Snowflakes and Holly Christmas Decoration with Deb Riddell

Hello everyone and a happy Thanksgiving to our American friends and followers!  Deb Riddell here with you today to share a Christmas decoration I made with lots of wonderful winter and Christmas chipboard from Southern Ridge Trading Company.

I used Southern Ridge’s medium sized Plain Banners, Holly Berry Assembly, Snowflake and Snowflakes 712 chipboard, read on for my how to.

I started out with a piece of Tim Holtz Tidings Paper Stash cut to 8” x 7” and backed it with a piece of white corrugated cardstock, inking all edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

Five Plain Banners were inked with Vintage Photo Distress Stain.

Grunge Block letters to spell out the word ‘merry’ were painted with Titanium White Americana acrylic paint and once dry were covered with Deco Foil Adhesive.  Gina K. Designs Sparkling Silver Fancy Foil was then burnished over top. (If you don’t have Grunge Blocks, any die cut letters will do, just stack up a few of them so you get some dimension on your banners).

The foiled letters were then adhered onto the top of each coloured banner and strung together with a piece of button thread coloured with some silver acrylic paint.

Two of the berry clusters from the Holly Berry Assembly kit (one large and one small) were coloured with Fired Brick Distress Stain and when dry, embossed with three coats of clear embossing powder for a wonderful glossy dimensional finish.   For even more sparkle and shine, a piece of Gina K. Designs Sparkling Silver Fancy Foil was adhered behind the berries.

Five holly leaves from the Holly Berry Assembly kit were inked with Forest Moss Distress Stain and when dry, embossed with three coats of clear embossing powder once again.

The holly clusters were then adhered on each end of the ‘merry’ banner.

As you can see, I also spattered the finished plaque with some diluted Titanium White Americana acrylic paint to simulate a snowy blizzard

Two of the large Snowflake chipboard pieces were painted and foiled in the same manner as the ‘merry’ Grunge Block letters.

And finally, three Mini Paper Snowflakes were die cut from white cardstock and foiled with more Gina K. Designs Sparkling Silver Fancy Foil and a couple of pieces from Tim Holtz’s Festive Ephemera Pack were edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

The ephemera and snowflakes were then adhered to the plaque to complete the decoration.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed seeing how my Snowflakes and Holly Christmas decoration came together, one more Christmas gift crossed off of my list!

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Plain Banner (medium)

- Holly Berry Assembly

- Snowflake

- Snowflakes 712

Other Supplies Used:

- Tim Holtz / Ranger Ink: Distress Ink, Distress Stain and Distress Embossing Ink

- Tim Holtz / Sizzix: Mini Paper Snowflakes Dies

- Tim Holtz/ Advantus: Festive Ephemera Pack and Tidings Paper Stash

- Therm O Web: Gina K. Designs Fancy Foils, Deco Foil Adhesive Pen and Mixed Media Adhesive

- DecoArt: Americana Acrylic Paint

- Miscellaneous: white corrugated cardstock, paper trimmer, scissors, die cutting machine, button thread, silver acrylic paint, paint brush, clear embossing powder and heat gun

Thanks again for stopping by today and hope that I’ve inspired you to break out some Southern Ridge Trading Company chipboard and to get into Christmas crafting mode, happy creating!

Deb Riddell ~ Paxton Valley Folk Art

Courage to Imagine Mixed Media Plaque with Deb Riddell

Hello and thanks for stopping by!  It’s Deb here today to share a mixed media project with you for our Anything Goes challenge.  I decided to make a mixed media assemblage piece incorporating several Southern Ridge Trading Company chipboard embellishments in my favourite vintage style.

I’ve a few step by step photos on how I created it, read on for the how to!

I started out with a piece of vintage ledger scrapbook paper from Tim Holtz’s Regions Beyond paper stash, tattered and inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress ink and then embossed a gear stamp from a Forever In Time Old Fashioned stamp set with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder top and bottom.

