Organization project #1 - Ribbon and trims

My craft room is in dire need of some serious organization.  I did some straightening, but that is seriously not enough.  I did a destash, but I could stand to do another one.  However, as fellow crafters can probably empathize, it is hard to part with beloved craft supplies.  So I am not going to do it all at once, and not drag everything out to do it....for me that only results in disaster.  I room full of stuff and me being overwhelmed.  I decided to take on one project at a time and as it gets done, (putting no deadlines or pressure on myself), I will move onto the next. 

Project #1:  Ribbon and Trims....

How in the heck did I end up with so much ribbon and trim?  I destashed about half of it back in September, but there is just still so much there.   So here is the before picture.  I had two drawers chucked full.  I was originally going to do ribbon books.  You can see my original below.  I had done this one well over a year ago (if not longer), but never got around to doing more of them.  Two problems with this solution...took me a while to hand cut all the notches in the pages.  The whole thing was from scratch.  Second, I don't have a lot of surface space for storage, but I do have drawers.
I was able to get it down to one.  I move it to the Alex unit behind me for easier access as well.

BEFORE

 

AFTER

 

The original book:  Front cover view

 Spine

 Inside view.

I had recently purchased a silhouette.  Well, I got it back in September with the proceeds of the destash, but recently took it out to play with it.  Shall I say I am in love? Boy am I ever.   Using file # 45600  from the silhouette store.  I created a storage solution that I love. 

The file comes with the cuts for box, 8 inserts, and side panels.  I just used patterned paper and since it was in a drawer, I didn't worry about fussing with that step.  I did however cut double the panels as I wanted to double up the inserts to make sure they were more durable - so I just glued two back to back.  In all, I cut twenty four boxes (only used 20) and 8 x 384 inserts.  The box measures 5 1/4" long x 2 13/16" wide x 2 6/16" deep then card at its tallest point is 2 13/16".

The drawer held twenty boxes and 5 - 10 cards fit in each depending the amount of ribbon/trim and thickness. I had just enough room along the side to tuck in 12 more cards without the boxes.


The box cut. It was easy to assemble because the fold lines were perforated.

 Assembled using score tape and inked edges.

 Here is a box filled with the ribbon

 A close up of the ribbon cards.

A quick Christmas Project

I was having the entire family over for Christmas.  Everything looked festive and cheery, but the back wall on one side of a door way was completely blank.  It needed something quick, easy, and festive.  This was a very fast and easy project...a little simpler than I usually like to go but I think it turned out pretty nice. 

Canvas #5 Simple with an elegant French Country Flair

Simple was the next style I wanted to tackle.  I don't think simple is necessarily it's own style but a version of any style.  For example, you could go simple and clean on vintage or heavily embellished as the same with steam punk or any other style.  So I went with French Country and I wanted to do a an simple and elegant version as the papers are so gorgeous that they shine on their own.  This canvas took lest than 20 minutes to complete.  Bonus.

1.  Painted edges of canvas with TH black crackle paint.  Very quick and produced tiny crackles. 
2.  Sprayed ribbon with pearl Tattered Angel's Glimmer Mist.
3.  Cut and inked papers.
4.  Layered on papers - adding ribbon before adding top piece.. 
5.  Added fussy cut flowers and a Jolee's flourish.
6.  Tied ribbon.
7.  Used gold rub & buff to highlight edges of canvas and black edges of paper.

Canvas #4 - Grunge

I am so in love with grunge.  I love every variation from vintage-grunge to steampunk-grunge and every thing in between.  What I appreciate most about it is that is perfect imperfection.

