Christmas Swag

edited... I wanted to be sure to add this so you didn't miss out if you are interested.  super deal!

  

Today only as an online EXCLUSIVE you can get our GrandeMARK for only $300. It's our lowest price EVER! (One per order online only.) We're also offering 40% off our most popular categories: Bags & Boxes, Albums, Note cards and Envelopes (online only). Happy shopping!

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Hope you are all off to a great start to your week.  We woke up to another sunny day here.  The weather has been so fantastic we are just thankful for every mild day like this. Totally unseasonably warm for Nov in NE for sure.  Thanksgiving Day was so warm I had to keep reminding myself it was Thanksgiving.     Oh.. dont worry, I'm sure before long you'll be hearing a different story from me:)  The snow and cold will only stay away so long. lol
I did work this weekend on getting some of the Christmas decorations out.  I always love having a few new things to put up, so I was excited to get my “Classic Vintage Christmas  Kit”  
from Vintage Street Market in the mail the other day.   I made this new swag with the bingo cards  and other goodies in the kit.  Authentic Vintage stuff!  

You can see the kits  HERE

I love everything in this kit. I'll be sharing more projects I made with this kit soon.   Watch the Vintage Street Market blog for ideas from the rest of the DT using this kit too.

I thought I'd show you my transom window project I was telling you about.   I found this at the flea Market in Nebraska City with my sis this Summer. I had a plan in mind, but ended up putting it in a different place in the house.  I wasn't sure what it was called but Dan said.. "That a transom window".  I guess they used to be a window that was usually above the large door coming into a business.  they will have a pole next to the door that would be used to open and shut the transom window to let air in.  The window would have a latch so it could be propped open.

Noun

1.

transom window - a window above a door that is usually hinged to a horizontal crosspiece over the door - a framework of wood or metal that contains a glass windowpane and is built into a wall or roof to admit light or air

Well anyway, here is what I had in mind. I waned to add vintage family photos to the panes of glass. I decided to hang it in the back hallway of the kitchen, coming in to the back door.

I was originally going to paint the wood frame, but in the end I decided to leave it. I started sanding it and then decided I really liked it. 

I used Tim Holtz printed tissue tape to adhere the photos.

(below) my mom and dad :)

Okay, off to conquer the day! lol

Thanks for coming by.

                                                                                              Vic             

More "Vintage Illustrations" love ( and Thanksgiving recap)

Hope all of you had a really nice Thanksgiving.   We had a nice time at our family get together. I have lots of crazy photos to share in this post, but first I'll get back to sharing projects from  the new "Designing with Vintage Illustrations" CD from Crafty Secrets that we've been spotlighting since they become available last week.  Here is another digital layout  I did with paper and elements from the CD.  That papers are so gorgeous, It makes it super easy to create a layout, even for a real beginner like me :)     I have been wanting to do something with some of the photo's I took of my friend Julies daughter Michelle before she left for New York last year.  Isnt she stunning. I've known her since she was a little girl, and she always said, I'm going to be a fashion designer when I grown up.  Amazing enough.... Guess what she does in NY?  So proud of you Michelle!   We had so much fun doing this photo shoot. She needed photos for her portfolio, so she brought so many amazing changes of  clothes. 

I printed off one of the gorgeous images on the CD, on canvas like fabric, to make this pillow.

Looks pretty good in my living room don't you think? 

There are so many things that can be done with the images on the CD.  I'll be sharing lots more, but be sure to check out the Heartwarming Vintage blog  for new ideas and links, and also see the links for the Crafty Secrets Design Team down the side bar of the Heartwarming Vintage blog, because the girls are sharing new projects on their personal blogs also.

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I always have to share photos of our crazy family holidays, and this Thanksgiving is no exception.   I didnt get as many photos this time, between being in the kitchen and lining up the games, I wasnt getting to my camera like I like too.  But.... I did get a few.

First... one of my favorites.   HUGE thanks to Jarad and Kate for coming early and taking care of getting the 20lbs of potatoes for me!  You have no idea what a help that is!  Arent they cute?

It's such a shame we never have much food. lol

I brought gourds, feathers, paper, wiggly eyes ect... so the kids were having fun making Turkeys.

Addy's kind of proud of hers, as you can see.

K is putting up her "Thankful for" list with everyone elses on the door.

Oh.. forgot to show you .. she got creative while making her turkey. lol   So you know , if you ever to Crafts with alot of kiddos or you dont have time to wait for glue to dry.  use double sided foam squares from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L. They work SO great for thigns like this.  (even if they use them on their faces).

Okay.... here's some really crazy photos.   I lined up with game that is similar to musical chairs but instead of moving from chair to chair, you pass a bag of clothes. When the music stops, whoever has the bag, has to put on one item  from the bag.    We had little kids and adults so there was a mix of clothes. lol   I wish I would have thought about it weeks ago so I could have gone to the goodwill or somewhere and started gathering funny clothes, hats, scarves, glasses ect...     But I just grabbed things I had at home.  It was a HOOT!

