True Friend ~ Heart and Soul

Hello everyone...

I'm back today to share another project which I created for the Tim Holtz Sizzix Booth at Creativation 2019. This little trinket tin is packed full of products and features a combination of dies, both old and new ~ which include Funky Floral 3 die set, together with the Large Funky Floral Die from Chapter 1 and from Chapter 2, the Trinket Frames and I hope it shows you how all these dies can work together so well! 

If you want to read all about the brand new Chapter 2 release, then just pop on over to Tim Holtz's blog ~ it was so good to see Tim back where he belongs, sharing his passion and looking really well, it really did make my day and, if you did miss his latest Facebook Live, then you can catch up with a replay, HERE ~ together with plenty of inspiration from so many talented designers and you might even recognise a few of the projects that I've shared here on my blog...

So, it's time for me to show you around this project...

To begin with, I used one of Tim's Trinket Tins ~ these are sold in a set of 2 and you can see the other tin in the set which I've shown previously on a blog post that you can see here. On this post, I show you how I aged the outside with Crackle Paste, Distress Paints and Alcohol Inks.

On the inside of this tin, I began the process by applying a layer of gesso over the inside of the tin. Once the gesso was dry, I then set to work ageing the metal using layers of Distress Paints, starting with Walnut Stain, adding Evergreen Bough and finishing with Black Soot and Picket Fence ~ each time drying the painted layers that I added. Once I was happy with how the metal looked, I then added some crackle paste around the edges, allowed this to dry before applying Mushroom and Rust Alcohol Inks, allowing the ink to settle into the crackles. In the photo below you can see just see the inside edges of the tin and how all those layers of paint add that wonderful touch of vintage.

Inside the tin, I cut panels of Worn Wallpaper, machine stitched the edges and then adhered them to both sections before adding a strip of lace, attaching it so that it looks like one continuous piece running across both sides of the tin.

Now we move onto the frame that sits inside and for this I used the fantastic Trinket Frame die ~ this is a Bigz die which means you can cut through almost any substrate (always test before you pass it through your machine, if you feel resistance, DO NOT CONTINUE)! I cut my frame from some chipboard as I wanted it to be fairly thick and quite substantial. I then coated the surface with gesso to prime the chipboard before dabbing an Emboss It Dabber over the top, and around the inside edges. I then sprinkled Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder onto the chipboard, tap away the excess and then heat emboss until molten. I repeated this process a couple more times to get a really good coverage on the frame. Once I was happy, I then applied the dabber to random areas of the frame and sprinkled these with a combination of embossing powders ~ black and gold. I then heated the powders once more and let them just blend together to create a wonderful marbling of colour and texture that you can see below.

Pop the frame inside the tin, attaching it with a thin layer of Collage Medium that I ran around the edge.

Setting the tin aside and allowing the medium to do it's thing, I started work on filling the tin with all those gorgeous embellishments and began by making my dimensional flowers.

These flowers are die cut using a combination of the Funky Florals 3 and the Large Funky Florals dies. Taking three separate pieces of the Heavystock card, I coloured each panel using Distress Spray Stains ~ for the yellow flowers, I used Mustard Seed and Scattered Straw, for the pink I used Victorian Velvet and for the leaves, I used Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters. Once the card was dry, I then cut my petals and foliage from each piece of coloured card.

Taking the pink, cut from Funky Florals 3 die and the yellow petals which are cut from the Large Funky Florals set, I layered each section and then added inked baubles to the centres. You can see a tutorial of how these flowers are made and shaped, HERE. For this project, I made three yellow flowers, 2 pink and then using the green card, I cut a selection of foliage using both of the die sets.

Using a selection of the flowers, 2 of each colour ~ I placed these inside the tin, adding the foliage and layering them onto a bed of sisal fibres.

On the opposite side, I used one of the new Photo Booth images which I colour tinted with Distress Marker pens before layering onto gold metallic card, followed by a layer of felt, cut with my Grandmother's precious pinking shears...

