An Altered Wooden Photo Frame with 'Nightfall' and an Owl Shaped Mini Album with 'Harvest'

I have two projects for today's post.  One is this wooden photo frame that I altered with the 'Nightfall' collection by Authentique.  The second is a throwback project made with the 'Harvest' collection also by Authentique.

 The frame holds a 4" x 6" inch photo.  The photo frame was unfinished raw wood.  I painted it, adhered the designer paper to it, sanded it down & embellished it turning the frame into a super decorated Halloween frame.

The picture is of my son from 2015.  He was a scarecrow that year & it was a year that I actually made his costume instead of purchasing it.  A personal accomplishment.  :-)

The 'Nightfall One' paper from the collection provided the perfect background to my frame.  It was a quick way to transform a plain frame & I only had to add a couple of more embellishments to finalize the project.  

I added three 'streamers' tucked in within the Halloween spray.  They are 12" inch strips cut from the coordinating solids measuring approximately 1/4" of an inch in width.  I simply curled them with my scissors & hot glued them within the Halloween spray.

The frame is sealed with a glittered specialty finish by Martha Stewart.  I've had this type of medium in my stash for a long time & have used it to seal on various projects.  I like the fact that it seals but also provides a shimmery effect to your project which you can see in the photo above.

The orange glittered border seen around the photo opening was created by adhering double sided tape (1/8" inch).  Once the tape was applied, I sprinkled the orange glitter on top & pressed down.  The glitter adheres to the tape creating an even border along the edge.

Here are the steps I took to create my photo frame.

I painted the entire back & sides of the frame (not shown here) as well as the front border of the frame with black acrylic paint.  Once the paint dried I traced the design of the frame (including the oval opening where my photo will be placed) onto my designer paper with a pencil.  Then with scissors I cut the design out.  

Next I adhered the designer paper to my frame with Decoupage adhesive & ensured the paper thoroughly adhered to my frame--especially the edges.

Next comes the sanding.  I sand all the edges of my frame to give the edges a nice finished look.  For this process I use a couple of sanding tools shown here.  You can probably use nail files for this process if you don't have craft ones on hand--I don't see why these wouldn't do the job as well.  

This is probably what takes the longest when creating this sort of project since you have to go around all the edges--including the photo opening--with the sanding tools & remove any & all excess paper as you sand.

Once the sanding was done, I applied the specialty finish shown here.  I let that dry & the last step I did prior to embellishing the frame was to ink all along the edges of my frame with black distress ink in order to make the edges stand out.

My second project is this owl shaped mini album made with the 'Harvest' collection.  This collection came out a few years back for Autumn.  I created this mini many moons ago but had simply never shared it.  I decided it was time to share.  :-)

The base of the mini was made with the use of a Sizzix Owl Bigz die (Item# A10165).  Mini measures approximately 4 3/8" x 3 1/2" inches which is what the owl design measures once cut.  

The album consists of 6 pages & the pages are adhered to the spine with hinges.  This mini can stand on it's own & be displayed on any shelf, table or desk.

Mini is held closed with a piece of jute string.

I have not yet embellished the pages.  I did leave about a 1/4" inch gusset in between each page which will allow for some dimension to be added to the pages of the mini.  Even though this mini is small, you can still do a lot with it.  It depends on how creative you want to get.  You can add pockets, mini frames, belly bands, tuck spots, envelopes & other bits & bobs in addition to the small photos in order to embellish the pages.  It's a work in progress.  :-)  Mini album will eventually be available for sale in my Etsy shop, The Midnight Kraft Desk.  Feel free to subscribe to my shop's FB page in order to stay up to date on the latest items added to my shop.

I hope this project inspires some of you to use your dies in new ways.

Supplies: Paper - Authentique, Embellishments - Authentique, Dies - Sizzix, Flowers - The Midnight Kraft Desk, Other - Mulberry Paper Flowers, Mini Pine Cone, Fabric Flowers, Jute String

Thanks for stopping by!

1st Birthday Layout

This birthday themed layout is one that I've been wanting to post for some time now.  I made this page with the 'Wishes' collection by Authentique.  It showcases one of the photos taken from my son's 1st Birthday photo shoot.

I cannot believe that 1 entire year has flown by already!  My little pea is now walking, talking & is a little man in training.  I personally do not want him to get any bigger!  Sigh...but one cannot stop the hands of time.

 For my background I used the 'Hallmark' paper from the 'Wishes' collection.  It's a busy, yet colorful background.  I grounded my photo & elements by matting them with solid colored elements.

