A light from within...

Hello Crafters…

Thank you all for constantly supporting my work and also my last few projects have got their due by being” featured” in various blog. Am so happy…

Today’s project has been in my” To Do” for a long time now. I have been wanting to do this Faux patina technique on a wooden box  but have not been able to get the box that I wanted so I went ahead and did the same on this….

I had a Buddha statue in metal, one of my first purchases when I got newly married and was setting up a house! I wanted to make a proper display for it…I had this picture in mind, of a metal box, weathered and old with texture on it  and some soft lighting to highlight the texture and colors of the box. At same time, I wanted the whole thing to radiate calmness and peace …would that be possible??? Well with all this in mind, I set out experimenting, this time I was just going with my heart’s desire…the final visual was very clear and I was just working to make that REAL!

And this is the outcome!

Now for the details on the making!

2 coats of gesso and then coloring with turquoies acrylics and then texture with TCW damask stencil and home made texture paste.

I did some crackling in some areas. Then came layers of paint in gold, copper, brown, black and turquoise to get the "patina" look!

I then cut out small tiles from the body of the box. These tiles are 2.5" X 3" and got some lovely Buddha images with quotes from google and decoupaged it to the tile. The tile was then edged with copper and gold heat embossing and peacock feather DI. Also fixed gold eyelets on the top and bottom of the tile.

At this stage, I hand dyed some natural twine in peacock feather DI and also applied gold paint in spots. This twine was used to tie up the tile in the slots! How cool is that?

Since the box was bright with the copper and gold hues, I wanted the embellishments to be minimal and not take away the beauty of the technique and the textures...I made some pure white lace flowers to depict the calmness and purity associated with Buddha. For the flower centers have used dried berries from the garden!

At the base of the box, I adhered a vintage trim with mini coconut shell beads . some of them are painted in copper too! the box has turquoise bottle cap feet too!

And now comes the dramatic effect...I placed led candles behind the tiles and when switched on...it's gives the perfect warm glow for this setting. I was just not able to get the right pic for this...hope you can visualize!

And if this is not enough...there is small surprise behind the tile! yes, it can be turned around to have a different set up if you are bored with the first look! Yes a reversible shadow box!

For the back of the tiles, I photocopied some vintage quotes on friendship and stuck them inked them the same way.

Phew! that's it from me. Thank you so much for your patience to scroll till the bottom. I am super excited about this project and wanted to share everything about it!

Do let me know what you think of today’s project? Do you think I did justice to the visual I had in mind? My soul is happy with this creation and this is sitting pretty in my living room now!

Am linking this to…

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge – Stencil and texture paste

Scrapping4 fun Challenge – use a technique

Alphabet Challenge Blog – ‘N’ for natural. (have used wooden beads made out of coconut shell on the trim on the base of the box, dried berries from the garden as flower center)

Loves To scrap! Challenge  Blog – Anything goes

Rhedd's Creative Spirit

Until then,

Happy crafting and Re cycling.

Hugs.

A Glowing window..

Hello crafters..

Some wonderful challenges happening this month, which has made me think “out of the box” and I enjoyed every bit of this project. I recently bought my window die (IO dies) and can’t get enough of it! I have wanting to use the die in different ways and please bear with me, cos you are going to be seeing a lot of windows in the days to come!

The challenges that have inspired me…

Frilly and Funkie- To alter an ATB or anything cube shaped.

Wow! This just pushed my creative thinking to come up with the base idea for this project! To make the cube, I just carefully opened up a drinks carton and cut it at 3.5” to make one! It was ready…I just needed to make a lid to size and work on the alteration! Wanted a shabby chic look this time.

Lulupu- To use Background stamps and spray/ misting

I have used the Urban cling rubber stamp and gave a coat of gesso over it and stamped on the PP. Voila, my first gesso stamping and I just loved it. The pink and white combo was just perfect.

 The same bg stamp was used to stamp on the window using Archival inks.

Used mini mister to spray ink on the window and also used the Cracks stencil from Prima and the spray to work on the window wall. Isn’t that cool! Dried it up soon with a heat gun to avoid a lot of running up and other mess!!!

The Shabby Tearoom Challenge- Had this lovely picture inspiration

and my project with the flowers and the window  with soft Led light inside just fitted there!

Sentimental Sunday- wanted Monochromatic colors with a sentiment!

And that’s what it is, all shades of pink and white! The color pink was unanimously agreed upon me  and my 5 yr old daughter!

and not to miss the sentiment too..."Home is where the heart is"...so true!

