A Creative Christmas

Well this has been a very busy season for me. Getting a new job, trying to plan moving to a new home and keeping up with all my new wonderful customers on my Etsy store. I'm so grateful for the passion of art and creativity. At times like this when life brings so much stress and worries, I am blessed that I can look over at my craft table and no that I can release some of that negative energy into my inks, paints and glue. Thank you Jesus for the love for creativity... thank you for the inspiration for creativity that is ALL around me... thank you for the finances to buy that little bottle of glitter... thank you for leading new customers to my studio store.  

To all my followers, friends, family and customers I wish you a Beautiful Christmas & a Wonderfully Happy New Year xoxo Toni

Secret Santa

Christmas greetings and today's project from Saturday in the Studio is a gift bag and tag for my Secret Santa gift at work. 

Today I am working with two products that can be purchased in my Etsy shop, the Manila Tag measures 6.25" x 3.25" and gives you plenty of creative room to use for decorating a collage, mini art, tag for gifting and so much more. You can stamp, ink, alter, paint, distress, embellish and the surface accepts wet and dry techniques. Also, I'm featuring 2011 Christmas Seasonal Series Distressed Inks, all available in my Etsy store and they come in 3 festive colors: Evergreen Bough, Festive Berries, & Iced Spruce.

 I used all three of my Distressed Inks to color up my snowflake stamp and stamped my bag as well as my Kraft color tissue paper. I then embossed some more snowflakes in black.(I wanted to keep it a bit masculine as it was for a male employee that works with me) 

I then decided to run my Distressed Ink over my craft sheet and spray water to create droplets and then ran my manila tag over the colors and heat set. Applied a Martha Stewart Snowflake punch to the tag for interest. Distressed the edges with Iced Spruce. Added the words "Christmas Greetings" from my Ideaology Seasonal ChitChat Stickers. Them I embossed David's name and some snowflakes randomly in black on the tag. Tied natural & black jute cord to the tag and bag. 

Stop by my store for many other products for your crafting needs. You can also purchase Etsy gift cards for that crafting friend so they can go shopping after Christmas. Enjoy putting your own personal touch to your packages this holiday season. xoxo Toni

Saturday In The Studio

Due to all the holiday busyness, I am a couple days late on posting "Saturday in the Studio". This weeks feature product is Maya Road Vintage Wood Spools. These are so cute and come 6 in a package. I decided to create a Christmas tree ornament with mine. Here are the quick and easy steps to making this ornament. You can purchase them here at my Etsy Shop

The following supplies were used: Maya Road Vintage Wooden Spools, sheet music paper, black jute, ribbon of your choice, gold & silver tinsel glitter, black & gold confetti tulle, gold ornaments for embellishment

I first used Vintage Photo Distressed Ink and stained the edges of the spools, then cut strips of the music paper and glued it around each spool. Next I glittered all around the edges of the spools with my tinsel glitter... (this year I think this is my most favorite glitter... so vintage looking) . 

Using the black jute I ran it up the holes of the bottom two outside spools, then ran it up the 2nd row of spools and then finished by running both ends of the jute through the top spool. Leave about 2 inches and tie a knot. 

 Then using my glue gun I glued 3 spools together for the foundation, then two for the next row and 1 for the top row.  To finish off I added some pretty gold and black confetti tulle that you can also get in my Etsy shop and adhered some mini Christmas bulbs. And there you have it another quick and easy ornament for your tree. Hope you enjoyed ... Merry Christmas

Christmas Burrrr lap Bags

 It's "Saturday In The Studio" and this week I'm featuring my burrrr lap bags. There are so many uses for these bags. They can be used for every holiday imaginable. I chose to make some gift bags for some co-workers and here is a tutorial to show you the process. The first thing I did was stamped my words using white gesso onto the bags. Acrylic paint works just as well and would probably clean up easier on your stamps than gesso, I just like the way gesso is so thick.

Then I attached the cinnamon sticks to the jute using the following steps. 

