Sunday 25 December 2016

My December Tag for Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016


Happy Christmas! And a Merry New Year!

Though I wish 2017 don't come that soon, I know it's reaching really soon. The moment 2017 January is here, I'll be a year older in February. That's so freaking fast and I do hope I could refuse to grow up. And yes, I'm back in doing Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2016. I know I had gone missing in between, however I love to think it'd be fun to end this Christmas with the December tag.


So here is my take for the December tag...


I didn't have any shadowpress with me, unfortunately. So I gotta improvise and find alternatives. Rather, I did embossing over stamping instead using the Snowman blueprint framelits die set which is the only Merry Christmas stamp I have. 


I hope I had misted over the stencil more generously, it didn't really show up well. Perhaps it's also due to the design I had chosen. Nonetheless, I managed to get the tag done up in time for this Christmas.


I bought a few packs of trophy antlers last year and have yet to use any of them. Despite it's gonna make the tag look a bit bulky, I went ahead by placing it at the very top of the tag. The entire composition process was really fun to make and I do enjoy spending my Christmas morning doing up this tag. Totally immersed myself into the festive mood.


List of Supplies:

Saturday 24 December 2016

Mister Frosty - A Reindeer Music Box

Just a wink of an eye, it's already Christmas' eve! OMG! I felt as if I didn't have enough of last Christmas and this Christmas has already arrived. Perhaps I've been really busy lately, juggling between my part-time job and various Christmas projects, time flies particularly fast for me. Seriously I wish for Christmas everyday! 

Oh well, just in time for this Christmas, I had finally managed to alter a music box I bought from Innisfree (a Korean beauty store). Here it is, welcoming Mister Frosty... 


I've been into wintry mode for this season. To make my reindeer into a frosty snow deer, I used Tim Holtz's mini snowflakes throughout the entire music box and a couple of them as the saddle. For the stirrups, I strung 2 silvery snowflake charms and placed them over the seat. This is probably the most wintry saddle I had ever created for a reindeer.


Mister Frosty certainly need a comfy scarf. 



It's a functional music box and this is how it sounds like when wind. I had to remove this gadget before I could alter the whole box. And I decided to video this fun little thing. It is seriously LOUD and CLEAR! Pardon my excitement 'cos it has been a while I'm playing with such toy. 


Sooo... This is how it fits onto my petite hand. 


Hereby wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year!


Here is a list of supplies I used for this project:

Tuesday 20 December 2016

Deck the Halls!

Lately, I'm into something new, something I wanted to do since late last year - to learn how to wool felt. I bought myself a reindeer kit to get myself started, however I ended up hoarding it and didn't manage to attempt. In view of this upcoming holiday season, I thought it'd be a good time to clear my stash. And yes, I've finally attempted!!! If you guys have been following me on my Instagram, some of you probably have seen a couple of my wool felting posts. Took me some time to get a hang of it and I'm still learning to get hold of the technique correctly. 

Though the pictorial instructions on the kit seem relatively easy to follow, I faced difficulties in getting the reindeer in shape. Then I got to realize the kit is probably a little challenging for a pure beginner like me. I should have started on something more straightforward and simple before moving on to more difficult ones. But heck, Christmas is here and I couldn't wait to get the reindeer done. At the end of the day, after struggling through I manage to finish off this bugger...


Apparently I had made this reindeer a little smaller than what was expected. I'd think it looks good for its size and to make it more adorable, I made him hug a Christmas tree with a jingle bell. Too cute! Just for that I had to make something to house him. And I made a hall just for this reindeer, my virgin wool felt!! Can't think of a better way than to deck the halls!


I used one of the boxes from Tim Holtz's vignette boxes as the hall. Painted a layer of crimson red over and finished with a touch of gold paint at the edges to tone down the already rustic look of the box in order to cater for this holiday season. This would seems like the hall has been refurbished. Decking the halls with boughs of holly wasn't easy. Certainly I find Graphic 45 St. Nicholas paper collection the perfect choice for this project (I still love working with Graphic 45, undeniably). Together with all my previous Alpha Stamp Christmas stash and Petaloo pine corn picks, everything just fit well into the theme. I had indeed spent hours digging through my stash to find these holly-related elements. And finally I managed to get the look I want.


