Everything's coming up Roses

I've been wanting to do this project for ages, but wanted to do it right, and use it to enter a couple of challenges too, then I saw that this fortnight's challenge on A Compendium of Challenges was the wonderful Tim Holtz Tea Rose - Page 65 of Compendium of Curiosities Volume III - great I thought - flowers - just what this needs!!  Then I realised I needed a specific die to create the roses; a die I didn't have and that was out of stock in just about every online craft shop I tried.  But, guess what, one of my besties (Sarah :o) ) had the die and agreed to lend it to me.  It took me a few practices but I got the hang of it in the end and I think I may just have to go out and buy the die myself!!

There are two other blogs which also have a flower related theme this month; Craft All Day, where I buy an awful lot of my supplies, including the 'box' that is the main focus of this piece; and also Vintage Stamping Challenges, which I like to enter when I can as I am still new to stamping and like to push myself a little.

 So this is the box before I began - I saw it as a mini-greenhouse draped in flowers - well that was my plan - I think maybe a little ambitious, but I'm really pleased with the result.

First of all I painted it white and then when dry I stamped with grass and flower stamps, adding in a few little creatures too - a cute hedgehog, snail and blackbird ooh and a bench!

By then I had realised that it would be a great size to store my seeds in, so I stamped 3 x labels, for Herbs, Flowers and Veggies and a central label too.

 The last step was to create my climbing roses :o)  So I used the die as per Tim's instructions and made some roses and leaves, I had already stamped along 2 sides of the lid with some small climbing branches too which I think gives a bit of depth.  I stuck 2 half terracotta pots to the lid and added the roses.

And there it is - just by the skin of my teeth too - I think I'm down to the final hours to link to the CC3C!!

The challenges I'm entering this into are:

Compendium of Challenges3, Challenge 3 - Tea Roses - here: http://lindaledbetter.com/2014/05/compendium-of-curiosities-3-challenge-3.html

Craft All Day - Flowers, flowers, flowers - here : http://craftallday.blogspot.com/2014/05/challenge-6-flowers.html

and

Vintage Stamping Challenges - Summer Blooms - here : http://www.flonzcraft.com/vsc/?p=1499

Thanks for reading
Stefanie x

Challenge Entry for A Vintage Journey and Craft All Day

There's been a great new challenge blog launch for devotees of everything shabby chic and vintage, especially if influenced by the great Tim Holtz ~ A Vintage Journey (here at http://www.vintagejourney.com/) Their first challenge is simply 'Anything Tim'

I talked a lot at the beginning of the year about wanting to enter a few challenges and this one has inspired me to take part!  I am also entering my piece into the monthly challenge at Craft All Day, where I got a few of my supplies from (http://craftallday.blogspot.com/2014/03/challenge-4-anything-goes.html ) their theme this month is Anything Goes.

One thing I've wanted to create for a long time is a shadow box - I could spend hours (hmm and probably have!) scrolling through all the delicious ones on show on Pinterest.  They just really catch my imagination so I bought a few blanks a while ago but have been waiting for the mojo to hit.  I figured the time is finally right!

I decided to use this little MDF house shaped shadow box, I really like the fact that it has different shaped sections so I could really play around with them.

So my first task was to paint it all black. I used a simple acrylic paint for this, making sure to really get into all the inside corners. I chose black as I wanted to make this one quite antiquey (is that a word!?) a bit like an old library or reading room feel to it, but there are some lovely ones which have been painted white or pale pastel colours which give a lovely shabby chic look. I will try one like this in the future sometime I'm sure.

Once the paint had dried, I spent some time picking out which papers I wanted to use at the back of each section to help give some definition. Again I went darkish papers to carry on the theme.  You might (if you look closely!) notice a few scripty papers and one with maps - two of my favourite things - words and maps!  This is also true with my choice of fabrics - my friends just have to point out either and they know I'll take the bait!

I decided that the longer section at the bottom would work best with a drawer - this though meant I had to create one.  So I measured the opening, depth, length and height and cut some stiff card to a shape that I could then score and fold to make the drawer.  I then lined it and covered the front with more papers and a little washi tape; I also attached a little handle with a couple of small brads.

The next bit was the really fun bit! Choosing which embellishments to put where, and fastening them in to place.

Here are a few close-ups of the individual sections.  My favourites are the 'Words' one - I would really like to have some vintage typewriter keys but haven't treated myself yet - to make these I found a copywright free downloadable image, printed it off and then cut out the letters I wanted and glued them to some little chipboard circles I had - and the 'Map Room' - I spent a long time working out what was missing after I'd placed the Eiffel Tower and the balloon and then it suddenly came to me to make a little map scroll to place in there too.

 

I'm really pleased with the result, and will definitely be making another.  I hope you like it too.

Thanks for reading!

Stefanie xx