at the top of the post. Adhere the word ribbons above the rosettes, and glue a couple of the snowflakes over the rosettes. Additional bling was added to the snowflake centers, too.
I cut tags from coordinating solid color card stock and added matching stickers from the paper collection. These were slipped into the snowman pocket. More photos or journaling can be added to the back of each tag.
Below are pictures of each page of the album.
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| Back Cover Front Cover |
Supplies Used:
GSL Snowman Mini Album (coming soon)
GSL Winter Snowman Banner
GSL Snowflake Shape Set Minis
GSL Snowflake Shape Set
GSL Word Ribbons 2 (Moments)
GSL Word Ribbons 3 (Magical)
BoBunny Snowy Serenade paper collection
BoBunny Snowy Serenade sticker sheet
Lily White Sugar Dust glitter paper (Doodlebug Designs)(Hobby Lobby)
Sizzix dies (Snowflake Rosette)(Mini Snowflake Rosettes)(Tag, Crescent Combo)
(Tag, Super Crescent)
Adirondack Snow Cap acrylic paint dabber
ColourArte Twinkling H20s Blue Ice
DecoArt Media Crackle Paste, Gloss Varnish
DecoArt Acrylic Paint (Cerulean Blue)
Prima Opal Magic Wax (Vintage Silk)
Water brush
Xyron Creative Station
Xyron Permanent Adhesive
German Dresden Scrap (online)
Black and clear gem stickers
White glue
I hope you enjoyed my project today, and if you are in need of a pretty little album to keep your holiday mementos and photos in, this adorable mini will do the trick. Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful New Year!
Barbara
Hi everyone. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas with family and friends. However, what do you do when you get a Christmas card from someone after Christmas? Do you send them one back, or just wait until next year? Whatever you decide, it is never too late, or too early, to make a card for someone special at Christmas. So, this is an easy one but looks like a million bucks. Okay, that's just my opinion, but I hope you agree.
Choose an image from the Vintage Christmas collection and an appropriately sized frame from GSL. The Flourished Frame Karen works quite nicely for this image.
Trim your image to fit inside the frame opening, then paint frame with pearl nail polish and let dry.
Use your finger to dab the Stickles lime green glitter glue for a delicate application and let dry.
Turn frame over and dab glue over frame, again using finger to apply a light coat. Lay frame over image and adhere both to front of card, as shown.
Make a couple of rosettes and follow directions that come with the die.
Paint Memories word ribbon and several different sizes of snowflakes with the pearl nail polish and let dry.
Use the flat end of a makeup sponge to dab Romance red paint over the top of the Memories word band. Add crystal Stickles glitter glue to top of each snowflake for extra sparkle, and edge rosettes with pine needles distress ink.
Adhere all pieces to card front, as shown, and lifting some of the pieces with foam dots.
Supplies Used:
GSL Flourished Frame Karen
GSL Word Ribbons 1
GSL Snowflake Shape Set
Vintage Christmas Paper Collection (Authentique)
Olive Green card stock (for 5"x7" folded card)
Rosettes die (Sizzix/Tim Holtz)
Tokyo Pearl Nail Polish (any pearl nail polish would work)
Romance chalk paint (DecoArt)
Lime Green, Crystal Stickles (Ranger)
Pine Needles Distress Ink (Tim Holtz)
Peace metal embellishment
I hope you enjoyed this super quick but oh-so-beautiful Christmas card. You can make beautiful cards so easily just by choosing an appropriate laser cut frame from Gypsy Soul, and there are so many to choose from, too. They add dimension without adding bulk, so they go through the mail without extra postage. Of course, if you add lots more embellishments like the rosettes on my card above, you might want to box it up or hand deliver it. Of course, if I am sending a gift, this is the perfect card to add inside the box, and yep, no extra postage there either.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I just want to wish you all a very Happy New Year!!!
Barbara
Hi everyone! How's your Christmas shopping coming along? If you need an idea for a unique gift this Christmas, how about making a shadowbox for someone special. They can display it every year and think of you. Or, keep it for yourself to enjoy year after year.
This one is a little tricky, so lay out all the pieces and, like a puzzle, dry fit them together. Everything will fit perfectly once you figure how they work together. I hope these pictures below will help you easily align everything.
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| view from bottom |
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| view from top |
Be sure to glue the inside portions of the house together first. See photo below.
Next, glue the three outer sides.
Then glue the roof down, and set aside to dry. (TIP: I have my shadowbox sitting on a non-stick mat to keep any seeping glue from adhering it to my work surface.)
