The Thread That Binds Us

My younger daughter is celebrating a birthday today so I thought I'd show you the project I made for her. She's an enthusiastic sewer, often making garments entirely sewn by hand, so I've used a sewing theme for this decor piece.

The background was stencilled with the pattern repeated, the colours chosen to co-ordinate with her home. Although the sewing machine is a modern shape I wanted to give it an antique look, so die-cut in black and sponged the edges with white ink as well as highlighting the detailed decorative pattern with a white gel pen. 

I wanted the buttons to look wooden, so cut them from woodgrain card before colouring them. I used baker's twine on the cotton reels and threaded needle, gluing it in strategic places. The faux stitching around the border of the vellum - used to both mute the bright colours behind and to give a base for the focal elements - tied in perfectly. 

Materials used:

• dies - Sew Fun (Waffle Flower), Sewing Set (Our Daily Bread Designs), slimline stitched rectangle, Nothing's Better Than (retired SU)
• stencil - Patchwork (Waffle Flower)
• distress ink colours - wild honey, fossilized amber, lumberjack plaid, chipped sapphire, brushed corduroy, vintage photo
• other - Big Shot, white and black bakers twine, silver pearl, Dimensionals, wooden vignette tray (Tim Holtz), white pigment ink, sponge dauber, white gel pen

I'm happy with it and hope she will be too. Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #673 - Just Choose Two

In the mood for crafting? At Just Add Ink this week we've our Choose Two option to inspire you.

I chose doors and windows for another decor piece. This project was very time intensive to make but extremely satisfying once completed.

The whole house was made from heavyweight black cardstock. Once I'd die-cut all the pieces, I spread grit paste randomly over the walls, allowed it to dry then dry-brushed with various distress paints. The marks on the window panes were made with a white gel pen to mimic cracks and cobwebs and there's semi-transparent plastic on the insides for glass. 

The grass is crypt paste coloured with reinker and all the leaves were adhered to the house using glossy accents and spread over the lawn while the paste was still wet. The thin threads are the string from a hot glue gun (how perfect are they?) and I grunged up the tiny jack o'lantern with some distress crayon. The same heavyweight card was used for the fence and for the sides of the box I created a kind of gothic wallpaper vibe by stamping a damask pattern and embossing in black. 

But the most fun part? It lights up!

As Tim Holtz would say, "tiny lights for the win!" lol.

This is not a large piece - the box measures just 12cm x 12cm and the mansion is about the same height. Fine-tip glue and squeezers (reverse tweezers) were definitely my friends, lol. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Damask (Tim Holtz)
• card - black mixed media heavyweight
• dies - Village Collection, Graveyard colorize (both Tim Holtz)
• distress paints - black soot, pumice stone, hickory smoke
• other - Big Shot, hot glue gun, distress grit paste opaque, distress grit paste crypt, rustic wilderness oxide reinker, spatula, white gel pen, artificial leaves and jack o'lantern (Temu), square vignette box (Tim Holtz), glossy accents, tiny lights clear (Tim Holtz), black embossing powder, heat tool, Sidekick, collage medium opaque

Check out what my team mates made using their two choices over on the Just Add Ink blog and, as always, we'd love you to join us by adding your creation to our gallery. 

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #671 - Just Add Inspiration

Good morning! It's time for a new challenge with Just Add Ink and we have a gorgeous inspiration board for you this week - so many evocative images to stimulate your creativity. 

My offering is a decor piece - a set of three vignette boxes decorated with a nature theme.

To provide cohesion and continuity, the same background was used for each box, then they were decorated with various die cut elements. For extra visual interest I added some snippets of rub-ons and stamped splodges in random spots. Unusually for me, I didn't sponge the distressed edges - the raw, organic look of them appealed to me in the moment so I left them as is. 

Here they are individually.

I think my favourite part of this is the wee fieldmouse with its loooong tail - so cute!

Materials used:

• stamps - Timeless Textures (Stampin' Up)
• all paper, rub ons and die cuts from Curator's Meadow collection (49 & Market)
• wooden vignette boxes from Tim Holtz
• other - forest moss and vintage photo oxide inks (TH), sponge daubers, distress collage medium, paintbrush, distressing tool

I do hope you'll check out more offerings over on the Just Add Ink blog and be inspired to create. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry