OWL ART- NEW COLLAGE SHEET "INTO THE WOODS"

Owls are my absolute favorite bird.  I think it must be the round head and big eyes that draw me to them.  These art pieces showcase the images in my latest collage sheet.  All of the images on the piece above are from the new sheet.  As a further embellishment, I added sugared mini blooms and moss.  To keep the moss from falling apart I spray it with aerosol hairspray.  I suggest aerosol as the spray is finer than a pump spray.

The owl and rabbit are from the new sheet and the dark leaves are from my Falling Leaves collage sheet.  I coated the dead tree cut-outs and the leaves with Diamond Dust.  The snowflakes were cut from snowflake garland.  I stamped the background paper with a bare tree rubber stamp. 

INTO THE WOODS COLLAGE SHEET

The collage sheet features owls, squirrels, rabbits, leaves, acorns, pine cones and mushrooms.   Click on the image below to purchase.

FALL ART

I started these two fall-themed pieces last year.  I kind of got stuck on how I wanted to finish them so I put them aside and moved on to Christmas art.

I used images of leaves and birds, leaf trim, sequin leaves, and beads to decorate the piece.  The door in the back is a rub-on transfer I made.  Also in the background is an image of a picture frame that I cut in half.  Most of the images for both of the pieces are from my collage sheets.

The green man at the top and border at the bottom are made of paper clay.  For the green man, I used a brass piece to make a mold.  For the bottom piece, I stamped the clay with a rubber stamp.

For a tutorial on making your own molds click here.

The music and tree in the background of this piece are again rub-on transfers that I made.  Click here for a tutorial on how to make your own rub-on transfers.

As embellishments, I used images of leaves a bird & squirrel, embossed oak leaves, leaf sequins, acrylic leaves, pine cones and a glitter texture mixture for sparkle.  The violin is a rub-on from my stash.

Fall Treasure Box or Centerpiece with Leaf Topper Tutorial

How about decorating a round paper mache box in a fall theme and using it as a treasure box or as part of a centerpiece.

The topper is made from 3 chipboard leaves that serve as decoration and also as a handle to lift the lid from the box.  Although I used leaves, you could use this technique for lots of other chipboard shapes.

How to Make the Leaf Topper

• First, paper or paint your leaves.  The leaves below are undecorated as they are just for demonstration purposes but you will want to decorate yours first.  When papering items that don’t have straight edges I use sandpaper to help remove the excess paper.
• Cut two of the leaves in half.  I inked the edges of the chipboard after they were papered and cut.  Because the stems of the leaves are so narrow, I cut them off.  Depending on the shape you are using you might want to cut something off of the bottom of the shape if it is narrow like the stem of the leaves.

• Paint or paper your box lid. 
• Mark three cut lines at the center of your box lid as pictured below (of course yours will be papered and or painted) and use an X-acto knife to cut the lines.  This is where you will be inserting the leaves into the box lid.  The length of your lines depends on the shape you are using and how far you want to insert the shapes into the box lid.  I inserted the leaves I used about 1/2” into the box lid.

• Insert the full leaf first.  Next, insert a half leaf and glue it the full leaf where the two meet.  Continue inserting and gluing the half leaves.  You are reassembling the cut leaves with each other but with the full in between. Note: when working with a shape like a leaf where each side of the leaf is not exactly the same, make sure that when you glue the half leaves in place you are gluing each side of the same leaf across from each other and in between the full leaf. 

 

• Once all of the leaves are in place and the glue has dried, you might want to add a little glue to the part of the leaves that are inserted in the box (inside the lid) to keep them from being pulled out when you use them to lift the lid.

Fall Themed Altered Bottle

This is a project that has been sitting around forever waiting to be finished.  The inspiration came from the pine cone stopper which I found at Crate and Barrel about 3 years ago.  It’s a Christmas ornament which was only 99 cents and when I saw it I thought what a great stopper it would make.  The pine cone is covered in microbeads.

I colored the gold brass leaves with a combination of Patina & Copper Gilders Paste and Ranger Patina Metal Paint (the color is Amethyst).  I bent them some to make them wrap around the bottle.  I also added something called “Dazzlers” to the bottom leaf.  They are like glitter but a little larger.  I purchase them from the Glitter Art Institute who makes all kinds of fabulous glitter products.

The copper leaves and swirls are metallic copper sticker.  You’ve seen me use the gold and silver versions on many projects.

 Around the bottom and the neck of the bottle are beaded trims.

Fall Art, New Collage Sheet & a Giveaway

I think fall colors are some of my favorites.  I had lots of fun creating the 3 collage pieces pictured above.  

The bases of these pieces are chipboard leaves. 

 

I created additional depth on flowers by using microbeads.  The images are from my new collage sheet “Falling Leaves”.

