Witch Kraft

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge wants to know if we'll use kraft color, paper or perhaps a witch when they offer this challenge:  Witch Kraft.  I can't resist a chance to craft up some Halloween fun, so I chose to use all three on my wall hanging.

Craft Hoarders Anonymous wants to see buttons on our projects, and last week I shopped another estate sale and purchased a grungy boxful  I can use on mine. (By the way, the box also contained a pink diaper pin!!!! to replace the one I couldn't find for another project I entered here.)  The design team at Craft Hoarders Anonymous  has certainly inspired me to get my button hoard out and use them--thank you for helping me face my addiction.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is anything goes!  I'm in!

I started with a piece of corrugated board from my stash,  distressed it a little and inked it with Distress Inks and Dylusions ink sprays.

Next, I distressed  toile paper from my stash using the inks and sprays. The kraft paper panel is an old paper bag that I soaked, then crumpled, squeezed, wrinkled, flattened out, and allowed to dry.  Then I distressed the edges some more and rubbed some Distress Ink over the entire panel to highlight the cracks and crevices.

The corners were made from pieces of an old petticoat which I've inked with Distress, then blasted with my heat tool.  Be careful with this; it works like a shrinky-dink; you'll end up with a pile of dust on your craft mat if you toast it too long. I speak from experience!  The photo corners came from my stash-- toned down with some Walnut Distress Ink.

I had a toad in my junk and thought it would be fun to have him involved somewhere.  I spritzed him with a little Goose Bumps to give him some warts, but this doesn't show well in the photo.

For my witch, I used Tim's Movers and Shapers die and put her in a frame from K and Company.  I made the background by starting with plain manila card stock, stamped with script from Inkadinkado and swiped with Walnut Distress Ink on a baby wipe.  I gave her a hat from Jolees, which I toned down with Walnut Distress Ink.

The tickets are made with Tim's Alterations Ticket Strip die, stamped with his stamp from Stamper's Anonymous Odds and Ends collection, and distressed with several Distress Inks.  I made the rosette from a scrap, distressed as previously noted, and lastly cut using Tim's Alterations Mini Paper Rosette die. I edged all with Distress Inks.

All pieces were glued down using one glue or another from my arsenal and dimensional glue dots where I wanted a raised look. I finished by adding the fibers from my stash, the seam binding from another estate sale 2 weeks ago, and  the old, grungy, dirty buttons I just added to my cache.  They still have years of dust, dirt and grime on them--perfect!

I'm so grateful for the design team's inspiration and challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge--you pushed me to get started on my Halloween decorating!  Lot's of grungy, crafty hugs to you!

I am entering this in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Witch Kraft and Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge #14 Button It Up and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes.

Seredipity

Here are a few cards my daughter made using the Seredipity paper technique. This is her first attempt at card making.  I hope she will keep up the creative work!

Lauren used various scraps of coordinating papers from my stash, vintage book pages, cancelled postage stamps, stickers and doilies.  She stamped random background images with Staz On ink before she die cut the butterflies and flowers and handcut her geometric shapes. She applied gold paint pen to edges of her shapes and wrapped them with metallic thread. She inked doilies with Dylusions spray inks and cut them for leaves and a decorative element. She die cut and punched some colored card stock for background images. All pieces were assembled by her using glue and foam adhesive squares. Sentiment (unknown source) stamped with Archival Ink.

Nice work, Lauren!

She is entering her first challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Kids Summer Vacation Challenge Anything Goes.

Plan B

Thanks for visiting...I'm really happy you're here. I will warn you, this is a VERY long post, with many, many photos, but it was a big project. I've managed to miss the deadline at Frilly and Funkie for their "Hip to Be Square" challenge, although I really wanted to make a cube. I don't have the die to cut the ATB, and although it was permissible to make your own pattern, I'm not clear on the size.  So perhaps it's best that I missed that challenge.  There were so many great projects by the design team and entrants, alike. But I still have a half finished project.  What to do?

For my original plan, I had intended to do a sewing theme, and include a dressmaker form, some alphabet blocks (see photo way below) and maybe a spool or two on the top of my box. I went through all my vintage sewing goodies, and got lost in nostalgia.  I even found a dated Christmas list from 1965 my grandmother wrote.  It looks like I was getting a doll for Christmas that year (I was four in 1965 and don't remember that doll).  It was a great, long, thoughtful list, written in my Grandma's no-nonsense script. I've included it in this photo.

I digress...I wanted to make a functional box, to hold all (well, some) of my collection (read hoard) of old sewing related treasures. So it had to be big.  This is when I decided to make my own box and fill it with little folders to house button and snap cards, trims and bindings, needle cards and other sewing ephemera.  Craft Hoarder's Anonymous is running a challenge called "Button It Up".  I have some buttons...I can do that.

Look at those prices! That's 10 cents on the top card.

The inspiration over there is fabulous--I just have to join in the fun.  I gathered some materials related to sewing and designed and assembled my box.A mechanical engineer I am NOT. It looked just terrible, but we'll try to salvage that another time.  Now I'm in a real hurry, since I've got a few other challenges I want to join in, and I only have a few more days before "Hip to Be Square" closes.  So I purchased a paper mache' box from Hobby Lobby--the last one--it was meant to be.  I get busy putting together my little (well,-- big 6 x 6 inches) box and planning a great functional piece, thanks to the inspiration from the design team at Frillie and Funky. Well, "life is what happens to us while we are making other plans", and the deadline comes and goes while I'm caught up doing all the everyday things like work and taking care of a home and family. I'm halfway done planning and creating my folders, and now I've got this box. I'm not one to quit.

Plan B:  Come up with something that depicts a summer garden, the design team at Frilly and Funkie encourages. It can be landscaping or fruits and veggies, not just flowers.  But I've already got flowers in mind. I'll make them from old patterns.  When I was at my neighbor's estate sale 2 weeks ago, I picked up  a huge bag full of random pattern pieces, because I spied some vintage pattern envelopes in  among  the tissue. I was getting ready to throw the tissue out (what was I thinking???). Besides, I wanted to incorporate buttons, and I thought "flower centers".

I was greatly inspired by Tim Holtz in making this box- numerous Tim techniques, stamps, Distress inks, markers and stains, crackle paint, Idea-ology, and so on.

 Crackle paint stained with various Distress Inks

But my project has a little bit of a frilly side, too.  I chose the colors for the box because these are the shades I see in our late summer garden-mostly fading purple coneflowers and some  browning heat-worn zinnias and ripening green foliage. I wanted to include butterflies, because our end of summer garden here in southeast North hot Carolina is just full of butterflies, trying to soak up the last of the nectar.  There are also creepy bugs in our spent veggie garden--not particularly inspirational.

I've included some stencils and paste, too, since Lynn at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge challenges us to see what we can do with stencils and modeling paste. You can see this used on almost all of my folders.  I think I've found a new love...I've mixed the paste with stain, I've left it plain and stained it after it dried, I've swiped it with Perfect Pearls, left it white, swiped it with Distress Inks (the tape measure on the back of "Bound Button Hole" folder and front of the "Buttons" folder), and rubbed it with metallic rubs. There's so many things you can do with stencils and paste!

 Country View Challenges  is looking for entries that focus upon the written word. I've incorporated some wise words from Tim Holtz on my box, as well as on my "Words" folder.  "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans".  This is what I was thinking when I saw the missed deadline on my calendar, so it is a significant reminder to me. And it made me think of all these things I've picked up along the way..the buttons, the trims, the trinkets, all these great vintage items, that someone planned on using, but life happened, and now they can no longer use it.  As I was making this project, that thought came to my mind.  I've collected all these vintage goodies because I love them and  to incorporate into projects, and I'm simply putting them away in a drawer or any other hiding spot I can find (see I have include the definition of cache on the inside of my "Advance Pattern") and not enjoying them. I want them to be displayed and easily enjoyed on a daily basis. That is the goal of this project for me.

The "Words" folder features a vintage book page from the familiar quotes section of the dictionary as well as another stamped quote from Tim-- "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful".  This has significance to me personally, as I have perfectionist tendencies, and I am learning to embrace imperfection.

