Nestlé lid shrine

"Shrines" is this month's theme at Mixed Media Monday. Here's my very first shrine:

Is this what a shrine is supposed to be? Tell me what you think...

This shrine turned out quite different from what I had in mind at least as far as the colours are concerned. Due to the excessive amount of pink (at least to my taste) it is a tad childish and therefore only suitable for a child's room. I should have attached to it something to hang it from, but I got too lazy after realizing I'll never hang it in my own bedroom... after all, I'm 36.

Back of the shrine(The text on the back of the lid is from a Portuguese tale with animals, perhaps it's a fable.)

How it all began... 

Thanks for looking!

The key to happiness

Key is the theme at Inspire me Thursday. At Mixed Media Monday the theme is polka dots and or stripes, so I've combined both challenges.

Christmas ornament

I loved creating this Christmas ornament. I bought a few styrofoam hearts last year before Christmas and I planned to do some découpage with them so that I could hang them on the Christmas tree, but I guess I was too busy with other things last year or maybe I didn't have enough motivation... (I found blogland in January 2008, right after Christmas...)

I used two images from graphicsfairy and a serviette from "Ihr" (It's a German brand although I bought the serviette in Portugal). Then it was all about sticking everything in place with Alkyl, a glue that is also a varnish. I've also used my flake punch and some gold thread around the heart and I've tied the ribbon in such a way that I can turn it the way I want. The "front" image was supposed to be the girl, but then I realised I liked the bird image better although I damaged it a bit when I was gluing it in place. Finally I added two little bells, so that even if the ribbon is facing the other side it still looks interesting enough on the backside.

Just a remark: by the time I took the pictures (with my lousy camera, well, it's actually quite good for a mobile camera), I hadn't stuck the flakes properly yet. I had glued them with UHU glue, but they obviously couldn't go without Alkyl for a glossy finish.

Check out all the other Christmas ornaments at Mixed Media Monday.

"Birds" is also the challenge at Theme Thursday, so I'm combining the challenges.

Rust - Mixed Media Monday

This week's Mixed Media Monday challenge is to make something with rust.

I altered this chocolate box a while ago and I've been using it to keep cards and letters ever since. It's a hard plastic box and the top was transparent, so I started by coating it with Rembrandt's pearl green acrylic paint. Next I découpaged the napkin flowers and the Stamperia ducks on it. Then I applied Decoart/Rayher's  Antique Medium I and II to obtain a crackling effect. For the rust effect I then used Ceramichrome Mineral Spirit Translucent Stain (MS1 Walnut). It  was very dark and had a very heavy look, so I had to wipe off the excess rust and apply some white acylic paint to make it softer.