Steampunk Tissue Boxes

My studio met with a certain demise over a year ago, and since that time I have been focusing on my digital designs, until I could acquire a new building that won't fall prey to every little water disaster that comes my way. My husband and I went down to a cedar shed dealer where we ordered a custom building that will be delivered in a couple of weeks. It is 14x40 with 16ft of loft space, and I will have room to stretch out and be all kinds of messy, and still have enough space for workshops.  

In the meantime, this is a favorite project that I left in my drafts folder, and thought it would be a great time to add something new (And knock that Christmas Tree off the front page!). 

I used almost all Tim Holtz die cuts, and painted them with iron paint and then rusted them. My favorite detail is the picture wheel. I scanned a black cut and made a digital template, then printed pictures on acetate. It is a time consuming project, but it is full of wonder and inspiration. 

Bracket Album - Pink Rose

Handmade mat board albums has been a favorite project of mine for a couple of years. They are special cut scrapbook albums, approx 11 inches and very sturdy and thick. The reason I have not listed or posted anything about them recently is because the material has been increasingly difficult to find. This album is my favorite of all that I have made. There is a vintage album, and a more masculine  theme album that I am preparing to list in my Etsy store. 

I used my Cricut Expression to cut nine bracket frames.

My work space tends to get a little spread out, and very messy. A single project can overtake my studio, and somehow turn into several other off subject projects. If I'm doing this, I might as well do that!

I have several more of these that are waiting to find creative homes. They should be as easy as just adhering your favorite photo's on the page. Embellish or not, I think they are fabulous just as they are, but that is personal discretion. 

In the coming months, I will start making these books with my own designs, which you can also find in my Etsy store. I will soon be making books in: Rose Diaries - Green or Rose Diaries -Pink themes. Hint... I also have images that are not listed in the store, so they will be truly unique! 

Steampunk Tissue Box

One thing I can not get enough of is embellished home decor. The simple side of me suggests that the tissue box is decorated all nice and pretty from the manufacturer, and when you're done, you recycle the box. 

But I need these sturdy pieces scattered around my house so I can remember to do the things I love to do. And that would be cut paper, paint, and distress! I have spent a good chunk of my life trying to make something really cheap look really authentic. 

This is a wood tissue box from Craft Warehouse in Vancouver, WA. This is my favorite wood tissue box from all the stores I shop at. It has the open bottom and it's heavy and loose around the tissue box.

The majority of the die cuts I used are reclaimed chipboard sheets from a manufacturing department, but I found a way to make them look like real weathered metal items. 

I will eventually get to a place where I can show you step by step how I create all the layers, but for now, please enjoy the finished projects while I make sense of some "behind the scenes" photo's I have taken for that purpose. 

Supplies: I bought pretty much all of my dies and embellies from Joann's. They have amazing sales on scrapbooking supplies and tools, you get the best deals. But you have to get it on sale, because sometimes, and especially with the dies, they mark them up so the discount seems bigger. The 40% sale is my rule.

joann.com

Tim Holtz - Weathered Clock

Tim Holtz - Gadget Gears

Tim Holtz - Clock Face

Tim Holtz - Metal Box Corners

Tim Holtz Idea-Ology - Sprocket Gears

modernmasters.com

Modern Masters - Reactive Metallic Paints

Fly Away

The only thing I love more than a deep textured, mixed media canvas, is the die cuts I put on it. This is an 8x10 inch canvas, one of my first attempts at mastering the reflective nature and motion I desire. I gave in to the theme of the year, which was game pieces as words, but I like the way it looks. My favorite part of this piece is the Milky Way like stream down the center. I made this piece when Cheery Lynn Designs released their mini gears and cog set, which I cut out with metallic paper.

Sizzix - Tim Holtz Sewing Room 

Clock Parts and gears or here

Lumiere - Halo Blue Gold

Liquid Leaf Gold

Precious Metal Colour - Blue Azure

Really... you can add anything you have on hand. Just make it fluid, and love it when it's done.

Peacock Peace

Continuing with my Peacock journey, I created this little piece last year and gave it away as a gift. It is really very simple, but ornate. I don't really like the smaller pieces that are so popular these day, because I want my story to take over the entire wall. But they make wonderful little gifts!

This fun little canvas is 5x7, and I used the Spellbinders Jewel Fantasies and Jewel Keys die set, along with the Cricut Art Nouveau. I found a large earring at Joann's and used it for the feather. The label is cut with the Tim Holtz Tag & Bookplates die. I used metallic paints to color th eaccents, and jewels to fill the feather tail. I do love my die cuts!

Alluring

I went on a crazy peacock phase a couple years ago, then went on a cutting spree with my Cricut. Originally this was not going to be a hombre type painting, I switched gears half way through and decided the peacock in the tree needed a blue sky! This painting hangs in my hallway so I can see it when I come up the stairs. It sits under a solar light tube, so it reflects the sun off the glass in the sky. It truly is Alluring. The gold mica flakes simulate falling leaves.

 I love the reflective nature of the Shimmer paper by DCWV, and the mica flakes from Micheal's. The base paints are Lumiere fabric paint, also metallic, but then I use pretty much nothing else! The peacock tail is filled in with stickles by Ranger.

  The wings are a beautiful set from Cheery Lynn Designs. It is a left and right, large and small set, and I LoOOove them!! You can see the details yourself!

The Alluring is from a Tim Holtz Bigz Block Talk alphabet set, I cut multiple layers of chipboard and layered them for dimension. The paint is Viva Precious Metal Colour, a wonderfully expensive metallic paint that is rather difficult to find, but Joann.com sells most of the colors. 

I am ever so pleased with the clever use of re-purposed treasures for my pieces. The branch is the Tim Holtz Bird Branch die, that I cut out the packaging of the die, with the die. Then painted the underside with Viva Stamp Paint, which offers texture, and the top is glossy. Or you can flip it for the texture up, I go both ways. You can see where I built the tree out of the single branch die.

One of my favorite techniques is using Golden Gel Medium from Amazon or Michael's and mixing a batter of translucent beads and blue and green cello glitter. This mixture also contains blue and green beach glass that I smashed to bits. The silver tube beads are a bit like rain drops, but only if you are thinking that when you drop them in the batter!

 The gel medium acts as a glue, so it is a really valuable tool for working on canvas. The base is textured with Liquitex Natural Sand mixed with paint, then watered down metallic paint for the blended effect.

I linked the stores that I buy most of my materials from. 

Thank you for stopping by!!

Great Performance!

This was a fun piece to put together. At the time, the wings were new to me, and I was on a fanatic dress form spree. The week I made this one, an actor friend was having a performance at his school and I was inspired by the intrigue of it all. Jesse got a standing ovation from me! One day when he makes it big in Hollywood, I will always have this piece of him from the past. Yes, he's a guy and this is a girl thing...I did use blue...

Cheery Lynn Designs - Wings 

Sizzix - Tim Holtz Sewing Room 

Sizzix - Tim Holtz Gadget Gears

Sizzix - Ornate Hanging Sign

Lumiere - Indigo

Precious Metal Colour - Blue Azure

Stampendous! Mica Flakes - 

You can find them at Michael's and Joann's stores, or here online.

The larger gear is from Cricut.com

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!

Old Curiosity Shoppe

Several years ago I bought a trunk full of mache boxes for $2 each. They are really nice quality and have longevity on their side. I used Graphic 45 paper, and the base is Martha Stewart festive green paint.

The wings are Cherry Lynn Designs, as well as the mini gear. The doll body is from the Spellbinders Mixed Media Playtime set.