2015 Christmas Project Series Day 9: Ribbon Doll by Infinity Engraving

 

Hello! Today's project is this lovely lady.  She is a Ribbon Doll from infinity-engraving.com and I've named her Scarlett.  She's made of deeply etched wood and comes with two chipboard pieces to attach the ribbons to make her skirt.  She comes blank, or plain, and just about any medium will work to color her with the exception of alcohol markers.  I'm pretty excited about this project, as it's my first project for Infinity Engraving as a member of their design team.



I started with Scarlett's hair.  She has a vintage Hollywood vibe about her, so I started with her hair using tones of gold, copper and auburn.  I used Fine Tec Watercolors, which have a ton of mica to provide such a high shimmer.  I painted her hair over the raw wood, not bothering to use any gesso and I think the brown tones of the wood serve to ground the colors of her hair.  Roses and pearls are the perfect touch for her glamorous look.  Using small paper roses, I colored two with Dylusions Post Box Red spray and Gold Color Shine spray by Heidi Swapp.  I left one white so that it would pop and attached them with hot glue.  I finished her hair with a tiny red and black feather from my stash and added a string of flat-back self-adhesive pearls.  She has a pearl earring and red jewel choker necklace.

Her skirt is red, burgundy, cream, white and gold.  I used a few seam binding ribbons from Prairie Bird Boutique on Etsy.  The rest are ribbons and laces from my stash.  I attached all the ribbons and laces in layers using hot glue.

For her dress and skin, I applied 3 coats of gesso.  Once dry, I used flesh toned paint for her skin and an irridescent gold watercolor  (same Fine Tec palette) over the gesso on her dress so that it looks white in one light and flashes gold when you move it.  SO PRETTY!

I just love how she turned out.

I hope you love this project as much as I do!  Please feel free to ask any questions and let me know what you think!

Much love!

2015 Christmas Project Series Day 7: Vintage Christmas tag

 It's day 7 of my Christmas project series! We're over half way through.  Today's project is quick and fairly simple to put together, but has huge impact with our stamp-embossed tree.  Lets get started!
My supply list:

• #8 Manilla tag by Ranger
• Distress Inks in Blueprint Sketch, Weathered Wood, Gathered Twig and Hickory Smoke
• Water in a spray bottle
• Mini Holidays Stamp Set by Tim Holtz
• Old Letter Writing by Hero Arts
• Cabin by Inkadinkadoo
• Snowy Sayings by CASual Fridays (SOA box)
• Pine Tree Bigz die by Tim Holtz/Sizzix
• Delicata Golden Glitz ink
• VersaMark ink
• Ranger Super Fine Detail Embossing Powder in Gold
• Neenah Solar White 110 lb. cardstock (for the pine tree)

 Step 1). Swipe Weathered Wood and Gathered Twig over your craft mat and add a bit of Blueprint Sketch.  The blue is a much stronger color than the other two and can easily overwhelm them so be careful not to add too much.  Spritz water 2-3 times over your ink to get it moving and blending; be careful not to add too much because it can thin the ink too much and you won't get the color saturation you are looking for.  Lay your tag down in the ink and let it sit for a few seconds.  Lift it up and heat dry with a heat gun.  It will curl up and then flatten back down.  Once it's dry, dip it again and dry it again.  It's important that it's dry before you move on to the stamping.  If the tag is damp, you won't get a crisp image.  If it feels cool to the touch, it's not completely dry.

 Step 2.)  Ink the cabin stamp with Hickory Smoke ink and stamp it about half way down the tag. 

Set aside to let dry while we make the gold tree.

 Step 3.)  Using a sheet of scrap paper, cover the die cut tree with VersaMark embossing ink.  Pour gold powder over it, covering it completely.  Let your heat gun get good and hot by letting it run for 60-90 seconds before applying it to the tree.  When it's hot enough, the powder will start to melt almost immediately.  Repeat the ink, apply powder, melt cycle 2 more times, giving the tree three layers of embossing powder.  Before the third layer, ink the large script stamp with VersaMark and have it ready.  As soon as the third layer of powder is melted, stamp the script stamp onto the warm tree and lift off.

You can use any stamp with this technique, but fine line designs look the best.

Step 4).  I like to lay my pieces on my project before I add my sentiment so that I know what is going to look best and how things are going to lay.  Ink up the sentiment stamp from the TH Mini Holidays stamp with Gathered Twig and stamp towards the top third of the tag, aligning it with the right edge.

Step 5).  Attach the tree with foam dots so the the left edge of the tree is off the left edge of the tag.  Finish off with the gold snowflakes. The flakes I used are from the Snowy Sayings set by CASual Fridays with Golden Glitz ink by Delicata.

I finished off my tag with some royal blue and cream seaming binding ribbon from Prairie Bird Boutique on Etsy.com.

Thanks for spending some time with me today.  Keep in mind that you can do this style with any stamps; you don't have to have the exact same one I've used.  Try it out with different colors and different styles, but most importantly, have fun and get creative!  Feel free to ask questions and let me know what you think!

Much love!