Christmas Treats

Hi everyone... the Christmas season is definitely upon us and I work retail and my body is really feeling the residual from all the busyness. The employees at the store have been so exhausted and I thought I would make them a batch of what I call "Snowman Poop".... lol... it's something I usually make this tine of year because it's quick and yummy and sometimes you just need a little snack to keep you going. 

 

Here is the recipe for this fun treat:

 

Popped corn (salted a bit)

Melted white chocolate chips

Drizzle the melted chocolate over the popcorn and mix to coat. Lay out on wax paper to set and then break apart into pieces.

 

I filled treat bags with this yummy treat and included a little poem... now I'm not a poet so cut me some slack...

 

Merry Christmas to you all

And here is the scoop

You've all been naughty

So all you get is Snowman poop

 

 

Very simple to make and fun to give and eat. Hope you enjoyed this post and now I'm off to bed. Have a Merry Christmas !



Christmas Greetings

Merry Christmas everyone... today I am sharing with you a Christmas Waterfall card I made for gift cards. I love making waterfall cards, they are so much fun. I did not include a tutorial on this but if you are interested Dawn 5377 YOUTUBE is amazing at all different interactive cards. 

The paper collection I used for this is DCWV "Christmas Made". Wonderfully pretty paper. I added gold Stickles to my Christmas tree on front page as well as used red ribbon for bow and waterfall pull. I added Marvy Uchida Liquid Applique "White" for cuff on Santa's hand. I cut circular tabs on each waterfall page to hold the gift cards.

 

So you better get going on those cards... you only have 17 more days til Christmas... xoxo Toni

That's a Wrap

I ♥ ♥ ♥ Christmas... but I have to admit, one of my least favorite things to do is wrap gifts... not sure why, I just don't really enjoy it. But came upon this wonderful youtube tutorial from one of my favorite crafters Arlene...mybutterflykisses12 she created a Christmas card with box. I thought this would be so much fun to wrap a couple of gifts for special people in my life. I actually did not need the box tutorial because my gift came in a box already but I altered the dimensions of the card tutorial to fit my box. This was so much fun. The paper line I used is by DCWV "Cup of Cheer". I added I am Roses poinsettia flowers to the lid as well as some small pine cones from my yard. All papers were sprayed with Lindy's Stamp Gang "Glory of the Seas Gold"

What a fun way to give a gift... stop by Arlene's YOUTUBE channel.. she is amazing  and always has wonderful tutorials. Have fun getting all those gifts ready for the special people in your life. xoxo Toni

Frosty & Friends

 

Merry Christmas everyone, here is another project I was working on for my craft boutique I'm involved with.

 

I found these adorable glass light bulb decanters at Hobby Lobby and was actually going to use them for some Steampunk art...... but I saw this really cute post on PINTEREST using real light bulbs and make snowmen out of them and decided these decanters would work perfectly ....

 

I halfway filled the inside with snowballs and iridescent snow flakes. Then I started embellishing the tops. Removed the wires and cut and frayed some Christmas ribbon to tie for a scarf around the base of the top. Added greenery, berries, pinecones (from my yard... ♥ having pine trees close by) . I added some little rusty starts to the top. Then I made the little top hats using stiff black felt, tied jute with a bell around the hat added a bit of Snow Tex to the top of the hat and then it was glued on top of the bulb. Also gathered some twigs from out in the yard, cut to size for the arms and last but not least for the face I used Scribbles 3-D fabric paint. So easy and so much fun to make.... hope you were inspired  .... xoxo Toni

It's a Steampunk Christmas !

 

Hi everyone... well my craft room is in full "steam" ahead as Christmas is right around the corner and I have so many different ideas for new creations. My newest being my steampunk Christmas ornament. What fun this was. I love the whole steampunk style, it's crazy, obnoxious, whimsical, grungy, old, everything I like.

I recently came upon these fabulous test tubes that I couldn't resist... lol...and they SCREAMED Steampunk ! So I decided to bust out my images I purchased quite awhile back from Altered Artifacts Etsy shop. Filling the inside with vintage silver and gold tinsel and adding cogs to the inside and outside of the vial. I then used a netal label holder from 7Gypsys and added the word "JOY". Attaching 2 old rusty bells with jump rings to the outside of the label holder. The top I decide to cover with burlap and tied jute string around and embellished with keys and more cogs.

