GREEN with Envy!

Hello crafters..

Welcome to my page today. I have my DT project with Anything But A Card to share with you today. The theme this month is “Green with Envy”. It is up to you to interpret the theme but yes, we would love to see the color green in your project too. Absolutely anything that your heart fancies except a card! Now that’s the easiest part as you all by now know that I can’t save myself to make a card, lol!

I have altered a little glass jar which for this theme. A plain clear jar on which I first created a “faux Frosted” effect and then dabbed some alcohol inks in green, blue and silver. As you can see, green is dominant here.

My favorite color is green and that is one reason I love all nature inspired projects. This is going to be no different but yes, green is going to be the highlight here. Is there anything as too much green?? No way…right now my garden is bright green with a couple of showers that we had last week and I see some fresh leaves sprouting and a few flowers too. That’s my take on this challenge…but  what about the envy? Let’s wait for that part…

Once the bottle was done, I wanted to do some heat embossing  on the bottle directly which flopped big time! The embossing powder for some reason was not melting…I dint want to experiment, so I went ahead heat embossing the flowers and the quotes on tissue. I did the embossing in white so that it shows against the green.

I love these 2 quotes from Paper Artsy and it was just apt for this project. The lid too has some left over alcohol inks dabbed on it and then I made the mini terrace garden here!

Loooots of green foliage and a focal flower in the center. Just that one flower is enough to brighten that garden. I used Arianna blooms die to layer up this flower and mildly inked it with worn lipstick DI.

A garden is incomplete without some winged beauties and so came the butterfly and the bee!

The butterfly is a Itsy Bitsy die and I shaded it using DI and then dipped in UTEE. Whereas the bee is a stamp which has been colored too with DI and covered with rock candy crackle paint. Which looks better??? Maybe the butterfly is envying the bee for more than one reason now..one maybe it looks better and two, cos its first and up close to the flower, lol!

So you get that “envy” thing now???

I couldn’t stop at that, and then lit a battery operated candle inside and was only surprised at the subtle beauty it radiated with the Buddha sitting next to it.

 I love this click... to me ,it was speaking a different language at that moment!

 The soft glow just grew brighter as the sun dipped.

Hope this inspires you to play along this month and do hop over to see what the teamies have created every week!

I would like to have my mini garden enter the following challenges.

GreatImpression – Go Green

ArtisticInspiration – AG with a twist of green

The MirrorCracked – Wings

Crafts 4Eternity – Anything But A Card.

LovesRubber stamps Challenge- AG

WowEmbossing – Spring (have done heat embossing in white and also UTEE)
Take It Make It Challenge- AG with stamping
All Sorts Challenge - Spring is in the air
Sweet Stampin Challenge - Green for St. Patrick's day

Until My next Creative Journey,

Happy Crafting and Re Cycling

Hugs.

You are invited!

Hello crafters..

A warm welcome to all of and a happy new year for those of you have joined me recently.

Am here to share with you an altered project that I have been challenging myself to do for the past 6 mns! Yes, the hidden element here is just something you cannot imagine can be re cycled! It was one of the first things that I bought when I set up my home after marriage..about 19yrs ago! It has seen many good days and lately has become defunct and I really dint want to throw it…blame it on the recycle bug...but it was a bit of a challenge to me itself as to how I could alter it. I am NOT going to reveal so early…you got to wait for that , dearies!

Here is how it looks after the alteration…I doubt you can guess it.

 

Let’s start with beautiful cottage, the lovely over hanging on the roof…looks like it needs some cutting! But I love it…the roses hanging from the lush creepers. The flowers are all made using TH tatterd florals.

The front arch door is made with faux weathered white wood panels! How cool is that! I dry brushed black and white acrylic colors on white CS and then ran it thru a wood grain embossing folder and then cut it into strips, inked the edges and then built the door. Phew! That was some work, but I knew I wanted only this door for the house! Just look at those textures…

I cut out the window using IO dies and have heat embossed the pane in with WOW white embossing powder. The hardware hinges are cut from canvas cloth (for flexibility) using TH die and is also heat embossed in white. The metal pull out has been painted white and distressed to give the worn metal look and held to gether with silver brads.

I wanted some warm and inviting quotes on the door and so again heat embossed the sentiments on black CS and mounted them on my faux wooden plank too!

You are now cordially invited to view the inside and all around the house!

Are you still keeping your eyes open for the hidden element??? Keep guessing…

A look at the house shaped accordion album which can be taken off the main décor…how cool is that. This helps for easy viewing. I have use Prima “something Blue” paper pack for the entire mini. It can hold upto 15 pics and I plan to put all family pics here. 

 The papers are too good, I dint want to touch them, I just stamped in a few ivy’s using my new Paper Artsy stamps and let the paper and pic do the rest of the talking.

