2018 Canvas Fabric Covered Calendar with Sandy McTier

A New Year is upon us, and, I don’t know about you, but I always love going into the new year with a clean, fresh calendar and watching it fill up with FUN travels and plans!

I loved this 2018 canvas fabric covered calendar I picked up on my teaching trip to Taiwan this year! What better way to enjoy it than to decorate it!!

The calendar came covered with this beautiful teal canvas fabric, and it was just screaming to be painted, so here’s what I did…

I loaded a Dynasty 1/2” Stencil brush with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics – Titanium White and then wiped almost all of it off on a paper towel. Using small circular motions, I brushed over the large Southern Ridge Trading Company Fireworks stencil. TIP: Go clockwise and counter clockwise to pick up any excess paint that might build up on the edges of the stencil. I stenciled the back cover as well.

I wanted the large design on the top right corner on the cover to stand out more than the other areas, so using my #2 Round, I accented it with some Titanium White ☺

Next, I loaded up my bird stamp with StazOn ink and tested it on a piece of paper. I reloaded the stamp and stamped the image on the cover. Then, using the #8 Shader, I painted the shape of the bird with two coats of DecoArt Media White Gesso letting it dry in between coats.

Once the gesso completely dried, I reloaded the stamp with ink, lined it up with the bird and re-stamped the image.

I went back over the lines later with an Identi-Pen, so wasn’t too fussed if some lines weren’t as dark.

Note: I loaded the stencil brush that still had Titanium White in it with some Quinacridone Magenta and then wiped almost all of it off on a paper towel. Then I ran the brush over some dry wall tape.

It was finally time to add some color! I painted the bird with Titan Buff and the flowers with Quinacridone Magenta and Phthalo Blue. The leaves, scrolls and centers for the flowers were done with Green Gold. Then I floated in some Sap Green at the base of the leaves. I added a touch of Titanium White on the tips of the flower petals to brighten them up just a bit and then added a white highlight on each of the leaves and scrolls. I painted the center of the eye with Carbon Black and then when dry, highlighted with white. Once everything was dry, I went over the entire design with the fine tip of the Identi-Pen.   

The cover still needed a punch of color so I added some dots using the DecoArt paint pouncers and an old hotel key card. Pulling the edge of the card through some Carbon Black, I slid back and forth to paint lines in the areas where the polka dots will go. For the dots, I loaded the large end of the pouncer with Titanium White and then ran one side of the sponge through some Phthalo Blue, pressed, twisted and, wha-la… polka dots! I wiped the pouncer off and repeated the step with some Quinacridone Magenta and then used the smaller end with Titanium White and Green Gold.

Now to add the year! Still having a hard time believing that it’s almost 2018! Time sure does fly!!

The new SRTC Circle Advent Numbers were perfect for the cover of my 2018 calendar!! I painted them with a Dynasty Foam brush loaded with Titanium White. Then with the white still on the brush, I loaded it with Quinacridone Magenta and painted along the bottom half of the numbers. They were a bit bright, so I grabbed a font stamp, loaded it with StazOn Ink and stamped over the numbers. Once everything was dry, I glued the numbers on with E6000 and started filling in all my upcoming travel dates!!

Finishing Touches: I added a few more lines with Carbon Black around the dots and then added some splatters of Carbon Black and Titanium White. I added a little highlight of Titanium White on the right side of each of the dots as well. I loaded the toe of a slightly damp 3/8” Angle brush with Quinacridone Gold and shaded around the inside edge of the birds body, wing and tail feathers. Finally, with Carbon Black loaded on the toe of the Angle brush, I shaded underneath the tail feathers, body and feet. I also shaded underneath the polka dots to give them some added dimension.

I hope this inspires you to create something fun to organize your 2018!!!

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Circle Advent Numbers

- Large Fireworks Stencil

Other Supplies Used:

- Surface: 2018 Calendar

- Stamps: Live, Love, Laugh Bird Stamp – www.SandyMcTierDesigns.com &

Vintage Note #RS-P249 – www.Stampendous.com

- DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics: Titanium White, Sap Green, Green Gold, Quinacridone Magenta, Titan Buff, Quinacridone Gold, Phthalo Blue and Carbon Black.

