Grunge calendar hanging

 

I painted the chipboard using basic acrylic paint, and then used mica powder and glimmer mist to add a subtle sheen and variation in base color.

The flowers were made over the course of a year as I tested new ways to mangle paper. There are various links to flower tutorials for similar projects listed at the right. A few vintage finds were added for fun. This was a “use what you have” type project inspired by a sample I saw at CKU from Crafty Secrets.

 

• Vintage images from Crafty Secrets
• Chipboard pages from Michaels in the dollar section
• Rosettes hand made by me
• Calendar designed by me
• Ranger Distress inks
• Glimmer Mist (on everything!)
• Die Cuts: Sizzix and Tim Holtz Alterations dies
• Fabri-Tac adhesive. Zip dry would also work perfectly on this type of project.

RELAX and create!

I bought these wooden letters at Jo-Ann's, painted them with black acrylic paint and let dry. Using my old BoBunny from my "save for later" stash, I had just enough to trace out the letters by hand, then cut them to fit. YES glue worked to tack them down then sanded the edges with an industrial size sanding block. A power sander would have been a better use of time! The trims are hand dyed with Ranger inks and the butterfly stickers of a recent K&Co theme. The rosette I made using ribbon I bought from Michaels and used Fabri-Tac to glue it down with pearl strings.

The bird cage is a bit more complicated. I covered a piece of chipboard with foil tape, embossed it with the flourish deep embossing folder by Tim Holtz, then used black alcohol ink to color it. I put a second cage under the top to make it look like the back side. It was tricky because I had to trim the outside bars creatively so it looked natural. I took some moss from my back yard and glued it inside he cage where I then slipped a bird with a great big eye. The big eye is all thanks to Jan :-) In honor of her love of tear bears with the ever cute eyes. Yep, this is what we got for all of the tear bear hype. A bird with a big eye. I then used Fabri-Tac to glue on the cage (holding till dry) and jewels to cover the holes in the cage. The bird was made with the same technique but I used the lined emboss folder and used a red alcohol ink to accent the black.


The entire project cost me less than $20 using new and old supplies.

Ribbon Roses and Dyed Trim

Bloom

Distressed Layout

An old photo out of my great aunt Ruth's album. I went to all the trouble to restore the black and white photo then crumpled it up and stained and sanded it.

I colored all of these elements except the feather. I found these numbers at a flea market and bought a ton then colored them with alcohol ink.

I cut this out with my Sizzix. I crumpled up foil tape, stuck it to chipboard, put it thru a deep texture embossing folder then cut it out with the bird cage die, colored it with alcohol ink, glued jewels and branch punches out. The bird is minus the foil tape and I colored him with peeled paint distress ink. Key is part of the set.

Sizzix dies cut the leaves with various paper, some are dyed and others are glimmer misted or shaded with distress inks.

Ribbon & Lace Rosettes

I have tubs of ribbon and lace and a little time on my hands to use it up. I'm making ribbon and lace rosetes for my heritage pages. These are Prima inspired with a touch of whatever I have on hand.

Harvest

My huckleberry berry bush in the back yard. I made the loggers keep clear of them and they still thrive 3 years later! The berries are a bit tart but I always wanted my own huckleberry bush. It grows out of a really old stump. There are actually 2 out there but this one is big.

 

 Just a bit pleased with myself. I designed that little clock in PS and printed a few on transparency sheets then cut them out with my sidekick. I have extra for those of you who care ;-) My mom made the flower center years ago. Most everything else is from the Sizzix. My favorite tool :-)