Hello everybody, and Happy Holidays! Time for this month's Scraps Of Darkness Reveal, and the December Kit-A Long December is just so very Winterlicious!! If you are looking for something to do while staying warm inside, paper crafting is the perfect hobby to turn to, and the Scraps of Darkness Kits come right to your door, so you don't even have to get out to go shopping~so right up my alley as the cold weather kicks in ;)
Each kit comes with a FAB sketch created just for our kits, by our very own Charlotte Jenkins (Suepup). Here is this month's sketch:
And here is my take on the sketch. It features a Faux Vintage Tin Background that I came up with using this month's Color Add On and Aluminum Foil. If you would like to check out the tutorial for it, you can find it on the Scraps Of Darkness website, under the tutorials section, or here on my blog.
The photo is one that I took in 2010 when we had a White Christmas. I was so excited, because we don't get that much snow here in the South, and this was the first one that I could remember ever happening on Christmas Day. It was just so heavenly and peaceful. I topped it with the Craftysprinkles pin from the Romance Add On that I threaded some of the silver trim from the kit onto. The photo matt is corrugated board that I misted then sprinkled with glitter.
I also included a poem that I wrote about Winter that I printed out onto transparency and attached to one of the note cards from the Romance Add On. It is hard to see it in the photo so here it is:
Frozen
Winter rears her weary head
Woes Earth into her bed
Woes Earth into her bed
Frozen
Winter is a cold-hearted lover
with not a lot to say
She pulls her covers over Earth's head
and everything fades to gray
Frozen
Earth succumbs to Winter's embrace,
into her iciness she presses
Afterwards, she drifts to sleep
and dreams of Spring's warm caresses
Frozen
The icicle pieces at the top left, and bottom right hand corners were from the kit, the flowers are a mix of flowers from the kit and the Flora & Fauna Add On. The small snowflakes are from the kit, and the large ones are Dusty Attic pieces from my stash. The butterflies are Vintage Patina Butterflies from my Reneabouquets Etsy Shop.
Here you can see some of the technique detail, although it was very hard to capture it with the camera. The tutorial shows much more detail.
This next project is a canvas piece that I created using this month's Creativity Add On. I did use a 12 x 12 canvas that I had, because I had some Dusty Attic Pieces that I wanted to use and they were too large for the smaller canvas. The Creativity Kit had these crazy cool Angelina Fibers in it, and as soon as I saw them, I knew what I wanted to do with them. I am a huge Chronicles of Narnia Fan. I have loved the books since I was around 11 years old, and have read them all numerous times. When they came out with the first movie "The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe" I had to go see it, and it was so amazing to watch one of my favorite books brought to life. I chose to scrap Jadis, the wicked Queen of Narnia, because those fibers reminded me so much of how it would be "Forever Winter In Her Heart".
I took my canvas and layered and mixed the fibers and then ironed them down with the bonding agent to get this frothy, shiny, Wintry background. I then took modeling paste and a stencil and created the edging.
The lamp post is a Dusty Attic piece that I crackle painted then went over with smooch paint and stickled up to give it an icy look.
I added Stickle accents to my modeling paste work, inked a Dusty Attic gate from my stash, and added Stickles and Prima Pearls to it for accents. I added another one of the Clear Cuts from the kit to the photo. The butterflies are Serenity Butterflies from my Reneabouquets Etsy Shop.
Here you can see some of the details I added to the photo by using Stickles to accent Jadis' hair and dress. It is so hard to show all that glittery detail with my photography skills, which are limited-lol!
I wish you could see this piece IRL~those Angelina Fibers look so yummy and the texture is amazing~
This next layout is one that I created using a photo of my friend JoJo's daughter Jordan. I love that Jordan is like me, she can be very girlie girl, but also has a down to Earth, tomboy side. These papers were perfect for capturing that tomboy side of her.
I started with a background piece of paper from the kit, then took a second piece of paper and heavily distressed it, and then water distressed the opposing sides and pleated them down, using some of the chipboard snowflakes from the kit, topped with some of the ZVA corduroy brads from the kit. I tucked in some stash burlap pieces and then inked the edges heavily and using a stencil and some of the Art Anthology mist from this month's Color Add On accented some of the edges. I used a 3rd piece of paper (this one from this month's paper add on), and some more burlap to matte out my photo of Jordan. I used a stipple brush and white paint to soften the background of the photo.
The Prima doors were from a past kit, and I used some of the flowers from the kit, a stash flower, lots of the clear cuts from the kit, and a piece of the ZVA bling from the kit to create a nice flower layer. I added two of the corduroy brads from the kit to the paper at the side of the photo and wrapped it with strings from where I frayed the burlap.
Here you can see the pleat detail, and the title was created using one of the Little Yellow Bicycle Card Stock Stickers from the Romance Add On and some ZVA pearls from a past kit.
I created another flower piece at the top of the photo using the flowers in the kit and another one of the Card Stock Stickers from the Romance Add on. I tucked the other Prima door in for symmetry, and then popped on one of my handcrafted Secret Garden Butterflies from my Etsy Shop for dimension.
I hope you have enjoyed all my Winter themed work from this month's kit. I appreciate you stopping by, and hope that you and yours have a wonderful Holiday Season! Find something warm to do, grab a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy life! Hugs till the New Year! ~Renea
