Be Joyful in Hope

This is my newest home decor piece for Spring. I've had this idea in my mind for months and finally decided to sit down and get it out of my head and into my home.  I realize that it isn't typical of spring colors and decor but it fits perfectly in my home.

There are so many textures and products used on this tag, and I tried to take as many step out photos as I could while I worked. 

 I used the 3-D Lumber Texture Fade and this Distressed Wood Technique to make some aged wooden slats.

 The only thing I added to these slats was that before I ran them through the Texture Fade, I added a little bit of Opaque Crackle Texture Paste.

 I wanted to apply them to a Framed Panel. They barely fit the opening, so to make sure, I laid the frame on the panel and drew around the inside with a pencil to be sure that I got the slats to fit over it perfectly.

 I applied the slats to the piece with Distress Collage Medium and let it dry while I worked on other things.

 I love crackly addition to the slats that the Crackle Texture Paste gives it.

 Then I needed to age the frame. I applied some Walnut Stain paint to parts of the frame.

 Then also added bits of Peacock Feathers and Tumbled Glass Distress Paint as well.

 I stained the remaining wood with Ground Espresso and a tiny bit of Black Soot Distress Stain.

 

Lastly, I put a layer of Picket Fence Distress Paint over it and then wiped most of it off. Now set that aside to dry as well.

 Cut a bunch of these pieces from the Wildflower Stems 1 die set. I cut them out of Distress Mixed Media Heavystock.

 Using a tiny paintbrush, apply Picket Fence Distress Paint to the little buds on each stem. This takes some time, so be patient. I did this while I was watching a live ancient Egypt tomb opening on the Discovery Channel. :-)

 Once the paint is completely dry, then you want to stain the stems so I used Ground Espresso Distress Stain.

 I applied it to the front and back of each stem so that it was fully covered.

 With a clean cloth, lightly dampened, I wiped off the stain from the painted portions.

 And this should give you a not too shabby branch of pussywillows. 

 You can see that there are little areas where the stain is in parts of each bud so that they aren't perfectly white, and that is what you want!

 I let those dry too, and moved on to making some canvas for cutting the Cottontail.

 For this you will need a piece of heavy canvas, a stamp you like, I used CMS241 Ledger and Script. You also need Picket Fence Distress Paint, a stamp platform, and a brayer is helpful.

 Load the paint onto the brayer and then run it over the surface of the stamp.

 NOTE: It helps to clean your stamp before this step of you want the color to really be white. The paint removed some of the Archival Color I had on there and turned it a creamy color.

 When the paint is stamped on the canvas and dried, then I colored it with Frayed Burlap and Ground Espresso Distress Spray Stain and dried it. I took the nozzle out of them and dripped some on the canvas too.

 Here you can see the water stains, drops of stain, and so on.

Once this was finished I used it to cut one Cottontail for inside the frame.

Then I cut another longer piece and a smaller piece using my Haberdashery Scissors. I stamped twice on the longer one so that it would go along the right side of the tag under the frame.

Then I colored the smaller stamped canvas with Pumice Stone, and a tiny bit of Blue Print and Peacock Feather that I spritzed with water to lighten the color. I finished it by splattering some Ground Espresso over the piece.

This canvas is to add a tiny pop of color in a few places below the frame and above the frame.

You can see I roughed the edges and inked them to make them look aged and rustic.

 You need something to put all of those beautiful pussywillow stems in, so lets make a canning jar! Cut the "deco" Trinket Frame out of heavy black chipboard. Then stamp and emboss it with clear embossing powder. I stamped it with part of a stamp on the Lady Rose CMS255 stamp set.

 Cut the bottom off of the piece so that it resembles a jar.

 Here you can see the progression. Cut the Trinket Frame, remove the center and stamp on it, then cut off the bottom. Paint it with Peacock Feathers and Tumbled Glass Distress Paint and wipe it off so the stamped words show through. Sand the edges and ink it. Then tie some brown Eclectic Elements Craft Thread around the top and there you have a mason jar.

Arrange the pussywillow stems so that they are coming out the smallest lip of the jar.

I bent the buds forward and bend the stems so that there was a 3-D effect and they weren't completely flat.

Before you attach the jar over the bottom of the stems, attach the Cottontail shape so that it looks like it is behind the jar slightly. Then attach the jar.

Cut a title that fits your theme.  Mine is from a scripture in Romans 12:12. I used part of it in the frame and part of it below the frame. The part in the frame was cut with the Alphanumeric Cutout Script from black cardstock colored with the same paint as the jar.

Using Distress Oxides, I stamped some eggs with the CMS180 Bird Feather onto Distress Watercolor Cardstock.

Cut them out with some Tonic Snips and arrange in front of Cottontail and the corner of the jar.

Cover the bottom of the jar, eggs and Cottontail with some Cheesecloth or if you have a little horded stash of Mummy Cloth, that is perfect!

The large Etcetera Tag was covered with some of the Opaque Crackle Texture Paste, the painted with Antique Linen Distress Paint, one layer of Distress Collage Medium Matte, the edges were sanded and then colored with Distress Crayons in Ground Espresso.

I attached a piece of one of the large Crochet dies to the bottom that also has some Crackle Paste, Distress Paint, and Distress Crayon added to it.

I attached the long piece of stamped canvas along the left side of the tag, and a small piece of the blue canvas as shown. 

Add an aged Story Stick and Hardware Head on the blue canvas.

Add two aged Hardware Heads on the top left corner of the long stamped canvas piece.

 Adhere the Framed Panel over the long piece of canvas, centered with a significant space above the Crochet trim.

Cut the rest of your title out of the blue painted paper, and black chipboard using the Cut Out Script alphabet die. Align it on the lower right side under the frame.

On the top right hand of the tag, add a small piece of each of the stamped canvases, and an aged Adornments Foundry piece with a Hinge Clip.

Color a piece of jute with some Ground Espresso Distress Stain and dry it before you tie it through the top rung.

Thanks for sticking with me if you got this far!  It's always my hope that you find some tidbit of useful information on each post, and if not, that at the very least that you will be inspired and ready to make your own version!
Tami

 I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog and the ideas and tutorials I post here, and your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!