Merry Moose Vignette Tray

Hello there! I was flipping through my dies recently, looking for something completely unrelated, when I spotted this cute moose fella (long owned but never opened! 🤦🏻‍♀️) and was struck with inspiration. So, Christmas in July it is!

Let me to show you how I created this festive little scene ✨

The Background… 

I grabbed a medium Ideaology vignette tray and covered it in cheesecloth, adhered with Collage Medium (such a simple and fun way to get a nice textured background). Once dry, I painted thoroughly with Ground Espresso distress paint.

Then added a layer of Sizzix Luster Wax in Rose Gold to the raised texture with my finger.

The Moose, Trees, and Stars…

I started by making some of my own papers from mixed media heavystock: two brown variations, a green, a creamy off-white and a pale yellowish piece. See the Distress Paint combos I applied to each piece below…

Once my first layers of distress paint were dry, I added a layer of Versamark with the Tapestry stamps, followed by Distress Glazes and clear embossing powder, then set with the heat tool.

Now to cut my elements! I decided I wanted my moose from the Merry Moose set a little thicker, so I cut an extra set from plain heavystock and glued behind my ‘fancy’ brown-toned papers. I used the Treeline die with my green piece, the Swirling Stars die and moose collar were cut from yellow piece, and the words + antlers from the cream-colored piece.

The Snow…

I have always had the idea in my head that the Crochet strips would be cute as snow and this was the perfect excuse to try it out. I cut (many! 😅) pieces from heavystock and applied a coat of clear embossing serum, then sprinkled white embossing powder and heat set. I wanted to grunge them up slightly so they weren’t so starkly white, so added some vintage photo oxide over the top, let dry a bit, then wiped back considerably.

The Sentiment…

I cut my sentiment from the Merry & Bright set. I wanted it thicker, so I cut two layers of plain heavystock + 1 layer from my handmade creamy paper and glued together. I wanted to customize it to say Be Merry instead so I cut the B from Bright and some extra ‘e’s from Merry and glued them together.

I added a paper ‘reinforcer’ to the back over where I glued my letters together for some extra strength and used a good amount of Collage medium in the front to help camouflage the seam 👌🏻

I decided I wanted to give my sentiment some extra elevation and had the idea to mount it on some sewing pins. First I colored them with Caramel alcohol ink, then stuck them in various places into my heavystock, securing with Collage Medium.

The Gluing Process…

Thought I’d share some snaps during my gluing phase!

The Word Band…

I love these word bands but I’ve never had great luck getting the recessed phrase to contrast nicely for crisp readability. SO, my work-around is to use a remnant rub over the top instead. Love the final look!

I first add collage medium to the band, getting in the grooves of the phrase to help hide it. 

Then added caramel alcohol ink over the whole piece and let dry completely. 

I cut the white remnant rub phrase of choice, peeled the back off and rubbed thoroughly on the metal band. Then peeled the front clear layer off very carefully. To finish it off, I added a coat of vintage collage medium over the top to seal it in place and create more of a grungy look. 

I Attached some jute cord to each side and secured in place just above the bottom edge.

The Finishing Touches…

To finish it off, I added caramel ink to four mini hardware heads and placed in each of the corners and inked a handle from the Mini Hardware Pulls set and two larger hardware heads before adhering on the top of my tray. As an afterthought, once they were dry, I rubbed on a bit more of the Rose Gold wax with my finger to help tie them to the tray a bit better.

And that’s my take on this cute Merry Moose, I hope you like it. Thanks for stopping by to check out my walk through!

Sending you happy crafty vibes ✨

x Erin

The Products…

Surfaces… vignette tray structures, mixed media heavystock paper

Dies… Merry Moose, Crochet, Treeline, Swirling Stars, Merry & Bright

Ideaology… Mini Hardware Heads, Mini Hardware Pulls, Christmas word band, Christmas remnant rub, mini bells

Alcohol ink… Caramel

Mediums… Distress collage medium (matte), Distress Collage Medium (vintage) , Rose Gold Luster Wax, Distress embossing dauber, Versamark

Stamps… Tapestry

Distress Paint… antique linen, vintage photo, walnut stain, ground espresso, rustic wilderness

Distress Oxide… Vintage Photo

Distress Glaze… Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint

Embossing Powder… Clear, White

Other… glass mat, big shot, heat tool, jute cord, small sewing pins, cheesecloth

Hello Spring Bird’s Nest

Hello crafty friends! Today I’m sharing a little spring scene with lots of Tim Holtz goodies incorporated. This idea came to me back when the snow was almost melted, and even though everything was still a little brown and dull, the birds were singing to let us know it was finally spring (hallelujah!).

Let me show you a little of my process for this creation...

