Wendy Vecchi Class

Several weeks ago I was fortunate to attend an art class by artist Wendy Vecchi in Moline, Illinois.

First, we learned a bunch of ink and embossing techniques using tags:

Art is a messy business.

Here's a pic of me with Wendy. She is super nice and soooo talented!

Her husband was there helping, and he had packed some of her supplies in this "Bud Heavy" box. Lol.

After lunch we started on our framed canvas project using our newly acquired skills. 

Here's my finished project. I ventured off the project a little, but I can't help myself. I love the finished piece.

Halloween in Wonderland Shadowbox

The inspiration for this Halloween-themed shadowbox came from Pinterest, where I saw a shadowbox from the blog Meme's Art Place made using the same theme.

The papers are from Graphic 45 and are the "Hallowe'en in Wonderland Collection."  I've been hoarding the set for a couple years, so I'm not sure if it's still available.  I've seen similar collections with a Wizard of Oz theme, and those tempt me as well.  The tray/shadowbox is from 7 Gypsies.  The embellishments are miscellaneous finds from my stash.  I also used ribbon, Stickles and Liquid Pearls, and I edged a lot of the papers with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Ranger.

 

Some of the papers are flat against the back of the tray, and I glued some to the top for depth, and I like the shadows they make.  Here's a close-up look at my favorite--the creepy hand reaching toward the white rabbit.

 

And here are some other close-ups showing the various embellishments:

 

It's hard to see, but the pocket watch's face on the right is covered with shiny Stickles.

The Mad Hatter's bowtie and socks both have Liquid Pearl highlights.

 

This project was fun and probably only took 1 to 1 1/2 hours, mostly because the papers all matched so I didn't have to make a lot of paper/color decisions.

 

 

Configurations Vacation Book

I thought I'd surprise my friend Teresa on her birthday with a scrapbook/shadow box from our road trip to the Gulf Coast last year.  Her birthday was a month ago, so it really is going to be a surprise.  Anyway, here's the end result:

Most everything is either from CTMH or Tim Holtz.  My basic idea came from the book Tim Holtz showed during the CHA show this winter.  The newspaper-like tape on all edges is Tim Holtz.  The papers are all CTMH:  mostly the "Surf's Up" paper pack with a little bit of "Dakota" (the worn boards paper).  All the stamps are CTMH.

This is a view of the inside of the box.  I like that it's a shadow box so you can add shells, matchbooks, and other 3D objects, but it still has a cover, so if we don't want to display it, it slides onto a book shelf nicely.

Here's what the Configurations Book looks like when you get it--naked.  You can move the boxes around in any order you want or remove some, but I liked the original pattern.  Next I covered the edges of every box with Tim Holtz tissue tape:

And all the other edges of the Configurations Book:

Next, I covered the flat surfaces with patterned paper.

Cut the paper just short of the length/width of the book, so the tape shows around the edges.  I also distressed all the edges of every piece of paper.  I added ribbon around the book for a bow closure.  I glued it under the paper on the cover and on top of the papers on the back and spine.

The back of the book with the ribbon on the outside.

The ribbon on the spine of the book.

I used different coordinating patterns for the backgrounds of the boxes.  I glued the three shells on their respective boxes with CTMH Liquid Glass.  There's also a matchbook and a bit of letterhead from hotel stationery.

Here are all the photos added.  I also included some CTMH embellishments from the Surf's Up pack.  The large box on the right is for a mini book.

I made sure the cover was flat, because I want it to fit on a bookcase without being damaged.  The pennants are a SU punch, but I used CTMH paper.  The baker's twine is glued behind the pennants, but they hang free at the ends.  The words & numbers are all CTMH stamps.

This is the little mini book inside the cover.  I made the "door handle" out of a square button and a bead, which I affixed with Liquid Glass.  I was careful that the door handle landed in the center of a box on the right side, so the book would still close.  I made the book with several pieces of cs, scored down the left side and stacked and glued down the left side.

I added pictures from each day of the trip on the inside, along with some coordinating stamping, and computer-printed journaling.  I couldn't help but add a picture of me & Tom with a note that we are some of the "most awesome friends ever."

I included pictures of some of the favorite food and drinks from the trip to give a complete feel of the vacation.  You can see the embellishments at the top of the inside cover, which fit inside a box to the right when the cover is closed.

 

I like to use white colored pencil to highlight stamping on darker papers.

 

 

 Here's the mini book on the right side.  Again, it's just a few pieces of cs scored and taped together along the top.  The embellishments and stamps are CTMH.

Two holes in the top of the book make it slip right over these hooks.  I can't remember their exact name, but they're Tim Holtz Ideaology pieces.

I didn't permanently secure the book, so it still slides off the hooks in case my friend wants to do some of her own journaling in here.

And the inside of this book.  Plain, but I thought I need to leave her some journaling areas too. 

 

 

(I can't get over Mark eating those raw oysters--Yuck!)

 

Here's some more pics of the finished project: 

I didn't glue down the individual boxes.  You could, but they stay in pretty well by themselves.

You can see in this photo that all my tape isn't sticking down perfectly.  That doesn't really bother me.  I like the look with the wrinkles and loose bits.  It could be remedied with some white glue or more careful taping technique, if the messier look isn't your style.

 

It did take some time, but this was a really fun project, and I plan to do more.

Let It Snow! Shadowbox

Another shadowbox.  This time I filled it with fake snow, a pine cone, and a few red glittery Christmas balls.  "Let it Snow!" are glitter stickers.  It came together in about five minutes.  I gave it to a friend with three little kids, and they love it.

And, it must have worked, because after having no snow on the ground yesterday, this is what we woke up to today--about 10 inches at our house, and much more in other areas of Iowa:

Jingle Shadow Boxes

I got this general idea off (you guessed it) Pinterest.  The 5x7 shadow boxes were on sale this week at Michael's for something like $4.50, so this was really cheap.  The jingle bells, also from Michael's, came in a tube with assorted colors, and I used about 2/3 of them for each shadow box.  The letters are glittery chipboard I had left over from another project.  The snowflake "dot" of the "i" is piece of cs punched out with a pink adhesive gem in the center.  I also added some B&T paper with a muted pattern of snowflakes for the background.  The bells are loose inside the box, so they shake (and jingle!), and you can let them pile up any way you like.

Here's a second jingle box I made:

This time I left the black felt in the background that comes with the shadow box to show off the blue, silver, and white bells.  I also gave it a horizontal orientation instead of vertical like the first box.  "Jingle" is stamped with white ink on the outside of the glass.  The glitter sticks to the background and the back of the glass and adds even more sparkle.

Here are both boxes together:

Neither picture really does justice to the box with the pink and green bells.  It really sparkles and looks festive with a modern look.  I would estimate that each box only takes about 15 minutes to put together.  I probably spent more time shopping for the supplies than making them.

Ticket Stub Shadow Box

Another idea I saw on Pinterest.  It's a simple shadow box, with an approx. 5 x 7 opening.  I put a piece of Dessert Sand cs on the back and attached a Tim Holtz ticket with dimensional adhesive on which I stamped "admit one."  I distressed both the background paper and the ticket.  Then I just shoved some old tickets in the box, many of them you can't even see.

Shadow Box

I made this shadow box for my mother-in-law for a Christmas present.

The shadow box is from 7 Gypsies, and I bought it at my LSS.  To view 7 Gypsies products go here.