In The Shadows...

...oooh, I love altering Shadow Boxes and usually I get covered in ink in the process... this little box however, kept my fingers ink free... and instead, covered in paint. A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be able to pick up a few bottles of Paper Artsy's new Fresco Finish Paints... you know, on THE day... when I was in the class with... THE Duke of Distress.




Anyways... I had a little play with these paints a couple of weeks ago and have only just around to blogging what I did with them... the box is 6" square... the frame was painted with Honey Dew and then over the top on the outer framey bits I popped London Night which is THE most beautiful colour... the photo's really don't do it justice... it is like a smokey mauve in some lights and more purpley in other lights. Such is the finish of the Fresco Paints it leaves the surface feeling ever so slightly textured and a bit chalky, totally lush and it really does look like it needs to be touched.



The embellishments on the box are made from Gold Nugget TSS metal, stamped with Paper Artsy Hot Picks stamps, cut out, refined and scootched with TSS tools and then aged with Pitch Black Dabber - which, IMO, is THE best black paint ... in the World (hey, I used my Jeremy Clarkson voice again to say that lol) The title - that says Sanctuary, is actually just part of a bigger stamp, I cut it out and gave it some TSS treatment and then popped a couple of brassy coloured brads through it. Oh and the little pearls on the chain around the birdcage are partly Idea-ology Baubles and partly a ickle pearl I got from Sky Blue Pink... HERE is the linky to the website but I have to say... enter at your peril, you will come out a few pounds lighter (or Dollars) but it is worth a visit cos they have the cutest little trinkets... Anyways... I think that is it... oh yes... the base inside was covered with Thorndon Hall papers which I painted overand then distressed with a sanding block.




So... what you got planned for today??? It has been glorious here all week... to the point that I sat in the garden reading my book on Thursday afternoon and I went a bit pink and my freckles came out of hibernation.... today though, it is chilly and overcast. Actually, I know this is shocking but... yesterday... I didn't wear a vest!!! Nope, not a single vest all day long!!! I know they say that you should "Cast ne'er a clout til May be out..." whatever that means... I think it has something to do with wearing long johns and thermal knickers rofl.... anyways... I am going to get inky and messy today and make the Sunday Stamper for tomorrow... if you like a nice challenge, do pop back! Right, offski to get another coffeeee... thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x

Hot Pickin...

...oooh, I looooove those Hot Picks by Paper Artsy... and I loooove those Thorndon Hall papers by... Paper Artsy... so... using them together... mmmm, delishyness indeedily. I have just waffled on alarmingly over on The Stamp Attic blog... all the deets on how I made my ickle mini arch book are HERE...




Anyways... I have had these little chippy arches for a hundred years and they have been ignored, neglected and basically I forgot that I had them... they were buried at the bottom of a drawer that never sees the light of day... until I decided I neeeeeded to have a rummage in it... I was pleasantly surprised to find some Maya Road chipboard that I thought I had used already (in other words, I forgot I had that too!)




So... after careful consideration I have decided that I am going to rummage more often... and I am also going to start using up stuff... did you know that about three hundred years ago I moved house and into the new Room of Stash - well it was actually... nearly a year ago... and I really should be hanging my head in shame... when I unpacked I did it really quickly because I was desparate to get crafting again after my enforced break (all be it a few days because I was cunning and had the emergency stash supply *that was like 50% of my stash ROFL*) Anyways... when I unpacked said boxes (of which, if you recall, there were...erm... over... 40!) well, I just rammed stuff into drawers, bunged stuff in cupboards and...even worse... crammed stuff under my bed!!!




Don't tell Grim that last bit... he thinks that it is important stuff being stored under there...not just stuff I couldn't be bothered to find a home for LOL Well, I have decided that enough is enough and this lazy old moobag here who has been meaning to get properly sorted is going to do just that... after I have made myself another coffee and had a play with something that should be arriving in the Room of Stash next week (finger's X'd and doing jigs to the Lord of the Sizzix that a certain machine will be ready for me to collect....) so... a new leaf is going to be turned and all that... I will sort stuff out... I will, really, in a bit... Ah well, tis time for bed said Zebedee... thanks for looking... have a goodly day! TTFN

Hels x

Getting Arty & Artsy

...ooooh, COR BLIMEY... I have had great larks playing with some new stash... Art Parts... and Paper Artsy papers... which, I have to tell you, are totally DEEEEVINE and beautiful and heavy and gorgeous .. oh and they smell lush too LOL I altered some of those utterly perfect Art Parts to make a hanging *erm... yep, me, a hanging, that sounds about right ;o))* All the deets on how I made this piece are over on The Stamp Attic Blog... which is HERE... and if you click on that there word (HERE) I have arranged for a fox to trot with you over to the blog for a nosey (mmm, you can tell i have been watching too much Strictly LOL)



Have you seen the time??? It is nearly 4am and I am still awake, tapping away and chattering on alarmingly when I should be tucked up in my bed... Grim is on those dratted earlies again and he has just gone to work so it is deffo time for me to get my very much needed beauty sleep. It is typical he is on those earlies this week - just when I'm A Celeb is starting, I saw the first five mins of it last night and had to turn off before I got too engrossed laughing my socks off at all the newbies into the jungle... we will be watching it when Grim gets in from work thanks to the powers of Sky+... I suppose I could watch it by myself but it isn't the same is it? Sitting there, taking the mick out of scaredy-cat celebs who are frightened of an ant - nooo, not that Ant of Ant and Dec fame... no, a real ant... you know, one with six legs and nippy nibblers that bite... where was I??? Ah yes, taking the micky.. is so much funnier when you have some one to take the mickey with isn't it?




I just noticed... I am so impatient I hadn't waited for the Glossy Accents to dry in the Idea-ology before I took the photo... and... the way the hand is positioned... it looks like it is poking her in the eye... well, that is better than picking her nose I guess LOL Right... I have to go, I am starting to talk drivel... whatcha mean nowt new there then??? ROFL Thanks for looking.. have a FAB day! TTFN

Hels x