A Queen Bee

Hello All and Welcome!

I’m back today with a new tutorial for a vignette that I created specifically for my sister, Amy. We are 2 years apart in age and are both sisters and best friends. She moved into her own house a few months ago and her birthday was last week. For awhile she’s been dropping hints, as we all know that sisters do quite well, about how nice it would be to have a small vignette to hang in her new home… wink, wink…

Here’s a photo of us a few years ago…

She is an awesome sister and has gone through a lot of changes recently, so I knew I wanted to create a special project for her.

So, I sat down a couple of weeks ago prepared to start it, unfortunately my creative mojo was on hiatus… fast forward a couple weeks, and time had slipped away from me, her birthday came and passed, and I didn’t have a project for her. So on her birthday I promised her that I’d be making one very soon. Luckily, she totally understood…see, I told you she was awesome. She said she could wait, and not to rush the process. To my surprise, I sat down yesterday, the stars aligned, and my mojo was back in full force. YAY!!

I created this vignette dedicated to her and our shared love of queen bees and well worn vintage costume jewelry…plus a special crown created with a crown seal that I found amongst my mom’s junkin’ treasures. ♥️  I was so excited to give it to her last night and she loved it and said it was well worth the wait…which is a good thing, because I totally could have kept this make for myself.

 One of my favorite parts of the project, besides the tiny crown, is the hidden phrase at the inner bottom of the embroidery hoop!

Sometimes you just can’t rush a good thing… or a creative process, you just have to wait until the inspiration finds you.

Let’s Begin…

I started out by digging through my jar of junk vintage costume jewelry. I’ve been picking up things at garage/estate sales for years and knew that I wanted to include some pieces in whatever I was going to be making for her. I was so excited to find a bee pin because it worked perfectly for a queen bee theme. (Yes, I know it’s crazy that I actually had a bee pin…but, I’ve been picking up junk jewelry for several years, it’s a slight addiction, so I’m just glad that it’s paying off and that I’m actually using the stuff!)

I began arranging some pins, vintage lace, and a new Tim Holtz Baseboard Doll that I added a pair of idea-ology transparent wings too.  I added all the parts into an old jelly jar lid then added it to an embroidery hoop to create a framed piece that could be hung on a wall.

I traced the small hoop onto a piece of Ranger Sticky Back Canvas then attached the canvas onto a piece of chipboard. I cut out the circle and painted the canvas side with Dina Wakley White Gesso and Antique Linen Distress Paint.

I tightened the screw top of the embroidery hoop and painted the entire hoop with a light coat of white gesso then set it aside to dry. After the paint was dry, I added some Opaque Crackle Texture Paste onto the hoop with my finger and set it aside to dry and crackle.

(The embroidery hoop will remain to the side until your background is complete.)

I added a piece of patterned paper to the back of the canvas/chipboard circle then cut out a piece of Tim Holtz Wallflower Paper Stash. I adhered the piece onto the circle with Distress Collage Matte Medium, then added a coat of Matte Medium over the top of the patterned paper to give the piece a finished look.

(Here is a look at the back of the hoop after the project was complete…I forgot to take process photos of that part…oops!)

The Background of the Embroidery Hoop…

I added some Opaque Crackle Texture Paste through the Blossom Layering Stencil (THS031) with a Palette knife and set it aside to dry and crackle.

After the texture paste was dry and crackled, I sprayed it with a few spritzes of Pumice Stone, Iced Spruce and Antique Linen Distress Oxide Sprays plus a spritz of water, then I dried it with my heat tool.

Next, I began applying Iced Spruce, Peeled Paint and Walnut Stain Distress Crayons onto the crackled flowers and background of the canvas…

I added some crayon, then wet my finger with a tiny bit of water and dabbed the crayon until it was colored the way that I wanted.

I dried the canvas in between layers of crayon and blended a small amount of Mushroom Alcohol Ink into some of the crackled areas.

When the coloring was complete, I added a small bit of Antique Linen Distress Paint onto some of the crackled areas and some areas of the background.

Here is a peek at a sample that I did on a scrap piece of Sticky Back Canvas before I did it onto the circle background… its always good to do a test run! 😉

Next up, I stamped some images onto the background with Black Soot Archival Ink. The images were from two different stamp sets, the flower, Illustrated Garden (CMS295) and the French text and postage, French Marketplace (CMS071).

The Embroidery Hoop…

I blended the hoop with a bit of Walnut Stain Distress Stain and Walnut Stain Distress Paint, then dried it with my heat tool.

I spritzed the hoop with some Walnut Stain and Iced Spruce Distress Oxide Sprays and a spritz of water, then dried it with my heat tool.

The oxide sprays and water combo give the hoop a shabby chic look… I then added a few spots of Mushroom Alcohol Ink into a couple crackled areas to emphasize the cracks.

 I added some stamping onto the hoop itself with the same stamps using Black Soot Archival Ink.

The Baseboard Doll…

I colored the doll with q-tips and some Fossilized Amber, Worn Lipstick and Gathered Twigs Distress Crayons. (This technique is described in great detail over on Paula Cheney’s blog, she discovered this fabulous way to color the paper dolls and I’ve been practicing up…you can check out her tutorial HERE… wonderful results and it’s fairly easy with some practice, I’m still working on my technique!)

 I added a vintage crown seal behind her the doll’s head and topped it off with some jewels from an old necklace.

I blended the back of a set of idea-ology Translucent Wings with some Smolder Alcohol Pearls and a blending tool, and adhered them to the back of my baseboard doll.

Putting It All Together…

I adhered a piece of quilt batting within the jelly jar lid and began adding the vintage lace, jewelry pieces, some moss and the baseboard doll with Distress Collage Matte Medium.

I added a tiny bit of whimsy by adding a hidden phrase onto the embroidery hoop…

I looked through a vintage book and found some words to create a phrase. I cut them out and blended the words with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and adhered them to the inner bottom edge of the hoop.

I tied a bow with some crinkle ribbon over the screw top of the hoop, and adhered the round background piece and hoop together with collage medium. I clamped it with some bulldog clips and set it aside to dry.

 I adhered the inner jelly jar lid with the queen bee vignette and set the entire vignette aside to dry.

With that, my project was complete…

I hope you enjoyed the steps of the tutorial as much as I had making it…

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Creatively yours,

Stacy

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Gather Your Supplies-

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous- Illustrated Garden (CMS295), French Marketplace (CMS071), Blossom Layering Stencil (THS031)

Tim Holtz/ Idea-ology-  Baseboard Dolls, Wallflower Paper Stash, Crinkle Ribbon

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

Tim Holtz/Ranger- Sticky Back Canvas, Dina Wakley White Gesso, Opaque Crackle Texture Paste, Mushroom Alcohol Ink, Smolder Alcohol Pearls

Distress Paint- Antique Linen, Walnut Stain

Distress Stain- Walnut Stain

Distress Oxide Sprays- Iced Spruce, Pumice Stone, Antique Linen, Walnut Stain

Distress Crayons- Iced Spruce, Peeled Paint, Walnut Stain, Worn Lipstick, Gathered Twigs, Fossilized Amber

Distress Tools/Mediums- Distress Sprayer, Media Mat, Heat it Heat Tool, Blending Tools, Distress Collage Matte Medium

Other-  Embroidery Hoop, Vintage Costume Jewelry and Lace, Crown Seals, Jelly Jar Lid, Vintage Book, Quilt Batting, Floral Moss