Merry Christmas and a Gift!

Merry Christmas, everyone! I have a sweet little shadow box to share today and, as a holiday gift to all my readers, I'm sharing a printable download so you can make one for yourself!

I have been saving this tiny vintage ornament box for years, knowing it would be perfect for a Christmas scene, but I never quite got around to using it. I came across it a few weeks ago and decided I would not let another year go by without creating something. I thought it would be a waste to use the original, so I took it apart and scanned it, then printed it out.

Tim Holtz's Christmas Paper Dolls are the perfect size for this little box. I glued some strips of fiberfill to the bottom for snow, then added tiny trees, the paper dolls, and a tiny deer.

The front is embellished with Tim's tinsel twine, a vintage ornament, number token, and a die cut branch. I cut tiny snowflakes from glitter paper using a die from Karen Burniston's Evergreen Pivot Panel set.

Click on the image above to get the full sized scan for downloading. I printed it out on heavy  8.5" x 11" cardstock, adjusting it so it filled the full sheet.  It came out much lighter than it looks in the scan (which I actually liked better!) - you can experiment to see what works for you. Then, just cut it out and score where you can see the fold lines, fold it up, and you're ready to decorate!

You can find the supplies I used via the links below.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season! Thanks so much for all of your comments, pins, and support over this past year. I haven't had as much time to create as I have in other years, but I'm hoping 2019 will be full of creativity!

Recognizing Our She-roes and Heroes + a Freebie!

I wanted to make a patriotic tag in honor of the upcoming Independence Day holiday and realized I'd never used a fantastic set from Artistic Outpost called She-roes. I love that they created rubber stamps to honor all the women who have served or are serving in the military; I can't think of any other stamp company who has done that! If you are interested in these stamps, the new London collections, or any other stamps from Artistic Outpost, you can use my code: stamptramp to get 10% off your order.

My background was created by swiping a Snow Cap Dabber over a tag and then inking it with Faded Jeans Distress Stain, then wiping the ink off the painted areas. The rosette was made with the Sizzix Paper Rosette die. I wanted a smaller rosette, but I don't have the Mini-Rosettes die yet, so I cut down the regular die and placed a strip of Idea-ology Tissue Tape along the cut edge to keep it together. Worked great! I backed it with some tinsel I bought on clearance after Christmas - you never know when it will come in handy. :-) The number four is an Idea-ology Numeral that's been colored with Denim Alcohol Ink. My 'She-ro' was stamped with Jet Black Archival ink and colored using Distress ink and a water pen. Finally, I stamped the sentiment on an Idea-ology Journaling Ticket and attached with with my Tiny Attacher.

When I was creating my tag, I felt like it needed some kind of text or music. Luckily, I found the perfect piece of music in an old children's hymnal. Please feel free to download it and use it in your work!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday. My husband and I have been working for the past few days on our vegetable garden, so I've had no time at all for art! Hopefully, we will have the bulk of it done by the end of next week and I can get back into the studio. In the meantime, please feel free to grab this image and use it in your artwork!

Tim's Tag Day 5 & 6

Ok, I'm back from Indiana (what a nice place!) and back on track with my tags. As usual, I didn't have most of the right stuff to make the tags, but since improvising is so much fun, I didn't mind at all!

I have to say, I even went to the store this time but they didn't have the right fragments! I think it is really hard to duplicate the look of them - they give so much depth and are so clear. I decided to try and work with the shapes I did have and I think it came out pretty good! I thought these photos would be perfect on my tag. They are actually gift tags that I found at a store recently. They were so adorable....I knew I would find a use for them.

I did the rest of the tag pretty much exactly like Tim's. I decided on the blue and green color scheme when I chose to use the tags. It reminds me of the time my dad did our tree all in blue and green ornaments - it was so pretty! The branch stamp is from Artistic Outpost. After I embossed it with the Distress ep, I rubbed a little silver metallic paint over it. It kind of gave it a nice highlighted effect. The music stamp is from Oxford Impressions.