I attached the image together with some baubles inked with various colours of alcohol inks and then added the final yellow flower.

...and that completes this trinket tin which I loved creating and hope it's given you some ideas of how to make one of your own and how to use the brand new Trinket Frame die!

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:

Sizzix dies by Tim Holtz: Funky Floral 3 Thinlits, Large Funky Florals, Trinket Frames

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Picket Fence, Walnut Stain, Evergreen Bough
Distress Spray Stain: Victorian Velvet, Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters
Distress Marker Pens

Idea-ology: Baubles, Clippings Stickers, Trinket Tins, Photo Booth Photos

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Crackle Texture Paste, Clear Gesso, Gesso, Emboss It Dabber
Embossing Powder: Liquid Platinum, Black Ultrafine, Gold Embossing Powder
Alcohol Inks: Mushroom, Rust, Sunshine Yellow, Gunmetal

Surfaces: Worn Wallpaper, Mixed Media Heavystock Card, Metallic Kraft Stash

Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat

Tim Holtz Guillotine
Collage Brushes

Heat Gun
Alcohol Ink Applicator Tool
Palette Knife
Sisal Fibres, Chipboard, Lace  ~ from my own stash

Lost World...

Hello friends...

Today, I'm back to share my third project from Tim Holtz's Sizzix booth and once again I combined dies from the Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 releases to create my Lost World Framed Panel and I think you'll agree that these dies are a match made in heaven and just work together so well when combined together.

So, let's begin and I welcome you to the lost world of Dino and Rex...

We'll start with the frame and I used one of Tim's Framed Panels which comes in two separate pieces, the backboard and the frame itself. Taking the frame, I applied a coat of gesso over the surface to prep the wood and the edge of the back board and once it was dry, I started to layer the paints to create the look of an old wooden frame.

When layering the paints, I alway dry between layers as you want each paint to appear as an individual colour, not end up with a muddy mess of colours that have all blended together ~ so starting with Walnut Stain Distress Paint, I covered the entire frame and also painted the edges of the back board. Once dry, I then took a paintbrush and picked up a small amount of Black Soot paint from my glass mat, brushing off the majority of the paint onto a clean kitchen towel before dry brushing the frame with paint. Once again, I dried the paint layer and then continued to do this with Antiqued Bronze. If you need to add any of the colours again, just go ahead until you're happy with the look.

Once I'd achieved the colour I wanted I then used my fingertip to add a small amount of Picket Fence Paint which I rubbed over the beading, wiping away any excess paint from the surface. Heat dry thoroughly and then I applied a small amount of gold gilding wax over the top, again this will accentuate the beadwork around the outside of the frame.

We now have both pieces of the frame ready and you can set aside the frame to work on the backboard and create the background for your scene.

For this I cut a panel of paper from the Collage Paper Stash and adhered it to my board using Matte Collage Medium. I also applied a layer of the medium over the top to seal the paper. Once it was dry, I also applied some Design Tape around the edges to create an inner border to my frame ~ this can be any tape of your choice, it doesn't need to be one of a particular design as long as it suits the final scene.

To create the crackled background, I used a palette knife to randomly apply some Crackle Paste ~ just add layers of paste onto the background, varying the thickness to create different sizes of crackle.

Using the Gathered Twigs and Pumice Stone Distress Crayons, I ran each of them around the outside and then using a semi dry baby wipe, I blended the inks over the entire background, allowing some of the colour to sink into the crackles and applying more to areas that needed to be more intense in colour.

When the background is complete and dry, I used Matte Collage Medium to attach my frame to the backboard, placing a heavy book over the top so that it would weight it down and the frame would adhere.

We're now ready to make up the scene and we'll start with the Destination globe, which I LOVE! I've used the original Globe die from Tim in so many of my past projects, so to have this new shape, is going to be so useful and I can see so many possibilities with this die in future projects!

