Coral reef aquarium

The Tim Holtz colorize dies ‘under the sea’ are perfect to make a coral reef scene.

I used the scoreboard XL die ‘journal’ from Eileen Hull and some chipboard for the background. This makes a beautiful and sturdy backdrop. I used an extra piece of chipboard to glue the two pieces together. I covered the back the chipboard with some paper from my stash and for the visible side I took a piece of Distress Mixed Media Heavystock. I colored the paper with different shades of blues distress ink and distress oxide.

Then I took the Etcetera Trim from Tim Holtz and glued them to the bottom of the ‘journal’ so it could stand up. The trims are covered Grit Paste and 3D balls from Powertex in two sizes. I colored the balls with distress paint.
The bubbles around the edges are made with the die Bubbling.

The stones I made with the dies Bubbling (I used the inner parts) and Funky Trees, colored with distress ink pumice stone.

For the coral I colored pieces of mixed media heavystock with different colors of distress ink.  I used different dies to get various sorts of coral.

Die: Holiday greens mini, color: Victorian Velvet and Carved Pumpkin with Salvaged Patina
Die: Funky Floral #3, color: Dried Marigold with Spiced Marmalade and Salvaged Patina with Dusty Concord
Die: Funky Floral #1, color Cushed Olive and Kitsch Flamingo with Dusty Concord
Die: Funky Toadstools, color: Kitsch Flamingo with Seedless Preserves, Abandoned Coral and Blueprint Sketch
Die: Garden Greens, color: Pine Needles with Twisted Citron

For the fish and the other sealife I used the dies Under The Sea.
Again I colored some pieces of heavystock with different colors of distress ink.

Little fish: Crackling Campfire with white cardstock and Squeezed Lemonade
Big fish: Chipped Sapphire, Blueprint Sketch, Salty Ocean, Squeezed Lemonade
Starfish: Spiced Marmalade, Squeezed Lemonade
Dolphin: Stormy Sky
Octopus: Seedless Preserves, Victorian Velvet
Jellyfish: Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio

Products used:
Ranger Distress Mixed Media Heavystock
Ranger Grit Paste, Collage Medium
Ranger Distress Ink: Peacock Feathers, Broken China, Salvaged Patina, Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon, Pine Needles, Twisted Citron, Victorian Velvet, Crushed Olive, Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Dusty Concord, Kitsch Flamingo, Seedless Preserves, Abandoned Coral, Blueprint Sketch, Carved Pumpkin, Crackling Campfire, Squeezed Lemonade, Chipped Sapphire, Stormy Sky, Cracked Pistachio
Ranger Distress Oxide: Tumbled Glass
Ranger Distress Paint: Pumice Stone
Sizzix Eileen Hull: scoreboard Xl Journal
Sizzix Tim Holtz: Bubbling, Funky Trees, Garden Greens, Holiday Greens Mini, Funky Floral #1, Funky Floral #3, Funky Toadstools
Idea-ology: Etcetera Trims
Powertex 3D balls medium and large

Birthday card

I made this card with white watercolor cardstock. I used the smooshing technique from Tim Holtz. 

You put distress ink on your craftsheet, spritz with water and dip the cardstock in the ink.

I then cut out the pieces using the Sizzix die Bloom colorize.
Put it al together and glued it in a nice arrangement to the card.

Products used:
Ranger Watercolor paper
Ranger Distress Ink: Dried Marigold, Abandoned Coral, Walnut Stain, Wild Honey, Rustic Wilderness, Forest Moss, Peeled Paint
Sizzix: Bloom colorize

Steampunk Buddies

 

Harrison, Clarence and Theodore are posing all dressed up steampunk style.

For Harrison I colored pieces of watercolor paper in different shades of brown. I used distress inks Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, Gathered Twigs and Ground Espresso. For the ears I used a little Worn Lipstick.

For Theodore I used Pumice Stone, Ground Espresso and Frayed Burlap. His coat was made with some Ranger Distress Cracked Leather paper. I colored it with Aged Mahogany. Rolt some Distress Picket Fence Paint on top of it using a brayer. Finished it off with a layer of resist spray.

Clarence was colored with Distress Oxide. I used Black soot, Pumice Stone and Ground Espresso.

The hats were made with Blackout kraft-stock, sanded down a bit. The tiny gears and chain are from Dutch Doobadoo. I colored them with Finnabair Vintage Gold Wax.

I used the scoreboard XL die ‘journal’ from Eileen Hull and some chipboard for the background. This makes a beautiful and sturdy backdrop. I used an extra piece of chipboard to glue the two pieces together. I covered the back the chipboard with some paper from my stash and for the visible side I took a piece of Distress Mixed Media Heavystock. I used texture paste and Distress sprays to give it texture and color.