CANVAS

1. Covered with magic mesh.  It is the same thing as drywall tape that you can get at the hardware store.  It is self adhesive. 
2. Painted the entire thing with a texture medium and then let dry.
3. Used a stencil and texture paint.  Modeling paste will work just as well. I just used what was handy. I like to put it on a little sloppy where it isn't all flat and even.  It just adds more texture.  Let dry completely.
4.  Paint with black paint and let dry.
5.  Spray and drip sprays until you get your desired look.  You can use a combination of paint and sprays or just one or the other.  Let dry and then add more if you would like.  I used teal and copper Lindy's sprays with drips of black.
6.  I embossed the edges with extra chunky aged black embossing powder.  It is has a mixture of black, gold, silver, and patina powders in it.
7.  I highlighted the texture of the canvas with patina Guilder's Paste. 








LAYERS

1.  Across the middle of the canvas I added a strip of brown metallic punchinella.  Punchinella is the left overs after confetti is punched out.  You can buy it buy the yard or in a bolt.  The 50 yd bolt was super cheap for $14.  You can use it in layers and as a stencil for inks, sprays, molding paste, etc.
2.  I sprayed with teal a couple of pieces of left over trim/lace.  I added a couple of drips of the copper to tone done the brightness of the lace piece. Let dry. These little snips are normally things that you would throw away, but I love to keep them as they are great for layering and using as embellishments.
3.  I added a little piece of the trim on the far left side of the canvas in the center of the punchella. 
4.  Sprayed the clock piece with the teal spray with a little bit of coper.  Let dry.  Inked with a Prima chalk edger in dark rust.  added a few swipes of the patina Guilder's paste. 
5.  Using the left over piece of rusted canvas, I frayed the edges using the TH tool.  I like to wet the edges first as it loosens the fibers.  Then I stamped with black archival ink.  I didn't want it to be too dark so I pressed lightly.  I just wanted some interest.  I added a few swipes of the patina guilder's paste. 
6. Used the left over portion of the trim for another layer. 
7.  I had trimmed off the top of the tag I used for my quote.  I didn't want to waste it because I loved the colors, so I stamped on it, inked the edges in dark rust and then added twine that I had sprayed.  I finished it off with a TH trinket that I highlighted with the patina Guilder's paste.
8. I love the little piece of dyed lace peaking out.  So glad I didn't throw that away.
9.  The TH wing.  I covered it with copper Viva Décor Inka Gold and rubbed it in, wearing some of it away.  I darkened it up with a Prima chalk edger in dark rust.  Then highlighted it with the patina Guilder's Paste.

SHRINE - FRAME
1.  Cut an arch out of chipboard.
2.  Cut a second arch with a second arch inside to create a frame.  I used some grunge board that I had already rusted. 
3.  Stamped the frame with a script stamp in black archival ink.
4. Painted the frame with TH Rock Candy Distress Crackle paint.  I used my old bottle that isn't very crackly any more.  I wanted the shine and sporadic crackles.  So it was perfect way to use some old supplies.
5.  Went over it with rusty hinge and spiced marmalade distress stains to darken the rust.  It was getting lost with the tag.  I wanted it to stand out.
6.  I embossed the inside and outside edges of the frame with black fine embossing powser. 
7.  I added a little more stamping randomly with a few grunge stamps in black archival ink.
8.  Highlighted in a few places with the Patina Guilder's paste.

SHRINE - INSIDE TAG

This was a happy accident and I needed to use it once I saw the finished piece.  I had been working on another piece and poured out too much burnt sienna paint.  I hate to waste paint so I wiped it up with a few tags then just set aside.  I had some sprays on my desk and just wanted to see what it would look like so I sprayed the teal and copper sprays over it.  Then forgot about them.  When I was cleaning up my desk, I was so delighted at the results I new I had to use it for this project.

I originally printed the sentiment on the tag straight from the printer.  I wished I had printed it in bold as the black kind of got lost on the tag.  So I went back and reprinted on manila cardstock and inked with rusty hinge and spiced marmalade distress inks.  I inked the edges in the dark rust edger. 

I randomly stamped and dripped sprays to add more to the tag.  I finished it off by tracing around the words with a black sharpie to make them stand out even more.

