Life Is Wonderful ~ Dream Big

Hello friends and happy Monday!

Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend and if you're anything like me, I'm sure you've been watching everything and anything that has been posted about Creativation over the last few days, especially all the wonderful new Tim Holtz products that have been released! I have so much love for these and I can't wait to share all the projects that I've made over the coming weeks, it's going to be a very busy blog!

But back to today and this week's SSS Monday Challenge, which is all about Home Decor! Those who follow my blog on a regular basis will know by now that I love making these types of projects, so with the theme in mind, I created a piece that is all about childhood, dreams and friendship and hope you love the vintage theme that I've incorporated into this Vignette divided drawer, packed full of Tim Holtz products.

So, let's get started...the new challenge is about to begin!

To begin with I started with the Divided Drawer, removing one of the shelves and began by covering the inside using papers from the Memoranda Paper Stash. I usually cut all my panels to size and then adhered them into place with Matte Collage Medium, also applying a coat of the medium over the top to seal the paper.

Moving onto the outside of the box and I wanted to add texture, and a decorative element but I didn't want to add too much colour, I just wanted something soft and vintage.

So to achieve this, I used the gorgeous new Bouquet Thinlits die from Sizzix and cut two panels from Mixed Media Heavystock Card. I then cut each panel into strips that would cover the width on the sides of the drawer. I adhered the panels of die cut card directly onto the box using Matte Collage Medium and allowed to dry.

You can see how pretty the effect is and how it creates the texture but still retains a beautiful vintage softness about it.

For the top of the box, I took the shelf that I removed from inside and attached this to the top. I then attached a further panel of die cut card to fit.

Once the medium was dry, I applied a dry brush of white gesso, mixed with Antique Linen Distress Paint and applied this over the entire box, including the back, before once again allowing to dry and then applying a very light layer of Vintage Collage Medium.

Once the medium is dry, I then applied some Crackle Paste, adding it to the edges, the corners and down the joins of the box on the inside and the outside. Allow for the paste to dry, (I know there's a lot of drying time on this piece but it's worth it and some of the techniques can be speeded up by using a heat gun) before applying the Walnut Stain Distress Crayon directly onto the crackles, along the edges of the box and on the inside of the box ~ blending the colour in with a damp water brush. This will accentuate the crackle effect but not add too much colour.

The box is now ready to decorate and I began with the photo. This was taken from Tim's Found Relatives set and I colour tinted it with Distress Crayons. I then aged it around the edges using a light touch of Vintage Collage Medium, smeared onto the photo with my finger before matting the image onto a panel of silver metallic kraft stash, followed by a piece of chipboard, that I cut slightly larger than the matted photo and painted with black Soot Distress Paint.

I mounted the photo using foam pads onto the inside of my box and added a clippings sticker ~ 'life is wonderful".

Beneath the photo, I arranged a cluster of trinkets ~ a corked vial, that had Collage Medium smeared over the bottle to create an opaque look to the glass and then I filled with Bauble Adornments, coloured with Alcohol Ink. I then took a couple of old paintbrushes and popped them into the corked vial, together with a piece of Mummy Cloth and some twine tied around the bottle neck, complete with a Tiny Pin attached to the knot.

I then added a thimble which had a vintage touch applied using Distress Paints ~ Evergreen Bough, Antiqued Bronze, Rusty Hinge and Black Soot. I took a bunch of the Bouquet Findings and spritzed them with Milled Lavender Spray Stain. Once they were dry, I cut them down to size, so that they would form a posy and attached them to the inside of my thimble with Matte Collage Medium. I then added Platinum Stickles Glitter Glue to each centre of each flower.

Attach each of the pieces, together with a ruler that I took from the Junk Drawer Baseboard set, (if you haven't seen these yet, you need these in your life and they are available on pre-order, together with the Tiny Clip, that I've attached to the ruler) and then as a finishing touch, I added the cute little dog charm...

Moving onto the bottom section of the drawer...

...and for this I started by adhering a floral ephemera piece from the Keepsakes Ephemera set and adhered this to the back of the box with Collage Medium. Whilst this is drying, I attached a screw eye from the Vignette Hardware set that I screwed underneath the shelf to hang my watch from. I then took my small sized pocket watch, 'vintaged it up' with Distress Paints, placed a clock face inside which is from the Snippets Ephemera set and added a clock hand, attached with a brad to the centre. I attached a chain to the watch and then hung it from the screw eye fastener.

The other trinkets that I used and added to the bottom section of the drawer, include:

...three Alpha Dice, stacked up and placed next to the pocket watch, some alcohol inked Bauble Findings and another corked vial, crackled with Rock Candy Crackle Paint and inked with Mushroom Alcohol Ink and this, contains tiny buttons inside. I then wrapped some twine around the bottle neck, attached a story stick and a floral adornment which was inked with Rose Gold Metallic Alcohol Ink.

The final trinket was taken from the Snippets Ephemera set and these are the postcards, that I tied together with some fine twine and then placed into the box.

So, the box is nearly ready and all that I need to do is add the finishing touches ~ the handle/mini hardware pull which sits on the top, complete with Hardware Heads and which has also been given the vintage touch using Distress Paints....

...and then we have the quote chip, attached to the shelf. This quote chip is from the brand new set called Theories and all I did was sand the edges, apply a smear of Vintage Collage Medium over the top and then attach to the shelf, adding two Hardware Heads to either side.

I hope you've loved this project and of course, I hope it's inspired you to create some home decor pieces of your own and you can use Tim's products like I have or if you want to create something more personal, maybe use a precious photo of a family member and arrange trinkets around it that hold cherished memories. The ideas are endless but they really do make wonderful pieces to display around the home...

Don't forget, if you would like to see more inspiration from my talented teamies over on the challenge blog and every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp and you can join in up to 5 times, which means you could have 5 chances to win. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today and hope to see you again soon, love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Bouquet Thinlits
Distress Paint: Ground Espresso, Black Soot, Evergreen Bough, Rusty Hinge, Antique Linen
Distress Crayons: Walnut Stain
Distress Spray Stain: Milled Lavender

Idea-ology: Hardware Heads, Mummy Cloth, Snippets Ephemera, Mini Hardware Pulls, Clippings Stickers, Glass Vials, Thimbles, Bouquet Findings, Vignette Divided Drawer, Junk Drawer Baseboards, Tiny Clips, Theories Quote Chips, Floral Adornments, Found Relatives, Bauble Findings, Alpha Dice, Pocket Watch, Mini Pins, Story Sticks, Clock Hands, Vignette Hardware Findings, Keepsakes Ephemera
Alcohol Inks: Mushroom and various colours of your own choice

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Crackle Paste, Platinum Stickles Glitter Glue, Vintage Collage Medium
Surfaces: Metallic Kraft Stash, Mixed Media Heavystock, Memoranda Paper Stash
Glass Media Mat

Heat Gun
Big Shot
Paint brushes, chain, chipboard and twine from my own stash