The German scrap trim is from my friends at RockCandy Studios. They have a fantastic selection of trims. They also carry the metallic rub ons, which I used on my branch, and also to highlight the raised portion of the trim.

I thought tag #6 was going to be impossible, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had the perfect stamps! I knew right away that I would use this truck stamp from Artistic Outpost. I think I've actually seen someone use it this way before. Isn't it the most perfect stamp? I used a PSX tree stamp for the tree and various acrylic stamps for the rest.

I made my own snow by rubbing two pieces of styrofoam together to shred it. I got the idea from this video on making your own flower soft. She's a genius! I added a sprinkle of Martha Stewart glitter to make it sparkle. It sparkled a lot more before I got impatient and started putting it together before it dried.

Here is a little freebie for you. The wooden number piece on my tag is an old French game piece that I found at an estate sale. It was one of those fantastic finds - an old French tin that everyone had overlooked. I picked it up thinking that the tin was cool in itself. I opened it and it was FILLED with dozens of the pieces. What a find! They are really thick and would be hard to use on something like a tag. However, you can print it out, glue it to a scrap of Grungeboard and voila - vintage game piece!

Wednesday Stamper - Fashion, Theme Thursday - Flourishes + a Freebie!

I had a hard time deciding what to do for today's Theme Thursday challenge, but once I did, I had so much fun! I started by using a Tattered Angels flourish mask and shimmer sprays to create a background on a vintage French book page. I used that as my inspiration for coloring my lady's dress. I had recently come across some vintage French postcards and this one ended up being the perfect element to layer with the other pieces.

I bought a Slice AGES ago but for some reason had put off using it - it hadn't even been out of the box! I stared it down today and decided I would figure out how to use it. Of course, it was a total snap to use and I am an idiot for not using it sooner! I love the different flourishes it can make (my main reason for buying it). After I cut these out I ran them thru the Cuttlebug to give them some extra texture.

Rubber stamps are all from the Le Beau Monde collection by Oxford Impressions. I was stumped by the Wednesday Stamper Fashion theme yesterday, but after I finished my card I realized it was perfect for that theme too.

Feel free to download this postcard and use in your own artwork!

Wednesday Stamper - Open Theme

I was going to title this Open Mic, then I didn't know if anyone would get it. :tap: :tap: :tap: Is this thing on? Sigh....I'm strange, I know. :-)

Ok, here I present my most favorite thing I've done. Ever. It's a double-sided ATC I did for the Oxford Impressions swap. I am not sure where the idea came from - it's mostly an embodiment of everything I love. Masculine - check. Feminine - check. Vintage - check. Cool gears - check and check. Photo stamps - got it. Old French and Algebra paper - done. Commentary on how weird men are - doublecheck.

All stamps are from various Oxford Impressions plates.

Who wants another clock freebie???? You do! To download, click on image then right click and choose 'save image as'. You could also copy and paste it into a program like Word.

Happy New Year to all of my wonderful artist friends! I hope 2009 will be a great year for us all.

Tim's Tag - Day 12

Awwwww.....it's all over! No more tags. I thought he ended on a very good note. Today's was one of my favorites. In creating this tag I again used Christmas stamps from Artistic Outpost's Snowy Woods collection. This is such a fantastic group of stamps! For the clock I used this clock face image from my personal collection (feel free to download it!).

I've had a great time following along with Tim's tags - I hope you've enjoyed my interpretations. Sometimes I haven't wanted to post them because I didn't feel like it was my best work, but I did it anyway. You never know when something you dislike will appeal to someone else!

Created By Hand Challenge - Christmas Music Cards

Another fantastic theme over at Created Byhand. I used the same music piece that I used on my Gothic Arch a couple days ago. It's from an old children's hymnal I found at an estate sale (where else?). The little girls are a rubber stamp from Lost Coast Designs. They don't have much to do with the music, but I just got this stamp and couldn't wait to use it! The whole thing is tied up with a beautiful silk ribbon from RockCandy Studios.

Here's a treat for you! I hope you can use this music in your Christmas creations. Let me know if you make something cool! To download large size, click on image, then right click and save.