SHRINE - EMBELLISHMENTS

1.  I added a patina piece to the top.  I have had this in my stash a while and knew it would be perfect.
2. For the basket at the bottom, I used a drawer pull from Graphic 45.  I sprayed with teal spray, added a little bit of the guilder's paste, and darkened up with the dark rust chalk edger.
3.  I added some teal tulle to the inside.
4.  I cut off the top part of a TH puffy heart charm.  Inked with stream alcohol ink then darkened with the dark rust chalk edger. 
5.  Added some Gears.





CORNER EMBELLISHMENT
1.  Started off with a Melissa Frances shabby chic corner piece in white.
2.  Dabbed it with a rusty keys Prima chalk ink edger.
3.  Took some of the copper Inka Gold and put on craft mat. Spritzed with water and painted it on.  It blended with the rusty keys and came out with this beautiful rusty color.
4.  Inked in highlighted edges with dark rust and then finished off with some of the Patina Guilder's paste.

Canvas #3 - Steampunk

Steampunk - what exactly is steampunk?  Well, there are many different takes on steampunk but it arose out of the combinations of science fiction and the Victorian era.

CANVAS -
1.  Painted the edges of the canvas with a course texture medium.
2.  Painted black.
3.  Sprayed it with copper Lindy's spray. (Let dry)
4.  Highlighted the high point of the texture areas with metallic russet and metallic rust Lumiere paints by Jaquard.
5.  Hit some areas with rust guilder's paste.
6.  Cut a piece of the G45 Steampunk Spells paper and inked the edges.  Adhered to the canvas.
7.  Tore a corner of coordinating paper from the same stack, inked and placed in the corner.

AIR SHIP

1.  Used a 3D air ship kit from GlobeCraft. 
2.  Inked with Metallic Bronze distress paint and inked edges.
3.  Cut strips of metal HVAC tape and embossed using the TH metal rivet embossing folder.
4.   Inked with Copper alcohol ink - I do direct from bottle to tape (don't use a tool) - just drip down if you get too much in one spot.  Let Dry (very important for next step - tackiness needs to be gone)
5.  Paint with black paint.
6.  Wipe off most of black paint.
7.   Adhere strips to air ship.
8.   Using a sponge and embossing ink - sponge onto areas not covered by foil (gears, post, smoke stack)  then using chunky embossing powders emboss.
9.  Add a little more embossing ink then sprinkle on some black powder then emboss again. 
10.  Run embossing pad over part of the machine and emboss.  I did the edges of the main part in black and hit other areas with copper and black.
12.  Ink over the embossed areas with dark rust prima chalk edger to darken up as well as on the rivets on the metal.
13.  I added a couple of metal gears along with the chipboard ones to give more dimension (inked them up first though :) )
14.  I found a great steampunk image on the internet that I printed out and backed the airship with. 
15.  I used the leftover chipboard piece that I punched the pieces out of to mount behind my airship to pop it off of the canvas.
16.  I finished it off with some metal pieces on the top and bottom of the main part of the ship and the nose.

COMPASS AND WINGS

1.  Added a TH door knocker brad to the middle of the compass.
2.  Inked the wings with copper Viva Décor Inka Gold and worked into the wings
3.   Added some rust Guilder's Paste in spots
4.   Dabbed on Prima chalk edger in dark rust and worked in to darken up


RIVETS
1. Painted with the coarse texture medium
2.  Painted black
3.  Sprayed with copper lindy's spray
4.  Highlighted with Lumiere paints
5.  Spaced out with a ruler so they were an even distance apart around the edges of the canvas to frame.

Rusted tissue paper

I was finally putting away my rusted pieces over the weekend.  I was about to clean my mats and thought that it was such a waste to just wash away that beautiful rust.  I wanted to save it or transfer it some how....and then it hit me. 

