Vintage Easter Banner for Gypsy Soul Lasercuts

hi there...spring is just around the corner and so is Easter! I'm going to decorate a bit for Easter this year as my "baby" (22-year old daughter) is back home after over 3 years of living out west, and that makes me feel much more festive....in fact I will be hiding an Easter basket for her like I did every year up until she left home!

I had some adorable vintage images in my stash and used them as a theme for my banner, and I have been eyeing the cute chippie eggs for a while trying to decide how I wanted to use them. 

I covered four of the banner pieces with corrugate and inked the edges with a deep brown

.I cut the coloured banners just a tad smaller and distressed and inked those edges as well, then attached the images to those.

The eggs were painted with brown acrylic paint, then coated with FolkArt Crackle medium. When the medium was dry I painted them with pastel acrylics, then rubbed them with the stain to create a aged look. I added a layer of clear embossing powder afterwards. 

The flowers were made with the Martha Stewart hydrangea punch, although I added an extra layer of the larger size. These too were inked in brown, then put together with small brads. The foliage was made with the Martha Stewart branch punch.

The small embellishments on the upper right of each banner were covered with patterned paper, then sanded and inked. I attached them with foam adhesive for a bit of added dimension.

The banner was put together with jute. To fit the jute through the small holes in some of the eggs, I dipped the end of the jute into hot wax and then squeezed it together with my fingers. It worked really well. I used hot glue to seal the knots when I tied the pieces together.

Thanks a bunch for stopping by, and be sure to share your Easter creations on our craft group Facebook page-we'd love to see what you come up with!

GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED

Banner Builder dovetail set

Decorative Eggs

Spring Shape Set

OTHER ITEMS USED

FolkArt Crackle medium
FolkArt Mixed Media transparent gel-Sepia
Versacolor Ink-Pinecone
Versamark Ink
Clear embossing powder

Rainbow of Faith Cards for Gypsy Soul Lasercuts

Hello friends-we all have times when we can use some support or encouragement, or just knowing someone is on our side, and the sentiments on these Bella Blvd and Simple Stories faith-based papers were perfect, as was the cheery rainbow-coloured background paper. I love so many of the Gypsy Soul frames and have been looking for a chance to incorporate some of them into my projects, and I think they worked really well on my cards.

I cut all the card bases 5" x 61/2" and the patterned paper slightly smaller, trying to create a fairly even cardstock edge. I lightly distressed and inked the edges of the patterned paper, then used Lindy's Stamp Gang embossing powder on all three of my frames.

For this card, I used one of the Evie flourished frames, which I primed with black acrylic paint before heat embossing with Lindy's Midnight Gold. I added some bling, fussy cut flowers and a Prima rose.

This card was made using the flourished frame Karen, which  was primed in white, then heat embossed with Lindy's Silver Moon Turquoise.  Again I added some fussy cut elements and a flower from my stash. A few golden pearls completed the look.

The third card features the flourished frame Elizabeth and was primed with teal acrylic paint, heat embossed in Lindy's Merry-Go-Round Green, then rubbed with Versacolor Turquoise ink. I was going for a certain shade to coordinate with the papers and was happy with the way these colours combined.Chunky pearl hearts and tiny pink roses were added for texture and interest.

These cards were easy to put together and can be created with a variety of sentiments and papers using these beautiful and versatile frames to set them off-I hope to see how you are inspired to use them! Thanks so much for stopping by!

                                                         GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED

Flourished Frame Evie

Flourished Frame Karen

Flourished Frame Elizabeth

OTHER ITEMS USED

Lindy's Stamp Gang embossing powders:
Merry-Go-Round Green
Midnight Gold
Silver Moon Turquoise

BoBunny Believe paper:Marvelous (background)
Simple Stories Faith , Bella Blvd. Illustrated Faith papers
foam adhesive
misc flowers and gems

Antique School Desk for Gypsy Soul Lasercuts, featuring Graphic 45 ABC Primer

Hi there! Where I live it's cold and snowy and generally perfect for hibernating in fuzzy jammies these days! In other words, it's a good time to stay inside and craft, so I decided to take on the adorable school desk piece I'd been eyeing for a while, and the Graphic 45 ABC Primer collection was perfect to use on this project!

