A Promise to Keep

Happy Monday!!! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend…

I am back today with a tutorial for an idea-ology vignette box project. This project features some wonderful new idea-ology products, a couple of my past favorites and a special vintage item too! You know how I like to combine all of the things that I love…

My project was inspired by this wonderful pair of spectacles and their case. It has a special meaning to me and I was so happy to create it and have it displayed at Creativation.  If you’ve followed me for awhile then you know that I love to create with my heart. I love to tell the stories behind my projects…

As most of you know, I also have a love of junkin’ which was something that I inherited from my Mom. She loved all things vintage and passed down that love to me and my siblings. We spent countless hours together over the years collecting and dreaming up uses for the items we picked up at sales, and loved finding random things that you knew had a story to them. I think that’s why junkers like to junk… it’s about the story and what that item has to say about its past. These vintage finds would end up in displays around our homes, in projects that we created and a lot of times, they’d be gathered and filed away in our stash to be used when we had the time to create. But, you know how that goes, we lead busy lives, life gets crazy, one thing leads to another and sometimes the things we plan just don’t come together.

And that is where my story of this pair of spectacles begins…

 The 5th anniversary of my Mom’s death is fast approaching. It’s crazy to think that she has been gone that long… it’s feels both like yesterday and also feels like it’s been forever. She was the best… both a great Mom and friend. There have been so many hard days living without her… but it’s gotten a little bit easier since I’ve been able to create and share my love of creating with you and so many others. Creating is a type of therapy for me. It was something I did with her, that we found joy in doing together.. and when I create and share it, I feel a part of her with me.

Obviously, she was a collector of many things and when she died we packed up and gathered her collections. Some items went into our homes, got worked into our collections and displayed in areas to keep and to remember her by, but other things went into boxes to be gone through at a later time.

This pair of spectacles came out of one of those boxes… They were one of her junkin’ finds. I don’t remember where or when she got them, but I know that she picked them up and fell in love with them just because of the name inside the case (plus, they were probably sold at a bargain price, she loved a great deal!)  They had an obvious story to tell. I think that the story that came out of this project would have been one that she truly would have loved.

Let’s begin!

I started out be creating the vignette box…

the spectacles and their case fit perfectly on the left side of the box. I wanted to display the handwritten label that Betty Withers had left inside the case and knew I wanted the case to remain open. In order to do that, I tied the case within the box with ribbon. That way, if I ever wanted to use them outside of the display, it could be easily removed. I began arranging some pieces within the box to create her story.

I painted a light wash of Dina Wakley White Gesso and water onto both the inside and outside of the box.

With my finger, I randomly added Ranger Opaque Crackle Texture Paste around the outside edges and sides of the box. Then I set it aside to dry and crackle.

After the crackle was dry, I blended a light and random coat of Chipped Sapphire and Picket Fence Distress Paint around the inside and outside sides of the box.

With a Ground Expresso Distress Crayon and Mushroom Alcohol Ink…

I blended some dark areas into the cracks to make them pop. Instead of using water to blend in distress crayon, I sometimes use Mushroom Alcohol Ink. It adds to the grunge of the distress crayon.  😉

I randomly added torn pieces of Merchant Design Tape around the inside edge of the box, then covered the tape with Distress Collage Medium and set it aside to dry. Sometimes design tape likes to come undone or roll. Collage Medium brushed over top of  the tape solves that problem. When the areas were dry, I blended a bit of the Ground Expresso Distress Crayon over top of the design tape pieces.

I added pieces of design tape around the outside edge of the box, added a light layer of Distress Collage Medium over top, then set it aside to dry. When it was dry I then rubbed it with my Ground Expresso Distress Crayon.

I cut two pieces of paper from the Memoranda Paper Stash to fit at the back inside and outside of the Vignette Box. Then I blended the edges with Pumice Stone Distress Ink and adhered them on the inside and outside of the box with Distress Collage Matte Medium.