I took out some of my Tim Holtz printed tissue paper and then wet down the mats.  I sopped up the liquefied rust onto the tissue paper and let dry.  OMG I so love.  Now I can use on all sorts of projects.  I cannot wait.

Pictures Fixed

My apologies to all who have looked through my blog lately and couldn't see the pictures from the last two weeks.  I was trying to post directly from my phone and my pictures weren't showing up.  I could see them, but I guess no one else could.  Well they should all be there now.  If you still cannot see pictures, please post a message in comments.

Thank you all.

Kel

Canvas #2 - VIntage with a whole lot of rust :) (Pic Heavy)

My favorite color is rust.  I absolutely love it. (Orange is not far behind :) )  For this canvas that centers around the vintage theme, I wanted to go for an aged rustic vibe versus grandma wallpaper with ribbons, lace and pearls.

I was working on two other canvases when I realized, that rusted accents would be nice to have for them, but I was all out of rusted pieces.  Yesterday I spent a good part of day with the rusting process, but it was so worth it.  Once done, I was inspired to do a vintage piece with some of my freshly rusted goodies.  So I put the other two aside and started on this one.

Here is the finished piece:

I started to do the base of the canvas in my favorite paint technique.  It is fast, easy, quick and can be used in a variety of styles.  At the time I started the canvas, I wasn't going to use any paper so I did the treatment to the entire front and sides.

CANVAS: Wax resist paint technique
1. Paint the canvas with a base color.  I chose chocolate brown.  Let complete dry.
2.  Use a candle (I just broke a taper into two to make it easier to use) and go in the areas that you want the brown to show through.  Personally I go around all the edges and make some swipes across the front.
3. Paint with another color over the top.  I had a difficult time choosing at first.  I had put this aside and did another step.  When I chose a color for the tint, I knew that this was the color I wanted. I decided to go with Peeled Paint Distress Paint.  Normally my preference is to use cheap acrylic paint as it works best.  Never having used this paint before for this technique...I was nervous.  It worked though.  It is important to let it completely dry before moving onto the next step. 
4.  Sand.  The top coat of paint will be removed where the wax was revealing the bottom coat.  I like to sand a little more to age the surface as well.  This isn't a great picture, but it gives you the idea.
5. I go over the paint with some distress ink to age a little further.  I used aged burlap to tone the peel paint to an aged color.  I then sprayed with Lindy's sprays in Burnished Brass and Copper.  I then lay a paper towel to absorb some of the extra spray.  I don't swipe...just lay and pull up.  I love that it leaves behind the shimmer but still looks nice and aged.

PAPER DISTRESSING:
1.  I cut my paper just a little smaller than the dimensions of the canvas.
2.  Using the Invild Bolme distress tool I distressed around the edges.  I also created little knicks in the paper along the way - this is important for the next couple of steps.
3.  I spritzed the edges with water (not to wet, but enough to loosen the fibers.  I rolled the edges and used the knicks in the paper to roll further in some ares.  I didn't want it to be uniform.  By using the water it not only helps with the process, but when it dries the rolled edges will stay in place - no glue needed. 
4. I scratched the surface of the tool that looks like a grater.
5.  I went over the edges with Prima Rusty Keys and Rusty Bucket chalk edgers. 

RUSTING:
1.  Select and prep items to rust.  I collected a wide variety of items to rust.  I chose from buttons to die cuts.  On non-porous items, treat with gesso first so that the iron paint will stick.
2.  These are really stinky so use in a well ventilated area.
3.  I use Metal Effects Iron Paint and Rust Activator. 
4.  Shake the iron paint, then when opened mix it.  You want to make sure the iron flakes are distributed throughout the paint and not settled to the bottom.
5.  Paint on 1 coat of the iron paint and let dry for at least 1/2 hour.  It may not be a perfect coat depending on the surface and that's okay.  The next coat will adhere much better.
6.  Paint on the second coat.  You want it to be a thick coat but not to thick.  Just nice and covered.  It is important to give a lot of dry time.  I wait about an hour and a half before the next step.
7.  The Rust Activator is super stinky - even more than the Iron Paint - so be prepared.  Apply the rust activator to the pieces.  I add more in some areas than other.  I let it pool up in spots. It is my preference that the rust doesn't look all even and perfect.  I like it to look "naturally" aged.
8.  Wait 5 minutes and then add another coat of activator. 
9.  Wait for the magic to happen.  It will rust starting after a little while, but you will get the full extent of the rust within hours.
10. Due to the time, I rust in batches for items to use in future projects.  I alter them as I need them.