Then I took the Etcetera Trim from Tim Holtz and glued them to the bottom of the ‘journal’ so it could stand up. Also one in the middle for Harrison to sit on.

The pipes, gears and clock were made with Sizzix/Tim Holtz dies and chipboard. I colored the pieces with WOW/Seth Apter embossing powder in the colors Etched platinum, Weathered gold and a little bit of Crusty Copper. Also sed some black embossing powder to give it a little contrast. Grunged it up with some Distress Crayon Black Soot.

Products used:
Ranger: Distress Watercolor Cardstock, Mixed Media Heavystock, Distress Cracked Leather Cardstock
Ranger Distress Ink: Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, Gathered Twigs, Walnut Stain, Black Soot, Ground Espresso, Worn Lipstick, Pumice Stone, Rustic Wilderness, Frayed Burlap, Aged Mahogany, Crackling Campfire, Tattered Rose
Ranger Distress Oxide: Black Soot, Pumice Stone, Ground Espresso
Ranger Distress Crayon: Black Soot
Ranger Distress Spray Stain: Speckled Egg, Gathered Twigs
Ranger Distress Oxide Spray: Speckled Egg, Frayed Burlap
Ranger Distress Paint: Picket Fence
Ranger: Distress Resist Spray, Distress Brayer
Sizzix dies Tim Holtz: Gadget Gears #2, Mechanical, Industrial, Timekeeper, Colorize Theodore, Colorize Harrison, Colorize Clarence, Winter Wardrobe, The Gent, Regions Beyond
Sizzix dies Eileen Hull: Journal
Idea-ology: Blackout Kraft-stock, Etcetera Bracket Trims
Dutch Doobadoo: chipboard, Greyboard Art Clocks
WOW Seth Apter embossing powder: Etched platinum, Weathered gold, Crusty Copper

Prima Marketing: Finnabair Art Alchemy Metallique Wax Vintage Gold

Treehouse(s)

This idea got stuck in my head after I made tiny houses as ornaments for in the Christmas tree. See my post here.

I made the tree from three different sizes tubes. They fit into each other so they go from wide to small.

I covered the tubes with aluminium foil and taped it together with masking tape. 

The branches were made with wire, also covered with foil and tape. I taped the branches to the tree with the masking tape.

I fixed the tree to a base made from two wooden boxes. These boxes are the packaging for wooden embellishments. I removed some of the dividing pieces, so I could hide the battery pack from the light string in it.  

Then I covered the tree with pieces of a white t-shirt, that I soaked in a textile hardener. When this was dry I painted the tree brown. I did not like the texture from the t-shirt, so I covered the tree with a sand paste. 

Then I painted it brown again and used moss effect paste to make it even more look like a tree.

The houses were made with the Tim Holtz die Paper Village. I used white cardstock and corrugated paper. For the doors and window frames I cut out the inside pieces and fussy cut around it.

To fasten the houses to the branches I made platforms from wooden sticks. I glued the sticks together and colored them with Distress Spray Gathered Twigs.

After it dried I glued the platforms to the branches using Distress Collage Medium.

I made stairs from a small piece of cardstock, I folded it and colored it with Distress Ink Gathered Twigs. I glued the pieces of stairs to the platforms and the tree with Collage Medium.

I put a light string under the stairs and through a hole in the platforms so the tree could light up. I glued the lights to the tree with a hot glue gun.

Then I glued the houses to platforms.

The leaves were made with watercolor paper and colored with my favorite Green Distress ink: Rustic Wilderness. 
To give the tree a bit of color I made tiny flowers using the Sizzix/Tim Holtz die Funky Floral #2. I glued them to the leaves.

I made mini rectangle flowerpots, put some moss in it and glued some tiny flowers in the moss.

Then I made some toadstools from clay, and painted them with distress paint and acrylic paint.

To finish the project I glued some moss around the bottom of the tree.

Products used:
Watercolor paper, kraft paper, corrugated paper
Ranger Distress Ink: Rustic Wilderness, Aged Mahogany, Walnut Stain, Scattered Straw, Abandoned Coral
Ranger Distress Spray Stain: Gathered Twigs
Ranger: Distress Collage Medium Crazing
Sizzix dies Bigz: Garden Greens
Sizzix dies thinlits: Garden Greens, Funky Floral #2, Paper Village
DecoArt media Texture Sand Paste
Cadence Moss Effect Paste dark green and light green
Acrylic paint
Cardboard tubes
Aluminium foil
Masking tape
Cloth (old t-shirt)
Textile hardener
Wire
Wooden sticks
Light string