Prime chipboard with white gesso. This step is optional, but as a mixed media artist, I find that it will give me a clean, smooth surface with tooth to accept any layers I decide to add, even if I decide to glue papers down.
Cut a piece of 12x12 paper to fit inside each cubby. I used Bo Bunny's Snowy Serenade Overture paper, but you can use whatever paper you have on hand. You may have noticed that I have not adhered these down yet because I want to paint the box with a coordinating color.
Remove the pieces of paper and number them to correspond to each cubby. This will make it easier to replace them with less opportunity to make a mistake. I did not number the triangle piece as it is the only one shaped like that.
I like to use my Xyron 510 sticker machine to run my papers through. This will make it really quick and easy to add them later, when I get the back side finished. Run all your paper strips and pieces that will fit through the Xyron 510 sticker maker.
Cut strips of music paper to fit the roof and adhere.
Cover the bottom and sides of the shadowbox, turning excess paper to the back, as shown.
Cut paper to fit the triangle shape and adhere to top portion of shadowbox on the back, as shown.
Cut a separate piece of the same paper to fit the bottom half of the house. If your paper has a pattern, try to match it up or at least align the paper so it looks pleasing to the eye. You can disguise the seam with lace or some of the chipboard Border Sticks that GSL carries.
I've decided to paint the inside cubbies with a color to match the background paper. I didn't have the exact color, so I just mixed up a color to match. You can see where I was testing colors on the back of some of the cubbies where it will later be covered with the paper.
Now it's time to adhere those papers that were cut and numbered to fit in each cubbie that was also numbered to correspond.
Cut two pieces of shell borders to fit along top of roof, and miter the center pieces to fit together. Use a makeup sponge to dab white gesso over border and, while gesso is still wet, sprinkle ultra-fine gold glitter over it. (TIP: Catch extra glitter in a coffee filter and use the filter to pour it back into its bottle.) Repeat this for both sides, since both sides will show above the roof line.
Glue border sticks to roof line, as shown. Don't worry if the miter isn't perfect. It will be covered in the next step.
Use makeup sponge to add white gesso to both sides of snowflake and cover with the white crystal snow glitter, then glue to center of roof top, covering the mitered join. I also added strips of white Dresden border to the three horizontal shelves, as shown.
Cut seven snowflakes from the snowflake border from the Winter Shape Set, and repeat process as for the large snowflake above.
Adhere along seam line where square and triangular papers meet.
I thought the snowflake border looked a little lonely, so I repeated the process on three more snowflakes of different sizes and glued them to the back, as shown.
Glue metal feet to base of shadowbox with E-6000 glue. See photo of finished project.
Use white gesso and white crystal snow glitter to decorate more snowflakes and part of the snowflake border.
When dry, adhere the snowflake border and snowflakes inside the cubbies, as shown. You can always make more if needed.
Use a craft knife to separate the reindeer from the Santa's Sleigh Border.
Paint and glitter the reindeer, again using the same process of white gesso and gold ultra fine glitter.
Glue reindeer feet to cubbie with white snowflake paste, as shown.
Decorate with whatever embellishments you wish to use, and change it up for whatever the season or theme. Here a some close-ups of each little cabbie. Each one is a little scene.
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| side view of shadow box |
Supplies Used:
GSL House Shadow Box
GSL Santa's Sleigh Border
GSL Border Sticks Shell
GSL Snowflake Shape Set
GSL Winter Shape Set
GSL Snowflake Border
Xyron 510 Sticker Maker machine
DecoArt Media White Gesso
DecoArt Media White Tinting Medium
Miss Lillian's Chanel Chock Paint
PVA white glue (any brand)
12x12 scrapbook paper (Bo Bunny)(Colorbok)(Paper Studio)
Gold Ultra Fine Glitter
White Crystal Snow Fine Glitter
Baroque Dresden Border White
Snowflake Paste (Finnabair)
E-6000 glue
Christmas embellishments (Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Tim Holtz, etc.)
I know this post is quite long and full of pictures, but I believe a picture is worth a thousand words, and I know from my own experiences that sometimes when I refer to something that is unfamiliar to you, a picture of it would have been helpful. So, if you made it this far, thanks for staying with me.
I hope you enjoyed my project today and that you have been inspired to make a little Christmas-themed shadowbox for display in your home this holiday. I plan to sit mine on my fireplace mantel. What will you do with yours?
Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful holiday season!!!
Barbara