When putting a 3D project together, I like to  fit all the pieces together so then I know exactly where I need paper to cover right to the edge and where slots need to be cut out. This photo shows a blown-out view after I traced around each piece and glued the paper on; I love Aleene's Tacky glue ofr 3D projects like this one, as it's thick enough to hold the pieces immediately to eliminate one piece popping out while fitting another onto it. This project went together smoothly and easily.

I sanded the edges and inked them with brown ink for a vintage feel, then fussy cut images from the papers and added them along with some flowers to the sides of the desk.for the top, I created some miniature schoolbooks with textured paper, white paper scraps and  used some title stickers from the paper collection.

There is also a mini-album to go with the desk; I covered all the pieces with patterned paper, sanded and inked the edges, and added fussy cuts and embellishments from the collection. I drilled 2 holes in each of the pages-if you have a strong hole punch, you may be able to use that, but mine wouldn't punch through the thick pages. I just tied the pages together with decorative fibers.

I snagged a nice big apple from the Fall shape set, painted it red and heat embossed it with UTEE, and attached it vertically to the seat to hold the mini album in place.

This was such a fun project to put together, and I have a crafter friend who happens to be a teacher, so I think I'll gift her with this next time I see her...thanks so much for stopping by, and happy crafting!

GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED
Antique School Desk and Slate Shaped Mini Album

Fall Shape Set

OTHER ITEMS USED

Graphic 45 ABC Primer paper collection
Aleene's Tacky glue
Versacolor ink-Pinecone
Versamark ink and UTEE

Die Storage album with Gypsy Soul Lasercuts and Graphic 45 Gilded Lily

Hey crafty folks-Lynne here with a little project I created to help myself out with storing my thin dies....let's just say I seriously outgrew my Art Bin, and even if I could jam them all in there it would weigh about 9000 lbs-lol!

I grabbed a mini photo album from a thrift store for 50 cents (I forgot to take a "before" photo, but it was just one of those generic ones and had an illustration of a topiary tree on it) and then started going through my papers; I wanted to use a play on words for the "die" theme and of course had thought of many, but at the time was leaning toward spelling out "live and let die"-until I happened upon the Graphic 45 Gilded Lily collection with this quote on it!

That settled it-Gilded Lily would be my paper of choice! I covered the album and added a fussy-cut strip along the top before starting to play with placement of chipboard and paper.

I dry-embossed the frame with my Cuttlebug using a damask patterned embossing folder, then painted it with the pearl acrylic paint shown below. When that was dry, I rubbed some Art Alchemy Rose Gold wax  here and there, focusing on the raised areas.

The dress forms were heat-embossed with Stampendous Champagne embossing powder, then rubbed along the edges with a little of the Rose Gold wax as well. I added tulle, pearls and other bits to "dress" them up.

I fussy-cut flowers and heat-embossed them in clear to make them more sturdy, and layered them with foam adhesive around the cover. The sentiment was cut and mounted to a tag to showcase it a little more, and I added some patterned chipboard buttons from the collection to the frame to pull the colours and patterns together even more. I found magnetic sheets at the Dollar Tree which I cut to size and slipped into the pockets with my dies attached.

As the dies say (albeit backwards), THANK YOU for stopping by and giving my little album a look; I love how easy it is to alter and embellish these great chipboard pieces to personalize my projects. Have a terrifically creative, colourful and elegant week....to DIE for! xoxo

GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED

Flourish Frame Sienna Mini
Steampunk Shape Set

OTHER ITEMS USED

Graphic 45 Gilded Lily collection
Art Alchemy metallique wax-Rose Gold
acrylic paint-baroque pearl
Champagne and clear embossing powders

Hello crafters!  I wanted to play around with some girly colours and decided to make a canvas with an empowering sentiment and some gorgeous pieces from the Gypsy Soul Lasercuts store:

I really love the different birds in the set, so I used several of them on my 8" round canvas; I ran them through a peacock feather embossing folder, trying to avoid the eyes and just add lines to the pieces to create some texture.

