Thursday, August 21, 2014

Spellbinders Creating a Gilded Life Contest!


     So, I saw that Spellbinder's/The Gilded Life was having a contest and I  thought that I would have a go at it.  This is an area of crafting that is somewhat new and unfamiliar to me but hey!  Crafting is crafting right?  And I love to mess around with different pieces and parts of old new so I decided to have a try!

I scrounged around my house for a bit and came up with a small pile of broken or worn items....who knew I was such a pack rat?  The first item that I found was an old hand held mirror from my mom's dresser.  I remember she had a comb, mirror and brush set laid out nicely on a try on top of her dresser. This mirror has long ago lost it's brother brush and sister comb!  The mirror itself was in fairly good shape although the back of it was missing all of it's decorations!  Perfect item to alter!  I also remember using this mirror as a child during games of dress up and make believe...sort of a fairy mirror that was a magic portal into another world....so, I decided that this "remade" mirror would become a true magical fairylike mirror!  The products of The Gilded Life work perfectly for this type of idea and once I picked the colors of pink and cream I was off and running!-(crafting!).  I decided that I would enter this into the category of "Home Decor" .

     Here are pics of the items that I started with.....first of all the mirror!

  As you can see at one time this was a very glamourous and beautiful mirror and one that would certainly play into a child's imagination.  I loved dressing up and holding it like a fairy princess!  Thank goodness my mom understood the  joy of imagination and allowed me to play with her beautiful possessions.  I next picked out the color pink that I wanted and used simple 80lb cardstock for this layer.  I went with a real candy pink as I decided that this mirror was going to "belong" to the Sugar Plum Fairy!  So, I traced a template of the mirror with vellum and cut out the pink.

I then pulled out some of The Gilded Life goodies that I ordered and they had included this perfectly sweet piece of lace!  I just love it!  It is so innocent and girly and just the perfect lace for my little imaginary Sugar Plum Fairy!  I fit this over the pink and then I actually "ModPodged" the two together.  I wanted the finish to be durable for any little hands who might want to pick this up and play with it at my house.  


After the Mod Podge was dry I fit the template onto the back of the mirror and glued it into place.  I ran a line of glue around the the perimeter of the mirror and finished it off with some scrap lace and toy pearls and beads.  The next step was to "dress up" the mirror and that took the help of some Spellbinder/The Gilded Life products.  I first used this die to cut out some lovely scrap paper to put into 



the middle of this gorgeous die!  I mean have you ever?  This just struck me as the absolutely perfect bezel to use!  A heart with wings and "crowned" with a warriors crown!  Just the powerful type of icon that today's little girls need!


After filling it with paper I went to my stash of buttons.  Okay...type for some embarrassing disclosure here.....I don't sew.  Even remotely.  But, when I see cool buttons I snap them up because I find that they are often more beautiful than any other embellishments and I love to add them to cards and such.  So, I found this card of buttons in my stash and thought COULD ANY EMBELLISHMENT BE MORE PERFECT TO FIT INTO THIS BEZEL?????  I mean seriously, this fairy girl  is so perfect with her long flowing hair!  The only problem is that the button is pewter rather than gold :-(


No worries though!


I often change the color of my "metal" embellishments this way!  After the fairy was fitted into the bezel I "outlined" the bezel with pearls. And more pearls.  And even more pearls!  I wanted an over the top look to this bezel.  I also used Guilder's Paste in white to "age" and "frost" the bezel and the mirror.



Next the bezel was glued on and it along with the pearls around the mirror received a healthy "gilding" of magical gold and platinum Stickles!  Then I added ribbons that I aged with gold ink and Voila!  The Sugar Plum Fairy's Magical Mirror!







I am SOOOOO pleased with how it turned and my two little girls...(ages 24 and 21) are calling "dibs" on it already!



Thank you for stopping by thru this long, long post!

Be well,
Sheila

2 comments:

  1. WoWoWoWoWoW!! This is so BEAUTIFUL!! =) I LOVE ALL of the Details!! Such a FUN Idea!! Good Luck in the Contest!! =) Have a Fabulous Weekend!! =)

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  2. This is creative and fabulous!! I love the pretty ribbons and the way you decorated the bezel!! Absolutely gorgeous!!

    Lisa
    A Mermaid's Crafts

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