Winter Wonder Santos Doll

Hello!! I don't know about you but now that Halloween is done and over I am ready to start Christmas creating!! When I saw the Wings Assortment Mini set (coming soon) I knew they would be perfect on a Santos Doll. I don't have an angel for my tree so I thought I would make one to display on a shelf or tabletop. Plus I love any reason to make another Santos Doll!!

Begin by painting a thin layer of gesso over the Santos doll body. Once dry paint face and hands flesh color. 

Smoosh Iced Spruce Distress Oxide on craft mat using palette knife mix Ranger Texture Paste Opaque Crackle into ink. Use palette knife to apply texture paste to doll body. Set aside to air dry. 

Once dry distress body with Vintage Photo Distress Crayon. Rub crayon on and blend in with paper towel, wipe away excess with baby wipe. 

Paint a base layer of Ground Espresso Distress Paint on wings. Once dry smoosh Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide onto wings and lightly spray. Set aside to air dry. Once dry layer more Frayed Burlap if desired. Using a scrunched up paper towel randomly pounce on Tarnished Brass Distress Paint. Heat set to make sure all layers are dry. Randomly apply Vintage Photo Distress Crayon. Don't blend in the crayon as it leaves a nice texture. Keep building layers until you reach desired look. 

Paint the base of the Santos brown. Paint all pieces front and back. Apply faux cinnamon rust to each piece. Using a cosmetics sponge apply brown paint and then dip directly into cinnamon. Pounce on more brown paint and heat set. If you have a heat gun that runs hot you can burn the cinnamon for that great crusty effect. But be careful!! 

Mix Antique Linen Distress Oxide with the Crackle Texture Paste using the same technique as above. Using a palette knife lightly and randomly apply to the Santos base. Set aside to air dry. Once dry add Pumice Stone Distress Crayon to crackled areas. As Tim says Pumice Stone is the perfect non-color. It helps the cracks to pop but doesn't overwhelm the color of the crackle paste. 

Look at that crusty crackle!! 

Cut a length of Eclectic Elements Craft Thread and run thru a baby wipe. Lay on craft mat and randomly run Vintage Photo Distress Crayon along thread. Run baby wipe across thread again. Set aside to dry. 

Sew doll body together with distressed thread. 

Using Distress Collage Medium in the cut outs of the cage skirt base and bottom construct skirt. Adhere doll body on top of skirt base. 

Construct a crown from a piece of Silver Metallic Kraft. Heat emboss crown with Emerald Creek Burnt Copper Leaves. Paint the back side of crown with Tarnished Brass Distress Paint. 

Add a bit of color to a Christmas Typed Token with Tarnished Brass Distress Paint. Once paint is dry rub Picket Fence Distress Crayon into text on token. Wipe away excess with paper towel. Using the colored Craft Thread attach token to base of mini tree. Attach tree to the top of the cage base and position hands to look like they are holding it. 

Make a small necklace from Aqua Iridescent Beade Chain and add Milagros Adornment bird charm. 

Are you beginning to think about creating Christmas projects or do you still have a few more Fall ideas? I love creating and decorating for Christmas and always feel like I run out of time so if you need me I'll be in the studio. 

Thanks for stopping by!! Be sure to leave a note and say hi!!
Happy Creating ~ Jennalee

Blessed are the Curious

Hi everyone!! I hope you had a great weekend. I had a few days off and snuck in some creative time along with a bit of junking. I incorporated a few of my new finds in this piece. 

Begin by embossing a piece of gold paper from the Paper Stash Metallic Kraft pad using the Mechanics 3D Texture Plate. The secret to getting a good impression with the Texture Plates is to mist your paper before running thru your machine. After you have embossing lightly sand paper and ink with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. 

Cut and emboss Layered Butterfly from a 6x6 square of the cigar print found in the Dapper Paper Stash. Ink the embossed areas with Black Soot Distress Ink and apply random areas of gold metallique wax. 

Enhance metal embellishments. Apply a thin layer of Tarnished Brass Distress Paint to the largest size of arrow found in the Arrows Adornments. Using a Picket Fence Distress Crayon rub the crayon over the words on a Quote Token to make the sentiment stand out. 

