Saturday Showcase: Tim Holtz Idea-ology altering ephemera

Hello I'm Janna and welcome to this week’s Saturday showcase! This week I am going to be showing you how to alter some Idea-Ology ephemera with different distress mediums. Then we will assemble a Halloween themed vignette box. For video instruction on altering ephemera click here.

Here is a list of the different components I will be using today. I will also  of some substitutes that could be made with the new Halloween Idea-ology release as well. 

To get started we will first start by altering ephemera with frosted crystal. For altering with frosted crystal add some distress embossing ink and then add frosted crystal. I like to work over a piece of scrap paper to catch the extra powder. Emboss with heat gun. The trick with the frosted crystal is to go easy with the heat. Too much heat and the crystal look will melt and become glossy.

Next medium we will look at is vintage collage medium. This is a tinted collage medium. Here I have added it to an Idea-ology skull and a piece of thick board ephemera.

Regular collage medium is also very useful when transforming ephemera from shiny to mat. Typically when adding to ephemera I find that the medium will take about 2-3min to dry. This will vary depending where you live and the level of humidity.

Here I am altering some Halloween ephemera with some distress collage crazing medium. For crazing I like to spread the medium on thick in the middle of ephemera and then fade it out as I get to the edges of a piece. This normally takes about 30-40 min to fully dry for me. This will vary with claimant and temperature of your work space.

After the crazing is dry I then like to add some distress crayon to help highlight the crazing lines. Here I used some distress walnut stain crayon.

Next we will be playing with snowfall grit paste. This distress grit paste is from the Ranger Holiday release and has the added bonus of distress glitter in it to give it a fantastic snowy look. On this ephemera frame I added some snowfall with a pallet knife along the interior edges.

Here is the dried snowfall. Love it so much, it looks just like sparkly snow.

Now let’s checkout distress crackle paint. This is one of my absolute favorite mediums to use for altering ephemera. When hardened it gives a cool broken glass look. Here I added a fairly heavy layer of the crackle paint to a piece of thick board Halloween ephemera. I let the paint sit for about two hours.

Once dry I added some distress walnut stain crayon to help highlight the crackle effect.

Here we are going to add some of the new distress Ranger icicle to some Holiday ephemera. When working with icicle I found that it has a much lighter consistency when compared to distress crackle paint. Because of this I do not add it on as thickly to ephemera pieces. Icicle spreads with the consistency of butter on toast. I add a thin layer and try to spread it out evenly over ephemera pieces.

Once dried icicle crackles like ice. The cracks are loser and less square than distress crackle paint the crackles like glass. Icicle also has some added sparkle in it. To add more definition to the icicle effect I rubbed in some distress crayon picket fence.

Now lets alter some impresslit wings. For these wings I die cut them from black cardstock and then added some Ranger sticky embossing powder with distress embossing ink pen. When embossing with sticky embossing powder it is necessary to work quickly. The sticky adhesive sets quickly so it is necessary to have all materials open and ready to use. I like to open my jar of glitter and have a pieces of scrap paper already in place when I start embossing. then the second the embossing powder is melted I pour on the glitter. To avoid burned fingers I like to hold the die cuts with the Tim Holtz Sizzix squeazers. For these wings I added nightfall glitter for the top set and midnight mica on the bottom set. The mica and glitter are from the Ranger Halloween release.

Down here I have altered some of the Idea-ology beaded berries. To alter these berries dip the berries into collage medium and then into some distress glitter. Here you could use any of the distress glitters to alter these berries such as: tinsel, garland, vintage platinum, night fall, or alcohol ink colored rock candy glitter. Once dipped in glitter I let these dry about 30min before they are ready to create with.

The last medium we are looking at today is distress crypt paste. This stuff is fantastic and has these wonderful dark specks in it. I find that it looks quite like granite. Here I am altering a finial into a granite pedestal. Like other texture pastes this medium works best with porous surfaces. Taking a large scoop of the crypt paste I spread it over the finial with my fingers to cover up the wood.

Since there were some gaps still visible on the finial I decided to add some smoked hickory distress paint.

