Fall is the crafting season. The colors, the textures, and all the celebrations beg us to create. Yet, our full calendars make it hard to find the time to work on projects. The school year is in full swing, there … Continue reading
Lemonade is the perfect beverage for hot summer days. What better way to serve lemonade to your BBQ guests than on a custom shabby chic tray?! This beautiful piece was made as a part of my Blueberry Lemonade Chic patio … Continue reading
Chris Wallace for Walnut Hollow
I love to DANCE………….and SING!!! My family puts up with it, but they are not huge fans of it. Of course, that doesn’t stop me. And when I’m in my crafting room, and music is turned up and no one is there, I sound and look pretty good. And I’m happy.
When I saw the Tim Holtz music tissue paper, I had to have it. Wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it, but I would figure that out later. When designing projects for our Rustic Pallet Program, I thought the paper would work well with this large Pallet (24” x 12”). I added a few other supplies and was ready to create.
The word “dance” was the wrong color, but that wasn’t a problem. Simply paint it with an acrylic paint you like. I painted 2 coats of DecoArt Americana Black and set it aside to thoroughly dry.
Decoupage the music tissue paper to each slat on the Pallet. The paper is 12” wide and so are the slats. The tissue comes out of the box like plastic wrap and there is a serrated edge on the box to tear it from the roll. Once you have the paper ready, use a large flat brush and Mod Podge (I used Matte) to paint the raw slat, lay down each piece of tissue on the wet Mod Podge then paint another coat of Mod Podge on top of the tissue. The Mod Podge acts as a glue for the tissue paper and as a finish on top of the paper at the same time.
I love the silk hydrangeas – they remind me of the big bushes at our home when I was going up. Use Tombow Power Tabs to hold the flowers, leaves and word in place on the Pallet. The Power Tabs have terrific holding power.
To hang, add 2 large screw eyes on the top of each side of the Pallet. Thread your choice of silk ribbon through the screw eye and tie a couple of knots so the ribbon won’t slip out.
It’s ready – so start singing and dancing. It is okay, no one is watching! Be happy.
Like many of you, I have always loved music. I like all kinds of music, with a couple of exceptions – not too fond of rap or heavy metal, but enjoy the rest of it. When I saw the Tim Holtz® tissue paper rolls, one featuring sheet music, I knew I had to have it – along with his plastic sticker letters. Then everything just sort of all fell into place for the project I created.
We had originally created the larger Modern Plaques, then added the Thin Modern Plaques to the mix. They are great to use alone or together.
To decoupage the Savannah Modern Plaque, I used a large flat brush to apply a heavy application of Mod Podge to the Plaque. Tear off a piece of Music Tissue Paper to fit the Plaque (the tissue paper tears off like Saran Wrap or foil) and lay it onto the wet Mod Podge over the Plaque. Use scissors to quickly snip the tissue paper near each indentation of the scallop edge and smooth the paper with your fingers. I needed more paper to fill in the scalloped edges, so I cut smaller pieces of tissue to add where it was needed.
Add another coat of Mod Podge over the top of the tissue paper and smooth everything with your fingers. This is messy, but really does the trick. Let the Plaque dry thoroughly.
Cover your work surface with paper and mist the Savannah Thin Plaque with Verdigris Glimmer Mist. Let dry.
Once the Savannah Thin Plaque is dry, add the black plastic sticker letters. A trick I learned years ago – pencil the saying out on paper as you want it on your Plaque. Count the letters (including spaces) in each line. Divide the number by two – then count from the left to find the center letter or space of that line. Work away from center to the left and right. An example would be the line that reads “makes the world”. There are 15 letters and spaces. The center of the line would be the letter “h”. I place a ruler at the bottom of where I want the line and pressed the letter “h” in the center which is shown on my ruler. Then I pressed the “t”, then the “e” – and so on. So the spacing was good for each word and the line was as straight as I could get it.
I added screw eyes on each side at the top of the larger Plaque then glued the Thin Plaque in place with MONO Multi Liquid Glue by Tombow®. I put black satin ribbon through the screw eyes and it was ready to hang once the glue on the Plaque was dry.
Don’t you agree? MUSIC does make the world a better place! At least I think so…
Once again our friend, Marie, has done an outstanding job designing on one of Walnut Hollow’s new basswood surfaces. The Silhouette Plaques include a circle and square as well as the bird featured in Marie’s mixed media creation.
This mixed media plaque mixes decoupage, beadwork, and color washing to create a decorative bird themed art plaque. The bird silhouette plaque is ready-made, smooth and a perfect surface for all these techniques.
