giraffe's gilly

 Hi everyone, today I am on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Blog sharing "giraffe's gilly" my vintage circus wagon.
I was recently fortunate enough to see The Greatest Showman at the theatre. Wow, I was completely in awe of the incredible sets and costumes, and most amazing music. I found myself wondering how I could alter one of my Gypsy Soul Laser Cut boxes into a vintage circus wagon; as a multitude of fabulous visions from the film were playing through my head, I could not wait to get started.

I began with the ATC Shrine Box. This box arrives flat and contains five pieces. It is easiest to figure out how the pieces fit together before adhering paper or any adhesive. This box will form the cart portion of the wagon. The cart will sit on four 1" Wheels. 

Using a quick grab tacky glue, I assemble the box and set it aside. While it is drying, I consider papers for the exterior and interior of the piece that will be rich in color and convey the circus theme I have in mind. I select a red and white striped paper for the interior.  I cut an eight inch long strip of paper that equals the interior height of the box. I measure the interior of the box from left to right for depth and width and mark those measurements on the strip of paper. It is always best to measure twice and cut once, so I double check that I have the correct measurements and then cut the strip the appropriate length. I score the strip at 7/8" from each end to wrap the interior.

I envision a wagon that transports circus animals from city to city. This type of wagon requires a caged opening.  The front/caged side of the wagon will have a decorative opening for the cage to attach to. I first cut a piece of red Distress cardstock that covers the entire opening. Using a Tim Holtz Sizzix labels die, I center it where I would like the opening to be and run it through the die cutting machine. A modified Tim Holtz Gothic Gate die cut will create the cage. This cage piece is covered with embossing ink and coated with Emerald Creek charred gold embossing powder and heat set.

All of the remaining exterior sides of the box are painted with Distress Paint in fired brick and candied apple. Once the red coat has completely dried, I apply  Distress Paint in walnut stain and black soot with a stiff dry brush to create the a time worn patina.  This process is also used to paint the wheel housings. The interior ceiling of the wagon is painted with a coat of antique linen and the floor is painted with a mixture of antique linen and walnut stain. The floor will be covered later with a thin layer of straw pieces.

After the paint has completely dried, I adhere the paper to the interior. I add a metallic remnant rub in each upper corner. I resize a piece of Tim Holtz "traveler" ephemera, and add details with a gold gelly roll pen. This is inked around the edges and adhered to the back wall. Once the interior is complete, the caged panel frame is applied to the open face of the box. Ideology stars are added in each upper corner and a fussy cut CIRCUS banner is attached to the topmost center. 
When attaching the wheels to the wagon, I want the wheels to be situated apart from the housing. To do this I place a very small wooden bead between the wheel and the housing with hot glue. A brass nail serves as an axle to align and hold all the pieces together and another wooden bead is located one the inside of the housing. After assembling all four wheels and housings, I attach them to each side of the wagon.

The back side of the wagon is covered with circus posters. I searched for images of vintage circus signs and resized them to be a compatible scale for the wagon. Once they were printed, I cut them out, distressed the edges with ink, crumpled them, and rolled the corners to make them look authentic. I arranged the pieces to create a desirable layout and adhered them to the box.  I also added a pennant banner punched from Tim Holtz paper and strung on jute string.

 My wagon would not be complete without an occupant. I found wonderfully vintage circus giraffe and elephant images that I fussy cut. The giraffe stands inside his gilly, eager to arrive at the next destination.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today,
 I hope that you have an experience that inspires you to create something.
~Ann   

winter wonderment

Hi everyone, today I am sharing a special winter ornament that I have created.

I started with an inexpensive, paper maché ornament blank, that I layered with paints, papers and pastes. I then adorned it with some stamped and colored images that I cut out, some die cut greens, embellishments, and of course, some sparkle.

I gathered my supplies: paper maché ornament, collage medium, texture paste, distress paint, distress glitter dust, distress glitter, embossing powder, stencil, stamps, dies, watercolor paper, printed tissue paper, printed cardstock, tinsel twine, ribbon, and inks.