- DecoArt Media White Gesso

- Dynasty Brushes: Black Gold #8 Shader, #4 Shader, #2 Round,  3/8" Angle, 1/2" Stencil &

IPC Large Foam

- Other Supplies: DecoArt Paint Pouncer, Identi-Pen, E6000

Website: www.sandymctierdesigns.com

FB: www.Facebook.com/SandyMcTierDesigns

2018 Calendar Design ~ Sandy McTier Designs ~ All Rights Reserved

Y’all have a GREAT day and a super CREATIVE 2018!  Sandy

Believe Wall Hanging with Katelyn Grosart

Hey Southern Ridge Trading Company fans, Katelyn here and I'm back on the blog today to share with you some Christmas inspiration. To start, I want to wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Today I get to share with you my Believe Wall Hanging that will be sure to inspire you to recreate it for your own home. Grab a cup of your favourite Christmas beverage and learn how to recreate my wall hanging at home.

To start, take the Believe Flourish Sign out of the package. You'll need the back piece first. Apply one coat of White Gesso to the entire sign. Once the gesso has dried, apply two coats of Titanium White Acrylic paint over the entire sign. With the white paint dry, run Walnut Stain Distress Stain over the entire sign. Before the stain dries, wipe off a bit of the stain to allow the white paint to show through. Once the stain has thoroughly dried, apply Jet Black Archival Ink to the script word stamp and randomly stamp over the back piece. To finish off the back piece of the sign, lightly apply Ground Espresso Distress Ink over the entire sign. Set the back piece aside.

Now you'll need the believe portion of the sign. To start, apply one coat of White Gesso to the entire sign. Once the gesso has dried, apply two coats of Titanium White Acrylic paint over the entire sign. With the white paint dry, run Gathered Twigs Distress Stain over the parts on the sign that don't have the snowflakes. Before the stain dries, wipe off a bit of the stain to allow the white paint to show through. Once the stain has thoroughly dried, apply Jet Black Archival Ink to the script word stamp and randomly stamp over the believe piece. Lightly apply Ground Espresso Distress Ink over the believe sign that is already brown. 

For the "Believe" word, apply Emboss It Ink to the entire Believe word. Sprinkle Charred Gold Embossing Powder over the entire word. Tap off the excess powder and emboss with a heat tool. For the snowflakes, apply Emboss It Ink to each snowflake. Sprinkle Fractured Iced Embossing Powder over each snowflake. Tap off the excess powder and emboss with a heat tool. 

To add some highlights to the believe sign, add some White Gold wax over the entire sign with your finger.

Adhere the Believe part of the sign to the back of the sign with glue.

From the Snowflakes 714 package, you'll need all of the snowflakes. For the large snowflakes, apply two coats of Brushed Pewter Distress Stain. Set those snowflakes aside to dry.

Take out five Snowflakes from the Snowflakes 712 package. Apply two coats of Brushed Pewter Distress Stain to each snowflake. From the same package, take out five snowflakes and apply Emboss It Ink to each snowflake. Sprinkle Fracture Ice Embossing Powder over each snowflake. Tap off the excess powder and emboss with a heat tool. 

Adhere the three of the small snowflakes around the believe word. You'll want to layer the large and small snowflakes and then adhere them onto the larger snowflakes. 

In the bottom right hand corner of the sign by the snowflake adhere four aqua roses, two dark brown roses, two light brown roses and three cream roses.

In the top left hand corner of the sign by the "B" in believe adhere two aqua roses, three dark brown roses, one light brown roses and three cream roses.

To finish off the top of the wall hanging, punch two holes and tie ribbon through.

Here are a few close up shots of my Believe Wall Hanging.

And here's the finished Believe Wall Hanging.

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Believe Flourish Sign

- Snowflakes 714

- Snowflakes 712

- 10mm Roses: Aqua and Dark Brown

- 15mm Roses: Light Brown and Cream

- 20mm Roses: Cream

Other Supplies Used:

- Emerald Creek Craft Supplies: Charred Gold Embossing Powder and Fractured Ice Embossing Powder 

- Ranger Ink: Emboss It Ink Dabber and Jet Black Archival Ink

- Tim Holtz for Ranger Ink: Distress Stain - Brushed Pewter, Walnut Stain & Gathered Twigs, Distress Ink - Ground Espresso and Blending Tool with Foam

- Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous: Papillon Stamp

- DecoArt: White Gesso, Antiquing Cream - Titanium White and Fluid Acrylics - Titanium White

- Prima Marketing: Art Alchemy Metallique Wax - White Gold

- Hug N' Snug Seam Binding Ribbon: Light Brown

- Tombow: Mono Multi Liquid Glue 

- Misc: Heat Gun and Spray Bottle

Until Next Time!

-Katelyn 

Christmas Stockings Ornament with Deb Riddell

Hello everyone and thank you for stopping by at this very busy time of the year.  It’s Deb Riddell here with you today and I have a quick and easy Christmas ornament to share with you created with Southern Ridge Trading Company’s Ribbon Bows, Merry Christmas Greeting Pack and Christmas Stockings.

