Monday, January 30, 2012

Dress Form Journal

This is a hand crafted composition journal adorned with a gorgeous Dusty Attic dress form and jeweled Prima butterfly with black rhinestone trail.  It also boasts a beautiful Petaloo heritage silk flower with gem center and fancy feathers.   Whether you want something special for yourself or for that special someone, this is sure to be a family heirloom that will be treasured for many years to come!   

Inside Cover:
Back Cover:
 Inside Back Cover:
If you like this journal, it can be yours by going to www.dawnasplace.etsy.com for purchasing details.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

His Glory I'll Sing Journal

His Glory I'll Sing...is the title of this vintage music sheet that adorns the front of this altered composition journal.  I enhanced the music sheet with Dusty Attic music notes and singing birds.  The beautiful butterfly is from Cat's Gallery at Etsy.  Finishing touches include a lovely leaf ribbon, Wood Flourishes bird cage and Prima gem flowers.  
The spring papers and leaf ribbon are from my local haunt  The Stamping Post.  It's a beautiful little store in what we call 'wine country' here in Temecula, CA.
The dedication page has a frame from Cricut's "Fancy Frames" cartridge. 
If you like this journal, it can be yours, just follow the link to my Etsy Shop at: http://dawnasplace.etsy.com for details.

Family

New project!  I gave my dad a Family Heritage Album for the holidays and he loved it!  I loved it so much that I've decided to scrap one for myself.  This is my grandma Vesta Jones and Great Grandma Lassey Tuck in circa 1940's.  We would go to AZ to visit them when I was a kid and I've got very fond memories of both my grandmothers.  I just love heritage pictures so I'm going to really enjoy scraping this album.

I Love You

This is my little niece Lain.  I'm continuing to work on my sister's album and my cricuit flowers.  I used "Paper Lace" for the lattice background.  Added some baby lace flowers and stickled the centers.  I'm working on how to how to create effects on my Dusty Attic, but I was disappointed with how just the white ink came out this time.  Using paint next time with a leaf stamp too! 
Sorry for the fuzzy pic, Ugh!  I promise to get better at "in progress" picture taking.  For these flowers I wanted to play with ink and my stickles.  I love the way applying a little moisture to the petals puts a slight curl on them.

Pool Princess

This is my little niece Lain.  She's such a cutie and she's having the time of her life playing in the pool!!!  Still playing with the circuit cartridge "Flower Shoppe."

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Lain

I'm starting an album of my sisters first granddaughter, Lain.   Used Martha Stewart punches for the frames, garden gate and daises.  Stamped the baby feet and music note.  Added a vine of painted and distressed Dusty Attic.  A few flutter-by's with pearl trails.  Then had to play with my new ribbon sew tool to add the finishing ribbon.  Added Lain's name in glitter Thickers and a final bling by the flower.  Most of all I love her picture!  She is such a beauty!
This was my first attempt at creating my own flowers with the Cricut "Flower Shoppe" cartridge.  It also comes with the leaves on it too, which makes this cart one of my new fav's!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Retro Hawaiian Jewel Box

Well our Hawaiian Retro Box has been assembled with it's Tim Holtz legs and now it looks more balanced!  You can stop here and fill your beautiful box with handmade cards, stationary, keepsakes, whatever your heart desires!

I made this for one of my dearest friends from Hawaii and she wants to use it for stationary and asked that it be left plain rather than lined.  If you need the directions before I do my next box, just let me know and I'll send you the directions!  Enjoy ... Dawna

Thursday, January 19, 2012




To assemble the top use Beacon 3-in-1 Adhesive.  It's the bomb!  You'll have about 30 sec.'s to get your placement right before it grabs your work and sticks like crazy!  Wonderful stuff to embellish boxes. 

I've finished embellishing the top.  Of course you can embellish any way your heart desires!  I was quite torn between shells and flowers and decided that I had a better box for shells, so I decided on flowers.  In addition to flowers I added ribbon, a heart trinket, magnolia blooms in her hair, rhinestones on the sides, say it in pearls (black) to the top, red and Aqua butterflies for that punch of red, pearl butterfly trails, and an exotic blue flower.  I was a little disappointed with how five layers of paper looked at the edges on the top, so I decided to use a corner black brocade ribbon to hide the mismatched layering and it came out just fine!  I love paper crafting it's so forgiving to work with!  Anytime you do something you don't quite like, just alter it till you do like it!  Next we'll be working on assembly and lining!  So, stay turned...Dawna