We definatly all got some good laughs!

Oh good grief.. dont even ask. hahahah

Addy like her out fit. Seriously she DID NOT want to take it off.   She found a little dress that I had worn in my sisters wedding as a flower girl when I was about 5.  She put together her own  outfit by adding a matching scarf.  She's such a fashion diva.

Michelle has a dance that was so fitting for her outfit.

Later we played this pumpkin relay.    Christopher and Dani showed the kids just how it's done.
My family must be getting used to having to play my crazy games because they don't really even fight it much anymore. hahaha

We had great  food, spent time together, got some good laughs and made some great memories.  Thats alot to be "thankful" for right?   Cant ask for more than that.

                                               Vic
                                                                                            

Glimmer Misted Fall basket liner

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I have so many more things to share with you, of projects make with the new Crafty Secrets " Creating with Vintage Illustrations CD" so... be sure to pop back...but right now I have one last Fall project I wanted to squeeze in.   

Before I jump into this tutorial I want to tell you about an awesome free Thanksgiving Printable you can get on the Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Blog.   I don't want to you to miss out, because it's gorgeous.

It's a basket liner that I made using Glimmer Mist and Fancy Pants Felt pieces.

If you've ever worked with Fancy Pants felt pieces, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about when I say "Its amazing stuff".    It's not traditional light weight felt.. it's much much nicer.  Easy to cut and a joy to stitch on! 

I'll show you how I did it.  Super easy!  You can whip one up in no time.   I found these plain inexpensive bandanas in the craft department at Walmart. (I've now seen them at Hobby Lobby also).

Lay your open fabric up on your misting mat, or lay down some paper towels if you don't have a misting mat.

( I wast sure how much the fabric would absorb the GM when I started.. so I used paper towels and my mat.)  It's best not the saturate the fabric , because you'll loose the definition of your leaf edges if you do.  If you want more color, it's always best when using stencils, to do multiple layers letting them dry in between, rather than too much at once.  You don't want it to run under you stencil. 

Randomly lay out any leaf shapes you like.  (you can even use real leaves if you like).  I started misting over them first with  Harvest Orange  Glimmer mist.

 

Once you have the layer done, and you let if dry a bit, you can start adding more light layers of other colors to get a blending effect. I added Sugar Maple and  Sunflower . Don't be afraid to lay your leaves down and spray over your entire fabric again with a different color. Laying the leaves down so they are overlapping your original leaf prints really helps give a dimensional effect that is cool.

I just kept adding color until I achieved the effect I wanted.   Below is my finished piece.  I ironed it hoping to not only make it look nice :) ..but hoping this really set the color into the fabric.  (But remember Glimmer Mist is a "water based" dye.. so this is not washable).   

 

I find doing the "blanket stitch" so therapeutic for some reason. lol   I love doing it around something like this when I sit down to watch a movie with Dan. lol  He's always wanting me to watch movies on the weekend.. and well,   I'm not much on watching TV unless I'm doing something else "while I'm watching".  I think I need to do more stitching..then we're both happy.  Me jumping up every 10 minutes to start the washer or dryer, seems to annoy him for some reason. lol  men

 

It does make a pretty little liner for my basket of gourds :)

 

We are having our big family Thanksgiving together, so we are looking forward to seeing everyone.  Wes has to work and wont make it, so I'm kind of  sad about that, but we will talk with him and also save him some turkey and pumpkin pie.   

So many things to be "Thankful" for.

Wishing a wonderful day for all of you.   

You know ... I'll be back soon with photos to share :)

              Vic

Happy Day... with a little dimension

Hello!! I'm back with another project to share, created from the "Designing with Vintage Illustrations" CD from Crafty Secrets. The Design Team will be sharing projects all this week, to celebrate the release of this new CD.  The CD is available for pre order HERE.   Be sure to see this special.Sandy (owner of Crafty Secrets has announced on the Heartwarming Vintage blog. I've copied an pasted it in red below so you don't miss it :)

  I’m super excited about this CD and with over 200 files it’s a super deal for $15.99 but if you can’t wait until this Friday and want to pre-order it NOW, we will include a free Image & Journal Notes Booklet (just state what title in the message box in our Shopatron Store or we will send a Christmas Booklet). We should have the first 100 in stock this Friday, 1000 more to follow. 



 Okay... back to sharing.. lol.   How fun is this  image?  The "jointed" image and the background are both on the CD, as well as the pretty pink paper it's mounted on.  I really wanted to create lots of dimension, so I printed off the image twice to be able to add foam tape between the layers. A little more cutting ,but the effect is SO worth it.   I added  the jointed pieces to the body using a small hole punch and brads.

