Spellinders/Creating A Gilded Life: part deux....

I had another idea for another entry into the  Spellbinder's/Creating a Gilded Life contest.  I love to make altered boxes.  I mean, give me something in a sturdy well constructed box and you can bet your bottom dollar that box will have another life as a small jewelry box given as a gift down the line!  Recently my daughter and I both had to get new phones and the boxes that the phones came in were so nice...in fact too nice to waste!  So, another project for the contest was born! And this project will be entered into the MIXED MEDIA category. So, here is what I started with....I picked out the paper that I was going to use....I picked a more vintage-y looking paper as I want it to go  on a night table in a spare bedroom that we have.  I alway like to have little places for overnight guests to put their earrings in when they come and stay the night.  Also my other daughter was talking to me about Marie Antoinette the other day and I just had Marie Antoinette on the brain!  So, I tried to create an over the top Gilded Life Marie Antoinette type curiosity box.

After cutting the paper and Mod Podge-ing it to the box I went to The Gilded Life stash that I had and pulled out this piece of pearlized white leather.  I embossed it with one of my favorite Spellbinder's embossing folders.

                                                 

Then added ink.

Then added more ink!

Next I cut out two "Shields" from the Spellbinders/Gilded Life and then embossed them with this embossing plate from the same line.

Colored them "gold" and they became the back plate for my knob!

Then I colored yet another shield with nail polish, sanded it when dry...

and then added some gold to the sanded areas.

This will now fit inside my bezel so nicely!  To which I added some necessary bling.

  

I also had this cool flower finding....it actually is a "clasp" for a necklace but I felt it fit nicely here.  Again I used my trusty nail polish!  Please excuse that atrocious crusty looking thumb!

I then pulled out my  Iced Enamels for a little grunging up!

Finally I pulled out this cool metallic netting that I got from Spellbinders/A Gilded Life and made a little unecessary but oh so cool backdrop for my flower.  I also added a small case "h" typewriter looking embellishment that I iced enameled gold....our last name is Hnilicka sooooo you can figure that one out!

Here is a close up of that lovely bezel.

Here is a shot of the top of the box....you can see how nicely the leather embossed and colored!

And finally, (are you still awake?) here is the finished box!  I just love it!  Actually, I am pretty glad that I decided ahead of time to keep it!  Fyi...those are chains that I glued to the perimeter of the box lid.  This was my first time working with leather and truly I didn't know how to finish it off.  So with the jagged leather edge = necessity became the mother of invention/creation!

Thank you so much for stopping by today and plowing thru this post ;-D

Be well,

Sheila

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

A Wedding Card Kind of Summer...

It has been a super fun summer this year.....since we bought the cottage I have tried to spend every minute possible out there/here.  My problem is there is little to no internet and so blogging and posting is almost impossible!  I do want to post a card today though as I would like to enter a challenge with it!  It is thehttp://thecardconcept.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/challenge-16-create-wedding-card.html The Card Concept: Challenge #16 A Wedding Card and I was really struck with the lovely inspiration photo.  From that photo I was most taken with the color's/shades of blues and whites and also the lovely flowers.  My photo however does not show how soft the blue is that I used.  In reality it is a lovely perewinkle blue that I also dyed the ribbon to match the cardstock.  I decided to go with the "Clean and Layered" look for my card.  I used Spellbinder dies throughout except for the wedding couple which is part of a larger die.  I just cut the die and then further cut out the couple to use.  Both the couple and the lattice work dies are multiple mounted meaning I used three dies stacked on top of each other to gain dimension.  I hope you like this card!

                                                 

Be well,

Sheila

A new crafting passion!

