Vintage Trunk

 I was especially proud of this project. It is a rather large trunk that I bought at the Craft Warehouse in Vancouver, WA. It was on sale, but still a pretty penny. I thought this wooden box would take a lot longer to complete, but I actually finished it in a day.

I painted the box frame with Modern Masters, to create this great rust effect. I used paper from a steampunk theme cardstock pack from the Hobby Lobby, and used the Cricut to cut out his monogram for the top, which I wanted to fit into the white space. 

The front is a stencil that I made with my Cricut (Indie Art, I believe) and stencil sheets from the Hobby Lobby. I rubber stamped his birthday in the crest just to make it personal. 

The inside is from the same paper stack, and really not that hard to cut it to size. This is another one of those stack-able projects. Some things need to be simple, so they are not just clutter and dust collectors. Keep it simple and it will last forever.

Peace Layout

This is my mom when she was six months old. Her grandmother was not known for her warm fuzzy lovey-dovey tenderness, possibly to do with chronic illness that left her with one arm. People say "Ah! You have the Iverson chin!" Which is always insulting because that is code for double chin or flabby jowls...not something that you want people to tell you that you inherited, if you know what I mean. But not to me...nobody would dare say that to ME. *wink*

 I always hate to ruin my pretty pictures with lots of technical stuff, but you simply MUST know that I used spellbinders Decorative Fleur de Lis Rectangles for the mat because it reminds me of the white picket fence.

This is a word cut out from Michael's. I painted it with Lumiere paint, Halo Pink Gold...I simply LOVE it!! Bright and metallic.

Who doesn't love to use the Tim Holtz label dies? This is the one that came on the big tag die. I layered it and used a label maker for the names.

Heartfelt Creations, feathery peacock collection. It is a stamp and die cut set, then you color it. I used random colored pencils and pens.

 Heartfelt Creations, feathery peacock collection

And finally, the mastery process! I had a few stacks of the mat board from Hobby Lobby before they discontinued it. I cut it out with my Cricut using the deep cut blade and some full page label type shapes. Then sanded the edges before I adhered pattern paper on both sides. Then one more coat of paint to seal the edges so they don't fray. The idea is like a wall hanging, or a decorative plate. Self standing and durable, yet lightweight. I will be selling a ton of substrates in my Etsy store before to long.

Thank you for stopping by!

Remembrance Card

I made a series of Remembrance Cards after my grandmother passed away. It was a very difficult time because I was already enduring other losses. I poured through my scans of my grandmothers old pictures, and found stages of her life that I felt meant something to her. I cropped them and put them on sheets to send to the printer. I remember walking to the pharmacy to pick up the prints, and the cashier said she knew my grandmother and was sorry to hear she had passed. I lost it. It was all I could do to pay the bill and get out. Once I complete the cards, and a couple digital layouts that I will post on another page, I felt a sense of closure. I think it helped the recipients as well. Loss is so difficult to endure, even when you anticipate the outcome. At the time, I felt like I could keep her forever, if I could just create something lasting. 

The inside has her personal information.

The birds are from a Sizzix border die. The flourish is Cheery Lynn Designs, the big flowers are Tim Holtz tattered florals, and he small flowers are Spellbinders Bity Blossoms. 

  The doily is Cheery Lynn Designs, also outlined with gold marker. 

The frame is from a Hero Arts set by Sizzix. I embossed it in a patina embossing powder by Judikins, and outlined it with a gold marker.

  The corners are also Cheery Lynn Designs, also embossed with a patina embossing powder. 

One of my cleanest work spaces EVER.

Thank you for stopping by!

Tommy

This is my best friend when he was probably two years old. His grandfather worked on cars and was the Sedro Woolley fire chief for ages. I love the photo on top, because I always imagine what he was saying to his grandson at his kitchen table in Sedro Woolley, WA.

Grandpa Tommy, and his grandson Tommy.

We have a variety of Tim Holtz Alterations dies. The gear set, Word Play alphabet, mini old jalopy.