LAYERING:
1.  I cut a piece of rusted canvas.  OMG...I got all giddy when I saw this.  After trimming the edges were all neat and perfect....not what I wanted.  The fibers were tight because it had been painted over.  I love handy dandy tools.  I used my time holds scratchy tool, but I could have used my prima one.  There is a scratch tool in the end.  Just wet the edges of the fabric.  Start how deep you want your fray to be and pull outwards.  this is very quick and easy.
2.  Next I sprayed a piece of burlap with Lindy's Copper spray.  And layered it over the rust. 
3.  I took a die cut clock that I had rusted and added TH Rock Candy Distress crackle over the top. 

THE PHOTO:
A friend of mine sent me as a rack a bag full of vintage photographs and post cards.  I have been hoarding those suckers.  Not all of them are in the best of shape, but they are perfect that way. 
1. For the photo - I used the TH Tinting Technique from Chem 102 using Peeled Paint and Walnut Stain.  I then edged it using the Rusty Bucket chalk edger again.
2. For the photo mat- I cut down a tag to the size I wanted.  I distressed the edges and inked in the Rusty Bucket.
3.  The color was a little bright so I sprayed a little with the lindy's copper spray and magic happened.  I loved it. 

BRINGING IT TOGETHER AND THE FINAL TOUCHES:
1. In my rusty treasures I found the number two.  I cleaned it up and defined the edges with the Rusty Bucket chalk edger. It gave it some dimension.  I thought that it would work well since there were two children in the picture and decided to do a play on words.  Digging through my stash I found the other two pieces to make a phrase: Live 2 capture life's moments. 
2.  I used aged chunky embossing powder and embossed the live randomly.  I finished it off with some and dyed twine.  I just take natural twine and run it across my ink pad - I used Distress Ink Rusty Hinge.  Fir the capture the life's moments I rand over the entire thing with rusty bucket and rusty keys chalk ink edgers then just pressed the top over my DI Spiced Marmelade to give it a blotchy look.
3. Before adding the two, I tucked in a piece of tool behind the picture to have the 2 stand out from the clock piece.
4.  I wasn't going to add any flowers to this piece, but I had made a rusted one and fell in love.  I just couldn't resist.  It had to be done :). 
5.  The clock hands were glued behind the picture.  I did add Rock Candy crackly paint to that as well. 
6.  I like the picture, but it just didn't seem like it was carrying enough punch for me.  I added some rusty keys chalk edger and rubbed in around the edges and into the white space to age.  I kept it light, but wow what a difference.  I added the word bar to the bottom with dyed twine and a garment pin.  It gave it some great weight visually, but it still needed something else.
7.  Digging through my freshly rusted Items I had the perfect piece.  I added some Rocky Candy to the top.  Once dry, I added some Rusty Hinge distress stain and then swiped.  I brushed off some of the crackle as I wanted it to have an aged pitted look. 
8.  For the final piece, I wanted to put something on top, but wasn't sure.  I tried a rusted button and it looked good; however, in a sea of rust it just blended in.  I had some Jolee's French General embellies that I had pulled out for my last canvas, but didn't use.  It was all white and pearly.  I took the rusty bucked chalk edger to it and wow...it was perfect for what I needed.  I added it to the top and the canvas is complete.