I used the ornament to trace the circle shape onto a piece of mercury glass printed cardstock and cut it out. Then I set the piece aside while I completed the next step.
 I used brushed pewter distress paint to paint the paper maché blank.  I allowed the paint to completely dry. I then tore some pieces of printed tissue paper and collaged the tissue on one face of the ornament. Once the collage medium dried, I brushed a very thin coat of the paint over the tissue paper pieces and set it to dry overnight. After the paint had completely dried, I adhered the circular cutout to the side opposite the collaged tissue.

I stamped the Santa image from the Tim Holtz stamp set Christmas Classics CMS322 by Stampers Anonymous, then heat embossed it with Ranger liquid platinum embossing powder. I colored the image using distress inks in candied apple, antique linen, tattered rose, and peeled paint for the holly leaves. Most often, I smush the ink pads onto my craft mat and use a water brush to "paint" in the areas. I fussy cut the Santa image and added ruby red liquid pearls to create dimensional hollyberries. I fastened a jingle bell brad to the end of Santa's cap. To give the Santa a bit of extra sparkle, I brushed Wink of Stella (clear glitter) over the lighter areas of his beard and hat.

Using Sizzix Tim Holtz Holiday Greens and Holiday Greens Mini dies, I cut multiple evergreens from watercolor paper. When die cutting pieces to be used in bunches, I tend to cut more than I necessarily need, and add color to them all at one time. Any pieces I don't use get saved in a plastic envelope for future projects. Using a water brush and distress inks in mowed lawn, peeled paint, crushed olive and forest moss, I colored the die cut pieces on both sides. After they had completely dried, I brushed glue on the evergreens in areas that I felt snow or ice might gather, then dipped the wet pieces into Ranger distress glitter, clear rock candy. This created the perfect touch of sparkle for the greens.

 At this point I spread texture paste through the Tim Holtz mini stencil THSM093 by Stampers Anonymous in several areas on the mercury glass cardstock. As soon as I lifted the stencil (while the paste was still wet) I sprinkled distress glitter dust in vintage platinum over the paste. I set this aside to dry. The next step was adding a vintage tinsel twine that I had in my stash around the edge of the ornament nearest the piece of cardstock. I used matte medium to secure the twine, which nestled into the crease easily.

I selected and arranged the die cuts of greenery that I wished to adorn the top edge of the side that Santa would be located on.  Using collage medium and a brush, I adhered the pieces. I used foam tape to adhere the Santa image so that it would have a bit of dimension and not be lost beneath the greens. A couple additional holly leaves with liquid pearl berries were added to the lower area to balance the design.

I cut off the hanging thread that was originally attached to the ornament,  and in its place, I secured a screw eye that I had previously heat embossed (and let cool) with Ranger liquid platinum embossing powder. When embossing metal, be sure to use tweezers as the heat is conducted through the metal easily.  I used a piece of Tim Holtz ideaology trimmings ribbon to create the ornament hanger.

When the ornament hangs, it can be viewed from both sides. On the "back" side, I wanted to add some holiday words. To do this I stamped images from the Tim Holtz stamp set Holiday Drawings CMS284 by Stampers Anonymous, then heat embossed them with Ranger liquid platinum embossing powder. I cut the sentiments into banner shapes, spritzed with water and curled around a thin dowel and let dry. I then inked the banner using distress inks in old paper, antique linen, and gathered twigs. I made the banners with different sentiments, as I was making a few of these ornaments to share. The banner was secured to the cardstock amongst a few more greens with multi medium matte and allowed to dry. After everything was attached, I went back with collage medium on a tiny brush and adhered a little more glitter dust to the stenciled areas where it had rubbed off during the process.  

I think these ornaments could be made using all different types of images and details, and the outcome could be just fabulous as well!
Thanks so much for taking the time to check out my blog, I hope that you visit again.

Ann