It's Ornamental!

Hello peeps! I do hope you enjoyed your Halloween and all that it entailed. Today starts a new challenge at Anything But Cute #7-It's Ornamental and the super sweet, and talented Cec is our hostess! Here is what she said, "Since the holiday will be coming up pretty quickly, we want you to create a mixed media ornament for your Christmas tree or a Christmas decor item for your house or table.

I love, love, love the Christmas holiday and go all out for it! So without further adieu here is my design! Who knew I could go from shock horror to soft and pretty!?! Lol. Grab a cuppa, this is a long one. :)

I started with a paper mâché mailbox. Applied some gesso and LSG sprays to the front and back. Then started on the Shimmer Sheetz. 

Using 3 different colors of embossing powder and a tree stamp, I got to stamping. The EP adds some nice texture to the Sheetz. TIP-Shimmer Sheetz don't hold up to heat embossing and will warp a bit but it can still be done! I used two sheetz to cover the sides of the mailbox and overlapped those at the top. Then came the die cuts. 

The flower was made with TH Tattered Flowers die. I layered three pieces and added some EP randomly, as well as some Stickles. The bird is a new Sizzix die. The bottom layer of the bird die was painted with DecoArt Media Cobalt Teal Hue (my cuttlebug didn't cut it all the way through but I used it anyway). The top die cut was heat embossed with a Recollections EP. Glossy Accents was liberally applied and I put the pieces together. The glossy accents gooped out through the holes in the top die cut which resulted in a glass like appearance and added some nice texture to the bird. 

The mailbox edges were painted with DecoArt Media Cobalt Teal Hue as well and then snowflake stickers were added. 

The filigree die cuts were made from white and a pale blue cardstock. Both were then lightly edged with Mermaid Lagoon DI. My ribbon was hand died with LSG sprays and helped to create my birds "nest". The flower has a bit of bling added and some small feathers. So many luscious layers! More layers help create nice texture and depth to any design. 

The snow on the mailbox flag (as well as the top of the candlestick) was created by using DecoArt Snow-Tex

This is the front of the mailbox. I used another die cut and lightly edged it with Mermaid Lagoon DI as well. The "Merry Christmas" sentiment is a TH rub on (thanks Samra!)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Although, I don't really like snow IRL-too cold for me. Brrrr! 

The back of the mailbox had a snowflake rub on and an embossed sentiment as well. 

The candlestick was painted white and then Cobalt Teal Hue, I then added a layer of white crackle paint. Once that was dry, I took a damask print stamp (inked with ML DI) and randomly applied it to the entirely awkward shape. Stickles added some glitter and Snow-Tex added some more texture. Pretty! 

And now for

THE SURPRISE: 

I created a false front to the opened mailbox and it raises up when the lid is closed. The reindeer, trees, and moon (actually my thumbprint, lol) are heat embossed onto vellum. The mini tree was sprayed with LSG sprays, and texture was added with the DecoArt Snow-Tex. I painted the mini lights with Cobalt Teal Hue and gesso. The floor was made to look like ice by sprinkling EP and layering DecoArt Liquid Glass over it. The cobblestones were hand cut and lightly pushed into the "ice". 

Whew! You made it to the end! Congrats! I hope you had a fun journey and create some amazing designs! Thanks for stopping by. Hugz and Carpe Diem! ~Niki

I will be sharing this altered design with these challenges:

Country View Challenge November #33-The Colour Blue

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge-So Glossy.

I used Glossy accents to adhere almost everything in this design, as well as adding dimension to the bird die cuts

One Crazy Stamper Inc November Challenge-Christmas/Winter

Lets Craft and Create Challenge #107-Lots of Bling

I used lots of glitter, diamonds and gems, as well as luscious embossing powder that has bling in it.

Sweet Stampin Challenge-Dies And/Or Punches

I used 3 different dies on this design.

Rhedds Creative Spirit-Anything Goes Altered Art/Mixed Media Only

Falling Leaves

Hello! I started this project with a mad hatter theme in mind but switched it up to Fall to fit with the theme for Mixed Media Mojo-Fall/paste, where I am a new Design Team member. Thrilled is not even close to how happy I am to be with this team! Enjoy!

First I use gesso on my 8x10 canvas, then painted small strips of blue to show the "sky" between the wood panels I applied. 

The wood panels were made out of chipboard. I used a Mod Podge stencil and made my texture paste a light brown color. I use homemade texture paste made from baby powder, white acrylic paint and Elmer's glue. I then added a layer of gesso over that, dried it and then used Archival brown ink to add some color. 

I cut out plenty of leaves with my Cuttlebug using a Momenta die from Hobby Lobby. The pumpkin was from the Dollar Tree, I just cut it in half and painted it with Silks Spiced Pumpkin. The original pumpkin is the bottom one. 

I found these amazing top hats and bought every last one they had (4 total, lol!) because I knew I could do lots with it. I cut the hat in half and sprayed the hat with Smooch Spritz copper (not a fan of their bottles-too messy but the color is wonderful) and added a red stitching design, a leaf, and a gold band to fill it out. 

Next comes the box holding the leaves. I purchased this with the top hats. I applied Distress Crackle paint in Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo to the box and added  the words "Leaves are Falling". I embossed the words with black glittery embossing powder and edged the orange paper with brown Archival ink. Adding the straw (Dollar Tree) put the finishing touch on this box. 

Thanks for stopping by and leaving your lovely comments, it brightens my day! Carpe Diem!~€

I will be sharing this project with the following:

Rhedds Creative Spirit-Anything Goes. HERE

Artistic Stamper-Autumn Colors and use a rubber stamp HERE My stamp in Leaves are Falling that I embossed.

Inspiration Journal-Fall is in the Air HERE

Try It on Tuesdays-Use Your Stash HERE. I have had the leaf die cut in my stash but never thought I would use it. Thank goodness I had it and the orange construction paper is from an art class I took in High School, yes, I save everything art related and orange is not a favorite color for me. :)

Altered Eclectics-Anything Goes HERE