SIZZIX TRIPLE PLAY BLOG HOP WEEK 7: MOLLY'S TRAVEL BAG

Welcome to the 7th and, sadly, the LAST installment of Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop.  Well, at least for now.  This has been a wonderful and fulfilling experience for me personally.  I looked forward to the challenge every week, it stretched me as an artist and I had the great fortune to be linked to many of the talented designers in our industry.  I want to take a minute here to personally thank Sizzix, Eileen Hull, Brenda Pinnick and Karen Burniston for allowing me to be a part of this Hop!  Considering the size of this blog hop...it took a lot of behind the scene prep and also cost!  So, thank you times ten!

Out of this experience is born some other great experiences.  I can't get into all of it right now, but keep checking back.  When it happens you will know!!

Now onto this week's project...

This week's project features Eileen Hull's Treat Bag Toppers die.  Several elements came in my kit.  The die itself features 3 separate toppers, but one in particular stood out to me because it looked like a purse handle.  Then the size of it made me think that'd it be perfect for a doll...which made me think "American Girl"!  So, I chose to make a travel bag for Molly from Americal Girl.

Here is what you need from Sizzix:
Sizzix Scoreboards XL Die #656774 - Treat Bag Toppers
Sizzix Big Shot
Sizzix Accessory - Cutting Pad, Extended 1 Pair 
Sizzix Little Sizzles - 6" x 13" Mat Board Pack, 6 White Sheets

And you will also need:
Fabric of your choice
Batting
Needle and Thread
Steam-a-Seam 2 fusible web
Iron
Scissors
Ranger Adirondack Colorwash, Espresso
Ranger Adirondack Dye Ink Pads, Espresso & Ginger
Stipple Brushes
Mod Podge - Glossy AND Fabric
Foam Brushes
Paper Towel

If you click the link above for the Treat Bag Toppers die, to the left of the picture you will see a link that says "line".  When you click that link, you'll see how all the elements are laid out on the die...which is very cooly btw!  You will see there are 3 toppers and several other elements for embellishing.  Out of all of those, as I was saying earlier, I was inspired by the one that looked like a purse handle...almost kind of like a carpet bag.  I also had some fabric that I liked.

I am not much of a sewer...and I am still just learning how to use my machine....whiiiiiiiich.......I left in the box for this project.  Since the purse is doll size, I figured by time I make a bobbin and thread my machine, I could just hand sew it.  I sewed it inside out and just up the sides.  It looks like a kid did it, but I tried my hardest.  :)

And at least it looks a lot better once you turn it right side out!  Whew!  I then filled the purse with some batting to puff it out so it would look full.  I cheated and used fusible web to seat the top.

The fun part of any art project for me is always the MESS!  Making sure to put the fabric purse part away.  Otherwise I inevitably get it dirty.  I wanted to make the topper look like wood and after playing with a few techniques on the mat board, I decided to go with Adirondack Colorwash in Espresso.  

At the moment, the drafting table in my studio is covered in freezer paper...glossy side up.  It happens to make a nice palette and was convenient for what I did.  The Colorwash comes in a spray bottle, so I just spritzed some onto the freezer paper.  I dampened a foam brush and just picked up the Colorwash from the paper and brushed it onto the mat topper.  I made several passes at this wiping with paper towel after each application until I had a shade I liked.  Here is a closer look at the result:

 

I let that dry for a couple of hours.  Then I brushed a thick coat of Glossy Mod Podge over the entire element and let it dry thoroughly.  After separating the hearts, I brushed on Ginger dye ink on the outside heart and Espresso dye ink on the inside heart.  I then put them back together and also brushed those with Glossy Mod Podge.

Once the handle was good and dry, I used Fabric Mod Podge to adhere it to the bottom part of the bag.

Next, I glued the heart elements to the front plate of the bag handle.

And now Molly has a new travel bag!

While I'm sad that the Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop has come to and end...for now...I'm still looking forward to bringing you some really great projects that you can try at home.  It has been my sincere pleasure to showcase some of the fantastic dies that Sizzix has to offer.

Artfully yours,
Theresa

SIZZIX TRIPLE PLAY BLOG HOP WEEK 4: SCHOOL DAYS

Happy Turkey Day everyone! Welcome to Week 4 of Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop. Can you believe we are smack dab in the middle already? Time sure does fly when you're having fun. This week we are using Eileen Hull's Frame and Frame Back with Stand. Let me tell you, there are a lot of elements with this die! There are really so many possibilities. I was really inspired most of all...you're gonna think I'm weird...by the flat back piece. I don't know what screamed out "chalk board!", but it did. I don't pretend to understand these things, I just go with it.

