Alter it monthly - December Theme - CELESTIAL

So this is it, the last ever Alter it Monthly challenge. It's very sad to see the blog go, I used to enjoy taking part in the challenges myself until I then became a DT member to create monthly inspiration for all our readers. This month the theme is CELESTIAL.

I remembered these German paper stars we used to make when I was little. You start with 4 strips of paper and then it's a bit like origami, just fold til it looks like a star. It was fun getting back into it, so I made these 3 which are all made from 1cm wide strips, just in case you wanna have a go yourself (google FROEBELSTERN or GERMAN PAPER STAR). I dipped them in wax and decorated the frame with wax and stamped images too. The writing at the top is made from wire. It kinda just happened, I was sitting at the dining table with some wire and was wondering f I'd be able to "write" a word from wire. I asked my housemate to read it when it was done and it did pass the reading test. Phew.

Here is a closeup of the little bottles, one is filled with sand the other with glitter. In their own right they are both stardust. In fact I think everything is made from stardust.

Butterfly Wax Canvas

The inspiration for this canvas came from a You Tube Video by Stampington.
I haven't played with my meltpot in a while so this inspiration was just in time to get waxy.

I am entering this into the first ARTSpecially Challenge, although the website is in Dutch, thank heavens for Google Translate.
I love their magazine, I bought some back issues from a shop in Germany last time I was home and although I didn't know what the articles were about, the pictures and projects were still amazing and very inspiring!

Beeswax Music Frame

Just a little something I'd like to share today. I am actually in Germany at the moment, taking over my dad's computer, much to his joy (ahem). So I'm sharing with you a frame I made last week. A friend asked me for a music inspired frame for her sister so this is one of the 2 I came up with and definitely my favourite of the 2. I used beeswax on this and a music background stamped onto tissue. The treble clef is from the Maya Road set and simply painted brown and covered in glossy accents. Very simply but effective and makes a lovely christmas present I think.

Picture frames and my folksy venture

I had this idea in my head for a while now. Saw the stamps and thought they'd perfectly fit the ikea frames. So I stocked up on frames and got the beeswax out again. Works really nicely.

I am making more things to try and sell now as I've just started putting things on folksy. Anyone got experience with all the different craft selling sites? I have been looking at folksy as you can sell in GBP, my 2nd choice is dawanda I think, but a little put off listing in Euros. And same with etsy. Let me know what your experiences are. That be much appreciated!

This frame I covered in various layers of UTEE and the coloured cosmic shimmer powder. Makes a bit of a mess on our dining table when working with UTEE but I do like the result.

Check out my Folksy Shop.

CCC #6 - More mini canvas art.....

It's monday and time for CCC #6.
So this week we are playing with medium and anything we can cover in it. Sounds fun, but then I went to work and it just wasn't working for me today. I covered various things in gloss medium (unfortunately I have no matt yet, it's on my to buy list) including grungeboard, but nothing wanted to stick properly and when it came to 'revealing' the shape afterwards it just went wrong.
So I consulted my compendium and Tim mentions canvas in there. So I thought I have a go at doing another mini canvas. I really enjoyed working with them recently and thought I make another little hangy thing. I bought an old 'little prince' book from the charity shop recently and thought that be perfect to make something for my nephew.
So got the canvas, stuck a grungeboard heart on it and covered it with the page. I placed the page so the title would be just above it. I painted over it and then wiped off the paint where it says the little prince. Red stickles over the heart and a little crown added.
That's the middle one done, the other two I used the back of and added photos of my nephew. They are filled in with utee by the way. I'm getting better at pouring it now which is nice. Looks much neater than the last one. Add some foliage, type charms and memory thread and it's done.
So bad start to this week's CCC, but it all turned out ok at the end.

Beeswax mirror.....

So I gotten myself a melting pot recently and then I was just looking through some old Craft Stamper magazines and discovered a beeswax project. So I got making.

I painted the mirror in traditional tan (getting on much better with it now than I did), then added some book pages with glossy medium and did another layer of paint over the top so that the pages came through. Then quickly swiped some timber staz on on the edges. Stamped some script and other things in black staz on in random places.

It's the first time I used beeswax so it's a bit of a learning curve. I used too much in places but next time I'll know better. Just painted it on, positioned some stamped images (on 1 ply of tissue) and got the heatgun on it. They just melt into it. I also added some torn bits of the book but it didn't wanna stick to well, maybe the pages are a bit too thick, compared to the tissue anyway.

The flowers are just cut from card and then dipped in beeswax. Very easy really. For a first time beeswax project I think it turned out fab.

I am entering this into the competition at The Stampman, the first theme is a free theme so anything goes.

Til next time!

Anika xxx

A week of firsts ..... meltpot & mini canvas

I finally got my meltpot the other day and already have a load of ideas in my head of how to use it. First one is these mini canvases. I used the back of them and painted them in pale umber as a base, then crackle paints and glimmer mists over the top. Pop a picture inside, these are from the tim holtz lost and found stack. I do wanna make more of these using actual family photos, I think it's a great way of displaying photos and only last year I dug out LOADS of old pic from my grandparents and stuff.

So anyway, I poured in some clear utee but it did set a bit funny and I re-melted the whole thing with a heatgun til almost all of it was liquid in the frame again and kinda swooshing around. It set a little better after that. But I was aiming for perfect anyway, it's supposed to look old and vintage.

Add some idea-ology and that's it!

I can see myself using a lot of utee doing this again. Also, I got to stock up on mini canvases whilst their on sale. Something to do in my break today I reckon!!!