Now what to do with all of this fun ephemera. I decided to use some of the Halloween ephemera to create a Halloween themed vignette box.

To start this project I lined the box with some of the TH Idea-ology Halloween wallpaper and painted the walls of the box black. Then on the outside I covered the box with washi tape and some TH Idea-ology paper. Click here for process video.

Then around the edges of the back of the box and the edges of the front of the box I added some pinked golden washi tape.

On the inside of the box I used many of the pieces I altered at the begining of this blog. In the background I have some of the thick board ephemera pieces. In the center I have the crypt paste covered finial and an altered Idea-ology skull.

For the skull, I wanted it to be the center piece of this creation. I placed it under a mini Idea-ology dome. The dome itself was also altered. Since the dome is made of glass I applied a layer of distress collage medium first before adding a layer of distress icicle. Adding the collage medium gave the icicle something to stick to. Otherwise it would just flake off the glass dome.

To add some different texture and detail I decided to throw in some mica sheets. These I cut with scissors and scuffed up with some sandpaper and glued them into the corners of the vignette box.

For the wings I decided to add them to some Idea-ology TH paper dolls. Before adding the wings I added some glaze to the paper dolls. To add the glaze I used the distress embossing pens to put down a layer of distress embossing ink. After I added the wings to the backs of the paper dolls with a foam square. For the lady I used fired brick embossing glaze and for the gentleman I used some distress walnut stain glaze.

At the top of the vignette I placed the chip quote that I added frosted crystal embossing powder to.

Thank you so much for joining me today over at the Funkie Junkie Saturday showcase. I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about altering ephemeral and assembling a vignette box. Don't forget that many of these Idea-ology pieces can be taken from old skews  of product and this years new releases. Until next time happy crafting!

~Janna 💕🎨

Collage medium

Collage medium vintage 

Collage medium crazing 

Distress crackle paint 

Distress glaze Fired brick 

Distress glaze walnut stain 

Distress  embossing ink dabber

Distress embossing ink pens 

Idea-ology Paper Dolls 

Kraft stock

Saturday Showcase - Prima Marketing Paper Collections and Ranger Distress Mediums

 Hello and welcome to another Saturday Showcase where the Design Team gets to share creations and tutorials with you featuring products available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. It's Sara Emily here, and I'm sharing a Vignette Tray collage I created featuring one of Prima Marketing's beautiful paper collections and Ranger Distress mediums.

First, I'll share a few photos of my completed project, and then step by step photos, tips and instructions for creating your own tray.

*click on any photo to zoom in*

I've used Prima's Pretty Mosaic A4 paper pad, 6 x 6 paper pad and coordinating ephemera pack. As of the writing of this post the A4 pad and ephemera pack have already sold out, but don't worry, Linda has all of her in-stock Prima products on sale for 45% off MSRP while supplies last! You could  use any one of the other beautiful available collections to create something similar. You will want to hurry over for the best selection, because at these prices, they are bound to go fast.

I love the graphics on Prima's paper collections, and it's these flowers from the Pretty Mosaic papers that tugged at my blossom loving heart and inspired me to make this framed tea cup filled with blooms.

 I used lot's of different Ranger Distress mediums, pastes and colors to create an aged look to the papers. It really is so easy, and I'll explain further down.

Tip: Save leftover bits of foam and cardboard to vary the heights of the stems and blossoms to give dimension to your project.

So, now let's get started on the fun part--the making! To keep the post from getting too long, I've prepared collages of my step by step photos and bulleted instructions below the corresponding photo collage.

Prepare the tray.

1. Paint Idea-ology Vignette Tray with gesso. Allow to dry.

2. Trim papers from A4 pad to fit inner and outer walls and back of tray and cut out tiles from 6 x 6 paper pad that will line the inner back wall of the tray.

3. Adhere A4 papers with Distress Collage Medium Matte, and apply a coat of collage medium to all outer surfaces. Allow to dry until just a bit more than tacky. This is only a few minutes, because this stuff dries fast. Spritz with Frayed Burlap Oxide Spray and spritz lightly with water to activate. Dry with heat tool. Because the collage medium hasn't fully dried, the spray bakes into it as it dries and doesn't smear off.