Cut a small label using the Labels Thinlets set. Stamp numbers found in the Stampers Anonymous Etcetera set. I cut mine from this vintage Ticker Tape I picked up while out junking this weekend. 

Adhere label with Distress Collage Medium. Using an awl poke holes for the stitches. Attach Arrow Adornment with Craft Thread and needle. 

Stitch the butterfly down to the embossed background using coordinating Eclectic Elements Cotton Thread. Be sure to only stitch down the middle of the butterfly so that the wings will be able to pop off the background. 

Layer Baseboard Frame on top of the embossed background and attach with Hex Fastners on all four corners. Adhere piece to mixed media paper for some added stability and back with a piece of linen fabric ripped to size for frayed edges. Apply sentiment from Clippings Stickers. 

Adhere the smallest Measurements piece to background and layer on the Paper Doll with foam dots. Wrap top of the Quote Token with Craft Thread and tie a bow. Attach to piece with foam dots. The base is a large bolt that was also picked up on my weekend junking excursion. 

This piece came about because I was having so much fun playing with the Layered Butterfly die set I recently picked up. So don't be surprised if you see wings on lots of future projects!! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and get to sneak in lots of creative time this week. Thanks for stopping by and spending a few minutes with me today. Happy Creating ~ Jennalee 

Snow and Joy

Hello!! Jennalee here today. I have a fun step by step tutorial to share with you today. It all started with this vintage photo I found while out junking. The release of Tim Holtz's Christmas line really got me in the spirit to create some Christmas projects early this year. 

I started with a small size Etcetera Tag. These tags measure 5.5"x10" and are made of thick board. They are very sturdy and can handle a variety of mediums. I covered my tag with a piece of paper from Tim Holtz's Christmas Paper Stash. Adhere paper to tag with Distress Collage Medium. 

With a palette knife spread Grit Paste thru the Starry Night layering stencil. While the Grit Paste is still wet sprinkle on Rock Candy Glitter. I covered my entire tag with stenciled stars. I thought I had overdone it but once you start layering your ephemera you'll be glad you covered the whole tag.

Using your palette knife add some swipes of Grit Paste around the edge of your tag and to the reinforcer and sprinkle with Rock Candy same as before. Grit Paste needs to be air dried, so set your tag aside. Be sure to clean your stencil and palette knife while the Grit Paste is still wet. 

While your tag is drying begin prepping your picture. I made a photocopy of my original picture onto photo paper. It didn't look quite vintage enough so I added some aging using Antique Linen Distress Ink. Using a glue stick lightly tack down photo to piece of black cardstock. Stitch around edge of photo and trim down cardstock with pinking shears. 

 From the Christmas Ephemera Pack pick the pieces you wish to layer on your piece. The music piece is from the Christmas Bookboard Baseboards pack. To add some visual interest I added a strip of black text from the Paper Stash pad. Adhere all pieces using Distress Collage Medium. 

Cut a pair of Ice Skates from white cardstock. I adhered my cardstock to a thin layer of chipboard for some added definition. Tip: Save the chipboard pieces that come in your Myrustycrown.com orders. It is the perfect thickness for die cutting. You can even use it with some thin lit dies. 

Cover both skates with Distress Crazing Medium. Allow to air dry. Once your skates are dry add a bit of aging with Antique Linen Distress Ink. Color in heel with Distress Crayon. Paint blade of skate with Distress Paint. Using a needle and baker's twine lace skates and wrap laces around the top of skates and tie a bow. 

I am obsessed with Distress Crazing Medium. It is the perfect vintage touch. 

To decorate the skates cut some foliage from the Festive Greens thinlits set. Using Distress Oxides in Peeled Paint and Cracked Pistachio color cardstock. Smoosh ink pad on craft mat and spray with water, dip paper into ink and heat set. For the berries I used Beaded Berries colored with Distress Spray Stain in Picked Raspberries. 

Attach foliage and berries to skate. Adhere skates to bottom right corner of tag using Distress Collage Medium. Pick words from Christmas Words and Phrases Chipboard pack and adhere with Distress Collage Medium. At this point also attach the tag reinforcer. 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I had so much fun making this piece and using Grit Paste and Rock Candy. It is such fun combination!! If you try making this piece for yourself or try any of the techniques I hope you will stop by and share it in the Facebook Group. Happy Creating~ Jennalee