A Vintage Journey- Ring out the old, ring in the new

Happy New Year

The latest A Vintage Journey Challenge is based on Alfred Tennyson's poem
 “Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.”

Focus on these key words from the poem - old, new, bells, snow, year and interpret one or more of them in anyway you like. So for instance use something old/new on a project; include bells or snow on a card; design a new year card/project/invitation etc. Just tell us what your links are to the key words from the poem.

My focus is the bells ringing in the New Year as the clock strikes midnight on my snowy wreath 

I covered a polystyrene ring with Matte Medium and applied tissue paper Sprayed with Distress Spray Stains, Brushed Pewter, Iced Spruce and Pumice Stone, gradually building the colours

I love the look of the Distress Sprays when they are mixed with the metallics

I cut the leaves from an assortment of dies including Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves and Winter Greens Embossed with Texture Fades Textured Leaves, Damask and Cracked I used Distress Inks on the edges, Iced Spruce, Weathered Wood and Pumice Stone and arranged on the ring base

once I was happy with the layout, I glued with Glossy accents

Cut Tims Weathered Clock and applied Embossing Antiquities Cement and a Silver embossing powder 

This was fixed onto Tim's Frosted Film, which was embossed with a snowflake pattern

I adapted a Christmas decoration, I dismantled it as it had an unwanted pine cone and Christmas ornament 

Painted the leaves with DecoArt Shimmering Silver Metallics and the distressed the braid on the bells Desert Turquoise and Burnt Umber Acrylics

I tied a white bow and coloured with Distress Spray Brushed Pewter and distress with Iced Spruce around the edges

I used the metal hoop as the hanger for the wreath these were all applied with Glossy accents and pinned onto the Polystyrene base

I hope you have enjoyed my project, please visit all the Creative Guides blogs for lot's of fabulous inspiration

Wishing you all very Happy New Year

Jools : )

Stampotique Anything Goes- Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas

 Wishing Everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I applied embossed card to chipboard and then cut the opening for the door and window, added DecoArt Texture Sand and embossed brick work and covered with Gesso

Painted with DecoArt Slate Grey and distressed with Burnt Umber, dry brushed with Titanium White Acrylic
The door was painted with Sparkling Silver Metallics and distressed with Burnt Umber.

The window was cut from chipboard on a Cricut and covered with texture sand, and painted as the door
The internal back panel scene was stamped and painted onto a heavy card stock, coloured using Distress inks Peacock Feathers, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmion, Dusty Concorde and watercolours

Applied to a sheet of chipboard using Matte Medium
To assemble I applied small hardwood batons around the edge and top to the front and back panel using Glossy accents, then applied the side panels

All of the Carol singers, were stamped and painted with Distress inks and watercolours as above

To finish a little sprinkle of snow was added using Flower Soft

Happy Holidays

Jools : )

Stampotique Stamps

Oh My Dear

Oh Tree

Mini Ornament Cube

Daniels Hearts

Christmas Cubed

Santa Baby

Tools Cube

DT O Joy

Piling Thing

Spiral Velvet Chair

Kitten Sitting

Candle

Weasel

Noelle

Frances Chandelier

Welcome Door
Kisses
x

A Vintage Journey Secret Santa

A Vintage Journey

Secret Santa Blog Hop

Starry Night Snowflake Journal

At A Vintage Journey today we have a special post and a chance to win some fabulous prizes
My secret Santa was drawn for the lovely and very talented Brenda who has organized this fantastic event you can find more details on how to enter at the end of the post

I decided to decorate a small journal as I know she loves journals

I was inspired by the techniques Tim used in his November Tag tutorial and used the Layered Snowflake die and a little sparkle!

I cut the Snow Flake into thin corrugated cardboard, and tore randomly to expose the corrugated texture 

Applied a variety of die cut sprigs including the Holly stem from Tim’s Winter Greens, Tando chipboard Snowflakes and Studio Callico Stars

 Painted this with DecoArt Prussian Blue acrylic in the centre and Carbon black towards the outer edge

 Once dry I dry brushed with DecoArt Metallic Shimmering Silver to the die cuts and chipboard snowflakes and stars

 I embossed the layered snowflake on card and painted silver, applied to the back of the cover and applied cosmic shimmer glitter jewels to the large snowflake

This was then adhered to the front of the Journal and decorated with a few diamond gems 

I applied small stars randomly to the back cover with glossy accents, covered with black acyrlic and then dry brushed with silver

Both covers were finished with a coat of DecoArt Media Ultra Matte Varnish

I received my Secret Santa from Nikki, a wonderful gift box with delicious chocolate contents which have already disappeared!
Isn't it wonderful so much detail and the colours are beautiful
To see more details please visit Nikki's blog

Don't forget to leave a comment here and on Brenda's and Nikki's blogs and hop across to visit all the the Creative Guides blogs and leave them a comment and link to be in with a chance of the prize

You can find them all at A Vintage Journey here and all the details on taking part in the blog hop

Good luck everyone, enjoy the hop and thank you in advance for taking part.