Let's start of with our supplies this week:

Sizzix Scoreboard Pro Die #656835-Frame and Frame Back w/Stand by Eileen Hull

Sizzix Big Shot Pro

Sizzix Little Sizzles-12x12 Mat Board Pack, 3 White Sheets

Other supplies I used

Preserve it Frames 15x15 Black Frame Kit

Raven Black Paper by Bazzill

White Paper

Vellum

Polka Dot Paper by Time Flies

B&W Alphabet Paper by Rusty Pickle

Vintage Chalk by Rusty Pickle

Black Soot Distress Ink by Tim Holtz

Crayola Chalk

1/8" stripped ribbon

Mod Podge

Black Chalk Paint by Plaid

Brown Acrylic Paint

Foam Brushes

Sakura Gelly Roll Glitter Pen

Ultra Fine Point Black Sharpie

White Paint Pen

Foam Tape

Double Stick Tape

Sand Paper

Xacto Knife & Mat

Stipple Brush

Flat Wood Strips

Textural Wood Image

You can see for yourself, this die comes with a lot of elements! You can choose to put them together OR you can use them separately as I did. I have saved the elements that I didn't use for another day. Now...as I mentioned...there was just something about that back piece that make me want to make it into a chalkboard...so I did. Who am I to argue with my inner voice?! To be honest, I think I have just been dying to play with Plaid's Chalk Paint for so long and this really lends itself perfectly.

I painted the back piece according to the directions on the Chalk Paint. You really want to do this first because it needs a couple of coats and then needs to cure for 24 hours. Then you can work on other elements. Then I took thin flat wooden strips that I got from Michaels. I used my Xacto to cut them to the desired size, then gave them one light coat of paint. **Just a note - the chalk paint is going to make the mat board curl. Don't worry about it. It will flatten out some on it's own AND if need be you can always straighten it out later.**

In between coats of paint and drying time, I set to work on my layout.

I took a piece of Raven Black Paper by Bazzill and rubbed a piece of white chalk over half of it. I like this effect because the the Bazzill paper has a texture to it. I tore the polka dot paper and with a stipple brush gently brushed Black Soot ink across the edges. I repeated this process with the chalk paper. Finally, I adhered them to each other in this order....

Doesn't that chalk paper look cool!!!! I didn't get a good pic of it, but once I was at this stage, I took a pice of sand paper to the edges of the chalk and polka dot papers.

I took the scalloped edge frame and and taped the B&W Alphabet paper to the front of the frame. With my Xacto I trimmed away the excess paper. The next frame layer that I put underneath, I used my stipple brush again just at the edges.

Now, in between the two frames I sandwiched a photo that I printed on vellum paper and then layered over white. WHY?? I just happen to like the effect. It comes out softer than when printed on photo paper. Oh, I also went into Photoshop and converted my pics to black and white to stay consistent with my theme.

Again, I took some sandpaper to the front frame to distress it some. I assembled all the layers and added the ribbon and the heart (which is one of the elements in Eileen's die!). I stippled some Black Soot on the edges of the heart, used a Black Glitter Sakura Pen to make the stitch marks and a fine tipped Sharpie.

I took the smallest frame and again stippled the edges, but I also took a textured stamp and stamped it all over the front of the frame in the Black Soot. Then I layered the vellum and white paper underneath it. I tied a simple ribbon and used Mod Podge to fix it to the frame.

Now remember that back piece that I painted with the Chalk Paint? Yanno, that stuff really works great?! I was very impressed with how well it works. Anyway, I just used double stick tape to frame the "chalkboard". I drew on the hearts with a white paint pen....but I used CHALK to write "first day of school".

I tied ribbon around one piece of chalk and added a couple more pieces of chalk which I adhered with Mod Podge. I attached all the elements to my page and then set it aside as I waited for the chalk to dry.

I really like how the this page turned out. I wanted to do something special with it, especially because it is so dimensional, so I decided to frame it with a Preserve it Frame kit I had. The plexiglass is actually a cube with a 1/4" inch lip around the perimeter and it us UV coated so that my papers and photos are protected. It enables me to put dimensional pages underneath without having to use such a deep shadow box.