There is a large piece of acetate cut with a Spellbinders, grand size circle die. I rubber stamped gears and cogs on it to give it a very dimensional look. The idea is that it is digital media brought to life. It is very subtle. but it mats the entire circled section. The bottom of the acetatate is stamped with StayzOn ink, and the top is sprayed with black webbing spray.

Spellbinders circles and sprightly sprockets by Donna Salazar.

Tim Holtz Ornamental Sizzix die, and Stampers Anonymous. 

The center is an expensive laser cut chipboard piece. I can not recommend using them because they are incredibly fragile to paint on. 

This is the Tim Holtz Alterations picture wheel die. I scanned a black cut out and extracted it from the background into a PNG file. Then I took a series of photo's to the time, and placed it in a template to insert behind the picture wheel, which is cut out with chipboard, and coated with a rust and patina process.

I uploaded a small gift for you, if you would like to make a picture wheel yourself. Please see my free downloads page and look for the black template that is the scanned image of an actual die cut. There is also a block mask that you can clip your photo to in photoshop.

Thank you for stopping by!

The Family

This is one of my favorite photo's of my dad and his two brothers and sister. My father is the little cutie on the top right, "Freddie". This canvas was inspired by the hardship my grandmother faced while raising four children at such a young age, in the aftermath of the Great Depression. Their father was not around much and she had to fend for herself, carving out a pattern of survival skills that I have found invaluable during the last few years of my own personal hardships. Remember the stories your grandparents tell you, because they are trying to teach you something!

I chose this quote because we take our hits, then we dance on.

This is a laser chipboard cut, and the butterfly is a Spellbinders die cut, and various metal findings.

The bird and branch is a Tim Holtz Alteration die, bird branch. I cut it out with chipboard, then layered it for depth. My grandmother loved the birds.

The cogs are another Tim Holtz Alterations die, and a few metal pieces placed strategically. The fence is a laser wood cut from Michael's. The grass is a Cheery Lynn Designs die cut that I painted with texture paint.  

My grandmother had the all American home when I was growing up. Simple and maintained with love. She didn't have a fence, but she had a beautiful enclosed patio. I aspire to have one of my own.

The paint is a real rust and patina paint and solution. I then stenciled on a brick texture using fiber paste and a brick template stencil. After that cured, I applied a new layer of rust and patina.

More hardware findings by Tim Holtz Alterations. Cut out with chipboard and painted, then soaked in a tub of activator solution and enclosed and shaken on occasion until I was satisfied with the depth of color.

The quotes are stamped with Stampers Anonymous stamps, by Tim Holts. I can't read the side poem anymore! I used StazOn ink on acetate, then adhered with Crackle Accents glue.

The knob is packed by Tim Holtz, and dropped in the tub of solution with the hinges, gears, cogs, and metal accents.

I will have one more 12x12 thick canvas that I will post next.

Thank you for stopping by! 

Homestead

These are my immigrant great-great-grandparents from Sweden. They arrived in Minnesota in the 1880's. My great-great-grandmother, Ida, worked at a hotel to pay for her passage to America. I don't know when they met, but they set up a homestead in Bellingham, WA in the early 1900's. This picture really speaks to me as the American dream. I imagine they saved every penny they had to build this small home. They raised three children, and thrived here for some time.

 This is the first in my homestead series, which is a collection of thick 12x12, mixed media canvas. Something I like to call "Memory Art".

The image is printed on acetate and mounted on a lightly patterned paper. I cropped the house out by hand and mounted it on a 5x7 flat canvas that I had pre-painted with a rust and patina process.

The key, and Home, and fence are laser cut outs I found at Michael's. The grass is a die by Cheery Lynn Designs that I painted with a textured paint.

This is a Tim Holtz brand hardware knob that I bought at JoAnns. I let it soak in the rusting solution for the night to give it this aged and weathered look.

While the solution is still wet, I place bottles or jars on the canvas until it is dry, that is how I get the rings. 

Thank you for stopping by. I have another 12x12 canvas that I am really excited to share.