In the Air There's a Feeling of Christmas

 

Main Street, Le Roy, New York – sometime in the late 1940’s or very early 1950’s – all decorated for Christmas: a staple of my growing up years. Bits of evergreen strung on electrical cables and wreath forms were hung for the several blocks. More wired boughs dangled in between along the street, in front of the stores. All was lit up at night, with the multi-colored lights and the tips of the candles lending a holiday spirit to the street. On the right, just outside the photo, stood the Presbyterian Church and across the street was the town hall. There was a very large evergreen tree in front of the town hall and it, too, was covered with lights. In the distance on the left, the steeple of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church is visible. I mention the churches because they, along with the other five churches in town, were beautifully decorated inside and out with evergreens and nativity scenes.

I did a little editing of this photo which I found on the Le Roy Face Book page, giving it a sepia tint to make it feel a bit more vintage.

Again, I used a sheet of patterned paper that came in the January Tres Jolie Scrapbook kit, adding embellishments and other details from my stash.

I had already chosen the title from one of the stickers in the Tim Holtz Christmas pad and went from there.

To keep with the idea of a carol and the pattern of the paper, I dug out a page of sheet music and tore in from side to side down the middle. Using Pumice Stone Distress Ink, I altered the color, giving it a more greyish tone. I also used this around the edges of the photo.

I gave my die cut snowflakes a bit of shimmer; using a stipple brush, I coated them with White Pearl Metallique Wax before attaching them with Glue Dots.

It seemed that regardless of the vintage feel of the photo and music paper, pure white flowers did a better job of embellishing my page; I dug these out and found them to be perfect.

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 *****Supplies*****

 ***Paper***

3 Quarter Designs – Christmas Wonderland Collection

***Embellishments***

49 and Market – Flower Embellishments – Sugar Posies – Fluff #SUG-32440

Advantus – Idea-ology – Tim Holtz – Sticker Book – Christmas #TH94294

Sheet Music

***Mediums***

Ranger Ink – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink Pad – Pumice Stone #TIM27140

Prima – Finnabair Collection – Art Alchemy – Metallique Wax – White Pearl #968380

***Tools***

Sizzix – Alterations – Thinlits – Tim Holtz – Paper Snowflakes – Mini #661599

***Other***

Beacon – Fabri-Tac

Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue

Glue Dots – Mini Dots – 3/16 in

Glue Dots – Micro Dots – 1/8 in

 

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As always, I want to thank you for peeking into my blog; your visits mean a lot to me.

 

Hope Is Never Lost: A Mixed Media Project

 

Tres Jolie’s Mixed Media Kit for September comes jam-packed with a canvas board, rice paper from Ciao Bella, a set of chipboard frames, a full package of Tim Holtz ephemera, various mediums (and a set of palette knives to apply them!): all you need to let your imagination run wild! I added a few things from my stash and came up with this…

And here’s the kit itself:

I began by applying an uneven coat of crackle medium from the February Mixed Media Kit to the wood frame and putting it aside. (That uneven coat will result in uneven cracking, which is what I was going for.) Once the medium was set, I painted the frame with white gesso, again coating it unevenly.

Next, I used the collage medium to adhere the rice paper to the canvas. While it was still wet, I tore around the edges to give it a ragged appearance. I grabbed a stencil from my stash and used one of the palette knives to apply the crackle medium.

I selected the smaller of the circle frames and covered it with the mousse, using my fingers to rub it in. While I was at it, I applied the mousse to the edges of the canvas.

I selected several of the ephemera pieces to use as layers behind the frame and one piece to use as my focal image. After inking the edges, I glued it all down, using USPS packaging between the layers to add dimension. Once that was done, I added the chipboard frame as my top layer.

I added a quote chip, again from my stash, and declared it “done”.

A few closeups:

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 *****Supplies*****

 ***Très Jolie September Mixed Media Kit***

Blick Art Materials – 5 x 7 Canvas Board

Ciao Bella – A4 Rice Paper – Green Driftwood

Prima – Nature Lover Collection – Embellishments – Wood Frame – 1 Pc #648121

Tres Jolie – Laser Cut Chipboard – Circle in Circle

Tim Holtz – Idea-ology – Ephemera Pack – Keepsakes #TH96958

Darice – Studio 71- Palette Knife Set – 5 Pcs #S71305

Nuvo – Embellishment Mousse – Burnished Bronze #814N

Ranger Ink – Tim Holtz – Distress Collage Medium – Matte – 2 Oz

Tres Jolie – Crackle Medium – White

 

***Other***

Tim Holtz – Idea-Ology – Quote Chips #TH93563

Prima – Finnabair – Stencil – Tapestry #966645

Plaid – Folk Art – Crackle Medium #694

Ranger – Distress Ink Pad – Brushed Corduroy

White Gesso

 

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As always, I want to thank you for peeking into my blog; your visits mean a lot to me.

Don’t forget that Tres Jolie can be found in the following places:

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Beyond the Mist

 

This photo taken by my son last May up in the Lake George, NY area is so spectacular that I wanted to keep this layout pretty simple. The Paper Heaven papers that come in the Tres Jolie September Kit, with the subtle colors and prints are perfect for this purpose.

I began with a gorgeous new chipboard piece from Tres Jolie. I decided to let it blend in with the mossy rocks, so I simply colored it with Distress Oxide ink in Forest Moss, using a blending tool to “pounce” on several layers until I was satisfied with the colors.

The edges of photo and the matting piece below were inked with Distress ink, again in Forest Moss before being backed with packaging and glued down. (I used the same ink to edge the other paper elements.)

Kim included a few Lemon Craft papers; I fussy cut some leaves and used part of another sheet for one of the banner strips.

A few flowers from the kit and one of those gorgeous Prima butterflies were all I needed to complete my project.

A few closeups:

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 *****Supplies*****

 ***Très Jolie Scrapbook Kit***

Paper Heaven – Beyond the Mist Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper – Sheet 1

Paper Heaven – Beyond the Mist Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper – Sheet 3

Paper Heaven – Beyond the Mist Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper – Sheet 5

Tres Jolie – Laser Cut Chipboard – Circle Swirl (not included in the kit)

49 and Market – Flower Embellishments – Enchanted Petals – Twilight #EP-89067

49 and Market – Flower Embellishments – Botanical Potpourri – Bottle Green #BP-87063

Prima – My Sweet Collection – Metal Embellishments – Butterflies #997007

Lemon Craft – A4 Basic Paper Pad – Double Sided Papers #Leaves 01

 ***Mediums***

Ranger Ink – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink Pad – Mini – Forest Moss #TDP39983

Ranger Ink – Tim Holtz – Distress Oxide Ink Pad – Forest Moss #TDO55976

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As always, I want to thank you for peeking into my blog; your visits mean a lot to me.

Don’t forget that Tres Jolie can be found in the following places:

Facebook: 

Instagram: 

Tres Jolie website: 

Tres Jolie subscriptions: 

Tres Jolie blog:

Tres Jolie YouTube: 

Pinterest