"LIGHT"-an art journal page for Gypsy Soul Lasercuts

Hello crafters! 'Twas the day after Christmas and...as much as I enjoyed all the Christmas crafting, it felt good to get back to basics a bit! I haven't done any art journaling in ages and-along with-my Bible journaling-I want to start taking the time to create at least a page a month. I found a verse I really liked on Facebook and it inspired me to put this page together:

I started by tearing a piece of Inkido paper to fit the page in my art journal; I roughed up the edges a bit and added a few extra tears.

I sprayed with yellow Ayeeda mist; the paper buckled a bit when it was wet but flattened as it dried. If your page doesn't flatten you can either put it under something heavy for a bit or run a hot dry iron over it.

I placed my frame where I wanted it then marked where my journaling would go. I can't print straight so I drew light pencil lines, one for each line of writing.Be sure to use a pen that won't smudge when you erase your pencil lines (test on a scrap if you're not sure)

I painted the chipboard pieces with yellow acrylic paint, then dabbed a paper towel in white paint and randomly patted it on when the yellow was dry. I set them aside to dry and moved back to the journal page.

I stenciled with texture paste, putting the starburst pattern where my light bulbs were going to go, and  added the other designs randomly for interest. I used homemade texture paste made with baby powder, white glue, and acrylic paint, but the commercial pastes are great as well-just make sure it's fairly thick to get clean lines and no bleeding under your stencil. Some people don't mind a less crisp look, but I confess I freak out a bit if my stenciling isn't at least pretty crisp and clean!

While the texture paste dried, I heat embossed the chipboard pieces with clear embossing powder; it brightened the colours and added a nice sheen. For a perfectly smooth finish I usually do two coats, but I liked the irregular and slightly bumpy effect of the single coat on these pieces.

I attached yellow vellum to the backs of the light bulbs for a semi-transparent look and placed them over the starburst rays. One of the bulbs had a cord on it which I cut off so they would both be the same; the chain stickers were perfect and have been in my stash for ages!

I used the hot glue gun to attach the frame and lightbulbs; the ladies were cut from a 7 Gypsies paper and popped up with foam tape.

This was fun to put together; I love adding meaningful pages to my art journal and playing around with techniques and products. It's a great way to express yourself and get a little messy-thanks so much for stopping by, and I wish you a happy, creative and colourful New Year!

                                                      GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED

                                                      Scribbled Frames and Lines
                                                        Steampunk Lightbulb Set

                                                            OTHER ITEMS USED

                                                            DecoArt acrylic paints

Inkido and 7Gypsies papers 

Ayeeda mist

clear embossing powder and Versamark ink

                                                   Prima and Crafter's Workshop stencils

Old-Fashioned Christmas Village for Gypsy Soul Lasercuts

hello and happy Christmastime! I've so been enjoying my craft time lately as I just love anything to do with Christmas! Months ago when I received the Cabana Row Houses in my Design Team box, my first thought was to create a Christmas village with them, so I had to wait a while, but here it is:

The houses fold up like little boxes; the first thing I did was cover all of them with patterned paper. I used papers from Inkido's  Forever Santa collection (which was gifted to me by my lovely friend Agnieszka-thanks hun!)

For this first house I created a little dormer over the door and used wooden skewers for the pillars. The wreath and garland are jute.The door was cut from patterned paper, and pretty much everything was attached to the houses with a hot glue gun.The window is from the 1:24 windows set and all the doorknobs are beads.

I used the standard shingles for this roof; They were wonderful to work with and I found myself wishing I had the pennant and scalloped ones in my stash as well. For some of the other houses I ended up cutting my own "shingles"-word to the wise-do yourself a favour and order some of these from Gypsy Soul-cutting my own was tedious and they don't look nearly as nice as these!!




I was so excited to finally use the teeny-tiny Christmas lights I've had in my stash for ages! They're actually straight in real life but for some reason look a tad wonky in the photo...I used another window from the 1:24 set and created a balcony with some scrap chipboard from punching things out in one of the shape sets. The tree is wooden and comes from Poland.

I cut these shingle strips from some thin coloured cork; it reminded me of the texture of asphalt shingles.

This little house  has a window from the Seaside doors and windows set and some fussy cut bell garland from the patterned paper. The door is cut from coloured cork to match the roof. I added the cute little cutout children in front of the house for a little bit of a homey feel.

