Have Merry Frontier Christmas

 I don't know about you, but I have really enjoyed the Tim Holtz Holiday Inspiration 2017 series! There are so many amazing projects that I really want to try and make.  I'm so honored to have my Frontier Burlap Panel featured in the series today. This panel came about when I was just sitting and looking through this year's delightful holiday products, and I realized I wanted to make a decor item to go with my Disneyland Frontierland Christmas Tree.

 The first step was to open the Ideaology 6x8 Burlap Panel. The panel is backed with a piece of brown, leather looking chipboard.  I trimmed it down so that it was smaller than the panel, then using my Clear 12" Ideaology Ruler, I poked holes 1/4" apart all the way around the edge of the panel. Then using the Brown Eclectic Elements Crafter's Thread, I sewed a blanket stitch all around the edge.

 This made a solid background that kind of looked like hand-sewn leather. That was important to the frontier look of the panel and it added a nice layer of texture.

 Because it was going to be winter in the frontier, I added some "snow" by putting Distress Grit Paste through the Tim Holtz Speckles Stencil THS021. Let it dry and then attach the faux leather panel.
Next, cut two pieces of paper from the Christmas Paperie Holiday Stash. I used the white paper with black + symbols, and the red, white and black plaid, which is my favorite paper in this year's stash. I added machine stitching around the edge of the two papers with white thread.

 The metal elements on this panel needed to feel like something that would fit in the frontier, and when I think of pioneers I think of cast iron. So the Stars Adornments, Snowflakes Adornments, and the Ideaology Trophy Antlers were all painted to resemble cast iron.  I painted them with Black Soot Distress Paint. I dried them and pounced more black soot paint on them. You don't want them to have a smooth texture. Once they were dry, I rubbed some Frayed Burlap Distress Paint over them and wiped it off with a wetwipe.  I just wanted it to give them a dry dusty old cast iron look to them but not cover up the black paint.  The snowflake got an added bit of Picket Fence Distress Paint.

For the wreath, I used the Ideaology Wood Slices and stamped various snowflakes from Mini Holidays 3 and Winter Sketchbook CMS094
I stamped the snowflakes onto the wood slices with Ground Espresso Archival Ink. Then I arranged them in a two layered wreath in a circle around the Trophy Antlers and attached them all to the plaid paper.
I cut some of the Holly branches from the Holiday Greens. I inked the edges with a darker green and bent the leaves to give them some texture. Then I adhered some of the Beaded Berries here and there throughout the holly. I liked the accent of the white berries as opposed to coloring the red.
I did however color the Linen Ribbon with Candied Apple Distress Oxide.  
The last little touch is that I cut a label from the Tags Thinlets die set and trimmed off the end, added a Holiday Quote Chip, and then tied it on by wrapping some black Crafter's Thread around the plaid and tying it through the Label Tag.

That's it! I know this isn't a tutorial, but I hope that my explanations help you if you decide you want to try to make a Frontierland Christmas Panel.

Tami

P.S. Today's Christmas recipe is a family favorite. Almond Roca is best made in a cast-iron skillet, so I thought it would be apropos to share it with this project.

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