here comes Santa Claus…

Merry Christmas!

Ho, Ho, Ho, oh, I’m just kidding…Happy Wednesday!

I am back again this week with another tutorial, this time it’s focusing on a make that I created for the Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 2 that was released this past Saturday. Oh, what a fun time it was…not sure exactly how it happens, but even though the release only contains 14 fabulous products, the inspiration is over the top FAB-U-LOUS! I am so very grateful to have been a part of such a talented group of makers! If you missed Tim on the Youtube Live you can catch the replay over on his Youtube Channel by visiting his blog at timholtz.com…I’ve also included the link to it HERE.

I’m guessing you’ve probably already figured it out, but this tutorial has a little bit of a Christmas theme. I just couldn’t resist turning the new Bigz Retro TV into a Santa tv. Because this is a Bigz die, it can cut through, metal, felt, thicker chipboard, plastic…you name it, it can probably cut through it. So, that’s what got me to thinking about the possibilities. I knew that I wanted to make it a stand alone project and although small, some of the things that you could add to it could be, photos, tiny vignettes, or the inter-workings of a tv…wouldn’t it be cool to make a little steampunk one and add gears! When I shared a sneak peek of my projects on instagram, someone remarked that they were going to make several of the little tv’s featuring their favorite Christmas movies…BRILLIANT! So, the possibilities are pretty endless. 🙂

When I was thinking about the tv’s through my life, I specifically remember one that my Great Aunt and Uncle used to own. I believe it was a Zenith and it used to sit on a cart that my Aunt would roll out into their family room, or turn to face the kitchen table in their 1940’s Bungalow in Detroit. I visited them every summer for a week and remember watching reruns of The Munsters, Bewitched, and the Dick Van Dyke show on Channel 50 while I ate my lunch on a TV tray in front of it.

Isn’t it funny the things you remember from your childhood? Mine was a good one and I treasure every memory and those summer days spent with them. Anyways, that’s what inspired this little project. I specifically remember the finish of the tv, it was cream and had a very textured plastic case. Remember the dials and bunny ears that you’d have to adjust to get the show to tune in. Oh, those were the days!

The plastic texture of that tv in my memory triggered the finish of my Santa tv. I love the embossing glaze technique that Tim shared on one of his Q+A series last year. He called it Grunged Glaze. Here is a link to the video where he demoed it. Click HERE, the technique is around the 1:30:00 mark. The technique with the embossing glaze that when rubbed with distress crayons or spritzed with ink, brings out a texture.

Here is a close-up of the texture with the embossing glaze when crayon and ink have been applied, it totally is reminisent of the tv.

So, let’s get to making…

I started by creating the paper for the tv. I rubbed a piece of Distress Heavystock Mixed Media paper very randomly with the Distress Embossing Dauber then sprinkled it with Speckled Egg Embossing Glaze, then embossed it with my heat gun. After the glaze was cooled down, I rubbed the glazed areas with a bit of steel wool, brushed it off then spritzed it with some walnut stain and gathered twigs spray stain. While the stains were still wet, I spritzed it with water, then dried it with a heat tool. Once cool and dry, I scribbled a bit of Walnut Stain and Cracked Pistachio Distress Crayons, then rubbed it in with my finger.

This technique never gets old…I love it! Once I had enough of the paper, I cut out fronts and backs for the tv, strips of paper to cover the sides of a small vignette box, then 2 tv’s out of chipboard. I had some scraps of Metallic Paper in my stash for the dials and rabbit ears, and used scraps of Wood Grain paper for the legs.

I rubbed all the edges of the pieces using a blending tool and Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

The metallic pieces were rubbed with a tiny bit of Mushroom Alcohol Ink and Foundry Alloy Ink, then they were applied to the front chipboard tv piece.

I applied all the side pieces to the vignette box using collage medium.

The tv dome was adhered to the front portion of the tv using collage medium and scor-tape.

I found the Santa image in the idea-ology Christmas Vellum Scenes and trimmed it to fit the front of the vignette box. The dial background was cut from a scrap of Antique Linen distress glazed and grunged paper and applied to a piece of chipboard to add a little more depth.

I drilled a hole into the back of the vignette box big enough to slide a string of tiny lights through it, then the lights were adhered within the box using scor-tape and hot glue.

I trimmed a sheet of vellum to fit in front of the tiny lights to create a buffered down glow, then applied within the vignette box with some glue.

See… tiny lights with a buffer for the win, no harsh lights, just a soft warm Christmas glow!

I applied the last portion of the tv to the front and set it aside too dry…Viola! A tiny Santa TV!

With that, my tiny Santa tv was complete!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Creatively yours,

Stacy

Products used to create this project- Bigz Retro tv, Retro tv Domes, Small Vignette Box, Speckled Egg Embossing Glaze, Antique Linen Embossing Glaze, Embossing Dabber, Chipboard, Distress Heavystock Mixed Media Paper, idea-ology Christmas Vellum Scenes, Woodgrain paper, Metallic Paper, Mushroom Alcohol Ink, Foundry Alloy, idea-ology Tiny Lights, Dremel Tool, Vellum, Scor-Tape, Collage Medium