Thursday 11 November 2010

Vintage Christmas

I've had a very productive day today. I made two projects for my commitment to Tim Holtz as a member of his design team and I would like to share the Christmas one with you....you'll have to wait until next week to see the second one.........I know that's mean but this post is photo heavy and it has taken for ever and a day to get the photos uploaded. I always load the pictures first and then fill in the text as that clicking and dragging lark drives me round the hat rack!!!!

So here it is in all it's glory......a vintage stlye christmassy, hinged decoration that I'm thinking will sit nicely on my mantle this year.

I'm starting with a few close upshots and then I'll take you through the making of some of the elements.
Tim's facets and baubles are just perfect for the feel of this project.

The carved ornament die was a tad large for this project so I cut them from shrink plastic and after shrinking, they were the perfect fit.



It wouldn't be one of my projects if it didn't have metal on it somewhere, so I made a ticket from gold nugget metal.



I was determined to hinge these two frames together and everything I had ready made was way too big, so I had to improvise and make my own....I'm quite pleased with the results!!



Oh, and I'm still in love with tissue tape, so it found it's way on to this project......I use it on everything at the moment!


Okay, here we go with a few simple step outs of some of the elements. This red paper was taken from Tim's 12x12 pad of Seasonal papers. I popped them through my Big Shot using the Music Texture Fade and the Tall Pines one. Then I sanded the high points of the embossed design.


I added a touch of Peeled Paint Distress Ink for a more Christmassy feel and put them to one side until I had prepared my frames.

I painted the frames with Bottle Green paint dabbers and added some Tidings Tissue Tape.



The Tissue Tape was far too white for this project, so I knocked it back with some more of the paint dabber and blended it in with a wet finger.


I used Ranger's Matt Medium to stick my papers in place.


A touch of Gold Paint Dabber was just perfect for that aged look.

Now for those pesky hinges.......well actually, not really so pesky now that I figured out how to make the perfect size hinge using the much larger hinge from Tim's Hardware Findings die.
I simply cut off the end part, drew around it on some Grungepaper, flipped it over for it's mirror image and drew around it again. Not so easy to do when your pen is running out but as I was going to paint over it, it didn't really matter!!!!




At this point, I also cut a couple of pieces of Grungepaper using the Mini Ornamental die and trimmed off the bottom......these were to become my drapes.



Then I used a technique that Tim taught me at Ranger U........you use a Paint Dabber in a pounding motion and it creates an amazing textured paint effect.


I used a touch of black Archival ink to make the gold paint look a tad more tarnished.

Very cool look.....don't you think?????


Now for the shrink plastic baubles....I had forgotten how much I love shrink plastic.

Alcohol inks are amazing on shrink plastic.....I used Cranberry, Oregano and Gold.

A little bit goes a long way......bear in mind that the colour will become more intense when shrunk.

After they had cooled down, I used Archival ink to stamp the images.

A touch of Gold Paint Dabber transformed this lock from the Locket and Keys set of Ideaology
Well, I hope this inspires you to make your own Christmas decorations.
Lin

31 comments:

kjjc said...

stunning stunning stunning.

Kirsten Alicia said...

Wow. That is incredibly amazing!!! Thank you for the great pics & the hinges are genius!!

Kirsten Alicia said...

Me again, I meant to ask how you attached the hinges to the frames?

Artyjen said...

Oh my! It certainly does inspire :)
Beautifully stunning piece. Christmas here we come!
xoxo Sioux

Elaine A said...

Lin -

This is just so beautiful! Absolutely gorgeous! Thank you for some wonderful technique ideas.

Elaine Allen

~* steph :) *~ said...

what a gorgeous piece of work!! i love it! love those hanging baubles and love how you made those ornaments from shrinky dinks. amazing! thanks for sharing and have a great day! *hugs* steph :)

Linda M. Cain said...

Holy Moly, you ROCKED this project!!!!! Love every little bit about it. Great job...and great tutorial, too.

Linda

Carol said...

Hi Lyn,
Yet another fantastic piece of work. Thanks for all the great tips and inspiration....especially the hinges!!!! GENIUS!!!! This would certainly grace any mantlepiece, so I'll have a bash at a making a forgery!
Love everything about this Lyn.
FAB FAB FAB

rubarb said...

Another masterpiece, fab.

Lynne Gilbert said...

Beautiful. Your creations never cease to amaze me.
Lynne

Netty said...

This is so fab and a great tutorial. Annette x

Nancy said...

Oh ... my ... gosh .... This is BEAUTIFUL!!!

Helen said...

Simply stunning, Lin. I love this - just wish I was going to have time to try something like it, but I am kind of behind with my cards now, let alone anything else!!

steph said...

what a stunning project - I love it .
thanks for the tutorial :)

Daniele said...

Amazing Lin...thanks for the tutorial, another stunning creation
hugs

Elaine said...

Absolutely stunning. Thanks for the tutorial. I was wondering what to do today ...going to play with shrink plastic and alcohol inks!!

judith@poppy cottage said...

Wow Linda! This is fabulous, the colours are so rich, and the whole thing is just stunning. Thanks for the step by step and all of the photos, it was lovely to read and look through. Judith xx

Anne Jagger said...

Just beautiful. I love it. Thanks for explaining how you did it.

Helen said...

Fantastic frames - love the vintage look.
Helen

AJ said...

absolutely gorgeous!!! it's a wonderful creation... i love the bubbles and the hinges... thanks for sharing...

Art By Wanda said...

Absolutely fantastic!!! All the little details are wonderful!!! The shrink ornaments are gorgeous!!!

MvM-design said...

Wowww I love it!!

Kat said...

hi linda, there was a few picks there,but every one was needed,
fab project,

thanks for the hinge idea,
thats one I will definatly be steeling from you lol,

have a grate day,
Kat

Cardmaking Galore said...

Oh, this is really fab - love all the details both on your project and in your instructions

Anonymous said...

Beautiful Christmas decoration. Thank for explaining all your ideas and the techniques.
Margriet

Artmadnana said...

yet again - a brilliant tutorial - it makes your blog one of the best!!! Thanks for the idea of shrinking the baubles! I love how you so creatively get out of any problem you face - meaning the way you adapted the hinge die - fantastic! Can't wait to see it in the shop,Chris

Siobhan Brignull said...

wot lovely work Lin, perhaps we should have a "whats on your mantelpiece wednesday" special at xmas WOYMW

Erin Glee said...

I need one of these Vintage Christmas masterpieces for our mantle! This is BEAUTIFUL!

Unknown said...

So many details! I love it. Thanks for the tips, I'm going to incorporate a few in some projects I'm planning.

Chris Arlington said...

Thank you for the inspiration. It is funny that I was playing with shrink plastic on Tim's reindeer. I had to sand both sides so the little legs would stick to each other. do you shrink in an oven or with heat gun?. I found the heat gun difficult for little bits like legs. Thanks again. I do enjoy visiting here. Your blog makes me want to move to the UK

Cynthea said...

I am new to art journaling and these crafts. I just found your blog, and metal work. I absolutely love it! :) How did you do the dream ticket, and in metal? I recognize the quote, is it a tim holtz stamp or does he have tickets like this, and then how did you do it on metal? or make it look like metal ? Also, I would love to take one of your classes,but I am in US. Have you ever considered an online class? Do you post on youtube or have ustream classes? If not, do you know of anyone in US doing similar classes? thanks so much :) I am so excited to learn more :) Will be reading all your older posts.