Guest Creative Guide at A Vintage Journey

I was delighted to receive an email from Brenda asking if I would like to be a Guest Creative Guide at A Vintage Journey, The theme this time around is 'Special Numbers' hosted by Jools who describes the challenge as follows:-

So many of Tim Holtz products have numbers, papers, stamps, rub-ons, stencils and Idea-ology to name a few. Incorporate your significant numbers it could be Birthdays, Age, Anniversary or the lucky ones! use them on any project you wish and if possible explain the importance; we would like to see a vintage theme using Tim's techniques and products where possible.

I decided to create two projects for my Guest appearance, created for my husband's 48th birthday in April.

My first piece is a mixed media piece created from a piece of corrugated card cut to 8" x 8". I began by die cutting the base of a matchbox die cut from white card using Tim Holtz Matchbox Die, using only the base and creating an aperture within my design. The inside of the aperture has been coloured with touches of Gathered Twigs and Tarnished Brass Distress Paints.The next layer was a piece of cheesecloth applied to the background for added texture to my design.

Die cut hearts have also been added to the background die cut from mountboard using Tim Holtz new Heartfelt Die and I then applied Texture Paste over the Cargo Layering Stencil to add numbers to each of the hearts. I also added further texture to the design adding Texture Paste over the Honeycomb Layering Stencil. Once all my elements were added to the background I then painted the entire area with Black Soot Distress Paint and dried with a heat tool. I also included wire wrapped around the hearts secured in place with a Tiny Attacher along with small pieces of chicken wire from my garden.

I also included two soldered hearts one housed inside the matchbox aperture and the second matted onto a further piece of chicken wire. I also included two Arrows Adornments for added interest and a Big Chat Sticker from Tim's new Idea-ology range.

On the bottom three hearts I added Vintage Photo Distress Powder for added texture which you can see clearly in these pictures. The cheesecloth is fantastic in the background, I will definitely be doing that again.

I added 48 to my design using Numeric Alpha Parts and from this picture you can see how much texture and dimension the corrugated background adds to my design.

Once all the elements were added to my design and painted with Black Soot Distress Paint I then added layers of colour using Brushed Pewter and Tarnished Brass Distress Paints, drying between each layer. I also added touches of Sapphire Wax to add a touch of colour.

My second piece is a card, also created for my husbands birthday. I began with a piece of kraft card cut 4.5" in width and 6.5" in length and then spritzed the background with Gathered Twigs Distress Spray Stain.  I also added a few delicate splatters of Picket Fence Distress Paint. To add a further layer of interest I applied Texture Paste over the Cargo Layering Stencil to add numbers to the top and bottom corners.

I die cut three hearts from mountboard and added numbers to the background of each heart using Texture Paste and the Cargo Layering Stencil. Each of the hearts were then coloured with Gathered Twigs Distress Paint, with touches of Tarnished Brass and I then added Black Soot Distress Paint to the numbers with my finger. I also included a piece of rusty wire wrapped around one of the hearts, secured into place with a tiny attacher and I also included pieces of rusty wire on the bottom of my card.

I die cut a piece of Washer Border from white card using the Washer Border die and then rusted it using Tim's products. To achieve the rust appearance I followed the following few steps:-

1. Colour the white die cut piece with Gathered Twigs Distress Paint and dry with a heat tool.
2. Apply VersaMark Ink to the die cut piece and then sprinkle the piece with Vintage Photo Distress Powder and heat to melt.
3. Once cool apply more VersaMark Ink, randomly around the die cut and then sprinkle once again with Distress Powder, this will add different thicknesses of powder over the die cut and then heat with a heat tool to melt.
4. Once cool spritz with touches of Black Soot Distress Spray Stain and dry. Looks just like rust!

I also included a Elementary Flash Card tucked behind one of my hearts, which I spritzed with Gathered Twigs Distress Spray Stain.

Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a comment and a huge THANK YOU to Brenda and the team for inviting me along.

Tracy Evans x x x