There are so many tiny details that may not be evident in the pictures, and my post would be incredibly long (er) if I pointed out and explained each one.  One I would like to mention is the fine walnut ink spray on the lid.  I used my Distress Marker Spritzer for the first time.  Pretty cool!  

Another is the folder with the buttons sewn on front and back has an accordion pleat on either side.  I did this using antiqued vellum which I stamped with Archival Ink.  The picture below shows a string hanging from the small red button on the back.  I forgot to show that this goes around the green button (front; 2nd photo) in a figure eight fashion to act as a fastener.I plan to use this to hold some of my most treasured loose buttons.

Honeycomb reverse stenciling shown above.

Can you spot the buttons covering up the areas where the two real buttons were sewn on?

 Another detail that might not be seen in the photos is that I sprayed and swiped my pattern paper flowers with Perfect Pearls sprays and treated some pattern pieces with Mod Podge before cutting to give them body (thoroughly dried first!).

That's a spool the flower is drying on to get idea of size.  This is the smallest flower.

The purplish flower started out as a hot pink burlap on clearance at Michael's yesterday.  I bought it to add to my stash never knowing it would have a place in this project. One final detail worth mentioning are the "pearl" strands.  They were painted with alcohol inks, and these and the green ribbon are to represent foliage, as I have no foliage dies.

  The eight buttons on the top and sides of the box are my absolute favorite vintage buttons from my collection and thought they needed to be given a place of honor. I could not bring myself to add my treasured vintage German sewing scissors, as I had originally planned, but instead added this ivory-like-needle-thingy as a straight line element.

Trying different configurations--the scissors didn't make the "cut".

This is not a flattering angle, but I wanted to show off my vintage spools.

I stained the flower trim (last week's yard sale find) and Tim's Idea-ology ribbon ruler with Distress stains.  I wrestled with the idea of using one of my treasured vintage yellow or antique white cloth tapes in place of it, but I like that I could get just the right look using Tim's ribbon ruler and some stain.  Thanks, Tim!

I stamped the flowers on the inside of the box with Gelatos to represent a meadow for the butterflies to frolick in.

Sorry, the lighting was terrible! Looks like a black light was on!

I think I was able to take lemons and make lemonade, and come up with something I'll be proud to display along with my big vintage sewing toys, in spite of the slow start. Thank you for wading through all this, and I hope you enjoy the many photos. There are more shots at the end of the post if you wish to see additional shots of all the folders, inside and out.  Some may be repeats of the above included in the text.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge #14 Button It Up,Frilly and Funkie A Summer Garden Challenge, Country View Challenges Word Play,  and The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Stencils and Pastes.

Products used other than my stash:  Distress: spritzer, distress tool, markers, stains, and inks, Perfect Pearls  and PP mists, Idea-ology ribbon, tissue wrap and paper stash, Alterations dies: Bigz, On the Edge, and Frameworks. Tim's Tiny Attacher. Stamps:  Inkadinkado, Hampton Art 7 Gypsies, Stamper's Anonymous Attic Treasures CMS 123, and Visual Artistry Seamless Energy. Stencils:  TCW, Momenta, Prima and Tim's Layering Stencils. Box: Hobby Lobby.

I used some reverse stenciling here with a honeycomb stencil.

I cut another set of butterflies from On the Edge die and used as a mask here.

I searched my paper for hours looking for this paper.  I forgot it was a 6 x 6; stored elsewhere. 

Stencils and gesso on  the butterflies.  Love this look.

These are not real buttons! But they look more like actual buttons than actual buttons do!

Textured Vellum rubbed with metallic rubs.

Tim's technique-blurred backgrounds. Such a soft look.

Love the petticoat ruffle I got from Hilda's estate sale recently.

I planned to use these blocks on my Plan A project.

One of my vintage sewing boxes--holds machine attachments. Future project!

There's one of the "buttons" covering the eyelet and thread where I sewed a button on the front.

I took a photo from each side.

Love this!

You made it!