Gone With the Wind Altered Tin

I apologize in advance for all of the images on today's entry.  My latest project is three-dimensional and has taken a tremendous amount of time making and remaking.  I have learned some considerable crafting lessons as I experimented on this piece (including some that are on my "Never do that again!" list).  Oh my ...

The inspiration for this project is near and dear to my heart.  A few weeks ago, I told you all about my all-time favorite movie -- Gone With the Wind.  My obsession with this movie actually started with my love for the book written by Margaret Mitchell.  I read it for the first time in 9th grade and I've been hooked ever since.

One of my nieces read the book for the first time this summer.  She said she picked it up and just could not put it down.  Ah ... a girl after my own heart :)  Anyway, she wanted to borrow the movie from me and watch it.  I went one step better and bought the movie for her and will give it to her on her birthday next month.  (LK -- don't you dare tell your sister what she's getting for her birthday!!)

I then wanted to do something special for the occasion, so I decided to create a keepsake gift box for the movie.  After all ... no one really has to twist my arm to do some crafting related to Gone With the Wind.  I went down to my craft room and rummaged around in my stash to find a box to alter.  Lo and behold ... I found the perfect tin.  Here is the "before" picture.

Before -- Tah Dah!!

Hopefully Mr Peanut (from this Planter's Peanuts holiday peanuts tin) will not take offense at being covered up by Gone With the Wind memorabilia.  Well ... actually I used inkjet copies of GWTW memorabilia.  I certainly would not part with any of my obsessive collection.  The majority of the papers used for my collage on this tin came from copies of the souvenir edition of the Atlanta Journal's December 15, 1939 newspaper ... the day of the Atlanta Premiere of Gone With the Wind at Loew's Grand Theater.  Don't get too excited -- my souvenir edition is just a replica of the original newspaper issue.  I also used some copies of pages from the novel.






 Now, for the big reveal!!! Here is the "After" alternation photo of my project:

 

 Even though it took a long time to finish, I really kind of like how this project turned out.  It really has a lovely 1930's vibe to it from all of the advertisement images that I used.  So I'm entering it into Crafts-Too Challenge You Decade or Era Challenge (with layers).  My collage has multiple layers and I added some layers with filmstrip ribbon and embellishments.  I intentionally kept my alterations "flat" so that the tin could be stacked on a shelf without some 3-D embellishment getting knocked off.  I also made the decision to collage all of the surfaces of the tin.  Yes ... you heard me ... *all* of the surfaces.  I should have thought that through a little more before I did it.  More on that later.  This also a definite vintage piece, so I'm entering it in the Hobby House Vintage Challenge this month. 

Here is what the tin looks like when it is open:

 The bottom half of the box contains the Gone With the Wind's title page and beginning of Chapter 1 in a prominent place on the interior.  I thought it would be the perfect resting place for the movie.  After I made copies of the pages and tore them into pieces, I aged them with Distress Ink in Old Paper, Antique Linen, Scattered Straw, Frayed Burlap and Vintage Photo .  I used a heavy duty embellishment craft glue stick to adhere the pieces to the tin.  After all of the pieces were adhered, I embellished the interior of the tin with Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs.  I also distressed the edges of the tin with alcohol ink and Vintage Photo Stickles to make it look like the tin had rusted.  I really liked doing this ... so I got a little carried away the "rustiness" in some places.

The bottom half of the tin's exterior is where I ran into a little trouble with my decision to collage *all* of the surfaces.  I managed to collage over the edge where the lid sits.  I didn't think about if the lid would go over my lovely alterations until after it was all done.  Sigh.  I did do a trial run before I altered the lid.  The lid scuffed up some of my wonderful craftiness, but I did get it on the tin with a little effort.  Here is a picture of one of the sides before it got distressed further by the lid.

 More remnant rubs adorn the exterior sides of the tin.

 Another side was stamped with Black Soot Distress Paint.  I really liked the opacity of the stamped images using the paint.   Here is a photo of that exterior side of the tin with the lid attached (love the Isaacson's advertisement for fur coats on the lid).