This ornament is on sale at my Etsy shop, but if you are in the industrial mood to make one yourself, I do carry very similar test tubes in my shop also. They are smaller in diameter and made from plastic but will make a great funky steampunk project. You can find that listing HERE at my Etsy shop.

 

Tis' The Season

Do I hear Ho Ho Ho... yep Christmas is right around the corner and there is glitter all over my house. This project was so much fun. I took a papermache cone that I bought at the local craft store and made a Christmas Victorian Tussy Mussy.  Covered it with musical paper inside and out.

The inside came together as follows:
For the filler I took white cardstock and crimped it then cut thin strips and crumpled it all up in a ball, and gave it a good spray of Heidi Swapp's Gold Lame spray. Stamped "Tis The Season" in gold embossing glitter and placed it in this tiny gold frame I had which fit perfectly in the cone. Took a tiny bottle brush tree that I had bleached, then covered it with diamond dust and adorned it with tiny bells. Added bulbs, pink holly leaves (all these items were adhered with my glue gun.

For the outside I sprayed the entire cone with Heidi Swapp Gold Lame spray and then , I used my vintage pink tinsel which can be purchased here at my Etsy shop and glued 2 rows around the top of the cone as well as made a handle for hanging. Glued iridescent pink pearls to the top of the tinsel. Finished it off with a rosette die cut from Sizzix Alterations Mini Rosette and added more holly leaves and a gemstone for the middle. I am really pleased how this turned out. I love the shabby chic look of this. Get your glitter out and make something sparkle for Christmas... have fun !

xoxo Toni

A Magical Celebration

Babies are popping up all around me and here is another mini album I made for a co-worker's new baby -2- b... Hailey Miranda. Here nursery theme is (of course) Disney girls so I decided to create a castle with the the ladies. I purchased the chipboard castle at my local Scrapbook store and the Disney cutouts came in a package that I also purchased at the same store. The papers I used from my stash.  The first page is Mini hosting the album and the photo area is a waterfall book that allows 5 photos and or journaling.

Next is Snow white and the bling I used is Prima "Say it in Crystals" which you can purchase at my Etsy store and Tim Holtz's Chit Chat stickers . Added stickles to Snow White for a bit more bling.

The next page is Ariel. Kept it simple. Added dew drops for water effect and some sea shells and pearls from my collection.

Cinderella was the next page and I decided to do tags for allowing pictures and journaling. Added acrylic butterflies that can be purchased at my Etsy store.

Up next is Mulan... Paper is from Recollections Neopolitan collection. Made a flip page for displaying pictures. Mulan had black feathers and cherry blossom flowers added to her for interest.

For Belle I decided to use Sizzix "Crown" die cut to hold tags. Added crown brads for embellishments and Belle's dress was blinged up with some Stickles.  

Rapunzel was the next page and stickled the stars on the paper, and added crocheted flowers in which I added rhinestones for the centers.

Frog Princess was next and I decorated the castle walls with green stickers squares that can be purchased at my Etsy shop.  Used gold glitter paper for the matting the photo area and Stickles were added to her dress.

Sleeping Beauty was embellished with "I Am Roses" micro mini pink rosebuds and tiny white roses. The frames came with the Disney diecut packages. I used 3-D popup dots on all the die cuts including the frames.

Last but not least is Pocahontas and Jasmine, kept very simple. Made a pop out book which allowed for 8 pictures or journaling. Used jute to tie the book closed attached mini wooden letter tags for Hailey's initials... ( I think it's funny that her initials are H & M ... and that is where mommy works... humm do you mommy did that on purpose???)

And then to finish off the book, I tied random ribbon and tulle and added a beautiful crown charm that I purchased at Michaels . I made little flags, attached to toothpicks and glued them to the top of the castle.

I hope you enjoyed this inspiration. Book was really simple, only took me about 3 days to make.... Toodles  xoxo

 

 

Artist Don't Lie... We Embellish

Hi Everyone... it has been awhile since my last post, but don't think for a moment that I haven't been getting messy in the studio. In fact, things had gotten so out of control it was time to do a little re-organizing of my creative chaos.  For those that know me well, you know how much  I ♥ Tim Holtz. I have been wanting to buy something to keep all my Tim Ideology trinkets in but nothing has really caught my eye, or if it did it was a small fortune. And then I remember I had these advent boxes for sell in my Etsy shop and decided this was the perfect house for all my pieces.

