Shabby Chic Vignette House

Howdy!  I was surfing the web, and came across some new releases from Tim Holtz, for the holidays.  Let me say, that I love his work.  I know its not girly, shabby chic.  But it is vintage, and retro, and quite gorgeous!  Anyways, I saw that he has these vignette house shadow boxes in his new holiday  release.  Along with some fabulous flash cards, some deer trophy heads, and some new smaller bottle brush trees, and so much more. 

I want to share with you what I did with this new house-shaped shadow box.  It's sweetly shabby!

I am happy with how my very first shadow box came out.  And I hope that you like it too!  And here is how I did it. 

Recipe:  I painted my vignette house with 2 coats of white chalk paint.  Once dry, I used a sanding block all over the 'house'.  I sealed the distressed paint with a matte finishing cream (sealant).  I cut two patterns of Prima's Sweet Pepperment paper collection.  I cut the polka dot & snowflake pattern paper to fit on the back wall and the two side walls.  I purposefully cut them too short and too narrow.  I wanted the distressed paint to be seen.  I also added a tear at the top and at the right side of the pattern paper on the back wall.  I wanted my pattern paper to look like worn wallpaper. I didn't paper the floor or ceiling.  I liked the 'worn' look.

I purchased these sweet bingo cards as a digital download, and printed them onto white linen card stock, by Paper Trey Ink.  I just love the look of shabby digitals printed on a white textured card stock.  It adds an element of texture and luxury to your printed projects.  I sponged crumb cake classic ink on the edges of all the papers.

I had an extra (ok, left over) burlap doily, so I cut a section off, and added it to the side of my bingo card (it is behind the tree).  I adhered these two joined pieced to the back wall of my house.  

I purchased some plain white resin mini frames from a big box craft store (M) last year, and decided to use the round one.  (yes, I am a hoarder collector)  I did add some gold paint randomly to the white 'frame'.  I used my hot glue gun to adhere the 'frame' to the back wall.  I adhered the deer trophy head to the center of the 'frame'.

I took a bottle brush tree I had left over from last year, and added a crystal star to the top.  (I bleached a lot of various sized bottle brush trees, and painted the tips with white paint.) I wrapped some gold bakers twine around the tree, as garland.  I thought the simple decoration added enough sparkle, and didn't distract you from the 'room'.  I tied on a narrow strip of fabric to the bottom of the tree.  It needed a 'skirt'.

The three gift boxes, I made.  I cut them from Kraft card stock with a die.  The finished boxes measure 5/8" cubes.  They are pretty tiny.  But oh, so, beautiful!  I wrapped each one with different ribbons: silver, gold, and pink silk.  I adhered the metallic ribbon boxes to the floor and the pink ribbon box to the attic.

I added tiny pink blossom to the floor with the boxes, along with a tiny candy cane.  I love little hidden 'treasures'.

The attic doesn't have too many items, a misplaced pink gift box, and a vintage ice skate.

I used one of the new holiday word labels from Tim Holtz.  I painted the piece with white chalk paint, and then quickly wiped it off, so that the paint would only be in the depressions of the lettering.  I wrapped a piece of green ribbon around my house and through the word label.  Finishing it off with a single, simple bow.

I have a few more of these vignette house boxes to finish for my craft fairs.  I am planning on doing a vintage one, and a retro one.  I'm looking through my pattern papers to find the best ones.  Maybe, I'll need to purchase a few more, so I have a larger selection.

Thank you for looking.  Stay tuned.  I have painted and decorated tiny wooden blocks in the shapes of houses.  Yeah, they will be for sale, too! {smile}

A Sweet Pink Christmas Card

Howdy.  Welcome.  Well, the sun is out this morning, so I took advantage of the daylight and snapped a photo of a card I made last night.  I LOVE pink, and shabby chic, so why not put those two together to make a sweet, pink, shabby Christmas card?  {smile}

I used the current sketch challenge over @ Mojo Monday.  They have some very user friendly sketches.  And the design team is just so talented!   Here is the current sketch: 

today's the last day for this sketch challenge

I also wanted to enter another challenge.  The current challenge over @ A Snowflakes Promise, is Winter/Christmas.  This challenge site, has some very creative folks on their design team as well.  So, I am sure you will find some inspiration there, as well.

this challenge ends this month

and here is what I made:

So, let me just dive right in, with how I made this card {smile}!  This card is 4 1/4" x 6".  So, its larger than an A2, but smaller than an A6.  I like this size of card, because the A6 envelope allows for bulk from embellishments.  (I know I have made flat cards before, but its been so long ago, I can't remember the year {smile}).

I started with Vintage card stock from Paper Trey Ink.  I just love the heavy weight of their card stock, to use for card bases.  Their vintage card stock, is a bit lighter than Very Vanilla by Stampin' Up!, so that is why the two vanilla pieces don't match.

I used two pattern papers from Tilda (Christmas, and homemade), and one pattern paper from Carta Bella (baby girl).  

I added two different white cotton trims to the top and bottom of the middle panel. I added a double border stitch with my sewing machine.  I also machine stitched a white crochet trim to the bottom of the middle panel.  

I used some scrap pieces to create my flags (I hand-cut my flag ends).  I made a larger flag for the sentiment piece.  I hand-stamped my sentiment, using a stamp set by Paper Trey Ink; Season's Greetings.  I heat embossed the sentiment with silver embossing powder.  It's beautiful, but a bear to photograph.

I stacked two pale pink blossom pieces.  The bottom blossom is glittered, while the top blossom is flocked.  I added a pink cotton rosette to the center, and used a square rhinestone to hold it all together.  I had a scrap piece of that shimmery chenille trim, so I tied it into a bow.  I added a silver-tone ice skate charm, and tied it to the trim with cream twine.

Thank you for looking.  Now, I'm headed back into my craft room, to create another vintage style piece for another challenge!  Yahoo!  I love days like these!  No obligations, or chores.  Just crafting! I hope you get the opportunity to create something wonderful, too!

Homemade Fancy Christmas

I had so much fun making my last gift bag, that I decided to continue working with the latest sketch from Mojo Monday.

I also stopped by the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge site.  Because let's face it, I'm working on Christmas crafts, so why not let them help inspire me to create something beautiful!

The folks over @ Merry Monday Christmas Challenge,  have a inspiration photo, and a color challenge: pink, green, and white.  I can do that!

here is what I made:

I rotated the sketch.  I also changed the circle element for another square element.  I used ribbon and trim for the long banner piece.  I did add a floral element but I tied on an ice skate!  I used a holiday image and sentiment.  Both of which are heat embossed with early espresso embossing powder, on shimmer white card stock.  

close-up

For the 'panels' I matted each of the pattern papers with kraft card stock.  I also added some machine stitching to these pieces.  I think this adds a homespun look and feel.  I used Happiness is Homemade pattern paper from Tilda.  The large pink blossom is a Melissa Frances item.  I used a light champagne shimmer textured card stock for the base of the bag.  

Thank you for looking.  I hope you have been inspired.  Now, I'm headed back into my craft room, to finish some jar toppers, desk top calendars, and some magnetic monograms.  Oh, and my trophy cups, and some altered salt shakers.  Whew, sounds like a lot, but once I get started, it moves along quickly.