Before I decorated the 4th exterior side of the tin, I sealed that side with a mixture of Vintage Photo and Claudine Hellmuth's Matte Multi-Medium.  After that coat dried, I came back and mixed the Multi-Medium with some Black Soot Distress Marker ink that I had scribbled on my craft mat.  I spread that mixture out thinly on the craft mat and stamped my filmstrip stamp into the mixture.  I then stamped the filmstrip stamp directly onto the 4th side.  I immediately went and washed my stamp and let that image dry.  I came back and mixed up more Black Soot and Multi-Medium and working quickly (the multi-medium dries fast) stamped the letters GWTW into the frames of the filmstrip image.  Again, I washed the letter stamps immediately before the mixture dried on the stamps.  The end result looks pretty great.  I love the translucent effect!! 

Finally, I covered the bottom of the box with part of the Official Billing from the movie's premiere.

Just when you thought this blog entry might come to an end ... we get to the lid.  Here is where I went overboard with rust.  Also, I learned my lesson.  I did not collage the interior edges of the lid.  It's what saved me and allowed me to actually fit the lid on the tin.

Although the box has a late 1930's era vibe, I added a little color on the exterior of the lid by inserting miniature stills from the film into Tim Holt's Filmstrip ribbon.  Gone With the Wind was filmed in Technicolor and I paid homage to memorable movie moments in my ribbon segments.  You might notice from the image below that these movie clips lie on top of an article that reported 153 Atlanta Public Library copies of Gone With the Wind had be "Read To Shreds" by residents before the movie's premiere.

 

The last embellishment is one that I *wish* I had in my collection.  I printed out a copy of a GWTW Premiere ticket stub image that I found on an online auction site.  How awesome that ticket stub would be in my collection, but I didn't bid on it.   I decided that I needed to eat more than I needed another scrap of paper.   Sigh squared.   The frame was made from a chipboard embellishment.  I cut out the interior of the chipboard with a craft knife.  I painted the resulting frame with Black Soot Distress Paint and distressed it with sand paper.  I added more "rust" to it before I sealed it with multi-medium.

 

I'll leave you with this final shot of the completed lid.  I hope you weren't too bored with all of my prattle.  

Enjoy your week and here's wishes for a project you can get caught up in like I did with this one :) -- Mary Elizabeth

Anchors Aweigh! Tim Holtz July 2013 Tag

My take on Tim Holtz's July Tag for 2013 is dedicated to the memory of my Dad.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog, my Dad was in the U. S. Navy.  He served during the Korean War.  I've been scrapbooking his time in the military and will be including this tag in those pages.

I used Tim's brayer technique (see Tim's July 2013 Tag page for details) to apply Barn Door and Picket Fence Distress Stain to a manila tag.  I then used an ink blending tool to apply Broken China Distres Ink in the areas that did not have stain.   This highlighted the patterns made by the brayer tool.  I distressed the edges of the tag and then 'grunged' them with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

The stamps helped me to commemorate my Dad's first Pacific Ocean deployment on an aircraft carrier.  I found this great anchor stamp at Michaels.  Forgive me, but I cannot remember the manufacturer at this point.  It made a great focal image for the tag.   I outlined it with a Picket Fence Distress Marker.  I used some masking tape to cover the anchor in order to stamp the word "voyage" on the tag's background.  You can see a partial definition stamp for the word "family" at the top of the tag.  At the bottom, you will find the words "acting with courage" on the right and part of the tag and the word "hero" on the left. 

The men on this ship were on a peace-time training exercise off the Philippine Islands (my dad's first major cruise in the Navy) when North Korea crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea.  My Dad's ship was the only US Navy vessel in the area.  It went into full combat mode without a lot of warning. It had been a long time since the U. S. Navy had been in combat.  World War II was the last time this aircraft carrier had been used for combat missions.  The U. S. Navy recently declassified many of the military reports from this ship and its subsequent battle group.  These reports describe how the ships were not adequately outfitted for the air war advancements that had come on the Navy scene since WWII.  They had to make do "on the fly" as they started missions to support South Korea.  My Dad's squadron went into the history books with the first air strikes in the Korean War.  Can you imagine that ... going out on your first training mission and ending up in a war?  Bravery.