First I gave the entire piece including all the little boxes a nice coat of black acrylic paint.

 Then I took metal tap and ran it though my Vagabond using my "Gears" embossing folder. Applied it to the outer sides of the advent box. Black acrylic pain was applied and then wiped off to give it an aged to perfection look.

 

I had these little furniture buttons and thought these would look perfect for knobs... this is an optional step... you don't really need knobs as each drawer does have a cutout for easy pulling of the drawers. I painted the knobs black and applied a tiny speck of silver Rub & Buff. They turned out looking like aged door knobs.

Using my Maya Road thread spools which I also sell in my Etsy store, I painted them black and cut strips of the metal embossed tape to place around the spools.

 Originally I was going to use these as little feet on the bottom of the box but later decided not to use them for that. I ended up gluing them to the top of the box instead for added decoration.

Next using Tim Holtz paper collection "Lost and Found" I cut out the letters and using Glossy Accents glued the letters to assorted sizes of Ideology Fragments and then glued to the top of the box.

 

 

So go get creative and have fun for all your embellishments !!!

THIS IS IT / SMASH BOOK

 For those of you that don't know what a smash book is... it is simply as quick and easy way to collect pictures, tickets, memerobilia, receipts and journal whatever is going on in your life at the moment. You can purchase Smash books already made, and you can add your goodies to them, but I thought it would be fun to smash an entire year of my life and June being my birthday month I needed to get started on this book ASAP. I found this chipboard set at Michaels that I knew would work perfectly. Each page could be a month of my year.

I put on my favorite creating music... MJ's....This Is It... dvd and turned up the volume and away I went. First priming the chipboard with gesso and then I added metal embellishments, fiber tape, grunge board, flowers, lace, doilies, etc. 

As you can see... I titled my book "This Is It"... I thought it was fitting for a year of my life

Then I primed the entire surface and all embellishments with gesso. 

Pulled out my Lindys Stamp Gang sprays (these will be sold in my Etsy store soon) and I chose Mojito Green, Cotton Candy Pink and MoonShadow Treasure Island.

Remember when using your sprays to heat set each color before using the next or the colors will run together and you won't get the true color you are wanting.

I love how the cover turned out and I am excited to start smashing my June items on the first page. 

I hope this inspired you to get out there and have a smashing good time creating. In case you need some creative inspiration... sit back and watch MJ 

xoxo Toni

Altered Time

I have been on a look out for a clock for my art studio and came upon this gem for only $5.00. It was perfect for my style... old, grungy, steampunk inspired with sprockets.... so it was a must buy.

Decided it needed some altering. The main products I used for altering were... UTEE gold, bronze & black. I also used black gesso as well as metal tape. 

I first wanted to make wings which I covered chipboard with the metal tape, burnished it real good  and ran it through my Vagabond to die cut different shape wings, then ran it through once again my embossing folder "Sprokets". Wiped a thin layer of Rub & Buff Ebony over the highlighted spots on the wings to give it depth. 

Next was diecutting an assortment of sprokets and gears. I painted chipboard with black gesso and ran it through the diecutting machine. 

Then the fun part... I just love embossing. I used UTEE gold, bronze & black. Used Versamark and swiped random spots on the gears and applied the UTEE. Of course it setup bright and shiny but I wanted more of an aged look, therefore I took a wire brush ( you can use sand paper, or Tonic  Scratch Tool etc. ) and went to town on the gears in certain spots so not to look uniform. 

You can see by the pictures above the difference between the two textures... This technique is actually one of my favorites from Tim Holtz where he embosses metal pieces and then scratches away bits and pieces and it makes your object look distressed and worn. Of course I couln't scratch these gears because they were made from chipboard therefore the wire brush was perfect for the job. 

Then I decided the clock itself needed some embossing. I wiped random spots of Versamark and applied gold UTEE to the actual clock and heat set.

 Then it was time to embellish the clock... gears, chain, wings, and glass vials filled with copper mica, and gold glass glitter, and Ideology Pen Nibs were added. 

 Hope you enjoyed the post and I especially hope this inspired you to go alter something . 

xoxo Toni