Of course you can choose to use what pieces from the page you want to use and how you want to use them.  I wanted mine to be a general "Happy Day" theme..but it would be so fun for a Birthday ect..  I just printed off the word "Day" to add (up by the bird).

Can you see that gorgeous pink "bird" paper in the background?

I just used an old frame without glass to put this in. I painted it and then gave it a coat of "Glimmer Glam".

Like I said I added all my pieces with Crafty Foam Tape for dimension..but I left the legs to swing free!!!  ( just in case she might want to DANCE).... when I have the music playing loud in here. lol

Okay.. more sharing tomorrow.  Please stop back :)

                                                                                            Vic

Creating with Vintage Illustrations Release week!

It's a super exciting week for Crafty Secrets. Not only is the new "Creating with Vintage Illustrations CD" going to be available for purchase this week but there is other big news being announced on the "Heartwarming Vintage Blog".  Be sure to pop over and check it out.

These new CD's from Crafty Secrets have been so inspiring to me.  So many new things, the possibilities are endless.  As I opened these files in photoshop and started to play a bit with simple things I knew how to do,  like changing the size, and color of some things, my head was just spinning with ideas.  I have been wanting to learn more about working with digital images for some time now, but seeing the gorgeous things on these CD's where defiantly the inspiration that made me REALLY want to.

( you know me.. my digital skills were pretty much "zero").   So... if I can learn.. anyone can. lol

Someday I hope to be able to take a class from Patty Debowski.. the Digital Scrapbook teacher...but if you're like me and just haven't gotten the chance to do that, you can get her book. Photoshop Elements Basics & Beyond Book by Patty Debowski  

Anyway.....   remember, I'm "learning". lol   Here is my first digital layout with some of the "beautiful"papers and elements from the New "Creating with Vintage Illustrations CD" from Crafty Secrets.

   

The great thing about these CD's is .. whether youre a traditional, digital, hybrid, .. a card maker, scrapbooker, sewer, or into home dec.. it's perfect for them all.    The Crafty Secrets Design Team is going to be sharing projects all this week on there blogs, and on the Crafty Secrets Facebook wall, showing tons of different ways they've used the new CD.    I will be sharing, all this week,  here on my blog of course, and there will be posts on the Heartwarming Vintage blog, as well.  You can get links to all the DT girls blogs on the side bar of the Heartwarming Vintage Blog.

The canisters below have images from the CD decoupaged on them.  They were wood canisters I picked up at my favorite little junk/treasure store for $4.   It was as easy as printing the images from the CD onto white cardstock and using Mod podge to add them to the canisters.

It's been so long since I've thought about using iron on transfers...but I will be doing it allot more after seeing how cute this canvas bag turned out :)  

I just printed this gorgeous image from the CD onto Iron on transfer paper I picked up at Walmart.  It took about 5 minutes.    ( I'm thinking.. what great Christmas gifts right??)

Oh..I have lots more to share this week, and so do the other DT girls.  It's going to be fun to see what everyone has created.   If you're on Facebook, be sure to "friend" Crafty Secrets, so you wont miss the pretties posted there this week.

I truly love this CD and am so excited for this week of sharing!


Hope you all had a fantastic weekend! 

                                                                                               Vic

 

Sunny Side up

I'm here! Just caught up in other things the past few days, so the poor old blog got neglected.  One of the things I've been working on, are some projects using the new CD that is about to be released from Crafty Secrets... and it's got some seriously gorgeous stuff on it! wow!   I've even been dabbling in creating some things digitally. huh? I know, shocking huh? lol   For me it is defiantly a process because I'm a total newbie, but I can certainly see how fun and really creative it can be. I don't ever see myself being an "all digi" gal, because I love playing with messy stuff too much, but "hybrid" defiantly:)    Anyway, I cant wait to show you some of the new things that will be on the "Creating with Vintage Illustrations" CD very soon:)

Until then .... here is a card made with other Crafty Secrets goodness.   This image is from the

"Farm Fresh" Creative Scraps.

  

I have to share these little darlings with you.   These are Kate's nieces.  I had some fun taking photos of them here last weekend.   What little cutie patooties!

This little pink guitar is a treasure I lugged all the way home from Ensenada a number of years ago when Crafty Secrets did a Scrapbook cruise.  Of course while in Mexico I treated myself to a silver bracelet.... oh.. and a pink toy guitar. lol   I don't know why..but I just loved it and had to have it.  It's sat her in my studio ever since.   ( I do remember it was not as fun when I had to carry it through airports and onto planes. Everyone would say ... Oh...did you buy that to bring home to your little girl?  I had to tell them ..."no.. I have two teenage boys. This is for me").
 

 I love the photo below, and it was all her idea. She wanted to put the tiara on her toes. lol

 

Can you imagine how obnoxious I will be, if I ever have grand kids?  oh.. beware... lol

  hugs, Vic