The stars were made out of grungeboard and covered with Rock Candy Crackle Paint.  The humidity in the south (due to all of the rain that we have had) really extended the drying time.  I didn't have any any metallic Distress Stains, so I tried an experiment to get some of the metallic finish that Tim got on his crackle elements.  I mixed Barn Door and Faded Jeans Distress Stain respectively with Silver alcohol ink metallic mixative.  Then I applied this with a paint brush to the crackled stars.  I really love the effect.  After that mixture dried, I went back with Barn Door Distress Stain (for the red star) and soaked the star again to really get the red into the cracks of the paint and soak the edges of the star.  I did the same process for the small blue star with Faded Jeans stain.  For the largest star, I applied Pumice Stone Distress Ink to my craft mat, sprayed it water, and added the silver mixative.   I applied this mixture to the cracks and let it dry.  I then soaked the top with Picket Fence Distress Stain to give it more of a white-washed finish.

I added a Navy "dog tag" made out of Core'dinations Cracked Sapphire paper.  I stamped the letters with Picket Fence Distress Markers and used that marker to edge the distressed edges of the tag.  I then used a brown archival pen to add some shadows and depth for the letters and tag.

 I love this rope embellishment that I found on a set of Jolee's U. S. Navy scrapbook stickers.  I added Walnut Stain to it and glued the knot to the tag above the tag's hole.  I took a craft knife and made a slit right at the end of the rope for my anchor stamp.  Then I took the end of the rope embellishment and inserted it into the slit.  This made it look like my rope tag hanger is an extension of the rope from my stamped anchor image.  The star was added to disguise the transition from 2D to 3D rope.  A "screw"-top brad was put through the rope's knot and hole at the top of the tag to complete the look.

I added a flag and USA stamp at the top edge of he tag and then some Tim Holtz tissue tape.  I grunged the tape with Walnut Stain Distress ink and used a black archival pen to outline the tape a little so that it didn't get lost in all of the grunge on the tag.  This tissue tape image was great for this tag.  My Dad worked as an electrical engineer on Navy Jets and was up to his eyeballs in plane parts and diagrams of plane parts :)

 And here is another shot of the finished tag.  I like it.  It will be a really nice piece to put in my Dad's scrapbook.  You will probably here more about this project on the blog.  I am learning a great deal about my Dad and the era in which he served in the military.

It is good to be back on the blog.  Hope to get back into my craft room later this week ... too many ideas rolling around in my head to keep away.  Hope you have a great crafting week!  -- Mary Elizabeth

A "Little" Stamping This Week

Hi everyone!  I've been working on a project for Simon Says Stamp & Show's A Little Stamping Challenge.  I've had this Tim Holtz antique car Movers and Shapers die from Sizzix and I've been wanting to use it on a project for some time now.  So ... here was my chance.  I've made a "booklet charm" for a New York City vacation scrapbook that I'm working on.

The covers for the booklet were cut out of a piece of aluminum and then colored with alcohol ink.  I stamped the front cover with the work JOURNEY.  I used a thin paintbrush dipped in alcohol in blending solution to sketch in some details.  The whole book is held together with vintage copper rings and a vintage copper safety pin connects all the rings and will be used to attach the charm to my scrapbook.

The inside front cover (not a great photo -- sorry!)

Page 1 (stamped part of a word stamp colored with Distress Markers and a really small automobile postage stamp in archival ink)  Road trip to New York!!

Page 2 (and back of page 1 -- a piece of scrapbook paper from a travel paper pad)

Page 2  (stamped and colored with Distress Markers and a water brush).  Seeing the Statue of Liberty!  Amazing.

Page 3 (and back of page 2)

Page 3 (two stamps used ... both in archival ink) -- Of course I loved the art museums.  MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) was my absolute favorite.

Page 4 (and back of page 3)

Page 4 (Fired Brick Crackle Paint on Manilla cardstock.  Tim Holtz ticket remnant rub was added and  I went over the crackle paint with Walnut Ink Distress Ink.  Then I stamped the musical score with Moonlight archival ink.  I highlighted the notes with a dark brown pen.)  Broadway and Times Square -- I got to see Mary Poppins!