I cut the globe from silver metallic kraft card (keep hold of the piece you die cut as you will need this later) and once the shape was cut, I lightly sanded the edges and surface of the die cut before inking it with Gathered Twigs and applying a light splatter of Black Soot over the top.

Taking the piece of silver card that you kept on one side, place it over the top of a piece of copper metallic card from the 2nd paper stash and using a pencil, trace around the outline of where the Destination piece was cut from. Taking a pair of scissors, I then cut around the pencil line to give me a solid shape that will form the backing to the die cut.

Sand the copper card lightly and again splatter with ink before mounting the silver die cut over the top, using foam pads to add some dimension to the piece.

Moving onto the dinosaurs ~ I used two of the dies from the Prehistoric set, which has 3 dies in total and using a fairly thick piece of card, (I took it from some old packaging), I cut each of the dinosaurs together with all the layered pieces that include the legs, arms and heads and cut them from the card three times. I then layered the pieces over the top of one another to create a really solid figure that has a substantial thickness and when layered, creates dimension to the body. I then applied a layer of gesso over the top ready to paint.

The T-Rex is painted with a combination of Gathered Twigs, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Frayed Burlap, Antique Linen and Picket Fence. The Brachiosaurus was painted with Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron, Hickory Smoke, Picket Fence and Cracked Pistachio.

To add some more definition and shading to each dino, I just used Distress Crayons in the same combination of colours. To complete my dinos, I added an eye to each with a little dab of paint.

We can now start to build the scene and after placing the Destination globe in the top right hand corner using foam pads on the back to add some height. I used the Large Funky Floral die to die cut a selection of foliage and twigs, which I arranged along the bottom of the frame together with a piece of driftwood and various types of moss. 

In the photos below, you can see the depth to this project, which is achieved by all the various textures, dies and by using foam tape.

I then placed my dinosaurs onto some more foam pads (I always vary the depths of the pads to add different dimension) and attached Dino and Rex to the scene, standing them on the driftwood piece. To add a little fun element to the piece, I placed some boneyard findings into the moss.

To complete the frame, and all that's left to do is add my title and lettering, which is cut from black card using the Alpha Numeric dies. I placed the Lost World wording in the top left corner, together with a painted star adornment.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and say hello to Dino and Rex today and I'll see you again soon with my 4th project from the Sizzix booth, a sneak peek of which you can see in Tim's video HERE.

 Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix Dies: Funky Florals Large, Prehistoric, Chapter 2 dies coming soon ~ Alpha Numeric, Destination

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Picket Fence, Antiqued Bronze, Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs, Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers, Antique Linen, Hickory Smoke
Distress Ink: Gathered Twigs
Distress Crayon: Black Soot, Pumice Stone

Idea-ology: Boneyard Findings, Star Adornments, Framed Panel, Tim Holtz Design Tape

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Crackle Texture Paste
Alcohol Inks: Rust, Pitch Black, Gold Mixative

Surfaces: Classic Kraft Stash, Metallic Kraft Stash, Metallic Kraft Stash 2, Chipboard, Collage Paper Stash

Heat Gun
Alcohol Ink Applicator Tool
Palette Knife
Paint Brushes
Big Shot Plus

Spanish Moss, moss and driftwood from my own stash

Creativation 2019 ~ Tim Holtz Blog Hop

Hello friends and welcome to my blog for a really exciting post because today, I'm joining a group of very talented crafters for the Creativation 2019 Tim Holtz Blog Hop and Giveaway and you should've arrived at this post from the very talented Debi Adams. 

All the details of this hop are below, together with the complete order of the hop, which you can find at the end of my post and all that's left for you to do is...have fun and enjoy!

GIVE AWAY DETAILS

PRIZES, PRIZES,PRIZES!

