Star Light, Star Bright - A Vintage Journey

Hello Friends

The first Friday of the month means a new challenge at A Vintage Journey  The lovely Julia is our host this month.  Here is what Julia has to say:

'This month we are asking you to create with STARS.  Fill up the dark winter sky with them or use one big one as your central focus.  Stencil them, stamp them, emboss them or die cut them.  Make a card, make a star box, make a canvas, create a journal page - remembering to create in the vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journalling, industrial or steampunk styles.'

I usually make a 'light up' home decor piece at Christmas time and the Star theme fitted my plan perfectly.

I used a Tim Holtz Vignette Box, his Merry Moose (I love him!!), one of Tim's  Woodland trees and a few other Tim products to create my winter scene...

I started by creating a fake 'wall' at the back of the vignette so that my lights could fit behind.  The wall was created with a really old Tim Holtz paper pad - one page had resist stars on and I simply added some Distress Ink to the starry background.  I punched some holes, through some of the stars for the lights to show through.  I used the same paper for the insides of the vignette.

The top, sides and floor of the vignette were coated with Ranger Distress Grip Paste.  I die cut Merry Moose, some trees and small deer, coloured them and added them to the vignette along with one of Tim's Woodland Trees, coloured green.

I added a lot of Tim's Greenery to the top of the vignette and added a Ideaology sentiment.to the front.  The back of the vignette was covered with some snowflake design paper from my stash.  I used the same paper to create a battery pack holder.

It was difficult to get the night time view but here it is lit up, it does look better in real life.

 I hope you will join in our Star Light, Star Bright challenge this month, it would be lovely to see you there!

Do please check out my teamies projects too, over at A Vintage Journey  there are some real beauties over there.

As always, thanks for your visit.  Hugs, Anne xx

The Monster Mash, it was a Graveyard smash ...

Hello Friends

Does anyone remember the Monster Mash by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett?  I really only remember it nearer to Halloween and I can't get it out of my head.  I love Halloween and I usually make just one large project but this year I have done three!  If you missed them, you can see the others HERE and HERE, using the latest Tim Holtz Halloween products.

I also said I was not going to buy any more Tim Holtz Halloween stuff, but as you will see, I broke down and bought quite a few things.... but what the heck, we only live once!

I am not going to go through the details because I think it is fairly self explanatory, but I will say, it was an absolute nightmare to photograph!!  It definitely looks much better in real life...

Count Dracula is showing Mr and Mrs Bones the way - Mrs Bones has a blood stained shawl with a black rose to hold it together.  Mr Zombie is making his way on his own, who knows where Mrs Z is..

I decided to add some lights behind the glittery sky and at the bottom to show the monsters the way to the party.

A couple of close-ups.

Thanks for your visit.  If you are visiting today, Happy Halloween or, if afterwards I hope you had a great Halloween!

I hope to see you again tomorrow when I will be sharing not one, but two new projects.

Hugs, Anne xx

Metropolis

Hello Friends

As soon as I saw Tim's new release video, I wanted these Sizzix Cityscape dies, even though I knew it might be a challenge for my less than dexterous hands.... they are such fun to use!

I used three of the Sizzix dies to create my 'Metropolis' - Tim Holtz Cityscape Suburbia, Cityscape Metropolis and Cityscape Commute.  It took me a couple of days as I painted each item individually, using the fabulous new Distress Oxide inks.

I just love the little clothesline!  On a visit to Hong Kong, many years back it was so interesting to see that even in such a large city, people actually had strings of washing out on lines between the buildings and that was my inspiration for combining the Suburbia and Metropolis die sets.

The word Metropolis was made from Tim's new Typography plastic letters, they were painted with Tumbled Glass Distress Paint and simply glued to the top of the Vignette box.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well the plastic takes paint.  Don't you just love the little helicopter!!

The whole scene was created using a Tim Holtz Vignette Box (the largest size) which measures 5.1/2" x 3.3/4" x 1.1/2" deep.  I covered the back and sides of the box with the beautiful new Memoranda papers, also by Tim Holtz.

If you want to be totally WOWED by a creation using the Cityscape dies, please have a look at what my dear friend Jenny Marples has made HERE.  It is breath-takingly beautiful!!  I wish I had thought to cut the buildings from already Oxide coloured cardstock - I will know for next time!

As always, thanks for looking and I hope to see you again soon.

Hugs, Anne xx

All Aboard at A Vintage Journey

Hello Friends

This month at A Vintage Journey it is our Third Birthday and the talented Brenda is our host!  We are celebrating with an 'All Aboard' Happy Birthday challenge, which essentially means Anything Goes.  Here is what Brenda had to say:

'Come join in our All Aboard challenge where you choose what you want to step on board with and although we still need to see you working in the styles and genres listed in the banner at the top of the page, you can choose whether you share a card, some altered art, a journal page, a painting, in fact, whatever you fancy, but with no theme to follow.  Let's have some fun, share your current creations and enjoy the informal feel of our birthday celebrations!'

I just got some of  new releases by Tim Holtz, including the large (very large) Ecetera tags - I used the smallest one, which is 5.1/2" x 10" - so it's big!

I only have a couple of step outs as I got a bit lost in the process....

I prepared the tag first, using several layers of Distress Paint, followed by Distress Collage Medium - Crazing, scraped a few bits off and then applied a layer of Distress Collage Medium - Vintage.

Next I decided on a few pieces of Tim's Ephemera, Letterpress and the smallest Vignette Box.

I felt that the base needed a little more and so I added some stencilling.  I like it better now!

This is the point I stopped taking photos, I added the Ephemera pieces and used a Distress Crayon to edge each of the pieces, to give them a lift.

'Celebrate' and the 3's represent our birthday at A Vintage Journey.  The collage is my homage to the hugely talented Brenda, the owner of AVJ, who does the most amazing collage creations!  I am so thrilled to be here three years down the line and to be a part of this fantastic team.

In my internet search for a 'vintage' lady to add to the collage, I found a photo Amy Johnson, a pioneering English aviator, the first to fly solo from Britain to Australia.  Can you see the little airplane Remnant Rub to the left of the photo?  There is yet another '3' at the bottom of the  Idea-ology photo strip....

Finally, at the bottom of the tag, I added a small Vignette Box, painted in Weathered Wood Distress Paint.  I coloured the Letterpress in the same way and then over-stamped both the letters and the Vignette Box.

A few more Remnant Rubs and some random splatters of paint finished the piece.  I hope you like it!

We hope that you will join in our birthday celebrations at A Vintage Journey, you can find all the details and see what my talented teamies have made HERE.

This month we are sponsored by Country View Crafts where there is a £20 gift voucher for one randomly selected person.

I would like to add this to Country View Crafts challenge - Inspired by Tim Holtz (except for the photo, the entire tag is made with Tim Holtz products)

Edited:  I have just noticed that Creative Carte Blanche's theme this month is Numbers, Numbers, Numbers - so I am joining in there too with all my number threes!

As always, thanks for looking, hope to see you again soon!