The roof was done with strips of coloured cork, as I wanted it a little different from the other one I had made with cork.

This house kind of reminded me of the little thatched-roof cottages you'd see in "Robin Hood" or "King Arthur" stories, so I decided to try to give it that feel; the burlap roof is my version of a thatched roof. I added a dormer made of patterned paper and trimmed it with some fussy cut garland.

The front  of the house has a little awning made from the same paper as the door; once again it is straight although it photographed looking kind of crooked. I added some fussy cut holly leaves at the bottom to serve as shrubbery,

I saved the church for last because it's my favourite; I looked at pictures of church steeples on Google images and created this one with thin shirt cardboard. It's just a square with grooves cut in for the peak, and then four elongated triangles that join together at the top. I added some lace to the roof edge and I altered a louvered door from the Seaside set to create the welcoming open doors The pretty window is from the 1:24 set.

I punched strips from thin cardboard with a Tonic border punch for the roof and layered them.

I had a small strand of mini-lights so I ran them under the quilt batting that I used as snow to display my village-you can set them up many different ways to accommodate the space you have, and you could adapt the buildings to create stores, barns, and whatever else you might think your village needs. If you create one, I'd love to see what creative ideas you come up with! My next post will be on the 26th, so I wish you a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends!

GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED
 

Cabana Row Houses (contact store)
Decorative Windows 1 to 24
Seaside Doors and Windows (contact store)
Chipboard Shingles-standard

OTHER ITEMS USED

Inkido "Forever Santa" papers
hot glue gun
DCWV coloured cork
Tonic border punch
acrylic paint

Countdown to Christmas-Advent Tree for Gypsy Soul Lasercuts

Hello here and happy Christmastime, my crafty friends! Yes, to me Christmas isn't a day-it's a whole season that starts no later than November first! I have to admit I can't wait to see the Halloween stuff gone from the stores so the Christmas decorating can begin.(I know my Halloween-loving cohorts will be appalled, but I can't help it!)

I just love this new arrival to Gypsy Soul and couldn't wait to get it ready to grace my space.

I covered the tree with some soft green paper with a crackle design that gave it a homey, vintage feel, then inked the edges in gold. I'm afraid I have no idea who made this paper :(

Some white texture paste spread on with my fingers and topped with clear glass glitter created fallen "snow" on the branches.

I covered the base in this deep maroon paper; it's by Inkido from the Happy Christmas line. I found the best way to get it to hold on when I wrapped it around the edges was to use my ATG, I'm sure most tape runners would hold as well. You will need to use an exacto knife to cut the slits in for the tree and the back piece to fit into. I inked the edges here with gold as well.

The tiles were covered with  paper from the Heartfelt Creations Christmas Card pack and the edges were inked in gold as well.

I painted the words and the numbers with gold acrylic paint and then dry-embossed the numbers with a Christmas pattern. 

Both the words and numbers were inked with Versacolor Ink in Paprika and were attached to the project pieces with white glue.
I put teeny nails in the tree to hang the countdown numbers.

The star was created with 2 different snowflakes from the Snowflakes Shape Set; the larger one was painted gold and inked in Paprika, and the smaller one was painted white and sprinkled with the glass glitter. I layered them with white glue and added an adhesive pearl to the center. I also painted and glittered 3 other small snowflakes to add to the tree. I made the bow from bits of ribbon and attached it with hot glue.

I found some small boxes and pieces of styrofoam to wrap to create the faux presents I attached to the base; I used real wrapping paper rather than patterned paper as it's easier to wrap around small items and not as bulky.

The snowman is from the Winter Shape Set; I used FolkArt Crackle Medium to get the effect. Paint the item with gold acrylic paint, then when dry add a thick coat of the crackle medium. This will take a while to completely dry (don't use the heat tool) Add a coat of white acrylic paint and the cracks will begin to form right away. When mine was dry I inked the edges in gold then added a scarf cut from a piece of sparkly canvas ribbon

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My decor for Christmas always uses a combination of soft and warm colours, so this little project will fit in perfectly, but you can use any colours or patterns to create a custom Advent Tree for your home or that of a loved one....they would make terrific gifts! Wishing you a wonderful and creative week!

GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED

Advent Tree-coming soon (contact store)
Snowflake Shape Set
Winter Shape Set

OTHER ITEMS USED

Inkido and Heartfelt Creations papers
DecoArt Acrylic paints

Advanced Tape Glider
Versacolor inks
Clearsnap Colorbox glass glitter
Ribbon from my stash

St. Nicholas Book Box for Gypsy Soul Lasercuts

hello there and happy November, crafty friends! Now that Halloween is over I can officially start saturating my online world with Christmas everything!! For my first Christmas-themed Gypsy Soul  DT project I chose the large Hidden Drawer Book Box and paired it with papers from the Graphic 45 St. Nicholas collection.

This is what the two parts look like put together; I like to paper them before gluing the pieces together but wanted you to see how everything fits. There is also a long rectangular piece that goes on the front of the drawer that didn't show up in the photo.

I papered the inside of each piece of the inside of the drawer before gluing it together. When I'm papering 3D projects I usually lay each piece on the paper and trace around it for the best fit....honestly, this is also because I HATE measuring! For straight simple pieces if you prefer to measure, of course that works just fine as well.

For the top and bottom of the box as well as the drawer front, I painted the edges a deep green then covered them with paper. I fussy cut images from the papers and layered them with contrasting paper. the yellow patterned horizontal strip on the top was punched with the Martha Stewart Laurel punch. I layered fussy cut holly leaves, flowers and swirls with foam tape for added dimension.

I attached the sides to the bottom of the box, then covered them with the yellow patterned paper; after cutting out diamond patterned strips from the paper I attached them vertically along the sides for interest and dimension, popping them up with foam tape.

After attaching the top I slid the drawer in so as to line the drawer front up perfectly with the top edge, then glued it on with my hot glue gun. White glue would have also worked but I didn't want to have to wait while it dried!Most of the pieces fit together so well that even with white glue they will hold together right away but this piece  doesn't fit  in with grooves like the others.
I had a great time putting this together and I'm happy with the way it came out; after all, what can go wrong with the terrific combination of Gypsy Soul Lasercuts and Graphic 45??

GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED

Hidden  Drawer Book Box  large

OTHER ITEMS USED

Graphic 45 St. Nicholas collection
foam tape
green acrylic paint
white glue

hot glue gun

"Steampunk-in"...an altered craft pumpkin for Gypsy Soul Lasercuts

hey there! While I'm not a huge Halloween fan (other than the cutesy little-kid type stuff) I do enjoy fall decor and I saw an altered craft pumpkin on a crafty friend's Facebook page which inspired my to create this one. Do check out Heather Tracy's blog Thicketworks and the lovely pumpkin she created at: http://thicketworks.com/easy-elegant-pumpkin/

I started with one of those craft pumpkins you can find at Michael's although this technique could be used on real pumpkins as well.

I used DecoArt Honest Copper metallic acrylic paint to coat the entire pumpkin. The colour looks richer and less orange IRL but we were having a dreary overcast day.

I arranged a combination of chipboard pieces, flowers, and metal embellishments and then painted them with the copper paint as well. Then I set them aside to dry.

I used Mod Podge to attach pieces of lace here and there on the front of the pumpkin; I found the thinner synthetic lace worked better than the thicker cotton lace. I then added another coat of paint. If you try to attach the lace before the first coat of paint it may not cover well in the openings so the extra step is worthwhile.

Then I was able to have some fun with the background spongepainting over the copper with gold and adding some mist in warm tones.


After attaching the chipboard and other embellishments I continued to add mists making sure to use some of them heavily enough to encourage dripping into the grooves of the pumpkin. I also rubbed Brown and Paprika Versacolor inks onto the embellishments to define them a little more. The final sprays were Dylusions Pomengranate Seed  which has a rich burgundy and a dash of Heidi Swapp Gold Lame.

This really was a fun project to put together and I think a cluster of these altered pumpkins in different sizes (and maybe even some gourd shapes) would make an eyecatching display....happy fall to you and have a colourful week!


GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED
Steampunk Shape Set

Chain Borders

Gear Border and Corners Miniatures

OTHER ITEMS USED

DecoArt acrylic paints
Prima flowers

Tattered Angels mist

Heidi Swapp mist

Dylusions mist

VersaColor Inks