The Arched Window + Ledge…

I knew I wanted to use a cathedral thick board with a ledge underneath. So to build my ledge, I used two bracket trims and a scalloped trim piece and glued them together before adding a generous layer of crackle texture paste to both with a palette knife.

When the crackle was dry, I grunged it up with Walnut Stain distress crayon. Grungy crackle makes me so happy ✨

The Foliage + Bird and Nest…

Next, I made some of my own papers with Distress Paints in light blue (Weathered Wood and Speckled Egg), light green (Shabby Shutters and Bundled Sage), and brown tones (Vintage Photo and Gathered Twigs). Then stamped over the paint with VersaMark or Archival inks. The stamps used included Tapestry (CMS414), Faded Type (CMS397), and Ledger Script (CMS241). On the pieces with VersaMark, I sprinkled various embossing powders and Distress Glazes (including white, gold, clear, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain), then heat set.

Then got to work cutting a ton of pieces from the Funky Nature set and the larger bird from Feathered Friends. I cut 3 sets of my bird from heavystock and glued together to get that extra thickness I love.

The Frame + Background…

I grabbed a Tim Holtz Ideaology framed panel that I had already started for something else. The frame and backer had already been glued together, painted with white gesso and stamped a bit, but the stamping would be covered with my new papers. I added some texture crackle paste randomly to the edges and rubbed some Walnut Stain distress crayon over it once it was dry to give it a little more depth and grunge.

Here’s how the layout looked at this stage...

At this point, I knew I wanted a little more contrast to make the cathedral window stand out better, so I made two more brown-ish papers from heavystock to fit my background. 

I decided I would put my main text below the ledge, so I first cut a chipboard piece to fit there, then covered it with a piece of darker brown for plenty of contrast. 

I added a musical paper from one of Tim’s paper packs (can’t remember which now 😬) , splattered on some caramel alcohol ink and placed as the background for my cathedral window.

Also started gathering/making some elements that would go ‘inside’ my window, like the domino from the Junk Drawer Baseboards set and scalloped circle from the labels die set, cut from the same brown paper I made for the bottom strip… always looking for ways to add some similar colors/elements at different focal points in the layout to help it all look like it all ‘belongs’ together. Was going for more of a nesty look, so sprinkling in some Excelsior here and there was perfect for that. 

 And, as an afterthought, I added a thick burnt orange circle, also from the Junk Drawers pack, just to make sure I had plenty of contrast for my bird.

Then I bent my window to get a nice curved look and added a piece of clear acetate behind it so I could ‘age’ it and maybe give the illusion of glass. I splattered on some caramel alcohol ink and darkened the tops of the curves (mostly covered in the end, but still cool). This is also the point that I inked my hardware heads with Caramel and added them to the frame corners and one in the center of my ledge.

Next, I cut my Hello Spring letters from heavystock using the Alphanumeric Labels font set. As always, I like them thicker so I cut 3 of each and glued together. They stayed mostly ‘heavystock’ color, because I just thought it contrasted so nicely. 😂

The Assembly + Finishing Touches...

Now that most of my elements were found/created, it was just a matter of assembling and securing everything down with collage medium.

Once I had my ‘thatched’ roof glued down, I wrapped some jute cord around the top and added some caramel-inked tiny bells with jump rings.

The text strips with “the pretty little birds chirped a welcome message” I found in the Clippings sticker book. Those clippings, man, they are so on point and spark a ton of ideas for me ⚡️Also found the “No. 24” clip and added to one of the eggs.

Also a last-minute add was the Junior Member pin in the nest, which is from the Vintage Flair pack.

The Le Grand Hotel piece, the number strips, and the bits in the clothespin bundle are from the Expedition ephemera pack.

Once everything was glued, I added more grit paste around my hardware heads and some random spots on the ledge and frame, then added a Caramel ink wash on top once the paste was dry.

There you have it, finally DONE (only one season late 😳)... And a lot of fun!

Thanks for looking!

x Erin

The Products...

Dies... Feathered Friends, Funky Nature, Labels, Alphanumeric label

Distress Paints... Vintage Photo, Shabby Shutters, Weathered Wood, Speckled Egg, Antique Linen, Walnut Stain, Bundled Sage

Embossing Powders... white, Princess gold, clear

Distress Glazes... Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain

Stamps... Tapestry (CMS414), Faded Type (CMS397), Ledger Script (CMS241)

Etcetera... Cathedral Thickboard, Scalloped trim, Bracket trim, 

Ideaology... hardware heads, tiny bells, Junk Drawer Baseboards, Vintage Flair, Expedition ephemera pack, jump rings

Alcohol Ink... Caramel

Distress Crayon... Walnut Stain

Mediums... Crackle Texture Paste, Matte Collage Medium, VersaMark, white gesso

Surfaces... Framed Panel, heavystock, clear acetate

Other... Excelsior, mini clothespin, jute cord

Let It Bee Tag

Hello friends! Today I’m sharing a tag with some grungy bees from the Funky Insects die set, one of my faves from Tim’s latest Chapter 2 release. Let’s get into some details about how this one came together, shall we?

