Monday, February 20, 2012

An Old World Box

I've added crackle painting to my favorite list of techniques. For this box, I used the 3 step method of painting to create a imitation wood look to a box I bought at Hobby Lobby. After the 3rd painted layer dried I adhered a piece of Graphic 45 Communique paper to the top of the box and Tim Holtz corners to each of the 4 corners. Tim Holtz feet were then added at the bottom corners. I used E6000 to glue each of the metal Holtz pieces to the box.

Well it was ok, the crackle paint in 2 shades of brown had the look of wood, which is pretty cool., but the top just seemed to look too ordinary. So I decided a change needed to be made and I took the drastic step to rip the paper off the box in two spots! Next after securing the uneven edges on the box with glue, I darkened the paper's white edges with Tim Holtz distress ink. I used that same ink to darken the box in the areas that no longer were covered with the paper.

Now finally the box is finished and has this wonderful old world look! The box will make a really nice gift for my son's birthday and can hold some of his many small trinkets!

PS: My son loved the box! I knew he would!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Graphic 45 Design Team 2012 Audition

Audition time for the Graphic 45 Design Team is here. I love working with the many collections that Graphic 45 has and now I am invited to audition for their team! How very cool is that! Here are some of my many paper crafted projects. Click for larger images!
Fashionista paper by Graphic 45 certainly lent itself beautifully for these two altered canvases. My dad took these pictures of my mom.
Communique paper by Graphic 45 work so well with these old photographs of my mom's family. My son liked these altered canvases so much, they hang on his living room wall!



Curtain Call paper was certainly perfect for pictures of my husband's parents, on an altered canvas.


Some day in the future this book and treasury box will be used for my grandson's first year of school. An ABC Primer just called out to me to make this.
My wonderful daughter-in-law is a great cook and she inspired me to make a cook book treasury and the Domestic Goddess paper was a good choice to use.
A Proper Gentleman lent itself to this wonderful cigar box.

 Here are two of my favorite cards. In one I used a 3D effect with watercolor pencils and in the other I embossed the background and used Tombow Markers. Both have stamped images.


Here is a decorative mini cigar box I used crackle painting on, along with decorative embellishments.
Here are three 6"x6" altered canvases, aren't these fun! They are all from the Asian influence.


It was great fun putting this blog entry together. I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Valentines for Hubby!

It's no big secret, Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday...one day before my anniversary. I have two days to celebrate! I love crafting or wearing pretty things. This year I went crazy trying out new ideas for cards for my wonderful husband. So I went to http://ramblingsofatexascraftroom.blogspot.com
and saw some great ideas there and tried them out. See these below:

One of those would have been the one except for the fact that I found this really neat kit in my stash. It's "Sweetheart Washi Paper Quilting" by Hanko Designs. The kit includes three sheets of chipboard, three sheets of washi paper quilting foam, patterns and idea sheet for four cards and instruction and tips for washi paper quilting. The washi paper (Japanese decorative paper) and embellishments need to be bought separately.


So since I had everything already and I loved the design with the heart, I began. The direction on the kit are really good and the best tip of all was to cut "slits" in the washi paper to overlap the back and help to pull the paper snugly around the heart for a lovely quilted effect.

I use one piece of patterned washi paper for the heart and another for the background and adhered them to gold cardstock over a card base and embellished with ribbon and a sticker. I love the effect and plan to try other designs in the kit and look into what else is available. The kit was bought at my favorite scrapbook store, Gingham Buttons 2 in Palm Coast, Fl.

I know my husband is going to love this card!