TIP: I created my own mini flags with the use of a Fiskars Banner Punch & wooden tooth picks!  You can see one in this photo.  If you don't have a banner punch you can cut your own triangle either free form or draw it out.  Then with a little bit of glue adhere them onto tooth picks & voila--you have mini flag embellishments!  You can't tell too well in this photo but I curled the flag in an up & down manner so as to give it the effect of it 'flapping' in the wind.

 Sequins are bits that I've had in my stash since the beginning of time--well looky here--I finally found an excuse to use them!  I just randomly scattered them around my page to give it some bling!

 The bright red organza ribbon star flower & the small light blue ribbon flower shown here are items from my own stash.  I have several of these in a variety of colors up for sale in my Etsy shop.  If interested, feel free to check them out here.

The cupcakes were fussy cut from the 'Crave' paper.  I added some Star Dust Stickles to dress them up a bit more.  Here you also see my 2nd mini flag embellishment.

What would a page based on my son be without one of those cute flocked teddy bears!  Oh how I love these little guys.  I find reasons to add them onto the majority of my projects!  :-)

Spring is just a few days away folks--so hang in there!  Thanks for stopping by & enjoy the rest of the week.

'Precious' Altered Clock

So this is a first for me.  I finally decided to alter a Tim Holtz clock.  I think it came out OK for my very first try.  I ended up playing around with it for two evenings--but I finally got it to look how I had 'envisioned' it in my head.

I made this project for the CHA Authentique booth since I've used Authentique's 'Precious' line to make all the embellishments that decorate the clock.  I wanted to use it as a frame for a photo taken at my son's first birthday photo session.  I love this picture of my son--he looks just like a 'little man' in this one!

The clock ended up having a really cool 'frosty' looking texture.  I achieved this by first priming the entire clock with gesso.  TIP: if you decide to completely paint your clock, I suggest you take it apart.  I ended up 'borrowing' some of my husbands tools to remove the front glass & the bells.  This made it much easier to cover the clock completely with my mediums.

Once the gesso dried I applied a thick coat of Martha Stewart's Terra Cotta paint in White.  This paint has a sand-like texture to it that I really liked.  Next to give it a bit of color, I took a medium sized paint brush & randomly applied Mint Julip Pearlz from Shimmerz on it.  Finally once it was all dry I applied a coat of Martha Stewart's Frost Paint which is a sort of sealant with a touch of glimmer to it.  I love the effect the combination of all these mediums gave me!

From the start I knew I wanted something hanging from the clock's bells.  Charms, ribbons, tags...I just didn't know what I wanted.  In the end I took some of the sticker elements from the 'Precious' collection & with Glossy Accents adhered them to a couple of Tim Holtz Fragments that I've had in my stash for an eternity plus one.  I then attached the charms with jump rings onto a Tim Holtz swivel clasp--added a little teddy bear charm on top & hooked it from one of the clock's bells and ta-da!  My vision became a reality! 

Three different dies were used to make the hot air balloon, spiral flowers & butterfly.  Aren't those spiral flowers cute!  Note to Self:  I really need to make more of these for my projects in the future! 

With hot glue I adhered a string of mint green pearls around the front of my clock.

Tim Holtz is all over my clock it seems.  I've used his Tattered Floral die to create this large flower.  I combined acrylic, vellum & designer paper onto my flower.  I love adding acrylic/transparencies into my flowers--it gives them a different effect/look.  I have a tutorial on my blog showing how I decorated the edges of the acrylic petal so that it stands out more & how to create flowers with the use of transparencies.  You can find the tutorial here if interested. 

The inside of the clock is decorated with some frosty netting that I had in my stash.  I believe I bought this netting around Christmas--the netting is frosty & covered in glitter--half of the glitter is still sitting on the floor of my scrap room!  I scrunched up a bit of the netting & adhered it with some double sided sticky tape to the bottom of the clock.  My photo is matted with papers from the 'Precious' line & I've added more spiral flowers along the bottom side of the photo to decorate it.

Supplies: Clock - Tim Holtz, Dies - La-La Land Crafts, Die-namics, Memory Box, Tim Holtz, Paint - Martha Stewart, Shimmerz, Ribbon - May Arts, Hardware - Tim Holtz, Embellishments - Tim Holtz, Other: Mini Wooden Frame, Flocked Teddy Bear

Hope this inspires some of you to experiment with different elements.  Take care & enjoy the rest of the week!

Knowledge Is Power Layout

I'm so very happy to be one of CSI's (Color, Stories, Inspiration...) main sponsor for February!  I'm offering a voucher to my Etsy shop to one lucky winner!