Lastly I stapled the jute and my choice of ribbon to the back of the bag just to hold it in place. Wrap the jute first in a regular bow, and then wrap your ribbon around and tie a nice big bow. You don't, of course need to use cinnamon if you choose not to. Some other choices would be, ornaments, bells, candy canes, etc. These bags are really inexpensive and can be customized so easily. They can be purchased here in my Etsy shop for $2.25 and they measure 10" x 10" Use them to fill stocking stuffers, homemade baked goods place a poinsettia plant or mini Christmas tree inside and tie with a festive bow. Hope you were inspired to be creative. xoxo Toni

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

Hi everyone... time for another project using those wonderful Oxford Impressions Large Letter Stamps

This is a glass ornament that I glued mica flakes and glitter inside and then embossed the numbers "25" with gold embossing powder on the front. Added gold diamond ribbon for some added bling, which can be purchased at my Etsy shop.  "I Am Roses" Poinsettias were sprayed with Lindys Stamp Gang "Golden Sleigh Bells" and added some Christmas ribbon and greenery. These stamps are so versatile. Stop over at Oxford Impressions for some wonderful inspiration.

HOLIDAY WEEKEND SALE

My Etsy shop is getting in on the holiday savings and offereing 10% off entire order. Stop by to see all the great art and craft supplies. So many items to get your home and packages ready for the holiday season. Don't forget to use coupon code HOLIDAYCASH

SATURDAY IN THE STUDIO

I've had many customers of mine that have inquired on techniques or ideas on ways to use some of the products in my  Etsy shop. So, starting 11/24 I will be launching "SATURDAY IN THE STUDIO". A weekly post featuring a product in my Etsy store and giving some inspiration on ways to use it. More and more of my customer are branching off and creating out of their box... so proud of you... and experimenting with mixed media products even on their scrapbook layouts, so I thought this would be a fun way to interact with you. Questions, comments are always encouraged. Let's grow, be inspired, and get messy together. 

Hugs ♥ ♥ Toni

It's In The Bag

BURLAP .... mmmmm I love the smell of burlap and even though it's messy and sheds all over the place I just adore the texture. I have sewn it, painted on it, used it as a mask for misting over. I have stamped on it, Modge Podge'd it used it in flower arrangements and gift wrapping. The list goes on and on with burlap. Just recently got a big pile of it at the fabric store... so what to make???? Well as you can see from my previous post I embellished some pumpkins for my front porch, but I wanted to make something to sell in my Etsy shop so I came up with this gift bags.

Very simple to make and such a cute way to gift wrap something little for a friend or loved one for the holidays. I used my Oxford Impressions Alpha Stamps for the lettering and I found that using black gesso for stamping worked wonderful as it dried very fast. I then used black jute and basted it around the bag to use it as a draw string. Dusty Attic Heart chipboards were painted and papered and strung through the jute just for added embellishment. So go get yourself some burlap see where your creativity will take you. BUT... if your not into making these you can always purchase them at my Etsy store. 

Trick or Treat

It's such a fun time of year because people that don't normally craft jump right in with that glue gun and start creating and I just love to be inspired by others. Decorating for the holidays is without a doubt... one of my most favorite things to do. I had these pumpkins from years back and decided to alter them up a bit for the front porch. 

Carve a hole in the stem to insert your ribbon of choice.  I used burlap, I love the texture and it just screams "fall". This ribbon can be purchased in my Etsy store

Next, Oxford Impressions just came out with a new set of ALPHA stamps and their size works so well when creating home decor pieces. I used black gesso to stamp the words on my burlap. 

 Set aside to dry... it doesn't take very long at all...

Meanwhile... the left over pieces of burlap I decided to run through my vagabond to make some flowers so to give it substance I Modge Podged the burlap to black cardstock and then die cut my flowers.  

