Altered Cigar Box

Well after several days I have finally finished my cigar box for The Creative Carte Blanche Challenge this month titled "Thinking Outside The Box". Do grab a cuppa and have a look at the other entries and the wonderful teams boxes here.

I started with a very traditional wooden cigar box.

Which was given a coat of white gesso on the outside,

but not on the inside as I knew I would line it with paper and black felt.

The outside was then painted with Fresco Chalk Acrylic in Pea Coat and Evergreen, then small areas of Weathered Wood and then Stone acrylic paint.

Then using a Stencil Girl sun burst stencil applied some Grunge Paste that I had coloured with Beach Hut paint. Next I added some letters to the top and bottom using a Dylusions stencil.

The next couple of days I spent undecided on how to proceed ------ spent some tome searching for a clasp/knob ----

This I took off of an embroidery hoop that is designed to be hung to display the embroidery.

Finally I stamped some script to the 4 sides using a stamp from Studio 490 Art from the Heart set in Sepia Archival ink. This I embossed with clear EP.

Next I stamped a page from an old book with flowers from a Heartfelt Creations set in black archival ink and clear embossed these also. They were then painted with various colours of the Fresco Chalk Acrylic paint from the Translucent Range.

These were cut out, shaped and layered to form the 2 flowers on the top of the lid. The swirls and leaves were die cut and before everything was stuck in place the embossed script and the grunge paste were rubbed with small amounts of Treasure Pewter.

I added metal flowers from a jewellery kit to the centres of the 3 sunbursts on the lid.

Buttons were added to the centres of the 2 flowers.

Now I have a box that I am very pleased with !!!

So I've finished just before the closing date for the challenge but I'm glad I didn't rush the last steps as I fell sure I would not have been so happy with the end result.

Thanks as always for stopping by, hope your week has gone well so far and enjoy the weekend when it arrives. Bye for now Jane x

Resists on Backgrounds

Welcome, today I'd like to share with you a card I made using 'Resists' on the background before stamping the main image.

Over on the PaperArtsy Blog there is a wonderful array of examples put together by Darcy, so grab a coffee and click on the link here.

To begin with I cut a stencil using a die from Tim Holtz Alterations Thinlits - Mixed Media collection, covered it all over with versa mark ink and pressed the image down with a clean brayer on 2 opposite corners. These were then heat embossed with clear EP.

The card was then coloured using 2 paints from the Fresco Chalk collection with a brayer. Toad hall was applied first and once nearly dry the card was wiped with a slightly wet wipe to reveal the embossing.

Once the Beach hut was nearly dry I wiped away small areas of paint so the embossed pattern was now 2 colours.

Grunge Paste was applied through a stencil to give small areas of the harlequin pattern. I didn't like the stark white of the gaps in the paint or the grunge paste so applied some antique linen DI with a blending tool. The dry acrylic paint also acts as a resist.

The main image from LPC030 was stamped in versa fine black onyx and just before the ink was dry I sprinkled some clear EP on the pen nibs and heated. These were then touched with treasure gold in Olive Bronze.

The image was cut out, mounted onto cream card, then kraft card and the pen from the stamp set was stamped and embossed using the trimmings from the left hand side. ( really like how the diamond of grunge paste fits in with the design on the pen!)

The pen was cut out and rubbed with treasure pewter and then a twisted cord tied through the top.

Love the textures on this and the squares take on different appearances depending on the angle you hold the card, especially the faces.

Well I hope you all have a good weekend, weather forecast isn't brilliant, but there's always 'a bit of crafting' if it's too wet to go out! Have fun and take care, Jane x