Tags for a Nursery

A friend of mine recently had a grandchild and she asked me to make a set of pretty tags to hang on the wall of the baby's room. Not the typical 'baby' tags, but something simple that would be appropriate for any age. I made these!

 I started out with the Chipboard Decorative Tags Extra Large and the Chipboard Decorative Tags Large. My friend wanted a set of two but the tags come in a set of three. I chose the tags with the rounded tops.

I papered all the tags (using Graphic 45 Botanical Tea)

 I sanded all the edges and inked them using Brilliance Galaxy Gold and Distress Ink Vintage Photo. And glued the large tags on top of the extra large ones.

After that I just played with images until I found some I liked (all from Botanical Tea) and arranged them in a pleasing way.
Before gluing down my images I added a pretty turquoise ribbon straight down the center of each tag. It's a good visual and a nice contrast with the mocha colors that run throughout the papers.
I glued the images down and I also added Punch Elements-Deco at the bottom of each tag. I painted them white, added Galaxy Gold ink around the edges and used a 1-inch punch to cut a couple of images from the G45 papers. I glued them to the top disc and then glued the whole thing on to the bottom element. I like the way this looks....it adds another layer of detail.

Now that the major elements are glued in, I started adding little details, like tiny dots around the large images and on the Punch Elements. I used Liquid Pearls White Opal for this.
I glued on a couple of buttons, top and bottom and added a pearl on top.
I also made a bow for each tag and glued them on the top of each tag, under the hanging hole. And added a little white flower with a dot of Stickles Turquoise in the center.

For consistency (and because I think it looks pretty) I glued flowers down the bottom of each ribbon as well.
So pretty and feminine.
I like the idea that these tags are something that she'll grow into instead of out of.

SUPPLIES:
Chipboard Decorative Tags Extra Large
Chipboard Decorative Tags Large
Punch Elements-Deco

Additional Supplies:
Graphic 45 Botanical Tea Scrapbook Papers
Liquid Pearls-WHite Opal
Stickles-Turquoise
White Paper Flowers
Small Buttons
Glass Pearls
Turquoise colored ribbon
Brilliance Ink-Galaxy Gold
Ranger Distress Inks-Vintage Photo

Thanks for stopping by!

French Country Tool Caddy

Hola! Here I am with another fun project for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts! I love this Tool Caddy. This is the third one I've made, but the first I've done a blog post on. It's so practical and the perfect size for just about any tool you want to have on hand and use frequently.

I take the very first one I made to the Make and Take classes I teach. It has all the basic things things I need to use as I'm doing a demo or workshop. Kind of a 'go bag' for me.
It has a Halloween theme, so I decided I'd make another one that was less holiday oriented in papers that I loved to look at.
And some of my favorite G45 papers of all time are probably the French Country papers. I really like working with red, black, cream and gold this line has those is abundance - they are warm and rich and have some beautiful images.

Plus, sunflowers!

I started off with the Tool Caddy Kit.

I painted the inside of the side walls black and cut paper for the two interior walls and for each side of the handle piece. (incidentally, the paper I used for the handle is the flip side of Olde Curiosity Shoppe's Optical Oddities)

Glued the papers on......

I dry-fitted the interior pieces to make sure they fit well, and then glued them together.

After everything dried, I gave the handle, interior striped walls and the black painted inside walls a coat of varnish. I'm going to be using this frequently and I wanted to make sure that it would hold up to lots of handling.
I used Liquitex Matte Varnish.

 When the varnish was completely dry, I glued the four wall in place and tied some twine around the pieces to keep them tight and give the glue time to set. Big rubber bands work too, I just had twine within easy grabbing distance.

After the caddy dried, I cut paper to fit the outside walls and glued it in place. Then I used both a gold ink and a brown ink in layers around all the edges and corners. I like the mellow look it gives to the piece.

Then collaging happens!
I cut the pieces out that I wanted to use on the front and back of my caddy and played around with the arrangements until I thought they looked right.