The Background...

I cut a bunch of the Sizzix Tim Holtz Honeycomb Framework dies (retired) from chipboard and placed them randomly on top of a large Etcetera tag, adhering them with matte collage medium. I stacked some and added a few hexagon centers back in to create different levels and depth.

Next, I used my finger to add grit paste liberally over everything. Grit paste is UP there for me on my list of must have products… it helps cover any imperfections from unaligned dies and just makes it feel a little more organic, grungy, and hive-like. Don’t forget the edges!

Once the grit paste is dry, the real fun BEEgins (jk, it’s all fun). I used a brush to coat thoroughly with mustard seed distress paint, getting in all the little nooks and crannies and edges. Let it dry. The next layer of paint was Fossilized Amber, brushing on a little less thoroughly so some of the mustard seed was still visible. Then I used my finger to add some highlights of Antiqued bronze stain. Finally, using an ink dabber, I went over just the very top-most textured areas with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. I’ll also use these same steps for the small frame, more on that ahead.

The Bees…

I cut a ton of the Funky Insects bees from Mixed Media Heavystock paper. I love how it’s designed with separate pieces, and decided to take that even further by cutting the wings off a few body pieces, and cutting the legs off a few body pieces. I glued 2 layers of heavystock together for each section for extra dimension. I cut the wings with holes from heat-resistant clear acetate. I also cut my own little stingers ✨

Once I had all of my sections cut and ready to color, enough for 5 bees, I added grit paste to the body+wing pieces and the striped body pieces. When the grit paste was dry, I painted the striped body pieces with Fossilized Amber then added Antiqued Bronze stain to the raised texture with my finger. All of the other pieces, except the wings with holes, I painted with Ground Espresso then used my finger to lightly add Antiqued Bronze stain to the top-most texture.

For the clear acetate wings, I covered with clear rock candy crackle paint and then added some Caramel alcohol ink to the edges to help bring out some of the cracks. I had to do a bit of trial and error here as the crackle kept wanting to chip off the acetate very easily (a little chipping is ok by me, but this was completely falling off), so I added Glossy accents over the top before the crackle was fully dry. Love this result! 😍

Finally, I shaped and contoured all of the individual pieces first before assembling and securing together with matte collage medium. Just. Obsessed.

The Small Frame + Phrase…

I used the largest frame from the Vignette Frames pack and flipped it over to work with the back/flat side this time. Then repeated all the same steps used to create my background tag.

Once my colors were dry, I added Caramel ink to four of the smaller machinery heads and added them to each corner of the frame with collage medium. Then added some grit paste around them, letting it dry fully before using my finger to apply Antiqued Bronze stain to the raised texture.

Then I cut a clear piece of acetate to fit the frame window and glued it underneath.

For the phrase, I cut 3 of each of my letters from the Alphanumeric Stretch font set on heavystock, and glued them together for extra thickness. These letters are pretty large and were exactly what I needed to balance out the bees.

I added grit paste, painted with fossilized Amber then highlighted the grit textured with Antiqued Bronze stain. I cut another set of the letters to use as shadows, painting with Ground Espresso, and gluing them slightly offset behind the thicker letters. Then I glued my finished letters to the clear acetate piece (decided to stagger the bottom edges slightly instead of making them perfectly straight).

The Finishing Touches...

Before gluing on the completed frame or bees, I colored some pieces of cheese cloth with Walnut Stain and placed randomly under where my frame would be and looped through the top tag hole. Then I glued the small frame and bees in place over the cheese cloth and… voila! Grungy bees buzzing around their hive 🐝

Thanks for looking and happy crafting!

x Erin

The Products…

Sizzix/Tim Holtz Dies: Honeycomb Framework (659430) (discontinued), Funky Insects (665364), Alphanumeric Stretch Lower (665207)

Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Paint: Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Ground Espresso, Clear Rock Candy Crackle

Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Stain: Antiqued Bronze, Walnut Stain

Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain

Ranger Alcohol ink: Caramel

Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz: Large Etcetera tag

Ideaology: machinery heads

Surfaces: chipboard, mixed media heavystock paper, heat-resistant clear acetate

Other mediums: Distress Collage Medium matte, Translucent Grit Paste, Glossy Accents

Other supplies: Big Shot, glass mat, cheese cloth