I hope you enjoyed this week's project. I know that I sure enjoyed creating it. Again, Happy Thanksgiving....time to hop!

Artfully yours,

Theresa

SIZZIX TRIPLE PLAY BLOG HOP WEEK 1: GINGERBREAD HOUSE

Hello and welcome to Week 1 of the Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop. This is so exciting and I have been having way too much fun playing at the studio here. This is a long post, so I'm going to get right down to it....but just remember to click "Hop Forward" (or back) on the Sizzix icon in the sidebar to see what everyone else has done with this fantastic house die, which was designed, btw, by our own talented Eileen Hull.

So, with no further adieu, away we go....

Sizzix supplies:

#656836; Sizzix Scoreboards Pro Die - House, 3D, by Eileen Hull

Sizzix 12x12 matboard, white

Sizzix Big Shot Pro die cutting machine

Other supplies:

Plaid's Folk Art Acrylic Paint, Bark Brown

Plaid's Fold Art, High Definition Visual Texture, Wicker White

Golden's Gel Medium, Regular Gel (Matte)

Foam Brushes

Paper Plates

Scissors or Xacto knife

Pencil

Ruler

Plastic Baggie (1 gallon size)

Styrofoam disc, 6" diameter

Styrofoam balls, 1.5" round

Canvas board, 9x12

Buffalo snow

Glitter

Candy: Twizzlers (pull 'n peel), M&M minis, Jolly Rancher Pops, Mike & Ikes

Shredded Coconut

After the die was cut and pulled apart, I used Plaid's Bark Brown acrylic paint to paint the board. Depending on the look you're going for will determine how many coats. I wanted a dense look, so I used 3 coats. Above shows what the paint looked like after one coat.

Once the paint dried, I made a lattice pattern on both sections of roof. I did use a ruler and pencil to mark where I wanted the lines. I then traced the lines freehand with Plaid's High Definition Visual Texture. It really works well for this effect as the bottle has a pointed applicator and it holds the dimension so you have that raised effect.

Make sure everything is dry before you start assembling the house. I used Golden's Gel Medium to glue my house together. I like the consistency of it. Plus it is really strong. Resist the temptation to touch the roof before the glue has time to set. After it is mostly dry (yes, I'm very impatient lol), I started to add the M&M Minis. They are the perfect size for this. I adhered them with the Gel Medium. I kind tilted the house on it's side, added the candy and let that set up before starting the other side. Doing this will ensure that none of the M&Ms fall off.

Just to make it a lil sweeter, I outlined the door and the underside of the roof with the Pull 'n Peel Twizzlers. I glued on the smaller roof, then, using that High Definition Visual Texture again, I made a scallop design all over the front, sides and back of the house. I also added some little details like piled snow on the fence, around the windows and around the door.

This is what it looked like...

Now just to backtrack a little bit, I don't want you to think that there is a lot of sitting around eating Snickers while waiting for glue and texture paint to dry. NO WAY! See, I was having such a good time that I went a little crazy. I decided to make this into a display piece. So here is what I was doing in between working on the house...

The base is simply a 9x12 piece of canvas board. I keep it around my studio all the time. The styrofoam disc I glued to the canvas board with Gel Medium. I sketched out a pathway so I would have an idea as to where I wanted those styrofoam balls to go. There are 6 in the picture above, but I ultimately went with 5. Those are also glued down with Gel Medium, but before gluing them down, I wanted to flatten the bottom a bit. To do that, just rub two of the balls together and they sort of just file each other down. Doing that before you glue helps make them more stable.

Next, I used a foam brush and put a light coating of Gel Medium all over the board and styrofoam. I covered the whole thing with Buffalo Snow. I pulled the snow very thin. I then glued Mike & Ikes to construct the path that leads from the house.

Set the house onto the display, so the door lines up with the path. To simulate trees, I pushed Jolly Rancher lollypops into the styrofoam balls.

Coconut!! Now, it's messy...but a cool effect. Take some shredded coconut and put it in a ziplock bag. Add glitter to it! Close the bag. (yep, I said it...cause someone will forget. I guarantee it lol) Give it a good shake. The coconut is moist, so the glitter will stick to it. Then sprinkle that mixture all over. I added a little extra glitter just for good measure.

That's all there is to it! This was an amazingly fun project. I sure hope you will try it out at home. Be sure to let me know how it turned out.

Artfully yours,

Theresa