I chose the ‘story’ card from Tim Holtz’s Flashcards set, tattered the edges and inked it with Vintage Photo Archival Distress ink.  The card has a shiny finish so the archival ink was a better choice than regular Distress ink.

I chose a gentleman’s photo from Tim Holtz’s Found Relatives cabinet cards, distressed and inked the edges and coloured it with Vintage Photo Archival ink as well.  I then coloured his tie with Barn Red and Faded Jeans Distress markers.  I wanted to use one of the cars from Tim’s Vintage Auto stamp set on my assemblage plaque but it was pointing in the wrong direction for my composition.  So I stamped the image onto some plain Tissue Wrap, cut around the image, turned it over and adhered it to my scrapbook paper background with Distress collage medium.  The tissue wrap all but disappears once the collage medium dries so it looks like it was stamped directly onto the scrapbook paper background.

I then layered the Flashcard and the Found Relative photo onto  the paper as well.

I chose one of the lovely scrolled hinges from Southern Ridges Iron Hinges 1 set and gave it a faux tarnished silver finish that I learned from Shelly Hickox at Stamp Tramp, click here to see her tutorial.

I then repeated that technique on two of the gears from Southern Ridges Mini Wood Gears set and used the Liquid Platinum instead of silver embossing powder on two more.  It’s a subtle colour difference but I really like both of the finishes.

Cardstock was coloured with several shades of grey and brown Distress ink (I used Pumice Stone, Hickory Smoke and Vintage Photo) and then the sentiment from Tim Holtz’s Possibilities was stamped with Black Soot Archival ink, clear embossed and cut out with the accompanying die.  I also die cut some black fun foam and layered it underneath the sentiment.

Three of Southern Ridge’s medium Plain Banners were covered with a Union Jack image from Tim Holtz’s Correspondence paper stash and the edges were inked with Vintage Photo Distress ink.  I also coloured some white button thread with Vintage Photo DI and strung the banners onto it.

The plaque was then assembled, I added the phrase ‘dreamer of dreams’ from Tim Holtz’s  Words Remnant Rubs to the cabinet photo.

Some ephemera images from the Idea-Ology Emporium Ephemera pack were also added here and there.

A small mirrored star was coloured with Mushroom alcohol ink and adhered to the ‘story’ Flashcard along with a plane from the Emporium Ephemera pack.

I do love the tarnished metal finishes on the hinge and gears!

And here are the Union Jack banners strung on the button thread at the top of the assemblage plaque, you can also another Remnant Rub, this one from the Elements pack, at the top.

I backed the completed plaque with another piece of scrapbook paper from the Correspondence paper stash, raising it up on some black fun foam for dimension and interest.

So that’s my Courage To Imagine mixed media assemblage plaque, I do hope that you have enjoyed seeing it and that it’s given you some ideas on different ways to use the wonderful chipboard embellishments from Southern Ridge Trading Company.

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Plain Banner (medium)

- Mini Wood Gears

- Iron Hinges 1

Other Supplies Used:

- Ranger/Tim Holtz - Distress ink, Distress Archival ink, Liquid Platinum embossing powder, Distress Collage Medium, Alcohol ink, Distress Embossing ink, UTEE

- Stampers Anonymous/Sizzix/Tim Holtz - Possibilities stamp and die set, Vintage Auto stamp set

- Advantus/Tim Holtz - Correspondence Paper Stash, Regions Beyond Paper Stash, Mirrored Stars, Emporium Ephemera, Words Remnant Rubs, Elements Remnant Rubs, Plain Tissue Wrap, Found Relatives Cabinet Cards, Flashcards

- Forever In Time - Old Fashioned stamp set

- Miscellaneous - silver embossing powder, button thread, black fun foam, scissors, paper trimmer, ruler, Scotch Quick Dry adhesive, black acrylic paint, paint brush, heat tool

Hope you have been inspired to join in our August challenge, Anything Goes, you have a chance to win 4 designs from the online store - chipboard.ca - a $20.00 (before tax) retail value of YOUR OWN CHOOSING!  Can’t wait to see what you link up, happy creating!

Deb xo