We have some prizes to give away ~ so, just leave a comment on ALL the different blog hop posts for a chance to win and comments must be posted by midnight PST on Saturday, February 9th and 3 winners will be announced on Sunday, February 10th on Richele's blog

So, let's get started and I hope you enjoy this post and all the techniques I used to create my 'Glimmer of Light' tag that I created for the Sizzix booth using a combination of dies from the Chapter 2 release, which is coming soon...

To begin with I took the medium sized Etcetera Tag which measures, 6.5" x 12" and used Matte Collage Medium to adhere a panel of paper from the Dapper Paper Stash directly onto the surface of the tag. Along the bottom of the tag, you will see a section of red striped paper ~ this is taken from the Collage Paper Stash and is a piece approx 2cm in width that I adhered along the bottom section. Once the adhesive is dry, I then trimmed away any excess paper using a craft knife, I then took a piece of fine grade sandpaper and sanded the edges to give a nice smooth finish.

I now have my background to work with and wanted to add some texture and for this, I used a palette knife to apply Ranger Ink Crackle Texture Paste, applying it to random areas of the covered tag, especially concentrating around the edges. Allow the paste to dry and the crackles to appear before taking the Black Soot Distress Crayon and running it around the edges of the tag, blending out the colour towards the centre of the tag with a semi dry baby wipe. At this stage, you'll find that the pigment from the crayon will sink into the cracks and highlight them.

I now have my background prepped and moved onto the frame and embossed metal section. Starting with the frame, I used the frame section only from the Mini Framed Panel and applied a coat of gesso to prime the wood. Once the gesso was dry, I then painted it using a combination of Walnut Stain, Black Soot and Antiqued Bronze Distress Paints. I applied the Walnut Stain colour first, covering the entire frame with the paint and allowed the paint to thoroughly dry. When applying these layers of paint to any surface, I always dry the paint between each one as this will stop the paints becoming muddy in appearance. I then took a paint brush and used this to dry brush the frame with Black Soot Distress Paint, just allowing the brush to kiss the surface of the frame. Dry the second layer of paint and then using a clean brush, dry brush with a layer of Antiqued Bronze. At this point if you feel that you need more of any colour, just apply the paint using a clean brush and the dry brushing technique.

I allowed the frame to dry before applying a small amount of gilding wax with my finger and rubbing it over the frame to accentuate the beading.

Moving onto the embossed metal background ~ I started by cutting a panel of Mixed Media Heavystock card slightly larger in size than the aperture of the frame and covered this with a piece of Metal Foil Tape, which is self adhesive. Place the metal card into the Mechanics 3D Texture Fade and run through your die cutting/embossing machine to reveal the gorgeous deep embossing that this folder creates.

I wanted this to look really rusty in appearance so the first thing I did was to apply Alcohol Ink to the surface, a combination of Rust and Pitch Black, applied with an Alcohol Ink Applicator Tool that I just pounced over the surface. Next was to add some texture and for this I applied some Grit Paste to the embossed metal panel and once the paste was dry, I then used Distress Crayons to colour it ~ Black Soot, Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo and Cracked Pistachio. I just scribbled the crayons onto random areas, concentrating on the Grit Paste areas and building up the intensity of colour where it was needed.

Once I was happy with the appearance of the embossed metal, I adhered the panel to the back of the frame and then attached the frame onto the centre of my tag. I actually placed some weights on top of the frame so that it would ensure that the frame stuck securely.

Now to create the lightbulb and the bug...

...and beginning with the bulb, I used the awesome Filament die to die cut all the pieces from chipboard. Taking each of the chipboard die cuts, (there are four separate sections to this die, the bulb, two filament pieces and the screw cap) I painted the bulb section with Picket Fence and Fossilized Amber Distress Paint, the filament pieces with Antiqued Bronze DP and the screw cap with Brushed Pewter. To add a little more interest and ageing to the bulb, I inked the edges of each piece.