Materials:
Add any hanging hardware to the back of the plaque before decorating.
Tear the book pages into large pieces and decoupage them to the plaque. Try to find a book that reflects your theme, for example, the sample used a book on birds that adds a few illustrations to the background. Don’t worry about creating wrinkles in the pages, they will add an interesting texture. Apply a coat of decoupage medium to the top and let dry.
When dry, sand the edges smooth around the edge and the inside of the cut bird.
Pour out the acrylic colors onto your palette. Add the extender to the colors in a 50/50 mix. Mix well to create a translucent glaze. Apply the colored glaze to the background, slapping the colors on randomly. You should still be able to see the print under the glaze. Let the surface dry.
With the sandpaper, sand the surface to reveal the wrinkled texture and create an interesting background.
Tear the bleeding tissue paper into 3 to 4” pieces. Layer the different colors on a piece of white paper and spritz with water. Let dry completely. When dry, the tissue paper colors have run together and created very interesting muted colors with a subtle design.
Cut the flying bird from the tissue paper (you can cut through many layers at once) and decoupage onto your surface using the decoupage medium. You can also cut and decoupage the larger birds on with the tissue paper to create a shadow in the final piece.
I also generated some text on the computer, printed it out and decoupaged it to the surface. You can alternately use stamped or stickers to add a saying or journaling.
Use the bird patterns and cut out the birds from the decorative paper. Distress all the edges on the bird using the black ink pad and a stencil brush. Decoupage the birds in place using the decoupage medium. Paint the edges around the surface and the inside of the cut bird using the Burnt Orange acrylic paint. When dry, apply a finishing coat of the decoupage medium over the entire surface and edges. Let dry completely.
Hammer the twigs in place using the finishing nails. Pour a little white glue over the excelsior and mix in with your fingers. Place the excelsior inside the bird cutout and nestle the plastic egg in the excelsior. Let dry. If needed, add more white glue to make the nest and egg secure.
Thread the beads onto jewelry wire and add the charms to the ends. Drape the beads over the twigs and secure where needed with finishing nails.
Our friend, Marie Browning, is back again to share another creative piece of artwork. She used a new item from Walnut Hollow, a Basswood Country Plank – 23″. It is so fun to open Marie’s shipping boxes when we know one of her projects is inside! This time was no exception.
This country coat rack is as functional as it is decorative! Perfect for a country decor entranceway or cabin. Simple stamping and decoupage techniques will have you creating and using this piece all in one day.
Add any hanging hardware to the back of the plaque before decorating.
Apply a coat of decoupage medium to the plank surface, including the bark edge. let dry completely.
With the pencil and ruler, mark on your guidelines for the lettering and line the birds will sit on.
Stamp or stencil on the lettering. Use the permanent black pen to draw in the line at the bottom of the plank. Remove any pencil lines using the white eraser.
Use the bird patterns and cut out the birds from the decorative paper. Distress all the edges on the bird using the black ink pad and a stencil brush. Decoupage the birds in place using the decoupage medium. When dry, apply a finishing coat of the decoupage medium over the entire surface and edges. Let dry completely.
Add the hooks along the line, and in-between the birds. You are now ready to hang up and use your coat rack!
It was fun to help with the product development of the new Modern Plaques. They are modern, but with a vintage touch that makes them very on-trend. There are 6 shapes available in 2 sizes of each. The Plaques are approx. 9 x 12” and the smaller Thin Plaques are approx. 5 x 7”. What has been even better is to create designs using both sizes and finding that stacking them is terrific!
As I said before, I like to have everything ready when I begin putting a project together. I wanted to cut paper to go onto the Medallion Thin Plaque and was having trouble getting the shape just right. Lucky me……I have access to our graphic designer, Sara, who could resize the shape for me. Now you have the shape ready to print or trace onto your paper…and we’re all lucky! Just cut the paper out and you’ll be ready to go.
Click to enlarge.
The Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists are great to use. We found them a couple of years ago and haven’t stopped using them. In the past, I would seal any wood project before painting on it. Glimmer Mists can be sprayed, or misted, directly onto the raw wood with no wood sealer necessary. In fact, they work best when the wood isn’t sealed – that sure saves a lot of time and they are so easy to use. Just shake the bottle from side-to-side to get the glimmery, shimmery stuff all mixed up in the bottle. Make sure you cover your work surface so that the mist doesn’t get anywhere you don’t want it. Spray the entire Medallion Plaque with Mallard Glimmer Mist.
Use a large flat brush to paint the Medallion Thin Plaque with DecoArt® Americana® Hauser Medium Green. Once it is dry, you’re ready to decoupage the cut paper onto the Thin Plaque with Mod Podge®, Matte.