With my Dremel Tool, I drilled two holes for ribbon to go through and hold the spectacle case within the box.

And ran a piece of ribbon through the holes from the back to the front.

Next up, the trinkets…

I began distressing the little bits and pieces to fit the theme of the box. The pieces included, idea-ology Ephemera, Botanical Layers, a Typewriter Key Charm, a Story Stick, a Small Pocket Watch, a Word Key, Floral Adornments, a small Key Adornments, a Ruler Piece and a couple vintage pieces from my stash… a watch face, paper clip, a pencil and plastic scottie dog key chain. With my finger, I lightly blended some Picket Fence Distress Paint onto all of the trinkets, then blended on some Mushroom Alcohol Ink. The Ephemera Paper pieces were all sanded down with the Sanding Grip then blended with Pumice Stone Distress Ink.

The Typewriter Key Charm… lightly sanded with my Sanding Grip then blended with Mushroom Alcohol Ink, Gold Mixative and Ground Expresso Distress Crayon.

The ruler… sanded with Sanding Grip, blended with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, then a light layer of Distress Crackle Paint. Set aside to dry and crackle and Mushroom Alcohol Ink added to the cracks.

The Photobooth Photo…Sanded with the Sanding Grip and Distress Edge Tool,  blended with Pumice Stone Distress Ink and a bit of Mushroom Alcohol Ink.

The photobooth photo was matted onto a piece of Sticky back Canvas. The typewriter key charm was added with a bit of string and the phrase “a promise to keep” was typed out onto one of the new Classic Label Stickers and blended with Pumice Stone Distress Ink.

The small vase… I lightly sprayed a few idea-ology Bouquet Flowers with Antique Linen, Shabby Shutters and Weathered Wood Distress Spray Stain and dried them with my Heat Tool. I colored the stems of the small bouquet with Peeled Paint Distress Marker. The idea-ology vial become the perfect vase. I filled it with some old beads and some pieces of lace, then added the flowers then squirted a bit of collage medium in the vial to hold the bits and pieces in place.

I blended a bit of Picket Fence Distress Crayon into the wish word band and tied it to the vase with a piece of cotton string.

All the pieces were gathered together and adhered within the vignette box with Distress Collage Matte Medium and set aside to dry.

With that, my vignette was complete!

Thank you so much for stopping by today, reading the story behind this vignette and following me throughout my creative journey…I appreciate each of you, and hope you are inspired to go out, tell your story and create because it makes you happy!

Creatively yours,

Stacy

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Gather Your Supplies-

Tim Holtz/ Idea-ology- Photobooth Photos, Botanical Layers, Ephemera, Flower Bouquet, Vignette Box, Memoranda Paper Stash, Merchant Design Tape, Story Stick, Pocket Watches, Floral Adornments, Key Adornments, Typewriter Key Charms, Crinkle Ribbon, Classic Label Stickers, Corked Vials

Tim Holtz/Tonic- Tonic Guillotine Paper Trimmer, Tonic Shears

Tim Holtz/Ranger- Mushroom Alcohol Ink, Rock Candy Clear Crackle Paint, Opaque Crackle Texture Paste,

Distress Ink- Pumice Stone, Walnut Stain

Distress Spray Stain, Antique Linen, Weathered Wood, Shabby Shutters

Distress Crayons- Ground Expresso, Picket Fence

Distress Paint-Picket Fence, Chipped Sapphire

Distress Markers- Peeled Paint

Distress Tools/Mediums- Distress Sprayer, Media Mat, Heat it Heat Tool, Blending Tools, Distress Collage Matte Medium, Detail Water brush, Sanding Grip, Paper Distresser, Sticky Backed Canvas

Other- Dremel Tool, Vintage Lace and Beads, Typewriter, Vintage Spectacles and Case, Pencil, Scottie Dog Keychain, Paper Clip,  Cotton String