Crafty Catz- Recycle is the theme.

Do you even need to tell me? All my projects have a re cycled item, and this is no exception! The main structure of this project is using an empty drinks carton and have used pieces of fruit net to form the bed for the mini garden on the lid! The lid itself is made with corrugated cardboard from packaging.

Now, with all this in mind for doing the project, what do you expect will be the outcome??? Have a look…

 

Hope you liked it! Do let me know what you think of this deco piece that glows in the night! 

A closer look at the window, the window pane is an acetate sheet from die packaging and have used the wood texture embossing plate to give some texture!

The walls inside have space to insert tags and there is lots of room for a mini to slip inside the house too! Will be doing that soon. Couldn't help sharing this right away!

I am a hoarder of trash and proud to be so..I have always had friends asking me as to why I fuss over so much on altering a recycled item, so much work, loading it with embellies and so on… to me, it’s simple, when life gives you a second chance, won’t you make the best of it!

Scraps are precious, don’t throw them away..

Until then,

Happy Crafting and re Cycling.

Hugs.

On a rainy day..

Hello Crafters…

Thank you all so much for the lovely responses on my “trunkload of memories”… and those who took time to leave a comment too! It sure motivates me and here I am with another mini 3D project!

I am sure all of you love monsoons and what happens when you are caught indoors and it’s poring outside??? I love to sit by the window with my fav cuppa and drown myself on the scene outside…the pitter patter of the rain, the fresh green color of the leaves, the flowers all dripping with droplets of water…the butterflies and birds fluttering and shuddering the water off them…such a beautiful sight. “Rain makes everything beautiful”…that’s my project for you today. 

A mini window scene that measures 4”X5” and have re cycled some carpentry remains(wooden block) and burlap piece by ripping a gunny sack and treating it to be used as canvas!

Here it is…are you ready with your cuppa?

creted some texture on tha oanel with TCW mini bricks stencil and home made texture paste. later inked it with DI fired brick and peeled paint to give the mossy look.Edged the panel with lime green acrylic paints to "liven"it up!

My first time with stamping on vellum! Have heat embossed the butterflies in black and white and colored with the markers. They turned out to be beauties

and look so real on the project! Love the transparency ov vellum and the color seen on the other side, makes it REAL.

The window are heat embossed in white(2 coats) and have place a PP behind. the curtains cheese cloth misted with mustard seed DI.Made a miniature window trough for the planter and loaded it with blooms made from TH tatterd florals(smallest flower)! Aren't they cute...the leaves are punch cuts.

The top of the panel has a bed of feathers and looots of handmade flowers made using Joy crafts and TH dies. with all the butterflies taking their position, the panel just comes to life!

The panel is just bigger then my palm! I have hung 2 metal charms an umbrella and a tea pot (don't you love your cuppa when it rains???) and the hand written quote is from google.

Hope you can see the fresh droplets of rain water! added random spots of glossy accents to get this look on the entire panel.

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to appreciate, that will make me come back with another project soon!

Enjoy your monsoons too!

Am linking this to…

As you like it Challenge ( my fav embellishments are handmade flowers and metal charms)

Craft for the Craic ( my first time with vellum, have been hoarding it for 6 months!)

Electic papierie ( heat embossed windows and butterflies embossed on vellum)

Imagination Crafts ( a window garden scene on a rainy day)

Our Creative Corner (Summer time)

Crafty Catz ( have recycled a wooden block from carpentry remains , a torn gunny sack to make the burlap panel)

The Crafters café ( anything but a card)
613 Avenue Create

Until then,

Happy crafting and Re cycling.

Hugs.

Trunk load of memories!

Hello Crafters,

Am happy happy, Mr.mojo finally decided to visit my craft room...I was a little low on creativity the last few days and feeling low on that count, BUT not now!!!
Before I get too excited, would like to thank all of you who stop by my blog, leave their comments and also those who follow my work, hope to keep you all happy too!
I enjoyed today's project to its every stitch!! I love doing miniatures and this is double bonanza cos I made a mini suitcase with an empty soap carton and then a mini album inside it too! LOVE...
You may wonder why I took the trouble of altering a soap carton and not just score a CS and startt...but that's the joy of re cycling! You have to experience it.

I have used the Prima, sunrise sunset paper line for this and the colors are pinks, yellows, greens and tinges of brown to keep it vintage! I have machine stitched the PP to the card stock to make signatures and then hand stitched them to the box.