In addition to being CSI's main sponsor--I also get to be one of their guest detectives.  How fun!  I've been a fan of CSI since their very first case file was revealed.  In fact, if interested--feel free to check out my entry for their first case file here!

I fell completely in love with Case File No. 109.  First of all--I'm such a book worm myself.  Anything involving books is a good thing in my opinion.  One of  my biggest aspirations for my son is that he'll love books just as much as I do.  Which is why I started buying him books before he was even born!  Yes--by the time he came into this world he had a reasonable collection of Dr. Seuss, several fairy tales that I myself grew up with, educational books, picture books & much more in his always-growing book collection.  Also since I'm fluent in both English & Spanish--many of these books are bilingual which absolutely thrilled me to no end to find books printed like this!

So when I received this case file--I took a few of my son's books out & spread them around him & snapped these photos.

The colors for this case file are excellent for boy themed pages--they worked just right for my overall theme.  They're a combination of colors that I don't usually work with & I loved the challenge this brought.

For my evidence I have: book pages, silver accents, birds & frames

For my testimony I've created a mini book to hold my thoughts & journaling.  I have a tutorial available on how I make these mini books--you can find it here if interested.  All of my layouts include journaling.  So I'm always trying new ways to store my journaling onto my page.

Layers, layers & more layers was how I tackled this page.  I have many little bits & bobs, papers & embellishments layered one on top of the other.  I also did a bit of masking, painting & even included some mixed media & stamping onto my background.

Here's my booklet that holds my journaling.  I love creating these little booklets--they make for really cute unique embellishments for my pages as well.

Here you can see a bit of the mixed media & stamping.  The word 'Books' was done with a fine tipped Sharpie marker & the use of 1" letter stencils that I bought at my local craft store.  TIP:  Go back to your childhood & color!  With a couple of Prismacolor pencils I 'colored' in the letters for the word 'Book'.  I then took a metallic gel point pen & randomly highlighted the letters.  You can do this technique for anything...designs on paper, letters, titles etc.  Use pencils, markers & even crayons!  Color them in for a different effect or look.

The title was made with my Dymo label maker & adhered onto my page with pop dots.

The bright red organza star flower & small yellow ribbon flower are items from my own personal stash.  I have both of these in more colors available in my shop.  They make for excellent fillers to clusters & are really cute embellishments.

Here's what my journaling book looks like when opened.  The main point in my long list of thoughts is that I hope to inspire my son to find the wonders of books regardless of all this technology available in this day & age.  Cell phones, Face Book, the Internet & who knows what else will be invented in the future--I know there's no way to avoid that & that's OK but, I hope that he'll still pick up an old-fashioned book once in a while & read.

Primary Supplies: Paper - 7 Dots Studio, Stamps - Tim Holtz, Prima, Mask - Crafters Workshop, Paints/Mists - Shimmerz, Tattered Angels, Embellishments - Prima, Kay's Kreative Korner, Tim Holtz

Thanks for stopping by & enjoy the rest of the week!

Grandparents Layout

 Good morning fellow scrappers!  This page just rec'd a little makeover.  I wasn't 100% happy with the original take on this page.  When I'm not 100%--it nags me until I go back & 'fix' it.  I removed all the splatters of paint & color from this page--it just felt like a bit too much on the eyes.  Every time I looked at it I felt the urge to put on sunglasses!  :-)  So I toned it down a lot.  This simpler look focuses more on the photo which is what I originally wanted.

This page has one of my most recent favorite pictures which is my son with his grandparents (my parents).  My son is their very first grandchild and they're very much in love with him.  Personally, I have a very special place in my heart for grandparents.  I myself was raised alongside my grandmother.  She loved me unconditionally & taught me so many lessons about life in general.  She took care of me, always cooked my favorite meals & I could do no wrong in her eyes.  I still miss her daily even though she's been gone from my side going on 8 years now.  Like it is with all loved ones--you never stop missing them.

So it warms my heart to see history repeat itself with my son.  He loves his 'Ya-Ya' & 'Ya-Yo' which is what he calls them. He's already developed a special bond with them--one that I'm sure he'll cherish as much as I cherished the bond I had with my grandmother.

All papers used are from Authentique's 'Promise' collection.  The collection is geared towards Easter but I wanted to show how versatile these papers are & used them for a completely different theme.  All chipboard used is by Leaky Shed Studio.  I've used the 'Watch Parts' & 'Hot Air Balloon #2' chippies.

