Let Me Call You

Hello There & Happy Sunday!!  It's me, Shari and I've got something new (to me) to share with you today.  You know how you spend waste invest creative research time on Pinterest to find inspiration?  Today's project is a direct result of that research plus a left-over Valentine......  

I created a vintagey, faux-leather, billfold-esque picture wallet from a microscope slide holder/mailer, two glass microscope slides and lots of Artistic Outpost stamps!  Let me show you what I did--

After drooling over all kinds of wonderful art pieces (and jewelry) made with microscope slides, I purchased a box of slides and these very cool single & double slide holders/mailers made out of chipboard (supplies for jewelry making being gathered now!). 

I know that I want to alter this slide holder to look like an old, beat-up leather billfold, so I pulled out Walnut Stain DP and tissue paper. 

I rubbed the Walnut Stain DP directly onto the slide holder, then pressed scrunched up tissue paper into the wet paint.  I dabbed more paint onto the tissue paper and rubbed in with my fingers. 

I'm getting ready to apply the last piece of tissue paper to the backside of the slide holder and here you can see the difference of the before and after--Before (on the left) it's smooth, and After (on the right), it's all wrinkly and well on it's faux-leather way--COOL! 

I rubbed DAM Carbon Black Antiquing Cream over the surfaces with my finger and let air dry.

 
When the antiquing cream was dry, I gently wiped the surface with a damp cotton cloth to remove the excess, and was left with this time-worn looking, faux-leather wallet, just what I was hoping for!! 

I stained a couple of pieces of seam binding with Antique Linen DSS and machine stitched into place inside the slide depressions.  These will be little slide pullers, so when a slide is in place, you pull the ribbon, and the slide will pop up. 

I stained two glass slides with alcohol inks--I used Sand and Butterscotch Adirondack AIs on both sides of the slides and heat set. 

 

 

I've pulled out the cowpokes from our Wander & Dream set and stamped them and heat embossed them, on tissue paper.  I fussy ripped them out and adhered onto their glass slides with matte Decou-Page. 

 

 

I flipped the slides over and masked off the images because I'm going to do some direct stamping onto the glass. 

 

 

I used the little leafy scroll stamp found in our Serenity set, to add a nice background to these mini portraits.  I used Jet Black Staz-On ink as it's permanent on glass. 

 

 

The glass slides that I have don't have beveled edges, so they are a bit sharp and you could get sliced if not handled carefully.  To soften the edges of my mini-glass portraits, I dipped the edges into black enamel and set into my flower frog to air dry. 

 



I'm using letters from the letter block stamp in our Secretary Pool set to create the word bands, that I ran through my sewing machine, and I've also used the applique stitch stamp found in our Cowgirl Strength on the front and back of the holder. 

Here are the finished slides both respectively in their places and out of place--I pulled on their little ribbons and out they popped!  I can tell you now, this project was the start of a wonderful relationship with glass-There are creative ideas being incubated right this very minute! 

Thanks so much for coming by today--I hope my creative foray onto a new surface has inspired you to try something new, too! 
 
Designer:  Shari Trumbull
Ain't That Artsy Fartsy