Friday 4 December 2020

Merry Little Christmas ~ A Vintage Journey


Hi everybody! Its time for a new challenge over at A Vintage Journey. Sadly this will be the last time I open my blog post with these words, as this will be the final challenge for this amazing blog. It has been an honour and a pleasure to have been a Creative Guide on the AVJ blog and I will miss my fellow CGs as well as all you lovely people! Now, before I get too sad, let me tell you about our fina,l Christmas themed challenge, we are asking that you....

Celebrate the season by making an ATC or a set of ATCS depicting Christmas scenes or colours. Just remember to create your project in one of our preferred styles: vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.

I've had a lot of fun creating these ATC's featuring a little shaker element, peeping through a marbled background. This is how I got started......
Firstly, I squirted a layer of shaving into a shallow tray and smoothed the surface with a metal squeegee. A large palette knife would also do the trick. Bear in mind that it has to be shaving foam for this technique. Shaving gel will not work.
I then unscrewed the tops on several of my Distress Oxide Spays, and used the spray tube to apply drops of the oxide ink onto the surface of the shaving foam.
I used the end of a paintbrush to swirl and mingle the colours.
I then placed a piece of 300gsm card onto the surface of the shaving foam, lightly pressing it down to ensure that the whole of the surface was in contact with the shaving foam. I then gently peeled it off. at this stage, it looked as though all the swirls had disappeared. The magic really starts to happen when the shaving foam is scraped off the surface....
I used the metal squeegee to remove the shaving foam and reveal the lovely marbled patterns. I made several pieces .......
I used Distress Oxides in Mermaid Lagoon, Iced Spruce and Faded Jeans. Different effects can be achieved by changing the amounts of colour you apply.
The official size for an ATC is 2.5 x 3.5 inches or 64 mm x 89mm. I used an old Tim Holtz Bigz Die to cut out my ATCs and before long I had a nice little pile to play with.
Now, with all this lockdown business, I've found myself spending way too much time with the TV crafting channels on. Obviously, this has lead to my acquiring a few new crafty items,(as if I need any!) One of them, however, is a fairly inexpensive, laminator specifically used for foiling. I have to say, I'm quite taken with it. I used it to apply silver foil to these stenciled snowflakes. In this instance, I stenciled with Collage Medium and left it to dry. I then applied the foil and ran it through the laminator, I rather like the effects, as the collage medium created a bit of texture. A note of caution though, I left some to dry overnight, and tried foiling them the next morning. The Collage Medium did not take up the foil quite as well as when it was left for a shorter time.
I used the circle die that came with the Sizzix Tiny Domes, to cut a circle in my ATC. I then Tim Holtz's Christmas Circle Words to cut out the words, 'hope' and 'Joy', from silver craft card. I also cut an ATC out of  Idea-ology Kraft Cardstock in blue. Before I adhered all of the layers, I added some tiny glitter stars to the small  dome. 
And just like that my final challenge project was finished. We would love you to join us for this last challenge, as usual our top three will be posted to our winners Pinterest Board, on Dec31st. Pease hop over to the AVJ blog where you will find lots of inspiration from the brilliant Creative Guides. We have also all made an extra ATC to say goodbye to all you lovely people who have supported our challenges and enjoyed reading the A Vintage Journey blog, Thank you so much, we will all miss you! I'd also like to thank Brenda and all of the Creative guides for letting me share this fantastic journey! I shall endeavour to keep my Artistic Craft Dabbler going, so I hope to see you over here very soon ! 
Have a wonderful, if different Christmas and very best wishes to you for a happy and healthy 2021 xxx
Here is my ATC for our 'good bye theme' on the A Vintage Journey blog x

10 comments:

  1. WHAT??? WHY??? So are you quitting blogging as well??? This is so sad. LOVE that you went out with the tried and true shaving cream technique, and I didn't know it worked with Oxides. These are both wonderful and love your beautiful good bye ATC...seriously shocked about this news. If you are not coming back, thank you for all the inspiration and support as well. You are so great. Happy Christmas to you and yours.

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    1. Thank you Anita ! Although AVJ is closing I will continue with my blog. Lots of love to you xx

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  2. Wow, simply stunning! I love the shaker style ATCs and the shaving foam technique looks such fun - I'll have to give it a try ...lol 😀. The silver snowflakes and the wording and pretty snowflakes through the windows look so amazing too! Your final ATC is beautiful, I can just imagine us sitting there chatting and watching the world go by - perfect 😊. I've so enjoyed being part of the Creative Guide team with you over at A Vintage Journey and I am very grateful for all your support and friendship. You are such an inspiration - thank you so much for being part of my creative journey! Love and hugs, Jo x

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  3. What beautiful shaving cream backgrounds you created for your lovely dome shaker ATC's Toni! These are so stunning even with their small size! and your farewell design is wonderful with your stampings and vintage ladies! I have enjoyed being on this team with you! Julia xx

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  4. I love your wonderful shaving foam backgrounds with the silver snowflakes Toni xx This is our second DT together and it's so lovely that we got to meet up in London at Wendy Vecchi's workshop xx Best wishes and I'll see you on IGram

    Huge hugs xx

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  5. Dear Toni, let me start by saying that your ATCs are fabulous, the Christmas ones with the shaving foam backgrounds are just stunning and so clever the way you turned them into shaker cards. Love the collaged farewell one too !
    It has been wonderful to have you as part of the team at AVJ, you have always been so supportive and encouraging to all of us, thank you for that. It has been an amazing journey, but I hope we will stay in touch via Instagram. Wishing you and yours a fabulous Christmas and all the best for 2021!
    Astrid xxx

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  6. So many cool techniques in your icy globe ATCs (can't help thinking of igloos somehow!) and your friendship farewell is charming and heartwarming. It's been such a pleasure to travel alongside you for these latter stages of A Vintage Journey, and I know we'll keep in touch via IG so you're right - this is au revoir, not goodbye.

    I hope you find ways to celebrate a safe, peaceful, joyous Christmas despite everything that's going on, and I'll see you somewhere along the road in 2021.
    Alison x

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  7. Toni, I've been a stalker, uh, I mean follower of yours way before you were at A Vintage Journey, and you never cease to amaze me with your creations! I do love how you've transferred those Oxide sprays to your ATC background panels with the help of shaving cream--what a fabulous way to use those products! So giving this a try. Your completed ATC's are so festive and your farewell ATC so heartwarming. So sorry that AVJ is closing up shop, but I will be checking in on your work from time to time. I haven't been much of a blogger lately with an incredibly busy year in spite of all the goings on (or not goings on, as it were.) Wishing all the best for you in 2021!

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