Altered Tin for Altered Eclectics DT Project

My DT make for Altered Eclectics for March is a little hanging made from old packaging cardboard and the lid of a small tin. I then added a heart I'd made in my melt pot.

My first step was to cut several layers of cardboard using Tim Holtz's Cabinet Card die and also a couple of pieces using the Pediments die. Once cut I covered them all with white gesso. I purposely used an older stiff brush to create texture in the surface. I measured and cut out the centre to be able to fit the tin lid in (it had a really nice lip that could hold it just nicely in the hole. Apologies as I forgot to take a photo of just the gesso (!¿!).

The tin was lined with strips of aged book pages, which I buffed with some distress inks. Then the heart was glued in place.

The card layers were glued together and I fastened the Pediments at the base to elongate the look of the piece. I then painted the card with a copper paint, and once dry covered with a layer of crackle paste. Once this was also dry I aged it up with my distress inks, and put the tin in place.  

The next step was to add a Tim word band attached with twine and some pieces of filigree.  Another piece of twine was used to create the hanging loop.

This piece feels very personal to me, related to some of my health issues (physical and mental) and is now hanging where I can see it daily.

Please remember to visit Altered Eclectics and see what goodies my teammates have to share with you for March.

Thanks for reading :o)
Steffi xx

Domino Book for Rhedd's Creative Spirit DT

Hi :) today for my March DT piece for Rhedd's Creative Spirit, I'm sharing a little domino book I made for a swap - it had to follow a butterfly theme (not hard I think every crafter has butterflies in their stash!!) and have lashings of lace!

So I started with two ordinary dominoes and coloured them with alcohol inks. I had forgotten how much I love alcohol inks - the colours are great and you can use them in lots of different ways. Definitely worth a quick look on Pinterest (or if you're like me that will turn into a few hours!)

The next step was to create an inside for the book. I measured the dominoes length and then cut a strip of cream card a fraction smaller and concertina'd it, going over the creases with a bone folder to make sure they were crisp. Then I used a distress ink pad that toned with the dominoes to shade the edge of the folds.  

Next I took a few of my butterfly stamps (I did let a dragonfly slip in) and stamped along one side of the card. Flipping it over, I attached a layer of lace tape and some pink gem butterflies. Before attaching the card to the inside of the dominoes I attached a length of crocheted lace to each, so that the book could be tied shut when finished.

Another part of the brief was that the book needed to have feet so it could stand up. I took 4 little beads that were a pale jade colour and glued them into place. On the front of the domino book I used another piece of the lace tape and also added a floral wooden butterfly. 

I'm really pleased with it,  so much so that it was a wrench to send it away!  It is definitely my new favourite!!

Please pop across to Rhedd's Creative Spirit and see all the loveliness created by my teamies.

Thanks for reading :o)
Steffi xx

I would like to enter this into the following challenge:

Dream it up - Frilly and Fabulous - here : http://www.dreamweaverstencils.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/frilly-and-fabulous-week-one.html?m=1 

A Little Box of Dreams and Wishes - First DT piece for Rhedd's Creative Spirit

Hi there - today I'm sharing my first ever make as part of a Design Team - so I'm feeling a little nervous!!  Please do pop over to Rhedd's Creative Spirit to see the wonderful makes that my teamies have shared.

This is a little altered wooden box that I have blinged up a little. You may realise looking through earlier posts that 'Bling' is a totally new concept for me, slightly out of my comfort zone, so I hope you like it :o)

This is what it looked like to begin with, just plain wood, I had bought it because I really liked the fretwork on the lid, originally though it was just a cut-away so you could see into the box - which would have been good for holding potpourri or similar - but I wanted to try something different.

My first step was to paint the box inside and outside with gesso as I always find that plain wood like this really soaks up paint otherwise.  The gesso puts down a surface layer that sort of seals the wood so that you can then paint as you wish.  I mixed up some of my paint; a metallic pearl and some deep violet; to make a lighter purple with a slight sheen.  Once dry I added some metal filigree corners to lower corners of the box - I really like the way they look.

I then glued a piece of purple card to the underside of the lid to create a base to the fretwork.  I mixed some clear texture paste with some glass glitter and then pushed this into all of the scrolls.

Not very easy to show the glitter, hope you can see it in the photo below.

I was really pleased with this but still felt it needed a little more so I set to thinking about what I would use the box for.  As I say, it is quite small about 3 inches wide and 2.5 inches deep.  Last year I kept a Gratitude Jar (although I didn't keep up with it as much as I should have done) and I intend to do this again for 2015, but I wanted something else to go alongside it.  I decided that this could be a lovely little holder for my secret wishes over the year to come, and so it is a 'Little Box of Dreams and Wishes' and it is now labelled as such.

I used a set of alphabet stamps in a fancy font to stamp out the labels and simply glued them in place, they were just the final touch I think the box needed.

Thanks for reading :o)

Steffi

I would like to enter this into the current challenge, #8 at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - Something New for the New Year (as I said above Bling is totally new to me!) - here:  http://mixedmediamc.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/mixed-media-monthly-challenge-8.html

December - New month & some news :o)

So countdown to the end of the year - I'm just wondering where it went!?

I wanted to quickly share the result of a workshop I went on the other weekend, it was a needle-felting one.  Loads of fun, and more tiring on the wrists then you would imagine!!  It was a last minute decision to go, two of my friends were going and there was a spare place - so 'Why not?' I thought.  These are the cute little penguins we made - mine is in the middle.  He has now been named Hector and adopted by my Auntie who fell in love with him on first sight!

We started of by making a cone shape for the body using wool tops and building it up by needling in layer upon layer of more wool.  The needle is a special one designed for the purpose and has a little barb on the end which helps the layers mesh together.  Next was the head which began is just a simple ball shape.  Once both bits were the right size and shape we put them together and joined them by needling more wool over the top.

Greys and black were added to make up the 'tuxedo' look of the penguins and then the face.  I added some quirky eyebrows to mine so he looks a little like a rock-hopper!!

Hope you like them!

And now my news!!  I'm really excited to announce that I will be joining two design teams in January!! They are at Altered Eclectics and Rhedd's Creative Spirit - two challenge blogs promoting mixed media and altered art that I have enjoyed taking part in over the last year and I'm really looking forward to sharing my makes over the next few months!!

Thanks for reading
Stefanie xx