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

First, strip all the hardware off your box and wipe down with clean rag.  Next, I wanted to make sure that none of the wood showed through on the corners of this box so I decided to paint where the paper comes together. 
My hubby lent me hand with this box and painted the hardware to match the Tim Holtz legs for me.  It adds a nice finishing touch to have matching hardware. 
Here's a close up on the bottom side design.  I've used the green as an accent and Martha Stewart's Deco Fan punch.  Don't worry about how the fans come together at the corner as the tall legs will cover up any miss-matched corners.   
Once you've got your designs figured out, it's time to Mod Podge (M/P)!  To make sure I'm layering properly, I turn my design upside down and peel it away, layer by layer and work onto the box by painting MP on the box first then smoothing out my paper layer over the M/P. Make sure your M/P goes on in a generous smooth layer so all of your paper is glued down. Be sure and smooth out your paper firmly to prevent any paper bubbles or heaving.    Continue to work in layers until your design is all glued down.  Do not get M/P on any raw box area that will not be covered with paper as it will leave that area tacky!  Hint:  If you do get M/P on raw wood wait till it dries and knock it off with a light sandpaper.  This is most important around the box closure edges as you don't want your box to 'stick closed.' 
Now that my design is all glued down, I wanted to add a little distressing with some aqua ink around the corners on the top.  Now it's time to seal the box with a good final coat of Mod Podge.  Let everything dry overnight before you handle again. 



Saturday, January 14, 2012

 I'm finely happy  with my design for the base top and the bottom.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Beach Keepsake Box Project

Here's a sneak peek at our project supplies!   I won't be using everything on this little box, but I will be pulling from this stash of coordinated embellishments.   You know the stash I'm talking about.


 As minimums to finish the project you will need:

1 Wooden Box with Closure
1 pkg of Tim Holtz Foundation Feet
2  Travel Logue G45 Papers
1   Fish Paper
1   Island Jewel Papers
1  Green Card Stock/Scraps
1  Aqua Card stock/Scraps
    Embellish as Desired Flowers, rhinestones, spray, trinket, fish net)

If you'd like to follow along as I build this over the next few days, just 'FOLLOW ME' watch this retro vintage style come to life! 

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Renassiance Fair Journal

Front of Journal

Front Cover Locket Detail 
Inside Cover Used Cricut Fancy Frame's Cartridge

Back of Journal

Winter Warmth for **Scraputante**


This is my daughter Jessica (Jennifer's identical twin sister) and her sweetheart Rob playing in the snow on their vacation to OK in 2009.  This line of playful papers comes to us from Bella Blvd.'s Winter Wonder collection.  All four of these snow layouts are from Scraputante's January Cute Club Kit!!!  For more kit details, please go to: http://scraputante.com  TFL~Dawna

Weather Forecast Fun for **Scraputante**

This is a picture of my daughter Jennifer sleding in the park nearby her home town of Edman, OK in 2009.  I used cricut's "Winter Lace" cartridge to get those beautiful flurries!  TFL ~ Dawna

Skyler's Hot Coco for **Scraputante**

This is my grandson Skyler. After a long day playing in the snow, the only thing he had on his mind was digging into his mom's famous hot coco!

Dashing Through the Snow for **Scraputante**

This is my grandson, lil' man (aka Cade) "Dashing through the snow" on his little sled. It was taken while his family was on vacation to OK in 2009. He's so burried in that scarf it's a wonder he can even see where he's going!

I Do ...

I love Father John doing the peek-a-boo look while the bride and groom steel their wedding kiss! Still working in the BoBunny Collection. Added Prima flowers and stole the butterfly from another collection. The sentiment reads: "I loved you yesterday, I love you still.  I always have and I always will!" Perfect sentiment for Chris and Jenni as they have been sweet on each other for over 13 years now. We all wish them the best of luck in this new phase of life together!

Living Our Happily Ever After ...

This is the last of Jennifer's layout's for her wedding shadow boxes. Lots of details and trinkets and embellishments on this one! My daughter got a sneek peek of them and just adores how they all came out! I've very happy with them too!

The Blessing Of ...

I love these pictures of Father John. He looks so angelic and so do my beautiful daughter, Jennifer and the love of her life, Chris. It was such a beautiful ceremony!

My Knight in Shining Armor ...


This is Jennifer's favorite wedding picture and it's easy to see why! 
When my son-in-law saw his beautiful new bride he was so taken-a-back that he momentarily lost his composure.  This was an amazing moment to catch on film and I'm delighted that she has this to remember forever!

Here Comes the Bride ...

This layout was created for my daughter Jennifer for use in a shadow box to cover her bare walls! I used BoBunny's Enchanted Collection and used Cricut's Paper Lace to achieve the background cut. Jennifer just loved the results. Didn't she make a beautiful bride?