How can I miss the little reindeer? He gets to sit in a bed of vintage Christmas flower soft bed!!


Added branches at the sides with some holly leaves hanging down to complete the entire theme. I thought it'd be nice to add some creature in the midst of a landscape and there it is, I found a miniature deer charm!!



And so forth, this hall for the reindeer is just this small, handy enough to hold. I hope you guys have been spending some great fun time in decorating your halls for this Christmas. I had so much fun (from juicing my creative brain cells) in decking this small little hall.


Here is a list of Supplies I had used for this project:

Tuesday 6 December 2016

Magic Wonder - A Winter Faeries Fairy Box

For the past weeks while I was re-organizing my stuffs, I came across this half-done prepared (gessoed and texturized) filmstrip shadow box together with several primed fairies and flourishes hidden underneath my working desk on top of my craft mat. It was a long time overdue project; a project that I had planned and prepared way in advance supposedly to be completed in May for Gypsy Soul Lasercuts as a Guest Designer. However, things happened and almost all of my WIPs went into a halt instantly. Flipping through my notebook where I did all my project line-up scribbles, this is so much I had missed. 

Life shouldn't be full of resentments. For the very least, I had indeed a good long rest (mentally, physically and spiritually). I just need to get myself started somehow and those scribbles I had made months back is just what I need to rejuvenate my creative brain cells. Pardon me for the nag (I've a tendency to talk a little about my life) for life has been tough on me. The process of creation has always been a hibernating moment that will set me free from the real world. This has been one of the ways that I can be really be myself without any form of masquerade in order to maintain my inner sanity. So, I shall end my story here and present my completed project...

Presenting... 

A Winter Faeries Fairy Box, showcasing a little magic wonder for this Christmas!


My initial plan was to create some sort of gardening fairy scene but that's back in May; still stuck at the back of my head. Since Christmas is round the corner, I wonder why not doing up some wintry scenes? And yes I should. Since I've been hoarding a bottle of Aleene's True Snow for almost a year, it's time to try and use it. I transformed the filmstrip shadow box into a huge snow box that carries various miniature wintry scenes within the box, with a snowflake balcony on top. 


I planted 2 Christmas trees within the 1st and last box to keep it really simple. Unfortunately, I had quite a hard time trying to capture them within my camera due to the flourishes I placed on the outside. Sometimes the kind of work I do is just not camera friendly and you need to view them using your physical eyes. This is so much I could capture and I hope the pictures are not straining your eyes too much. If your eyes are really sharp enough to penetrate through the pixels of these pictures, you will get to notice some little magic I had added within the wintry scenes. I added some florescent glow-in-the-dark powder onto snow and trees! They do "light" up beautifully at night, subtly I should say.  Again, unfortunately I couldn't capture them 'cos the details are so hard to capture and only human eyes can view them.   


The entire media application, from creating the glittery snowy effect, building the snowflake balcony to building up the wintry scenes within took me close to a week to complete. It's the drying process in between that's taking up a lot of time as I was trying to garner the the kind of winter effect I want before I seal them with iridescent fine glitters. Oh yes! glitters! This was indeed a very glittery project and I used close to 3 different types of glitters throughout.


I decided to exalt one of the fairies to the centre of the box, in front of the frame of which she carries a sign - believe in the magic of Christmas


I built a mini glittery snowman and place him onto a pile of snow filled with tiny snowflakes.


And someone left an ice skate there as well...


Lots of snow, glitter and flakes at the back of the snowflake balcony! I'm afraid the picture is not doing much justice - the ultra fine details are just meant for the human eye. I found an ornate rectangle frame which I moulded out from a silicon mould which I was trying to test earlier this year. Oh well, it seems I needed some sort of wordings and I decided to affix some woody letterings onto it to complete the entire project. Finally the magic wonder was done!!!


A little different away from conventional Christmas projects I've done previously, but I do hope this can give a you guys a refreshing idea in how to create a piece as such. Give it a try, you never know Christmas is not more than just snowflakes and fairies!

Here is a list of supplies I have used for this project: