How I make the Steampunk Boxes

Many of you asked for a Tutorial on how I make the Steampunk Boxes, so here you go....

Supplies used:
Eileen Hull Square Box XL Scoreboard Die by Sizzix
Medium weight Chipboard or Matboard
Ranger Glue n Seal
Heavy Cardstock
Tim Holtz Clockworks Gear Embossing folder
DecoArt Chalky Finish Paint or DecoArt Acrylic Paint
Double Sided Tape
Tim Holtz Metal Gears
2 Part Liquid Resin
Plaid Mod Melts Molds
Metallic Rubons
DecoArt Lustre Metallic Waxes
Sharp Craft Knife
High Tac Glue
Embossing/Diecutting machine Vagabond or BigShot

Begin by cutting your chipboard or matboard with the Square Box Die (you will need to cut 2 pieces).  Assemble your box, here is a quick video showing how to do it  Sizzix Youtube .

Cut your heavy cardstock into pieces that will fit into your embossing folder and machine. Cut 5 pieces.

Apply a coat of Glue n Seal to each of your box sides and top (do one side at a time) and apply your embossed cardstock. Once dry, use your sharp craft knife to cut off excess.

Apply a good coat of DecoArt Chalky Finish Carbon Paint

If you don't have the Chalky Finish you can use DecoArt Americana Lamp Black Acrylic Paint. I prefer the Chalky Finish myself.

While your paint is drying, gather your metal embellishments. I've made quite a few of these this past week and didn't have any of the gears and such left that I wanted to use so I made some with 2 part resin and my Plaid Mod Melts Molds.

Once you're ready to add your embellishments, adhere them to your box with a high tac thick glue of your choice. (I use Aleene's Fast Dry thick glue for this part). Let them dry for about 15 minutes. Now paint a coat of the Chalky Finish Carbon paint all over the boxes and embellishements and let dry.

Once the paint is thoroughly dry start applying the metallic rub, I prefer to rub it on with my fingertips.

Apply the wax all over the entire box, including your embellishments. Lightly spray entire box with a matte sealer or brush on a coat of Glue n Seal matte. 

If  you choose to use the Label Hinge that comes with the box, use all of the same steps and once it's dry apply it with the thick tac glue to your box top.  Be sure to glue it on leaving a wee bit of space between it and the front of the box. If it's too close, it will be too tight to work with. 

 

And there you go! Have fun!

12 Tags of 2015 with Tim Holtz-March

Greetings from Southeast Arkansas where winter is stuck LOL!  I'm so thankful for my warm and cozy craft room!
Don't you just love Tim's March Tag? Once again I don't have the exact supplies that Tim used so I improvised. Now normally I make a tag but this month I've made a gift for a very dear Friend.

I built a wood frame, painted it black and then coated the black with DecoArt Weathered Wood medium. Once the medium was dry I applied a coat of DecoArt Mocha Acrylic paint and sat and watched the beautiful cracks appear.

Next I cut a piece of black matboard and used Tim's Clock Stencil along with some opaque texture paste that I had mixed some purple acrylic paint into. Applied to the matboard and dusted with some Ranger Pearl Ex Powder.

I cut and embossed the Dragonfly using Tim's Layered Dragonfly Die, colored her up with pearlex powders, added some half pearls to her tail then covered her completely with Ranger Glossy Accents.

Before I adhered the Dragonfly to the frame, I gave the whole frame a coating of Rangers Glue n Seal and once it was dry I did some antiquing all over the frame with some of Tim's Black Soot Distress Paint. Apply the distress paint , wait about 30 seconds then rub it back with a soft cloth until you get the desired look.  I appllied some Picket Fence Distress Paint to one of Tim's keyholes, waited a few seconds and did a quick light rub with a soft cloth.

I really enjoyed making this, at first I felt funny not doing a tag but Tim does encourage us to take inspiration from his and run with it...I ran LOL  Thank you for looking. Now I must get this boxed up and mailed off to put a bit of happy in a dear Friend's day.