After choosing my chipboard and other elements I played around with them until I had a basic design-that way I knew where there was white space to add texture paste stenciling and a couple pieces of drywall tape. It wasn't until after I had moved on to the next step that I noticed one of the birds was upside down here! That's one reason why I never glue things down right away....although that's not always a good thing when I finally have everything placed exactly the way I want it, and one of my cats decides it's time to turn my work space into the Indy 500...or into a bed....sigh! Oh well, other than having to turn the bird over, this project went pretty smoothly-no kitty assistance!

After the stenciling was added I glued my arrangement down (and added a few more goodies to the bare spots) then primed the entire surface with white gesso.

I sponge-painted the canvas with pale pink and lavender acrylic paint before misting it with a bit of white all over. 

I then added mist in pink, purple and a smidge of turquoise, then rubbed on some Art Alchemy wax in "Royal Robes".

I was happy with the colours after that, and all I did was rub a little purple ink over the letters and a few raised surfaces with my finger for added definition-hope you like the finished product! I just happened to have a piece of ribbon in my stash that matched the colours exactly, so I added a bow at the bottom, which I thought added a bit of extra texture and interest to the round canvas-thanks so much for stopping by, and my you and your brave wings fly this week and always!!

GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED

Birds Shape Set

Feathers Shape Set

OTHER ITEMS USED

DecoArt acrylic paint

Bad Girls Couture gesso

Cuttlebug machine and embossing folder

Tattered angels and Mister Huey mists

Prima stencils, homemade texture paste

drywall tape

various flowers and diecuts

Getting organized in the New Year-Tool Caddy for Gypsy Soul Lasercuts

Hi everybody! Hope you had a wonderful holiday season; as my first post for the new year, I decided I'd jump on the storage and organization bandwagon! I really needed to get my favourite pens, markers and pencils all in one place, and this awesome tool caddy is the perfect place for them (I made one for my paintbrushes LAST year!)

I used this gorgeous, delicate Heartfelt Creations paper; I love the soft colours and the Scripture verses that are included in the paper pad.

Once I chose the papers, I painted the edges of the caddy that would be uncovered with a light wedgewood blue acrylic paint, then cut the papers to fit each piece, just laying the pieces on the reverse side of the paper and tracing around them. I then sanded and inked the edges a bit before gluing them on. I also inked the edges of the fussy cut verse before attaching it to the front with foam tape.

The leafy swirls I cut into two pieces, one foe each end of the caddy-I love how easily these chipboard embellishments can be cut to fit whatever project I'm using them for! I painted them with the wedgewood acrylic before heat embossing them with distress embossing powder. they were then lightly rubbed with soft blue ink.

I diecut the flowers and layered the 3 sizes after inking the edges and shaping them. The trick to shaping them I learned at a Heartfelt Creations workshop at CHA a few years back (although my tools are much more makeshift than theirs were!) I placed the flowers on my mouse pad, then used the round end of a crochet hook, placed it in the center of the flower and gently rotated it in a small circle until the flower sunk in in the center and the petals curled outward. Once they were glued together I added some antique gold microbeads in the centers.

I love to fussy cut and these papers had gorgeous vines that were perfect to add to the top of my caddy; a soft bow finished it off.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my project; I'm looking forward to how much more organized I'll be now....actually I think it just might take a "smidge" more than a caddy to make me stay organized, but hey, it's a start, right???

Happy New Year and have a terrifically creative 2018

GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED

Tool Caddy

Leafy Swirl

OTHER ITEMS USED

Heartfelt Creations 12x12 paper pad-
Countryside Evening collection

Ranger Distress embossing powder-Pumice Stone
Versacolor Ink-Polar blue
Versamark Ink
Ingvild Bolme Ink-Old Road
Aleene's Tacky white glue
microbeads
foam tape