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

Babies 1st Christmas

I don't know about you but I just love Pinterest. That is where I got my inspiration for a gift I made for a baby shower I will be going to this weekend.

I used a Luminarte Glass Bauble Ornament (which can be purchased in my Etsy store here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/78199186/luminarte-brilliant-baulbles-heart-1 ). I shredded the baby shower invitation and curled it, then stuffed it inside the ornament. I added German glass glitter and mica flakes for a vintage snow effect. I then added the vintage tinsel which can also be purchased at my Etsy store https://www.etsy.com/listing/95984909/silver-tinsel-garland-3-yards. I tied a bow and attached a handmade clay tag for a personal touch. I don't know about you but there's something special about a homemade gift and I really hope that daddy and mommy 2 b will love this gift. Congrats Victoria & Daniel on your special gift from heaven. xoxo

Little Darlings Baby Tin

Hi everyone, it seems like it's baby time and I currently have 3 baby gifts I making. It must have been a cold winter...lol. To me there is nothing prettier than G45 papers and the Little Darlings collection does not disappoint. I made a tin for the first 12 months of the baby's birth to record special moments and a picture for that specific month. The inspiration I received is from Kristin Wilson and wonderful G45 designer. The outside was embellished with flat back pearls and  Prima "Say It In Crystals" also added numerous ribbons and Maya Road Tulle. 

An inexpensive way to wrap and give it that personal touch,  I purchased a kraft bag at the dollar store and embellished it with matching paper and made a little onsey tag for the gift tag. 

The inside of the tin is decorated with the beautiful paper from this collection and I fussy cut many of the pictures and added dimensional stickers for depth. I AM ROSES leaves and rosebuds were added as well as more pearls, crystals and metal butterfly from my stash. 

Month 1, 2, 3

Month 4, 5, 6

Month 7, 8, 9

Month 10, 11, 12

Each month included matching pages for a photo and another page with a journal tag to document special memories for that month.  For a detailed view, click on picture. 

To finish off the tin I created a hanging tag that included the baby's name, birth date and weight. Used Glossy Accents and added more pearls and attached a Ideology token. I hope Dominick's mommy and daddy have a wonderful time recording all there special memories with my gift.  The following items can be purchased in my Etsy store. http://www.etsy.com/shop/StudioGarageBand
G45 Little Darlings paper line
I AM ROSES rose buds and leaves
Flat back pearls
Prima "Say It In Crystals
Maya Road Tulle 
Thank you for stopping by... hope you've been inspired. 
xoxo 
Toni

Unruly PaperArts Guest Artist

Happy Thursday everyone and it's time to get messy again. This month at Unruly PaperArts the theme is "Catch The Wave" and the piece I contributed to this is one that I did utilizing a fun technique that I came upon from Tim Coffey's wonderful YOUTUBE video's. Here is a simple recap of my steps.

For more detailed instructions jump over to Unruly PaperArts blog and much much more inspiration. So until we meet again, get that glue gun out and use it.

xoxo

Toni

Guest Artist @ UNRULY PAPERARTS

I was recently chosen as guest artist for Unruly PaperArts blog to contribute a piece involving Buds and Blossoms which was their topic for the month of June. Incorporate nature in your art was the challenge. The piece that I entered was a altered canvas I made using a technique I came upon from artist Laura Liddell  where you using embossing powders to enhance the natural beauty of leaves and such. Below are some of the process pics I took as I was creating the piece but you can also view the entire post at Unruly Paperarts June 2012 issue Buds and Blossoms.  Take time to enjoy nature this month and try adding a little bit of art to it and see what you can make. Happy June !

XOXO Toni

If It's Important Enough, You'll Make Time For It

I have been in a creative slump for awhile now and not exactly sure why. It's very frustrating. I have all my arts stuff laying in my room all ready to be messed with and I start a project and for whatever reason I just don't feel it. Day in and day out I sit blog hopping to all my blogs that feed my creative soul with inspiration but not too much effort has been made to just sit...not think.... just play with art. OBSERVING BUT NOT PARTICIPATING. BUT.... one of my most favorite "cut to the chase" blogs "CreativeSomething" had a post today for whatever reason kicked my butt right over to the table and I got out an old book from the $Dollar store and gesso'd some pages together and started an art journal. Something I've been wanting to do for a loooooong time, but kind of afraid. You see, I'm concerned that someone might get ahold of it someday and think I was a little more looney then they had originally thought I was. CreativeSomething had a quote: "It is very important to embrace failure and to do a lot of stuff - as much stuff as possible - with as little fear as possible. It's much, much better to wind up with a lot of crap having tried it than to overthink in the beginning and not do it." - Stefan Sagmeister

Art journaling... where there are NO mistakes, just.... ok... not real fond of that technique, or probably won't try that again or OMG  that makes me wanna dance. I once read in another blog... sorry can't remember where but athletes always warm up before trying to run a race or play a game, and art journaling is much like that. Just put things on paper to get your mojo going and then off you go. So here is the first of hopefully many pages to come. 
Hurry Hurry those juices are flowing so I'm off back to my table to finish a baby shower gift that I started about a month ago...




xoxo Toni

Where in the World is My VAGABOND

Well my Vagabond is in sunny California along with my shabby chic dog "Bubba". I have to admit these both have to be my most precious purchases (Bubba and The Vagabond). Sizzix is asking "Where in the World is your Vagabond" and they are sending out the new gauge keys and the new limited edition travel stickers. If you haven't gotten one of these machines yet, I would so encourage you. xoxo Toni

The “Eyes” have it

My daughter just loves fake eye lashes. She has quite a collection of them. And being the frugal girl she is, she has a whole process of washing them in order to reuse them. The only thing is she has no where to keep keep them. I had this paper Mache box that I thought would be perfect once altered to her needs. Here is what I came up with.

The Lid

The Inside

Here are the steps I took in altering this box.

1. paint with black gesso

2. crackle medium used then painted over it with vintage white for a shabby chic look.

3. Painted all the little boxes and embellish them with G45’s Curtain Call paper

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4. Painted and RubNBuff used to age Dusty Attic corners, and frame for lid.

5. All pieces involved coated with Decoupage for protection.

6. Top of lid embellished with I Am Roses, Dusty Attic, vintage pearls, all of which can be purchased at my Etsy Store @ http://www.etsy.com/people/StudioGarageBand?ref=si_pr

This is entered in Simon Says Stamp and Show "Anything Goes" Challenge. Take a hop over to their blog for some wonderful inspiration. Thank you for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed.

xoxo Toni