Crafty Secrets Pajama Party and Linky Party Tutorial

Note:  If you are looking for the Seasons Givings Blog Hop post, please click HERE.

Hello Friends!  Welcome to the very first Crafty Secrets Linky party of 2015!  This is not just any Linky Party, though…it’s a Crafty Secrets Pajama Party! The design team has come together to showcase a darling new digital stamp set: Bedtime Kids.

This jumbo download has an amazing array of 55 stamps and sentiments, all featuring cutie pie kids in their jammies.  Here’s a peek at these sweet stamps:

I thought and thought and thought about what I wanted to share with you this month for my project and tutorial, and finally decided that I loved the “Keep Calm and Keep Your Jammies On” sentiment so much that I wanted to feature it.  So, I made this 8″ x 10″ altered clipboard.

Here’s the tutorial so you can make one of these yourself:

1.  Gather your materials.  I found this clipboard while cleaning out the Closet of Shame.  I printed the digital Rose Swirls papers onto 80# text paper.  I printed two copies of  the trio of cute girls onto watercolor paper, sizing them to about 4.5″ in Paintshop Pro. One of them was die cut with a Spellbinders’ die, and the other was fussy cut.  I printed the SNOW bingo card from the Creating with Retro Christmas CD, and then cut off the “snow” border at the top.   I used the “Keep Calm” stamp but printed in chalkboard style…which I will explain in the next step.

2.  To print the chalkboard sign, I opened the stamp image using my Paintshop Pro program, then sized the image to 4″ x 5.5″.  From the menu, I selected the “image” tab and then scrolled down until I found the “negative” option.  Next, I opened the black chalkboard paper and sized it to 5″ square.  Going back to my  Keep Calm stamp, I copied it in the “Edit” tab.  I went back to the chalkboard paper, clicked on the “Edit” button and pasted the stamp as a new selection onto the chalkboard paper.  Then I just printed it out onto canvas textured paper, trimmed it and backed it with a black linen paper.  I rubbed a little white pigment ink onto the surface to give it a true chalkboard feel.  And that, as they say, is that!

Next, I prepared my clipboard, which is the second part of this tutorial.

I used two shades of Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paint: Tumbled Glass and Broken China.  I painted just the outer edges of the clipboard, as the center would be covered up.  I dried each layer, and when the surface was completely dry, I began the process of adding the stenciled on texture paste.

I clipped my stencil under the handy clip on the edge of the clipboard.  Remember…we are just adding the texture paste to the outer edge of the clipboard.  I work on a non-stick craft sheet for this type of “messy” crafting, but if you don’t have one, you can use an old brown paper bag.  But I don’t recommend that you work directly on your desktop, as this is messy!

This is the texture paste I used, and you can see my “fancy” applicator…it’s an old credit card.  And it works great for this process.

I scooped out some texture paste onto my craft sheet, then I “scribbled” a gold Gelato stick directly onto the sheet.  I used the edge of the card to mix the texture paste in with the gelato, and I had gold glitter texture paste in about 30 seconds.

I was unable to take photos of this process, because you need both hands to work, but basically, you pick up some texture paste with your applicator and swipe it over the top of the stencil, smoothing it out as you go, and making sure you have completely filled the space.  Then, carefully lift your stencil straight up to remove it from the work surface.  Don’t slide it, or you’ll smear the stenciled shape.  Then, move the stencil and repeat the process until the entire area is covered.  I did clean off the back of my stencil a couple of times to prevent smears. Let the paste dry completely.  Overnight is good.  Then, ink up the edges with some Vintage Photo Distress ink to finish this part of the process.

From this point, I just began to layer on my elements.  I distressed and inked the edges of my papers and began to layer them onto the board, glueing them down with Aleene’s tacky glue.  I die cut some of Tim’s Tattered Florals, and layered them together, inking the edges with chalk ink.  I filled the centers with hot glue and some glass beads.  The leaves are a Heartfelt Creations die.  I also die cut Tim’s Crescent moon and stars die from black linen paper, then painted them with Clear Rock Candy Distress Stickles.

I downloaded and printed the FREE Crafty Secrets 2015 calendar.  I cut it into squares, stacked it and stapled it onto a black linen cardstock base.  It is held on with the clip, so that I can change it out when 2016 rolls around!  I added some Scrabble letter tiles to remind me to relax every now and again…and spend the day in my jammies!  The finishing touch is the hot pink shimmer satin bow.  I watercolored the adorable pajama girl trio with watercolor pencils.  I find that if I heat the printed image before coloring, I have less trouble with the ink bleeding.

You can print these images to be really large, and I did some extras that I am going to turn into paper dolls for the grand girls to play with.  The larger size would work really well with paper piecing, too.

Now, go visit the rest of the design team blogs below and be sure to leave them some love.  Then, link up your own Crafty Secrets project on the BLOG and you could win the entire Bedtime Kids Stamp Set!  We’ve loaded a free image from the set into this month’s Linky Party post as our way of thanking you for playing along.  You can download the image and use it in your Linky Party project, or use one of the FREE PRINTABLES found on the blog page.  The rules are simple: Just create a NEW project featuring Crafty Secrets, and link it up on the Crafty Secrets blog before midnight Pacific Time on Sunday, January 18th.  

Darlene ♥ Diane ♥ Elizabeth ♥ Gloria (on vacation this month) ♥ Melody ♥

Michele ♥ Shantaie ♥ Sheila

I’ve had a sneaky peek of these projects, and I know you are gonna love them!

So, go get your craft on…and I can’t wait to see what you create!

Cheerio,

kathy