FALLING LEAVES COLLAGE SHEET

This sheet contains lovely ladies dressed in 1920s fall clothing with coordinating flowers and leaves.

Four Seasons Altered Tea Tin– ATC Storage/Display

I had so much fun creating the holiday themed tea tins that I decided to make a Four Seasons Altered Tea Tin.  Just like with the holiday tins, this one is the perfect size to store and display ATCs.  The process started with decorating a wood window for each season.  I think using a window makes a great backdrop for the change of seasons.

THE WINDOWS

FALL

The windows are close to the size of an ATC.  I think they would also work great as separate pieces or attached to an ATC.

I used Alcohol Ink to color some of the brass leaves.  The clusters of red berries are beads.  I stained the window using Vintage Photo Distress Stain.

Alpha Stamps Products Used for the Fall Window:

Tiny Oak Leaf Garland

3 Connected Brass Leaves

Acrylic Leaves in Tin – Fall Havest

Brass Oak Leaves

Raw Brass Rose Leaves

Florentine Brass Leaves

Mauve/Red Bead Mix

Distress Stain – Vintage Photo

Winter Birds Collage Sheet

Crows #1 Collage Sheet

WINTER

 I stained the window using Brushed Pewter Metallic Distress Stain.

Alpha Stamps Products Used for the Winter Window:

Royal Christmas Red Drop Scallop Trim

Christmas Green Buttons

Snug in their Beds Collage Sheet

Winter Birds Collage Sheet

PlasticPearls (Strands)-Ivory

Small Brass Snowflakes

Giant Snowflakes – Antique Silver

Antique Silver Snowflakes

Fresh Snow Buttons

Metallic Distress Stain – Brushed Pewter

SPRING

I used Avocado Liquid Pearls to color the window. The gold and red acrylic sprays around the windows are originally clear.  I used Alcohol Inks to color them.  The orange roses were originally white.  I used Lemonade Stain to color them orange.

Alpha Stamps Products Used for the Spring Windows:

Liquid Pearls - Avocado – Used to paint the window

Clear Acrylic Bead Sprays - Wheat

Forget Me Nots - Orange

Small White Apple Blossoms

Old Fashion Roses – White – Colored with Lemonade Stain

Acrylic Leaves in a Tin – Spring Green

Distress Stain – Squeezed Lemonade

Butterflies Collage Sheet

Umbrella Kids #2 Collage Sheet

Puppies #1 Collage Sheet

SUMMER

The red material wrapped around the windows is cheesecloth died with Red Pepper Alcohol Ink.  The window is painted with a Metallic Pearl Paint Dabber.

At the Beach Collage Sheet

Paint Dabber – Metallic Pearl – Used to paint the window

Travel Stick Pins

Starfish

Seashell Sequin Mix

Gold Starfish Bead Caps

Antique Silver Seahorse

Acrylic Flowers in Tin

Alcohol Inks – Red Pepper – Used to dye the cheesecloth

The Tea Tin

I used the same Tea Tin as I used in the Holiday versions.  I covered the inside and the outside of the tin with paper from the Olde Curiosity Shoppe line.

I used a wooden egg cup for the base.  In addition to the fact that I like how the tin looks propped up on a base, it also made it possible to have decorative elements that hang off the bottom of the windows.  

To distress the egg cup, I started by staining the wood with Vintage Photo Distress Stain.  I used a cotton swab to get into the grooves.  

After letting the stain dry, I applied a thick layer of Picket Fence Crackle Paint.

You will see the stain bleed through the paint.  I let the Crackle Paint dry (you should see fine crackling).  I then applied a second coat of Crackle Paint and let it dry.  You should see more crackling and some parts of the paint flaking off.  I picked some of the paint off that was loose.  Once you get it the way you want, coat it with a sealer like Modge Podge to keep more paint from coming off.

Alpha Stamps Products Used for Altering the Tea Tin:

Square Tea Tin

CandlestickHolder

Oval Window Wood Flourishes

Picket Fence Crackle Paint

Distress Stain – Vintage Photo

The last step was to attach the decorated windows to each side of the tin. 

FALL

WINTER

SPRING

SUMMER

"See the Alpha Stamps newsletter Sunday morning for info about a year-long ATC swap that would be perfect for this project."

Come Little Leaves

Here is a little fall inspired art for you.  The image of the woman is from a vintage magazine cover.

Autumn In Paris

This piece is for a swap in the VintagePhotoImageATCs group on Yahoo.  The leaves are made of paper.

Paris Memories

The background is a collage of various pieces of vintage ephemera.  The Eiffel tower is a rub on transfer I made using Grafix Rub-Onz Transfer film.  Click here for the tutorial.  At the bottom of the piece is an image of a vintage piece of jewelry.  I gave it dimension by adding Ranger Glossy Accents and crystals.