Project Finished: Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells Altered Art Box & "e" for My Handyman

Hello Spring! 
I'm so pleased it is finally here!  I'm also pleased to announce, at long last, the completion of a project commissioned by one of my handymen, Randy. Randy and Kent built my craft room which has yet to be showcased here (because there is never enough time to blog about it if you are busy doing it)! 

Randy requested a mixed media embellishment of a wooden letter "e" and a wooden box to give as a gift to his girlfriend.  In this long post are the details of how I transformed the two pieces.  I used Graphic 45's Steampunk Spells paper for the box.  Then, I did a collage using La Blanche stamps and assorted stencils, etc. for the wooden letter.

Randy supplied the lower case "e" because I could not find any lower case ones in the craft stores. He found a wooden one at Woodland Manufacturing online HERE. 

He then built a 12"x12" wooden box for it. Great news for all of us crafters--Randy is selling these boxes.  Ink, Paper, Rubber will have one on display in the near future.

I started by distressing all of the edges of the box with black.  I used a combination of Tim Holtz Black Soot Distress Stain and Baroque Art's Guilders Paste, Black.

I used Guilders Paste, Orange on the inside of the box because I wanted a different contrast for the paper I planned to use on the inside.  Guilders Paste comes in 28 different colors and I order from HERE

Next, I used Golden's Matte Medium to adhere the paper to the box. I cut the paper for each surface to allow an eighth inch edge all around on the box surface.  As I worked on each surface, I first coated the surface with the Matte Medium, lightly sprayed the back of the paper with a mister, laid the paper down and used a brayer to smooth the surface.

After waiting 15 minutes, I applied a coat of Matte Medium on top of the surface.

 A second coat of Matte Medium was applied the next day.

To start the paper for the wood letter, I made a template by tracing the "e." 

Then, I cut out copies of the template on La Blanche speciality paper.  I then stamped, stenciled and used Tim Holtz Distress Inks to produce the designs I desired.  One caution: remember to work on the right side of the cut out or you will have a problem as I've shown below.  When I got ready to mount the finished image on the block letter, it would not work because I'd put the images on the wrong side and they were upside down!  I had to make another entire image sheet! Oh well, we learn by life's lessons.

I made quite a few of the embellishments on the front of the box out of 1 and a half sheets of 12x12 Steampunk Spells - Clockworks (gears side).  I rubbed the sheets with Viva Decor Inka-Gold - Orange.  Then, I cut out the following:

I used La La Land Balloon die cut.

 I used Tim Holtz Gagets & Gears die cut.

 I used Tim Holtz Layered Wings die cut.

 Side view to show layers. I used Helmar Scrap Dots between the layers.  I also used it to adhere most of the embellishments to the box.  I prefer this adhesive because it is easy to position items and dries rock solid clear in 24 hours!

I used Spellbinders Shapeabilities Basic Lattice

 Graphic 45 Staples Door Pulls were used for handles.  I used Lindy's Stamp Gang Industrial Chic Embossing Powder and Starburst Sprays to distress the handles.

It was definitely a challenging project and I learned a lot!  I got the nicest phone call from Randy's girlfriend, Eva.  She was delighted with the gifts and it was nice to know she was pleased. 

Tim Holtz Tag for February, 2014

You might say I am a little behind.  As I've said before. this blog is an erratic business at best and at its worst, well you can see it has been over five months since the last post.  I will try to back fill some major projects that I've done by putting them up on this blog soon.  Right now I did finally finish the Tim Holtz February tag (too late to load it on his site), but I thought I'd put it here.

Be back soon, I hope!

Tim Holtz Tag for October Done!

Hi. Just a quick blog post.  It is almost midnight, October 31 and I'm loading the Tim Holtz tag for this month.  It's been finished for 2 weeks, but I did not have a chance to load it until now.

Lots going on. I've finished my remodeling and had an Open House.  More about that in the next post!

My Tim Holtz Altered Configuration Book for Brother's 65th Birthday

Hello All.
It's been a long time between blogs, but remember, I warned you!
I really don't know what to call the piece I'm sharing with you today.  It is supposed to be a birthday card for my brother Patrick's 65th birthday.  Since it is for a significant event, I wanted it to be something special, so I chose to alter one of Tim Holtz's Ideology Configuration Books. I've wanted to do one of these since they were released last year.  Tim taught classes at Stamper's Ink (see Side Bar for LSS info) in 2011 and in one of them we made a configuration box.  I figured the TH Configuration Book would be perfect for what I had in mind--it just got a little out of hand.  My brother is a genius and mathematically inclined (good with numbers) and we share a love of science fiction.  This should explain some of the more eclectic elements on the piece.

This is the front of the Configuration Book.  I used a combination of Chipped Sapphire, Broken China, Salty Ocean and Stormy Sky Ranger TH Distress Paints to paint the undercoat of the whole book.  All The grungeboard letters are from the big set of alphas and numbers from TH.  

I colored "Birthday" with a combination of Salty Ocean, Stormy Sky and Tarnished Brass Distress Paint. I used multiple layers, drying in between, and fussed a lot until I got something that matched the clock.  "Time" was colored with just Broken China and a little Antique Linen to shadow.

I used Shelly Hickox's Faux Tarnished Silver technique for the "WARP" letters.  You can find a tutorial for her technique HERE.  She has a great blog; check it out HERE.

The clock is TH BigZ Weathered Clock die and I use Salty Ocean, Stormy Sky and Tarnished Brass Distress Paint.  I used the same on the numbers "2013" but these are the TH Alpha Parts as is the "65" which was painted with Fired Brick Distress Paint.  The cute little pocket watch is from Prima and I covered the Graphic 45 sticker letters with Glossy Accents.  Here are some closer shots of the front of the book.

Now, for the inside.  As I said, my brother and I share a love of science fiction, so the inside cover is meant to depict the universe opening up and depositing the Dr. Who Tardis and the Star Trek Enterprise.

I used Golden Pearl Mica Flake (small) mixed with Brushed Pewter, Stormy Sky and Gesso to create the universe effect.  The Tardis is a stamp from Viva Las Vegas Stamps and can be found HERE.  I enlarged the image to accommodate the photo I wanted to frame.
The Enterprise is an old 1995 Stamp Oasis stamp.  The number is ST20-G and I bought it when I first started stamping in California and haven't seen many since.

The saying is a TH stamp from his set SCF005, Classics #5.  The Grandfather Clock is a stamp from B Line Designs, ZHC218E.  I got it at Ink, Paper, Rubber.  (See Side Bar for LSS info)

Loonies Get A New Name; Tim Holtz Tag for May

Hello End of May!
I can't believe it is time to post the Tim Holtz tag again.  Where did the month go?

The gang of three, Joanne, Terri and I, (fondly known as Tres' Loonies) met on May 26 to do the tag of the month.  Due to our current obsession with La Blanche stamps, Joanne proposed a name change to "La La Loonies."  Since this name works on so many levels, (we are sometimes in "la la land, the alliteration is quite nice, etc.), it was quickly adopted despite the unsuccessful search for any bylaws or a copy of Roberts Rules.  Below are the three tags the La La Loonies completed this month!

Terri's Tag

T

 Joanne's Tag

Connie's Tag

La La Loonies also had a Dress Form Challenge in May.  Joanne completed her project.  Connie usually does not complete her projects on time and still owes the group projects from the Halloween challenge so these are loosely controlled challenges at the moment.  Here is Joanne's completed project:

See you next month!