Page 5 (and back of page 4)

Page 5 (Three stamps on scrapbook paper print.)  Amazing stores in New York City

Inside of back cover (and back of page 5)

I love the back of the Fashion page 5.  Stamped with parts of a three different stamps and a remnant rub.

The back cover is colored with alcohol ink.  I added a remnant rub and covered it with Glossy Accents.

I'm running out of time.  I'm so sorry I can't blog all of the details this time.  Little stamps take a lot of time :)  Hope you all have a great week.  -- Mary Elizabeth

PS -- I made this image to put up on Pinterest.  It puts the covers and several of my pages together.  I thought I'd post it here as well.    M.E.

A Couple of Birthday Tags for a Couple of Special Brothers

Here are a couple of other projects that were pinned before I had a blog.  I made a couple of vintage tags for my two older brothers who are 8 and 9 years older that I am.  The second oldest brother made his appearance 5 days before my oldest brother turned a year old.  My poor mom ... it was rough during those first few years with these two boys.  They were a wonderful handful.  Now you know why there was an 8 year hiatus before my parents decided to try for a girl.

My oldest brother likes to work with his hands.  He's skilled with woodwork and is pretty handy with a set of tools.  So, I made a nostalgic 1958 license plate for my oldest brother's tag (kind of like the one in the image below).

Vintage North Carolina License Tag

I stamped a piece of cardstock with a license plate stamp from Stampology.  The set includes all the alphabet and numbers for a personalized license plate, so I stamped my brother's initials and 13 for the year 2013.  I inked the plate with Wild Honey Distress Ink and used Ultra Thick Embossing Powder over the entire tag to give it an old enameled look.  I used a small "bolted screw top" stamp on four dots made from a standard hole punch.  The dots were glued on the license plate to look like the bolts that hold the tag onto a car.  Glossy accents and Vintage Photo Distress Stickles was added on top of the stamped dots to give them a little more dimension and "rustiness".

The tag background is made with a collage of vintage scrapbooking papers.  I stamped the word "journey" on the tag and attached a spinner in the letter "o" with a vintage brad.  The tag was grunged with Walnut Stain distress ink and sand paper.  I added a Fibers ribbon and attached the license plate to the tag using pop-up foam adhesive squares.  Other embellishments like assorted nuts, washers, gear and a key were then added to the tag.

My other older brother's birthday tag celebrates his love of bluegrass music.  He plays the guitar, dobro, bass fiddle and the mandolin in a bluegrass band called Appalachian Fire.  He is incredibly talented and is now learning how to play the banjo.  Anyway, I love the look of his mandolin and decided to feature part of an F model (F for "fancy") mandolin on this collage tag.

Gibson.com:  Gibson F-9 Mandolin

I sketched out the shape of the part of the mandolin that I wanted on the tag.  I found several vintage papers to include in the collage.  I started tearing the pieces and adhering them with Ranger Glue-N-Seal.  .  When the body and handle of the mandolin had been covered, I added some walnut stain on the fretboard (handle of the mandolin).  I sketched in the frets with a Picket Fence Distress Marker.  I added a little shading on the sides and grunging with a Vintage Photo Distress Marker and Distress Ink.  Then the entire mandolin was covered with Matte Multi-Medium mixed with Wild Honey Distress Stain.  Distress Inks were used to color the remaining background of the tag.  I used a sand paper to distress the sides of the tag and these edges were grunged with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

I added a few embellishments like the metal spool and an initial charm.  I also used some gold flecked twine for the strings of the mandolin and a black piece of card stock for the bridge.  The hole where the sound comes out (looks like flourish) was painted with a Black Soot Distress Marker.  I really like the translucent look I got with this over the Multi-Medium.  To finish the piece, I added a ribbon tie and my brothers birthday month and year were paperclipped to the strings.

I really love the look of this tag.  I am planning to do another mandolin collage on canvas in the near future.  I can't wait to get started on that project :)

Hope you are all having a great weekend.  Time to go down and play in my craftroom.  Until next time -- Mary Elizabeth