 All of the chipboard was treated the same way in order to give them a bit of texture.  I kept them in the raw & decided against painting them since their raw color when perfectly with the colors of my layout.  So I decided to give them a bit of shimmer.  They were all inked with embossing ink & heat embossed with Star Dust Transparent embossing powder by Stampendous.  In person all these chippies have a shimmery effect to them.

TIP: To be able to place your title anywhere on your page & give it a dimensional 'floating' effect.  Try taking the letter stickers & placing them on a piece of acrylic or a transparency.  That's how I created my title for this page.  I placed the letters onto a piece of transparency, cut it out & adhered it to my page over a few of the embellishments with clear dry adhesive.

My cluster is full of all kinds of different flowers.  I have flowers by Prima, Petaloo, Manor House Creation & from my own stash.  The bright green flowers with the white center pearl along with the small yellow & white ribbon flowers are from my own stash.  I have these & a few more in different colors available for sale in my Etsy shop here.  Feel free to visit my shop if interested.  These flowers make for great fillers.  Speaking of fillers--I've also incorporated a bit of Spanish moss into my cluster.  A first for me--but certainly not a last. 

Surfing along the Internet for quotes that would fit this page I ran into this one said by the former mayor of New York.  I felt that it fit my thoughts perfectly.  I printed it directly onto one of the left over scraps from the 'Promise' collection & cut it into the form of a tag--punch a hole, run some tulle through it & voila!  Instant makeshift journaling tag.

 Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit.  Make sure to visit the Authentique blog where all week long we'll be sharing projects with both Authentique & Leaky Shed Studio products!

Take care & enjoy the rest of the week...

Christmas Orna-Mini

Good morning fellow scrappers!  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas & New Year.  I myself had a very relaxing one which is why I've been quiet in blogger land.  I took a few days off from work, I rested, read books, watched movies, spent quality time with my family & created at my leisure--now that's what I call a good vacation!

So before it gets even more later in the year, I'd like to share this Christmas project I made in December for Authentique.  For this project I combined products from both Authentique & Kiwi Lane Designs.

Kiwi Lane provided me with a sample of their 'Christmas Accessory' templates & with these templates I created this hybrid of a mini album & ornament.  Yes, I've made up my own word--an orna-mini!

This is because I couldn't decide in which direction to take this project--did I want a mini album?  Or did I want an ornament?  All I knew is that I only had one photo I wanted to use so it couldn't per say be a mini album but I also wanted more than one page to it which didn't really make it an ornament.  So I improvised & made my own little hybrid creation!  :-)

 There are a total of three ornaments within this project.  I have two small ones & one large one that I've used as my background.

In this photo you see a closeup of one of the small ornaments.  I've used a Kiwi template to trace & cut out this ornament from a piece of Clear Scraps acrylic.  I used the same template to cut out another ornament from one of the 'Joyous' papers & this I've adhered to the back of the acrylic.  Since this is acrylic--it's transparent--so the design of the paper shows through.

Next I took green & red alcohol inks & applied drops of the inks directly onto my acrylic (the bare side--not the side where the paper was adhered to).  Then to get all those splatter effects, I spritzed the drops of alcohol inks with a can of compressed air.  This always works like a charm for getting those streaky effects with alcohol inks.  You can find a tutorial for this technique here.

To finalize this ornament I applied clear dry adhesive along the border with a thin brush & applied a bit of Diamond Dust to the adhesive.

 All papers used are from Authentique's 'Joyous' collection.  I've used a bit of green Petaloo tinsel to highlight the border of my large background ornament.

 The two layers of this orna-mini are kept together with a 1" metal book ring.  I tied a bit of tulle & ribbon to the book ring to decorate it a bit more.  With my crop-a-dile I punched holes at the top of my ornaments & applied a white eyelet to it in order to run the 1" book ring through.

TIP: Ensure that whenever you use alcohol inks on acrylic that it's completely dry before you handle it.  As you can see in this photo you can see my big ol' thumb print in the upper corner of the ornament!  lol Got a bit too impatient which is silly since alcohol inks dry fairly fast on acrylic.  I guess those 30 seconds I had to wait were too long for me.  Tsk, tsk tsk...

The year was made with the use of a Dymo Label Maker. 

 Our family Christmas photo for 2013!  It was the best one out of many--it's the only one where Toby isn't sticking his tongue out.  lol  My pup is forever excited & is always panting.  My son is much more laid back & ended up 'posing' with his hand under his chin all on his own. 

The holly leaf was also made with the use of a Kiwi Lane template.  The edges were inked & dots of beige acrylic paint were applied.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit & I'm looking forward to what 2014 has in store!