A Vintage Journey - Lets Celebrate

Let’s Celebrate

A Vintage Journeys latest Challenge is hosted by Nikki and here's her brief

You can make something to celebrate Christmas if you wish but lets not forget about those December birthdays, anniversaries, Hanukkah and New Years. It may be fun to focus on celebrations other than Christmas, it's up to you.

I love Christmas trees and snowy scenes and decided to carry on my current theme of Christmas decorations for Nikki's celebration challenge and create a Winter Wonderland

using Tim's Dies, Idea-Ology and products

I painted Tim holtz Woodland Trees with Gesso 

 Then sprayed with Peacock Feathers Distress Spray Stain

Once dry brushed gesso to the edges of the bristles for a snowy effect

 I cut the back panel from chipboard and covered with embossed snowflake card and stamped trees with peacock feather distress inks then punched holes, and attached fairy lights to the back and fixed in place

 I attached a wooden star and then painted the bird house with gesso

Then coloured with Black Soot and Peacock Feathers Distress spray stains and Dylusions Slate Grey and wiped back to get a soft distress look 

 Finished with flower soft Polar white on the roof, star and bird

and on the floor of the house

The deer’s and toadstools were edged with peacock feathers distress ink and fixed to acetate 

Reindeer flight die was cut in chipboard andcovered with white card and edged with Peacock feathers

The Frame was decorated with tiny snowflakes and edged with Peacock Feathers

I hope you like my little winter wonderland, celebrating Christmas and a beautiful little deer that comes to visit where I live most days

Enjoy your celebrations!

Jools : )

You can find more fabulous inspiration from the Creative Guides and more details in taking part over at
A Vintage Journey here

Stampotique Challenge- In the Words of Edgar Allan Poe

A Cats Tale

This weeks Challenge is hosted by Kay and her theme is in the words of Edgar Allen Poe

So for my final DT for the fabulous Stampotique Stamps I went for the wonderful Mysterious Cat quote

I applied DecoArt Crackle Paste with a palette knife, randomly to Foam board

applied Carbon Black and Dioxadine Purple acrylic

hghlighted by dry brushing with Metallic Shimmering Silver

The quote was cut on a cricut machine and coloured with silver acyrlic and coloured with Chipped Sapphire and Seedless Preserve Distress Inks

Stampotique Nerd Cat and Writing Pen, were stamped on card coloured with Promarkers and the same distress inks

I hope you have enjoyed my project and the DT teams and we look forward to seeing your projects

Jools : )

Stampotique Challenge - Striped Background

Every picture tells two stripey stories

This is my 3rd Week as Guest DT For the fabulous Stampotique Stamps and Corrie is the host asking for a striped background but no patterned papers!

I had recently seen a tag done using the Lenticular technique and thought this was an ideal opportunity to try it

I trimmed a piece of A4 card making 8'' width  and scored and folder as a concertina every ½ Inch for the base of the structure

The first image I marked and painted ½ inch vertical stripes of grey and stamped Stampotique Fabulous and Jammin  onto card and coloured with Promarkers and glued down

Once dry cut into ½ inch strips and glued to one side of the concertina base

The second image I marked ½ inch horizontal stripes and painted black 

Stamped Curiosities and Jammin onto card and applied to the black and white striped background

Once dry cut into ½ inch strips and glued to the other side of the concertina base

The frame was made from a piece of 8" x 8" chipboard, with modelling paste stencilled and painted black and glued to the top ridges of the concertina

Overhead view shows both sides of the images

DecoArt Newsletter- Christmas

Advent Tree 

Picture Frame

The DecoArt Newsletter is looking at Christmas Celebrations

I decided to make an Advent Calender to countdown to the Christmas Celebrations

You can sign up for the Mixed Media Newsletter on the blog or subscribe here using the register box on the sidebar top right or click here

I found a photo frame and due to its natural tree shape decided to turn it into an advent Calender Tree, you can still use the bottom frames for photos or Christmas Cards

I started by masking out the glass and appling DecoArt Media Crackle paste to the frames

 Once dry, applied DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Metallic Silver which covers beautiful and has a really bright metallic lustre

 Followed by a light coat of Carbon Black Antiquing Cream

 Then wiped back with a soft damp cloth, this product really accentuates the cracks and gives a fabulous distressed finish

 I cut the cards for all of the frames and stamped them using a a variety of stamps and inks

 Detail of one of the finished frames which has a really distressed galvanised metallic look

 Decorated date numbers

 The base was painted with two coats of Texture Fierro Iron Graphite

  The stars were all coated with Crackle paste and painted with Metallic Silver

I hope you have enjoyed my project

and all of the other projects featured in the Newsletter

You can find more information on the products used at DecoArt

Jools : )