Don't forget to head to Tim's Blog and join in on the fun!

CC102 with Tim Holtz-Day5 Tarnished Silver

OH boy, here's another technique that I will be using quite often!  I love the look!!

and a little close up:

If you want to know how to do this, run to OnlineCardClasses and sign up for CC102 with Tim!

CC102 with Tim Holtz-Day3

I'm still waiting on some supplies to come in for Day 3, 4, and 5 classes but was able to complete three of the day 3 techniques without those supplies. I've been stalking my mailbox and it sure doesn't make the orders come in any quicker LOL

Here is my tag for the Smudge Stamping Technique:

I enjoyed it so much I tried another:

Here is the Brayered Stains Technique:

Here is the Faux Cracked Glass Technique (can't wait to try this on a larger scale!):

Here's hoping my orders show up tomorrow so I can do the rest of the techniques :-)

Thanks for looking!

CC102 with Tim Holtz-Day2

WOW! I just can't tell Ya'll how exciting this class is!  Like many others I didn't have all of the supplies on hand that Tim used so I'm a wee bit behind on my homework...but I'm staying at it and hopefully tomorrow my other supplies will be here so I can catch up. Here is a group shot of what I've done for day 2 so far:

1. Mixed Media
2.Embossing through
3.Stencil Sketching
4.Ink Monoprint
5.Paint Monoprint
6.oops, this is Faux Cracked Glass and it's actually for Day 3 (stay tuned for the rest of day 3)

If you want to learn how to really get the most out of your Distress Products, you really need to check out this class. You have lifetime access to these excellent lessons from Tim. Check it out at OnlineCardClasses .

Thank you for looking!

12 Tags of 2013 with Tim Holtz-Sept

Hello Fellow Crafters!
I've been away from crafting for a while, well actually from blogging about crafting.  During July and August I was making some altered items for my Sons because in August I went to Canada for my Family Reunion! I got to spend 3 weeks with my Mom, my Siblings, my Sons and my Grandkids...it was wonderful!!!  While there I also got to sit down with 2 of my GrandDaughters and teach them some paper crafting techniques...they were so adorable and had so much fun! I'm proud to say my GrandDaughters are naturals and I got them hooked on Tim Holtz, especially his Tattered Floral Die :-)   Here is a photo of them , left to right are Macki, Krystyn and my Niece Carys.

I also taught my GrandDaughters and my youngest Son how to make homemade bread, they all did an awesome job and had fun doing it. Here's a pic of my youngest Son, Brandon's first loaf of bread

ok, one more photo if ya'll don't mind...many of you know my favorite pets are my ducks, many of my friends (and family) call me the Duck Lady LOL  With that said, I just have to share this pic of my youngest Son feeding a wild Mallard Hen at the beach :-)

I have Pekins, Muscovies and Mallards...I've had my Mallard Gals for 5 yrs and they still won't eat out of my hand, this wild gal actually ate right out of my Son's hand..**proud Momma smile**

Ok enough personal stuff for now...on to the main reason for today's post...
If you haven't been to Tim's blog to see his September Tag, go check it out HERE
Don't you just love it?!!!!  I was so tickled that he used my favorite Distress color  Peacock Feathers!

As usual I had to do some improvising, as much as I wish I owned everything put out by Tim, it's just not possible (until I win a lottery LOL), I had also just ran out of embossing paste, YIKES!

I used lightweight spackle instead of embossing paste...in a pinch it does work, however it's not as good as embossing paste. I also don't have Tim's stencils...YET, so I used a Craft Companion stencil, a couple of Dyllusion stencils and a couple of Tim's rubber stamps instead.  The chit chat stickers I used are from his Seasonal line, I chose to use Forever Friends and this tag is going to my best friend. I used Distress Ink in Walnut Stain, Black Soot and Picked Raspberry. I used Distress Stains in Wild Honey, Peacock Feathers. I used Picket Fence Distress Paint.  The stamps I used are Tim's Papillon set and his honeycomb stamp from the Mixed Media Set. I also used the heart from his Idea-ology Classics Adornments set. 