To create the look of glass, I cut the bulb section only, using a piece of acetate which I then very lightly inked around the edges with Mushroom Alcohol Ink. I then took a brush dipped in Picket Fence Distress Paint and just dabbed the paint in the top left section of the acetate. Once the paint was dry, I assembled the bulb ~ when attaching the acetate, I applied just a small dab of Matte Collage Medium onto the area where the bug will eventually be placed, this ensures that no glue or adhesive will show on the finished piece. To complete the bulb, I added the word 'ELECTRIC' and used the Alpha Numeric Label die to cut out the lettering from a piece of Gold Metallic Kraft card which I had adhered to a self adhesive sheet. Attach each letter, curving them around the top section of the lightbulb.

I attached the bulb onto the centre of my frame using foam pads at the back and placing it over a bed of Sprocket Gears that I inked with a combination of Rust, Pitch Black, Gold Mixative and Patina Alcohol Inks and adhered with Matte Collage Medium. I also added a Mini Sprocket Gear to the screw section of the bulb, placing a Hitch Fastener in the centre.

Moving onto the flying bug ~ and for this I used the Geo Insects die to die cut two separate pieces from black card. I then rubbed a small amount of gliding wax from my own stash over the black card to create a gorgeous shimmery effect to the body and wings. Taking one of the die cuts, I attached it over the top of a piece of Gold Metallic Kraft card, and cut around the outline of the bug, so that you end up with the gold showing through the cut out areas of the bug. I then took my second die cut and adhered this by the body only, leaving the wings free, over the top of the solid section before shaping the wings to give the look of the bug in flight.

Attach the bug to the lightbulb and in the photo below, you can see how much dimension is in this piece.

We're nearly there and all that's left is the finishing touches and the metallic plaque that runs along the bottom.

To create the plaque, I cut a strip of gold metallic kraft card, slightly shorter in length than the width of the tag itself and lightly sanded the surface of the card. For the lettering I once again used the Alpha Numeric Die to cut out the letters from silver metallic kraft card that I had backed with a self adhesive sheet and spelt out the words, 'CAUTION HIGH VOLTAGE'. I attached each letter to my gold metallic strip and then matted the plaque onto a panel of kraft card, followed by another layer of gold metallic card, each time leaving a border around the outside. I then attached the plaque to my tag using foam pads, and placing it centrally beneath my framed section.

To complete the tag, I added Hex Fasteners that I rusted up with a little Distress Paint and placed these in all four corners of the tag...

I then placed a Faucet Knob at the top, which I had painted red, using Candied Apple Distress Paint before ageing it with a little wax and clipped a painted Hinge Clip to the side, complete with a Foundry Adornment hanging down.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and a huge thank you to Richele for organising the hop and to Tim, Paula and Mario for inviting me to be a part of this wonderful creative adventure and for everything they do!

Happy Hopping and hope you enjoy the wealth of gorgeous projects from all the talented designers, that are on display in this hop ~ your next stop is the talented Jan Hobbins.

See you soon, Emma x

ORDER OF HOP

Audrey Pettit

Bobbi Smith

Cathie Parreco

Cheiron Brandon

Debi Adams

Emma Williams (you are here)

Jan Hobbins

Jennalee Anderson

Joy Kennedy

Kath Stewart

Mae Nazareth

Mou Saha

Paula Cheney 

Richele Christensen

Stacy Hutchinson

Tami Bastiaans

Vicki Evans

Zoe Hillman

Recipe for Glimmer of Light project:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix Dies: Mechanics 3D Texture Fade, Chapter 2 dies coming soon ~ Alpha Numeric Label, Filament and Geo Insects

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Picket Fence, Walnut Stain, Rusty Hinge, Candied Apple, Antiqued Bronze, Mustard Seed, Brushed Pewter
Distress Crayon: Black Soot, Pumice Stone, Rusty Hinge

Idea-ology: Hex Fasteners, Sprocket Gears, Mini Framed Panel, Hitch Fastener, Foundry Adornments, Faucet Knobs

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Crackle Texture Paste, Grit Paste
Alcohol Inks: Rust, Pitch Black, Gold Mixative, Patina

Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock Card, Metallic Kraft Stash, Medium Etcetera Tag, Collage paper Stash, Dapper Paper Stash, Metal Foil Tape

Heat Gun
Alcohol Ink Applicator Tool
Palette Knife
Paint Brushes
Chipboard, waxes and acetate from my own stash

Happiness Blooms From Within...