I knew I wanted to incorporate the striped paper into the main images to bring cohesion to the piece, so I settled on a small strip to use at the base in front of the girl picking poppies, but behind the sunflowers to make them feel more in the foreground.

The sunflowers went on.....

They look pretty!
Thank you for stopping by!

Sometimes a pig's gotta fly...........

Hello all, Lora here taking my turn for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts with this little piggy whose just gotta fly. Having escaped the confines of the balloon, she grew some wings and has taken off into blue skies. Skimming over the trees, enjoying the view, she's a happy little porker!

She is pretty fancy with her necklace of flowers and her glittery wings.

Here is where I began......

 I started off with the new ATC Shrine-Steampunk. (which will be coming soon!)
I dry fit it together using a couple of pieces of tape, working out the order that I needed to assemble it in.

Because the piece is designed with a 'hinge' already, I decided that I would not glue the bottom or the door on until I was finished working on the inside of the shadowbox and both sides of the door.

I gave everything a good coat of gesso and started cutting out my bits and pieces.

Worked with the bottom open. I painted a blue sky and built up a little scene for my pig to fly over.

Whilst things were drying, I painted the door and embellished the front. I mixed a bit of glaze with cobalt blue paint and coated the balloon with it, adding some sparkles. I papered the gears, added gold and brown ink around the edges. A little sparkle on the banner, then glued it on. And added some white dots for detail.
I like adding dots to things.

I glued the bottom and the door on the piece and added a bit of moss (for shrubbery) on the bottom piece. Voila.
A cute and cheerful little box of piggy happiness!

Thank you for stopping by!

Supplies:
ATC Shadowbox-Steampunk (coming soon)

acrylic paint
collage images
Graphic 45 'Olde Curiosity Shoppe 6x6 Scrapbook Paper (for the pig and the gears on the balloon)
florist moss
Stickles Diamond

Little Haunted House Fold Out Book

Ah, Halloween....my favorite! Seems like we're all starting to get into the spooky season a little early, but there are quite a few of us who love creating Halloween treasures all year.
I'm certainly one of them! Lora here taking my turn for the awesome Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts and I'm very excited to show you my latest project.
Here's a little fold out book of wee houses that I couldn't resist making with the new Arch Top House Silhouettes. (they'll be coming soon!)
I love these little buggers....they're small enough not to be overwhelming and large enough to add lots of little details to. And you can put together as many as you like or just do one. Super fun.

 I like odd numbers, so I chose to do seven panels.

And serendipitously the perfect word fit on the back.

 Here's where I started out....first, I cut all the papers I wanted to use on the front. I used linen hinging tape to connect my houses (about 1/4 inch exposed as hinge) and then painted the backsides, including the tape, black.

I then flipped the whole thing over and painted the front hinges black. You don't have to paint the whole front pieces, as the houses will be covered in paper.

After everything dried I glued my papers on and inked up the sides. I started playing with different components that I wanted to use and rearranging things as they fit together.

I try not to waste materials and you can see that the green house only has trim going about halfway across. That's because I planned on putting a big face on the right side and was avoiding using excess materials and also was trying not to add unnecessary thickness to the house, keeping in mind that I want to fold it up.

 When I had all the major elements glued down I added the little white dots to all the houses to add some delicate detail. The dots, the repeating borders and the white tree limbs all add coherency and theme to the overall look of the book.

Ooh, what a pretty spider!

This gal looks like she might be hungry for a little appetizer.....

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Supplies:

Arch Top House Silhouette 

Creepy Tree 8 inch (cut up and used throughout the houses)

Mini Bird Cages Chipboard Set

Spider and Web Corners (coming soon)

Graphic 45 An Eerie Tale 6x6 papers

Bo Bunny Vintage Dot papers

Black Dresden Trim (all papers and trim came from Alpha Stamps)

Art Tea Life digital scrapbook images

Black acrylic paint

Linen hinging tape

White poster paint marker ( you can get them at Amazon HERE)