Thank you so much for looking,
Happy Crafting!
Michelle

12 Tags of 2013 with Tim Holtz-April

I can't believe that April is almost over! Spring is here in Southeast Arkansas, the Tulip Magnolia, Roses and Blackberry bushes in the yard are all in bloom and my Plum Trees have itty bitty plums all over them!  I love this time of year :-)  I also love Tim's April Tag...if you haven't seen it, check it out HERE

Aren't his Blueprint stamps awesome?!!  I don't own any of them yet so I chose to go with his Butterflies from the Papillon set. This is still one of my all time favorite Tim Holtz stamp sets. This was my first time using Tim's Distress Paints and I am hooked big time! The colors are amazing, they blend beautifully and they don't leave your surface feeling chalky or rough...Tim nailed it with these paints!

As soon as my set of Distress Paints came in I had to take a photo of them...love Instagram!  I still need to get the 3 Metallic Distress Paints and my collection will be complete.

I laid some distress paint down on my craft mat, spritzed some water onto the pain then pulled my Tag through the paint. I used my heat gun to dry the tag then laid some metallic distress stain on my mat and pulled the tag through it.  Once it was all dry I used a blending tool and applied some distress ink over the tag in blues, greens and browns, spritzed with water, let the water drips flow down the tag and applied the heat gun again.  I stamped the tag with Tim's Grid stamp from the Mixed Media stamp set then stamped the Butterflies from his Papillon set.  I stamped the Butterflies again onto some Wendy Vecchi Clearly For Art Whiteout (I don't have the Clear one yet), cut the Butterflies out and colored the Butterfly in with Aged Mahogany Distress Marker. I applied the heat gun to the Butterfly to help dry the ink and marker, as well as to help bend the wings. I then glued the body portion of the butterfly to the tag using glossy accents.  I took some of Tim's trim, applied distress paint and distress stain to it and looped it through the tag. 

I was going to add a bunch of embellishments but changed my mind, I love the colorful simplicity of this Tag.

Thank you for looking!

Scrappy Girl Tribute Canvas

I hatched Scrappy Duck in the house 4 yrs ago, she was born with a limp and had a condition called Angel Wing however she didn't let any of that stop her from living happily and keeping up with the rest of the flock.  She spent her first 3 months in the house with me then moved to the duck pen with the flock but never stopped being my "lap duck". Scrappy was unusual for a Pekin, she loved to go broody and hatch babies, this year I kept one of her babies and am so glad I did. This project took a couple of weeks to complete because it's many layers of Molding Paste, Gesso, and embellishments of plastic, metal, fabric and paper.  The Canvas is 16x20 and it took MANY embellishments to fill it. I also used some of Scrappy's feathers that I had collected over the years and some shell from one of her eggs that I had blown with the intention of painting.


I love you Scrappy Girl, thank you for short 4 yrs of joy you gave to me....

Below is a list of the supplies I used on this Canvas:
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Metal Embellishments
Tim Holtz Fractured Doll
Making Memories Hinges
Tim Holtz light bulbs
Chicken Wire
Feathers and pieces of egg shell
Petaloo Flowers
Prima Flowers and Vines
IamRoses Flowers
Old discarded keys
Vintage keys from the flea market
Metal bolts found in the garage (shhhhhhhh don't tell my husband)
Vintage Key plates from a dear friend (Thank you Donna!!)
Antique Frozen Charlotte from a dear friend (Thank you Donna!!!)
Tim Holtz Grungeboard Numbers and Alphas
Springs and metal scraps from the junk drawer
White Gesso from Ranger (3 jars of it!)
E6000 Glue
Ranger's Glue n Seal
Molding Paste
Perfect Pearls Mists from Ranger
Glimmer Mists from Prima

Thank  you for looking!

Michelle