Hello again everyone...

I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week! Today, it's time for me to start sharing some of my Creativation 2019 projects that I created for Tim Holtz and I'm going to kick it all off with my Sizzix projects. Now many of you will have seen Paula and Tim show you around this amazing booth  (if you didn't, then don't worry because you can see Tim's recap over on his blog by clicking HERE) and since the walkabout I've received so many lovely messages about the projects I made for the stand and just wanted to thank everyone who took the time to contact me, I really do appreciate it.

So, let's get started and the first project I've chosen to share with you all, is my Potting Shed Tag. I always love creating dimension with Tim's flower dies, making them spring into life in a 3D form is something I've done for a long time, probably since day one of crafting as I personally like to make them look as realistic as possible. I also love to have height and layers on my projects, again something I've done since the very early days...so, on this project I've married the two ideas together to make my flower pot, which is packed full with a floral bouquet.

To begin with I took a mini Etcetera tag and began by creating the background and for this I used the beautiful Adorned die which is part of the Chapter 2 release from Sizzix, coming soon.

Using all the dies from the Adorned set, I cut the beautiful flourishes from Mixed Media Heavystock card before taking each of the die cuts and placing them onto the tag, arranging them so that sections of each flourish were concentrated around the bottom and right hand side of the tag. Once I was happy with the layout, I adhered them into place with Matte Collage Medium. At this stage, it won't look pretty because you will have parts of the die cuts overhanging the edges of the tag but just snip these away and once the medium is dry, just use a sanding tool or sandpaper to remove any rough edges.

Now that we have the die cuts in place, I then primed the surface of the tag with a coat of gesso and once the paint was dry, I then started to add some colour ~ using Weathered Wood Distress paint as my base, I applied the paint over the tag and once again allowed it to dry. You do need to dry each paint layer before adding the next to avoid the paint going muddy in appearance. When the first paint layer is dry, I then dry brushed the tag with Frayed Burlap, just catching the surface of the tag before drying it again. As a final layer of paint, I took a clean brush and once again dry brushed the surface but this time used Picket Fence and this time I concentrated particularly on the raised areas where I applied the die cuts, so the white would accentuate these areas.

As a final touch to the background and to add more detail and layers, I stamped some text onto random areas of the tag, using the Script stamp from the Entomology stamp set which I inked with Jet Black Archival Ink. I always give the stamping a quick blast of heat to set it, so that it won't smudge and then, I applied Ranger Crackle Paste by scraping it directly onto the tag, using a palette knife to apply it and allowing it to dry and crackle. I didn't want to apply colour to the paste, I wanted to keep it white for this particular tag ~ so once it's dry, you can move on and as a finishing touch, I added some torn pieces of Design Tape, taken from the Remnants set and just placed these pieces in the top left hand corner and the bottom right hand corner of the tag. Finally, I used the Pumice Stone Distress Crayon and ran it around the edge, blending out the colour with a semi dry baby wipe and attached the hole reinforcer piece, which I had painted with a combination of Walnut Stain and Black Soot Distress Paint to create the look of wood. As a finishing touch I dabbed Antiqued Bronze paint over the top to create more of a distressed feel.

So we now have the background and can move onto the flowers and started by die cutting my flowers, using the Large Funky Floral Die set.