Loved the distressing and inking and using my new  TH alteration die(hardware findings).
As the title suggests, there is space for a lot of pictures, journaling and tags too ...literally trunk loads! So come lets go on a summer vacation ladies...ready!

I have heat embossed the handle and the hardware findings die cut in green and fixed it with white brads. the mini lock and key is resin charm using the mod mold and then colored in black and rubbed with Inka gold..the rusted metallic look.

 The box when open...couldn't resist fixing the dashing pink flower made using TH tarred florals and Georgette fabric. Some tiny tags here...

 The last box lid too has space for tag inserts and a vintage pocket watch too!

The feminine tags inside with a lots of Tims techniques , swishing, swashing, flicking water and ghost stamping, dry embossing...

I had some vintage girlie pics and quotes which you can see on the other side of the tags. All tags are finally inked with walnut stain.

 My box can stand on it's own legs...yes it has flat back pearls as feet!!!

The spine of the box is canvas cloth stamped with TH visual artistry( ruler) which is exactly an inch wide and perfect for this. The box sits too on pearly feet!

That's the end of the tour! Hope you enjoyed the summery vintage colors and Oh! so girlie suitcase! A great

travel companion right!

There you see it dangling from my finger! See ya..Bye.

Do let me know what you think of this mini. Thank you so much for stopping by.

Am linking this to...

Frilliy and Funkie

scrapping4fun challenge

Altered Electics

Rhedd's Creative Spirit

Anything But A Card

Craft Hoarders Anonymous

Until then,

Happy crafting and recycling.

Hugs.

Flutter by butterfly!

Hello Crafters…

A warm welcome to all of you have stopped by my page  and also to my new followers. Today’s project is totally out of my comfort zone  more than 1 reason, have been hesitant but as I started working on it, it turned out to be what I visualized!

Firstly, I have used some bright colors in this, very min use of D inks, not my customary inked, twisted and molded flowers and lastly my heat gun breathed its last( a local make)…which meant that my project had to dry naturally! That also meant a lot of patience…which I managed.

The good thing in this is I have used a lot of scraps for this project. The flowers especially are made from PP scraps. I adhered strips of the same color family on to a paper and then ran it thru the die to make flower. I saw Bhavana had done this and I knew I had to make this. Have alook…

Summer is all about bright colors, blooms and butterflies and this being the theme in many challenges, I made this 3 tier butterfly hanging. I got the template on 3 different butterflies from the net and cut it out from empty cereal boxes as base. So, it was 3 shapes, 3 colors and e different techniques for the butterflies!

Butterfly 1…

This is from CC from packaging and removed the first later in place to reveal the corrugation. Then gave a coat of gesso and then crackle paint and then a top coat of like green acrylic color. I loved the fresh cracks! Stamped some script and postage images using archival ink. i also made a stamp using Joy cratfs v,vintage flourish die and stamped some foliage using green archival ink.

 The birdcage is from TH using Prima something blue paper line. How do you like the lovely black feathers with white dots( using my uniball pen) ???  Bright flowers, flourishes and leaves add more color to this big green butterfly! The lovely butterfly was stamped, colored and laced with glitter! The quote is from the net and hand written. This butterfly is edged with jute rope.

Butterfly 2…

This was cut on an empty cereal carton and then I adhered red burlap cloth on it. Gave textures using TCW stencils and handmade texture paste…had to wait for it to dry naturally to continue work. So got to do it the next day only! 

The embellishments here is around the lamp post from Cheery lynn.

 

 Butterfly 3…

For the texture in this, have used kitchen foil and created the faux metal look and also used an embossing folder to give texture. As I was doing this, my craft parcel with the heat gun arrived! I picked up speed now! Have colored using alcohol inks( my first try) and then heat embossed the edges in black.

Finally added a Chinese bell from my stash and have tied a shabby bow made from green checkered cloth from my stash.A dash of green on the top and bottom!!! I have joined all the pieces with white paper rope to make a hanging and it definitely adds color to my room! I may not shy from bright colors now…though it still is not my style!

Thank you so much for stopping by and hope to hear your take on this. Hope you are all enjoying your summer…

Am linking this to..

Cheery Lynn designs ( dies used DL121, B369,B310, B147 and B310)

Our Creative Corner

Country View Challenge

Stampotique Designers Challenge
Lessology

Until then,

Happy crafting and re cycling.

Hugs.