I’ve really enjoyed my time on the Xyron Design Team and am so happy to announce that they’re letting me stay for another six months! They have partnered with so many wonderful companies during my term and this month my shipment from them contained a wonderful assortment from Kaisercraft. I’ve always enjoyed Kaisercraft products. Their paper designs are always so pretty and their Beyond the Page elements are so much fun to play with!

We’re involved in a Blog Hop with them this week so be sure to visit Xyron’s blog for all the links to see what the other designers have created. Today, I’m sharing a Round Shadow Frame and a tag I made using the 75 Cents collection and my Xyron!

For my first project I used a Kaisercraft Round Shadow Frame to create a home decor piece titled “Butterfly Kisses.” The Shadow Frame comes in two pieces and it’s naked (meaning it is a wood color) ready for you finish. I painted the top portion with a thin coat of gesso which preps the surface so it accepts inks or paints. I spread the gesso on the top, outer edges and inner edges – any portion of the frame that will be visible.

The gesso dries fairly quickly, especially when applying a thin coat. Once dry, I literally globbed on Ranger’s Picket Fence Crackle Paint. The more you glob the better the cracks. Then I went to bed. I like the crackle when I’m patient enough for it to dry thorougly without getting my fingerprints in it so I try to apply it at night then go to bed to avoid any temptation of speed-drying it.

I selected two pattern papers from Kaisercraft’s 75 Cents collection of 12-inch by -12-inch papers; laid the round bottom of the frame on them and pencil traced. I cut two portions of the papers to fit the bottom, making sure the seam would be covered by the wall in the shadow frame, and processed them face-up through my Xyron 9″ Creative Station. This puts total adhesive coverage on the back of the papers and makes it stick to the Shadow Frame background circle very securely.

Peel the top layer of cellophane from the papers and then peel the papers -one at a time – from the backing and place them on the Shadow Frame background circle. Adhere the frame to the covered bottom circle.

The white was way to bright so I used Ranger’s Vintage Photo Distress Stain and coated the top frame portion (outer and inner edges too) and lightly wiped with a soft, clean rag repeating these steps until I got the look that was right for me. I added an extra dose or two of stain over the crackle paint cracks to they would be a bit darker (I changed this up in the end and totally coated it with Ranger’s Tarnished Brass Distress Stain instead. It gave the piece a lot more depth and a bit of sheen). Next, I made a mixture of Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls and water in a mini mister and spritz the Kaisercraft Paper Blooms. This tones down the color for me and adds a touch of gold shimmer to the blooms.

I used a pack of die cut pieces – 75 cents collectibles – to add lots of dimension and texture to this piece without using any photos. All the edges are inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Then I took my tub of clear UTEE and a Perfect Medium Pen (clear embossing ink) and edged or colored in nearly every 75 cents collectible used on this piece. I love the look the shiny embossing lends to the die cuts.

I had fun just playing with the different combinations and layering of the die cuts to create a dimensional collage. The pieces are adhere with Xyron’s Glue Stick and dimensional tape (did you know you can make your own dimensional tape from chipboard scraps cut into little squares and run them through the Xyron 1.5″ Create-a-Sticker to put adhesive on them. Use just as you would foam tape to add dimension).

I added three corks and a little bottle to the bottom and stuck an embossed butterfly into one of the corks using a stick pin. The Kaisercraft wooden letters are one of my new favorites. These are just the right size for projects like this. I painted them with Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber in Willow to coordinate with the papers then coated them with Glossy Accents – then went to work and they were ready to adhere when I came home.

Added bonus: I hate to waste any spritzing mixture by just wiping it up. I will usually grab a few tags and blot up the leftovers from my craft sheet and save them for another project. This is a tag I created from leftovers.

Watch for a tutorial to post later this week on the tag. Don’t forget to visit Xyron’s blog so you can check out what the other design team members have created!