Last step was putting the flowers together and attaching it to the pumpkins added some black & natural jute to hang from the stem and we have a quick and easy decoration for the front porch. Just a note * I used Modge Podge on the edges of the burlap ribbon to keep it from shredding. Hope this inspired you to get out  and customize some decorations for your home. 

It's Masquerade Time

 Once a month I get a wonderful opportunity to spend girl time with some close friends, and I always love to surprise them with a little something. This month I decided it was the perfect opportunity to use my new stamp collection from Oxford Impressions "Masquerade" for these wooden boxes. 

Purchased at Michaels for $1.00, I used Terracotta walnut stain to give the boxes that orange glow.
Then using assorted images from the collection, I embossed the images on the boxes. 

I then created tags using other images and added a personal note and tied a festive bow for finishing touch. 

Finally, filling the boxes with treats which included, autumn fragrance hand lotion, candles, pumpkin latte mix & Chapstick for the windy days. The girls really enjoyed the little gift boxes and I hope this has inspired you to create this holiday season. xoxo

Dr's Coffin Apothecary

Well Suzanne at Oxford Impressions has out did herself once again with a brand new stamp collection called Dr Coffin's Apothecary.  Believe me when I say, it's right on time for the Halloween holiday right around the corner.

For my design team contributions on this collection I created a coffin with a mini album inside to house those scary trick or treat pictures that I have. The coffin is paper mache  and I painted then rusted it, the tombstone & name plate were textured using the crackled technique  Added old moss and "I Am Roses" rose buds and leaves.  

Now on to the inside. Each page is cut as a coffin shape and the majority of the paper I used was from G45's "Old Curiosity Shoppe collection The skeleton page was stamped on acetate so you can flip it sideways to insert your picture underneath.

 What would a coffin mini album be without a few prescription drugs. 

 Next page I used gauze and the new Mirror sheets from Ranger Can I tell you how cool these sheets are. You can emboss on them, you can die cut them, ink, paint, stamp, and once you remove the plastic coating it really is like reflective mirror. Very cool indeed. 

Upclose of Mirror sheets

 The next few pages were created using die cuts & images from Tim Holtz Halloween Kraft Resist paper. Last but not least is Mr. Skeleton himself (the inside of the coffin case. 

This was such a fun project, and it felt good to get my fingers all inky again. To finish off the project, several different ribbons were added to the ring which holds the mini album together. . 

Several of the products used can be purchased in my Etsy shop (Studio Garage Band)  Listed below are the items.

Frayed Ribbon with Glitter (Black & Orange)

Trick or Treat Ribbon Assort.

Mirrored Sheets

Halloween Muse Token

I Am Roses Rose Buds

G45 Old Curiosity Shoppe paper collection

This piece has been entered into the following challenges: Jump over to their blogs for wonderful inspiration from so many great crafters !

I Am Roses / September challenge Halloween

City Crafter's / An Early Boo

Three Muses / Bird

Hakuna Matata Baby Tin

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Hi there and yet another baby shower to go to. This one is for baby Derrick and his room is adorned with "The Lion King" theme, so I thought it fitting to create a journal tin with all the colorful characters from this Disney movie.

For every month there is a decorated chipboard card for a picture of Derrick for that month and a separate card to journal special moments and milestones he has experienced. The outside of the tin was Modge Podged as a collage of animal print papers. I copied a picture from the internet and fussy cut the picture of the lion cubs to the front.

I took small pieces of wood and stamped his name on each piece, then used walnut stain and drilled holes to run jute through it for a personal touch. Added ribbons, tulle and beads for embellishment. The inside was decorated using wooden lion & palm tree that I purchased at Michaels and I added buttons for coconuts and glittered it up a bit with Stickles. Used Dusty Attic chipboard crown and gold embossed it for the king of the jungle.

To view the individual pages more in detail, double click on the pictures below.

Now it will be "Hakuna Matata" (no worries) for mom and dad to document and post pictures of baby Derrick for his first year. Thank you for stopping by and hope you were inspired. xoxo