Apply a coat of Mod Podge to the back of the paper, flip it over and press it into place on the Plaque with your fingers, smoothing the paper out. You don’t need to wait for it to dry to apply another coat of Mod Podge to the top of the paper. After that dries, apply one more coat over the entire top of the Thin Plaque. Even though I used a matte version of the Mod Podge, it is a little shiny and looks great next to the Glimmer Mists on the large Plaque.
Apply a heavy coat of Mod Podge to the back of the Thin Plaque to adhere it to the top of the large Medallion Plaque. The Mod Podge works as a glue. Press the Thin Plaque in place and press again to secure it. Let it dry thoroughly.
The chipboard letters I used have a sticky back. Peel the back off and press onto the Thin Plaque.
I thought you might like to see the other Modern Plaque that we placed on the label. It’s a Monogram Plaque. It was so simple to create. Just basecoat with paint, mount a favorite photo onto decorative paper and add paper flowers under the photo.
It’s always fun to design on newly developed products and this Square Modern Clock was no exception. I wanted to show off the circle groove and using a crackle technique is always interesting – especially when you can see it happening. 
I like to have everything ready to create a project, so I cut out a circle from the 12 x 12” paper first with the scallop-edged scissors. 
If you place the paper over the clock surface, you can feel the groove under the paper. Use the eraser end of a pencil to press down into the veined groove to “mark” the paper. Cut out the circle with the decorative scissors. Note: I’ve never had a “favorite” paper for too long because there is always another “favorite” that comes along quickly to replace it. However, I really, really, really like this – it’s called Que Sera Sera. 
I found it several years ago and used all of it! That has never happened with the other papers that I’ve bought. I was delighted a while back when I found it again – guess they brought it back for another round. Hope I never run out again (I’m not telling how many paper pads I bought!).
You can create the crackle effect with 3 easy steps. First step is to basecoat with Lemonade using a large flat brush. After that dries, use the flat brush again to apply a thin coat of Weathered Wood (it’s a crackle medium). After that dries, the 3rd step is to use a large flat brush to paint a contrasting color. I used Indian Turquoise. It’s fun to watch the crackle happen right before your eyes! Use a medium round brush with Lemonade to clean up the veined groove on the top of the clock surface. 
I like using Tombow’s MONO Multi Liquid Glue to adhere paper to wood. Squeeze it out on the back of the paper, then flip and press it well with your fingers to smooth it out on the wood. 
From the back of the clock, poke the pencil lead through the paper so you can attach the clock movement. Use your fingers to press the paper out of the hole. Just follow the directions on the back of the package. 
The numbers that come with the clock movement have an adhesive on the back so they are easy to press in place on the paper. So that the numbers are placed as evenly as possible, I like to start at 12, go to 6, then 3 and 9. After that you can easily eye-ball the other 2 numbers that go in between each space. 
All that’s left to do is to insert the AA battery, set the time and you’re ready to hang your new clock on the wall.
Marie is a friend and wonderful artist and designer. I asked her to do her magic on one of our new Modern Plaques and she chose the Marrakesh Plaque. I think you will agree with all of us here at Walnut Hollow that Marie’s design work is simply beautiful.
Vintage Chic Purse and Key Plaque
Designed by Marie Browning for Walnut Hollow®
This fancy plaque is not only beautiful; it’s practical as well. Perfect to place your purse, scarf or keys on when you come through your door. Created in neural colors to go with a wide variety of decor hues.
Create the Background
Add any hanging hardware to the back of the plaque before decorating.
Paint the plaque with the Ivory acrylic paint. Let dry.
Cut and attach the cardstock to the plaque using the decoupage medium. Leave a 3/4” to 1” edge all around. Apply a top coating of the decoupage medium and let dry.
Apply the petroleum jelly to the painted edge and 3/4” into the paper. Paint over the petroleum jelly and let dry. The petroleum jelly acts like a resist, and when dry and sanded, gives you a nice weathered distressed surface to the edge of the paper and the painted wood. Rub any excess petroleum jelly off with a soft cloth.
To soften the effect, drybrush the acrylic ivory paint around the edge.
Prepare the Hardware
Paint all the metal pieces; the backplate, metal embellishments, hooks and screws with the Ivory acrylic paint.
When dry, rub with the steel wool to create the distressed vintage look.
Finishing
Attach all the hardware to the plaque.
Using the white glue, attach the rhinestones and the rhinestone flourishes to the plaque.
Finish with a silk bow tied around the center knob.
