Christmas Emporium from Graphic 45

 Those of you who follow me may remember I started this Graphic 45 Altered Art Box/with Album in Sept. up at the cabin in Minnesota.

Having said that, it's not unusual for me to work on something for months. Look at it, play around, add this, think of that at midnight, forget what I thought about the next morning....etc, etc, etc.

But, I did paint the box and glue the 2 layers around the base that you see here with the GORGEOUS Merry and Bright paper.

I LOVE the papers with the most black in them for some reason, and this one is fabulous!

These are mostly from the 8x8 paper pad Christmas Emporium, but I did use a few 12x12 sheets and some lighter backgrounds Let It Snow from Christmas Past.

I started by painting the box with Black Acrylic Paint.

Then I cut the papers apart...

Literally....all of the pieces...only using one of the 2 sheets in the pack.

Then I trace and cut the opening for the front section, stamp, distress ink, spray, and glue.

Time for a night photo.....this really shows the gorgeous spray of Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls Mist on the blue paper for the cover front.

Next I start layering.

The hardest part for me is deciding it's time to glue.

So I punched out all the Christmas Emporium Tags 1 and started to add paper and stamped images to the backs.

I also used Christmas Emporium 1 and Christmas Emporium 2 Cling stamps throughout.

This is a look inside the box standing up after I've tied the tags to a Tim Holtz Curio Knob.

A closer detail look at the inside spine. Be careful not to layer anything too thick as the box will not close properly. 

The chipboard frame is from Red Lead, and I've added many different layers of Distress Ink and Stamps.

The cutout frame with Glossy Accents is layered on top.

The Gold beaded trim is tree trim from Hobby Lobby.

The Wooden Stars and Gold Rick-Rack are from JoAnn's.

Although the papers from Graphic 45 are perfectly vintage the way they are, I tend to add Tea Dye Distress Ink. It seems to make them just a bit richer and deeper in color.

I've stamped the edge here and added some extra dots as fill in.

The green chipboard piece has permanent marker along the edges.

After painting a couple of layers of acrylic paint on the wooden feet, I added Platinum Pearls-Liquid Pearls in little dots. 

Then some black Gel Glaze Pen dots to the bottom of the feet.

This is the bottom of the box.

I stamped the rejoicing family onto Let It Snow paper and added different Distress Inks to the edges.

The Green is Evergreen Bough from the Limited Edition Winter 2011 Distress Ink from Tim Holtz, and an Artistic Outpost stamp from the Sleigh Ride set.

The stamped piece was layered onto Transatlantique-Globe Trotter paper for drama!

Here's a detail shot of the Stamped images with Jet Black Archival Ink, and dots that I can't live without.

  

This is a dark picture of the inside of the box.

This is what is on my desk....Emma told me it was "kinda a mess" yesterday. JUST KINDA??????

I think I've worked harder than that to make it a REAL, BIG MESS...but that's just my opinion.

Now to decorate the INSIDE PAGES...I WILL POST THEM STARTING DEC. 1ST.

Come Back AGAIN!

Linda