I coloured two separate pieces of card and kept a third piece natural to make my two different flower heads ~ one piece of card was spritzed and coloured with Shaded Lilac and a touch of Milled Lavender and the second coloured with Fossilized Amber and Mustard Seed. After drying the card, I then cut my flower heads ~ each one of these beauties has two layers ~ the purple flowers are cut from just the purple card but the bottom layer is inked around the edges with Dusty Concord DI. After shaping each of the flowers, I layered the section with the holes in, over the top of the solid part and attached them with a dab of glue in the centre. I then added a Bauble Adornment coloured with a mix of Mushroom and Silver Mixative Alcohol ink to each of the centres. You will need three of these flowers.

For the second flower, I used the yellow coloured card to die cut the solid section and the centre pieces and then cut the patterned pieces and the stamen pieces from the uncoloured card. I inked the edges of the top layer with Antique Linen DI and inked the stamen pieces with Shabby Shutters before shaping and layering the sections together. You will need two of these flowers.

The leaves are all cut from card, a combination of two textures ~ the first is Mixed Media Heavystock spritzed with Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters and the second is Classic Kraft Stash. I just love to see the rough and the smooth of this card layered together. Once the leaves have been layered and the twigs were cut it's time to make my pot.

This is created using the Potted die from the Chapter 2 release and made up by die cutting a piece of chipboard as a base and then cutting a second base from a piece of Woodgrain Cardstock. To obtain the gorgeous wood colour on the card, I used Distress Paints and added Walnut Stain directly onto the surface and spritzed it with a mist of water. Take a dry paintbrush and just brush the colour across the embossed texture of the card before dabbing away any excess paint with a paper towel. I then cut my Potted wooden base into six vertical sections to create the look of planks and then using Matte Collage Medium, I attached each of these sections onto the chipboard base. Apply a coat of the medium over the top and then I used the Black Soot Distress Crayon to accentuate the edges of the planks, blending out the colour with my finger and a semi dry baby wipe.

For the metal straps that run across the pot, I used silver metallic kraftstock card and after giving them a light sanding, I then inked each of the pieces with Rust and Pitch Black Alcohol Ink. I attached the straps to the pot and added small Hex Fasteners to the holes, rusting them up with a combination of Rusty Hinge Distress paint and the Black Soot Crayon.

I now had all my pieces ready to assemble and attached my pot using foam pads to give some height and then layered the flowers, foliage and twigs to cascade out of the pot. I also added some real twigs and Spanish Moss to the arrangement. As the finishing touch I popped a 15¢ Ephemera piece onto a Memo Pin and stuck this into the floral bouquet and also placed a small tag complete with the words 'Special Delivery' which I just tucked underneath the flowers.

I also added two Hex Fasteners in the top right hand corner, which once again I altered with Distress Paint and Crayons so they continued with the rusty look.

So, that completes this project and I hope you've enjoyed the creative process behind it ~ it's such a fun piece to make and I love how you can mix and match the dies from Chapter One and Two, they're a match made in heaven and just work so well together.

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 Dies: Large Funky Florals, Chapter 2 dies coming soon ~ Potted and Adorned
Entomology Stamp Set

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Picket Fence, Weathered Wood, Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap, Rusty Hinge
Distress Ink: Antique Linen, Dusty Concord, Shabby Shutters
Distress Crayon: Black Soot, Pumice Stone
Distress Spray Stain: Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Milled Lavender, Shaded Lilac, Fossilized Amber and Mustard Seed

Idea-ology: Memo Pin, Hex Fasteners, Bauble Findings, 

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Crackle Texture Paste
Alcohol Inks: Rust, Pitch Black, Silver Mixative

Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock Card, Classic Kraft Stash, Metallic Kraft Stash, Mini Etcetera Tag, Distress Woodgrain Card

Heat Gun
Alcohol Ink Applicator Tool
Palette Knife
Paint Brushes

Spanish Moss, chipboard and twigs from my own stash