4. Adhere brown patterned strips to inner walls and using a palette knife, spread with Distress Crazing medium about the thickness of mayonnaise on a sandwich. I find this makes for the best cracks--not too thick; not too thin. Allow to dry completely before smearing with Cracked Pistachio and Frayed Burlap Distress Crayons. I do this by scribbling crayon onto my craft mat and lifting the color with a dampened finger and rubbing it over the cracks.

5. Apply Distress Crackle Texture Paste to spines of tray and in random areas on inner and outer walls. Allow to dry completely. Apply Walnut Stain crayon to highlight the cracks as described above. 

Move onto making the tiled background.

6. Adhere the cut out tile squares to a piece of matboard with collage medium, leaving a small space between each tile. I had to trim a few along the edges after they all were adhered.

7. Using a palette knife, apply Distress Opaque Grit Paste in 'cracks' between tiles. Allow to dry.  

8. Apply a layer of Crazing medium to entire panel as on inner walls above and allow to dry.

9. Apply Distress crayon using same technique as previously described. I later used Walnut Stain crayon to edge the panel and splattered lightly with Black Soot Distress paint (not pictured). This panel is adhered to foam core and that is adhered to the inside of the tray.

Time to make the details!

10. I used an old Tim Holtz die to cut a tea cup from the brown pattered paper from the collection. (You could use Eileen Hull's 3D Teacup and Spoon which I've linked below.) I coated with Distress Embossing Dabber and heat embossed with a mixture of Speckled Egg and Cracked Pistachio Distress  Glazes.

11. After cooling then buffing the shine off with steel wool, I edged the die cuts with Gathered Twigs Distress ink and later scribbled with Walnut Stain crayon to make deeper shadows (not pictured). 

12. Fussy cut some flowers from this paper from the collection. I blended the edges with Gathered Twigs ink.

13. Die cut Wildflower stems from water color paper using Tim Holtz Wildflowers, Wildflowers #2 and his new Wildflower Stems #3 sets (pictured above). I colored them with a variety of Distress Oxide inks (see links below for the colors I used) smooshed onto my media mat and spritzed with water along with a waterpen. I seriously could do this all my waking hours!

14. Select some ephemera from the ephemera pack and fussy cut Beautiful Life from the cut apart page in the collection.

15. Blend edges with Gathered Twigs ink (not pictured). 

From there, it was just a matter of layering and assembling all my pieces! Here's one last look at my completed Vignette Tray.

Thanks for dropping by to see how you can use Prima Marketing's Paper Collections along with Ranger Distress Mediums to make a shabby Vignette Tray. I hope you've been inspired to make some art using a favorite Prima collection and adding a mixed media twist to make them your own.

There's still plenty of time to enter the current Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog challenge 'Mostly Neutral' which runs through Tuesday, March 2nd at 11.55pm. We look forward to seeing all your creative makes! Happy crafting! Sara Emily

These products were used and can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Prima Marketing Pretty Mosaic - 6x6 Paper Pad

Prima Marketing Pretty Mosaic - A4 Paper Pad (Link to Prima sale)

Prima Marketing Pretty Mosaic Ephemera Pack (Link to Prima sale)

Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - Cracked Pistachio, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Sprays  - Frayed Burlap

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads  - Gathered Twigs, Kitsch Flamingo

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pads  - Tattered Rose, Kitsch Flamingo, Worn Lipstick, Shaded Lilac, Squeezed Lemonade, Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Rustic Wilderness, Shabby Shutters 

Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Glaze  - Speckled Egg, Cracked Pistachio

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Crazing

Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte

Tim Holtz Distress Grit Paste 3oz Opaque

Tim Holtz Distress Texture Paste 3oz Crackle

Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Dabber

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Vignette Tray Structures

Sizzix Chapter 1 Thinlits Die Set - Floral Layers #2 by Jen Long

Eileen Hull Bigz L Die - 3D Teacup & Spoon

Tim Holtz Travel Glass Media Mat