For the base of my ornament I used Eileen Hull’s Embroidery Hoop die, cutting it once form white Little Sizzles Mat Board and twice from some Carta Bella ‘A Very Merry Christmas’ scrapbook paper.

The front of the mat board die cut was covered with the Night Before Christmas paper;

And the back of the mat board embroidery hoop covered with the blue snowflake paper.

Southern Ridge’s Ribbon Bow was painted with gold metallic paint and then embossed with gold embossing powder, this powder from my stash has flecks of green and red in it so perfect for the Christmas season.

One of the sentiments from the Merry Christmas Greeting Pack was painted with dark green acrylic paint and then Deco Foil Adhesive was applied over the entire piece.  Once the adhesive was dry and tacky, green Deco Foil was burnished overtop of the Merry Christmas sentiment.

Three of those adorable little Christmas Stockings were painted with gold and silver metallic paints and once the paint had dried they were embossed with Emerald Creek Craft Supplies Iridescent Shimmer embossing powder for a little more sparkle (‘cause you can never have enough sparkle at Christmas time!).

All of the Southern Ridge chipboard embellishments were going on the front of the ornament so I stamped and embossed one of Tim Holtz’s Swirly Snowflakes stamps with some blue shimmer embossing powder from my stash to decorate the back of the ornament.  I die cut the embossed snowflake with the coordinating die from Sizzix and then popped it up on some 3D Zots Singles adhesive dots.

And then I just layered all of the chipboard onto the front of the ornament, the embossed Ribbon Bow was adhered at the top:

The foiled Merry Christmas sentiment was adhered on the tails of the Ribbon Bow:

And finally the three little embossed stockings were tied onto the Merry Christmas sentiment with some button thread coloured with green Distress ink.  There was a bit of bare spot between the second and third stockings so I quickly die cut a Mini Paper Snowflake from some Deco Foil Toner Sheet I had in my stash that I think was covered with Rebekah Meier Designs Vintage Tin Mixed Media Transfer Foil.  A ribbon hanger was added to the embroidery hoop and the ornament was complete.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed seeing how my Christmas Stockings ornament came together, it would make a quick and easy last minute gift.

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Ribbon Bows

- Merry Christmas Greeting Pack

- Christmas Stockings

Other Supplies Used:

- Sizzix: Embroidery Hoop die, Swirly Snowflakes die, Mini Paper Snowflakes die and Little Sizzles White Mat Board

- Stampers Anonymous: Swirly Snowflake stamp

- Carta Bella: A Very Merry Christmas Patterned Paper

- Therm O Web: Green Deco Foil, Deco Foil Adhesive Pen, Mixed Media Adhesive, Deco Foil Toner Sheet, Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Transfer Foil and 3D Zots Singles

- Emerald Creek Craft Supplies: Iridescent Shimmer Embossing Powder

- Deco Art: Americana Acrylic Paint

- Miscellaneous: ribbon, gold embossing powder, blue metallic embossing powder, button thread, gold and silver metallic paint

Thanks once again for stopping by today and I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and may the New Year bring you joy and good health, happy holidays everyone!

Deb Riddell ~ Paxton Valley Folk Art

Seasonal Clipboard with Charlene Byrd

Hello bloggers!

Charlene here! Thanks for joining me today.

I'm sharing with you a beautiful, decorative Christmas clipboard that I created to celebrate the season. I designed it so that it can easily be interchanged with the changing seasons or occasions.

To begin I covered chipboard with a piece of burlap and trimmed around the edges.

I used gold embossing powder to create the reindeer.

I simply added Walnut Distress stain to the pine branch.

I then added Fired Brick Distress Stain to the cute, tiny sled.

I inked the paper doily. Attached it and added the pine branch. I then added the tag with the reindeer. Wrapped it all with distressed seam binding ribbon and some bakers twine and tucked in the sled. I also added the ribbon and twine with a tag to the top of the chipboard and voila.....done!

Southern Ridge Trading Company Products Used:

- Wood Small Marked Reindeer

- Pine Branch

- Mini Wood Sleigh

Other Products Used:

- Tim Holtz/Idea-ology: Clipboard

- Tim Holtz/Ranger Ink: Distress Stain - Fired Brick and Walnut Stain

- Kaisercraft paper

- Kraft tag and Chipboard

- Paper doily

- Burlap, Seam Binding Ribbon, Bakers Twine

- Gold Embossing Powder

Until next time!

Charlene Byrd