Hello!  It has been forever and a day since I last posted but that has everything to do with  owning a new cottage on a lake and having no reliable internet out there!  So, I have been crafting but just not posting.  I have also been trying other types of crafting and really am enjoying the stretching of my crafty wings!  I love die cutting for cards and recently became interested in the Spellbinders and Iceresin products for mixed media usage.  My daughter Clarice was going to be having her 21st birthday and she has always liked hearts and has received various jewelry hearts over the years.  When I saw Spellbinders heart bezels I knew had to try my hand at some jewelry making.  And, along with the Iceresin product I was able to make her a necklace and earring set that I actually was proud to give her!  I was surprised (and gratified hahaha) to find this ice resin so very easy to use....and am looking forward to making other pieces of jewelry to store away as gifts for people as the need arises.  In addition to card sets people always need a bit more bling right?  Anyways here are my creations....I had sooo much fun making these.  My sister in law came up for an overnight and we were just jewelry making machines!

I covered the bezels in some scrap paper that had "i love you " on it in script. This is so lovely in person ....my photography skills just do not do it justice!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Be well,

Sheila

Jimminy!

It has been forever since I have posted.....life has been fun, full and fabulous and although I have found sometime to craft I have found no time whatsoever to blog.  Hopefully more time will open up over the summer months!  I do have one card that I would like to post and also submit to the JustRite Friday Challenge A#121 Color it Pretty.  And here is my submission:

I just love the delicacy of this image and the shape of this die!.

Thanks for stopping by and

Be well,

Sheila

Wowza...It has been....

a really long time since I have posted last!  I have a good reason though.....my husband and I bought a cottage!  It was super fast...we went in it on the 28th of December, put an offer in on the 29th and had it accepted on the 30th.  Less than a month later we closed on the property.  And since then it has been moving in furniture and basically getting it ready for the warm months to come.....at least we all hope they come!  My husband and I have been spending nights out there and I found that I wanted a catch - all box to put my watch/jewelry/hearing aids (yes, I wear hearing aids ;-) ) in and so found this unpainted box at Hobby Lobby for $12.99.  I had a 40% off coupon and so got a great deal.  The first thing I did was to remove the black handles.  I then painted the box red.  Actually, I used up two different colors of red and mixed them indiscriminately.  I put on about three layers.  Each time I painted the box it because a little "rougher" due to the wood grain swelling.  Usually one would sand that smooth between finishes but I wanted it to be rough for the next step....hoping to help the wood achieve the faux look of old barn wood.
 

  So, after painting it I used Staz On ink in Saddle and Timber Brown to"age" the red.  I also applied white paint here and there to further distress the look.  Over the white when more brushings of Saddle and Timber. I did this several times until I felt it look like aged barnwood or reclaimed wood.  I also was going for a relatively uneven look so that it appeared that this was an old box made from scraps of wood.  After I got the color where I wanted it I covered the box in several layers of ModPodge Matte finish.  The ModPodge helps to finish the wood and even out the rough surface.

The next step was to line the drawers.  I used scraps of random paper that I had.  I did each drawer with a different pattern of paper...keeping with the found and repurposed theme.  I painted and MP'd each drawer.

The next step was to cut out the metal motifs that went behind the handles.  These I cut out from tim with a Spellbinders die.  I then took the cut tin shapes and ran them thru a Spellbinder texture plate to create an embossed pattern.  I then took the pieces and rubbed them with Staz On Timber and Saddle and then also sanded then rubbed them with white paint.....all to create that aged look again!  From there I began to assemble various handles.  I did the bottom first as that is the only drawer that won't open....due to adding the feet to the chest.  I guess I could have done something different but I really love these feet and think they add so much to the piece.  I purposely used different handles and really like the way it looks. The second handle is a throw back to my family growing up.  I remember in my basement or my grandmother's basement a box that had lost it's handle and had a bit of a ruler there in place...held in with two wing nuts!

Finally, I added corner pieces and a top handle...for no other reason than I just like the way it looks!!!

So, here is the box in all it's glory and I am so pleased with how it turned out.  I plan to make more pieces out of this unfinished wood...it is so easy and inexpensive and really, just a pleasant way to spend the afternoon!

Some of the pictures look like the color is a yellow....it isn't!  It is  worn out brown color!

    

Thank you so much for stopping by...I have been absent so long I don't know if I have any visitors any more!  If so, thank you for your time!

Be well,
Sheila