Once the album latches on to the main deco piece, this is how it looks from the side. There is more garden space on the back yard and look that tiny back door with a wooden knob. I was so reminded of snow white and her dwarfy friends who would have easily fitted in there!

More creepers climbing with lots of flowers and a lovely little bird who dint mind having a house of hos own on the roof! 

The roof is a folded cardboard piece, which I have torn in places to reveal the corrugation and dry brushed using Gesso to give the weathered white washed look. I think the bird looks pretty sitting out there. I still miss a butterfly though!

Have you guessed yet…this pic should make it easy, here…

 

No, than this is it, the FINAL REVEAL…ready…here we go…

 

Yes, my good old iron! My friend for so many years…how will I let you go? I wanted to incorporate this little thing in my home décor and have been challenging myself with this thought for the past 6 months and a eureka moment happened!I had a tough time pulling the wire and knobs out , lol! That’s it I started work 2 days back..building this HOME plank by plank, page by page, leaf n by leaf and flower by flower!

This is how it looks without the album. the albu, sticks to the iron with velcro strips!

I am so so so satisfied as a re cycler and a crafter to have done this. My house is 10yrs old and am planning a painting and make over session starting next month and this little deco piece is just the start to it…it is going to find a prominent place and a constant reminder of “lasting friendship” Lol!

I am very eagerly waiting for your feedbacks on this…I just love to read each and every word of it. Thank you so much for stopping by and hope you had a pleasant stay in my house. Welcome again.

I would love to have my “cottage” enter the following challenges…

CraftHoarders Anonymous Challenge- recipe challenge, have used DI, acrylic paints, seam binding, jute twine for creeper, wet and dry embossing, die cuts , wooden knob and loads of flowers!

InspirationDestination – Anything Goes

SOS – hidden element ( I hope you liked mine! )

Alphabetchallenge blog – ‘X” for experiment…it was more than that working with the hidden element here!

WOWembossing challenge blog- DIY décor

Crafting byDesigns – Anything goes

Not JustCards Challenge – Anything Goes Re Cycle, Re purpose and Re invent- Anything goes but re cycle

613 Avenue Create- Anything Goes with techniques( wet, dry embossing, hand made flowers, altered item, stamping, distressing, faux wood panels, dry brushing, scoring and folding for accordion album, stamping on metal)

ArtistTrading Post- New beginnings ( new lease of life to an old iron, new stamps, brand new home

 décor piece for my house!)

Craft forthe Craic- favorite word ( I have fav phrases!)

Until my next creative journey,

Happy Crafting and Re cycling.

Big hugs.

Forever "Fall" with a tutorial

Hi Crafters,
Am back in my comfort zone...a project loaded with flowers and embellishments, all hand made! This is purely inspired by my morning walks...the sights and colors that I see. I love to walk thru the scattered leaves and admire their changing colors and textures and as continue a few bursts of colorful blooms in the neighborhood houses peeking out of the wall! Love the yellows, oranges and dark shades of pink thru the woody brown...would love to capture this moment FOREVER and so began this project.


A picture heavy post and I have tried to explain a step by step on the wood bark texture that was much appreciated and I had requests too for a tute. You can see the project here.
This is 360 degrees fall table decor piece, made from an empty Vodka carton! How cool is that...

I made a window in the box and then stuck masking tape all over to get an initial texture.

 Then scooped out my homemade texture paste. For this, I mixed equal quantities of chalk powder(from local hardware store) and white glue with little water to get a pasty consistency and then added some brown acrylic colors and applied it all over.
No, that is not chocolate sauce..just look that yummy texture.

 Once it dries, it's absolutely bark like...AS SIMPLE AS THAT! While you apply the paste on the masking tape, take a spatula and then just make incisions all over and in some places scoop it out to make like knot holes too! After it is dry, you can do the final color shading with further brown and black acrylic colors.
I further sprayed LSG cactus gold to get a slight shimmer too..too bad the camera can't capture it. I then stuck PP from DCWV pack...I crushed the paper and inked it with DI to get the slight texture to go with the bark!

Next cut out a piece of acetate and dabbed in alcohol inks in all fall colors and when that dried, I heat embossed a golden sunflower on both corners! I loved the texture of the alcohol inks.

Now comes the interesting part...I colored scraps of handmade paper with DI in fall colors using Tim's swishing technique...applying the inks on craft mat. spritzing water and swooshing the paper thru it to get a shades of colors. Then I splattered some black paint on it and ran it thru the big shot with TH tattered leaves die to get a handful of lovely fall leaves. Some of them are also using Cheery Lynn tropical leaves die.

I took out some pine cones and berries from my potpourri  deco and altered it a bit, sprayed gold mist and also covered the berried with diamond dust and went about doing the fall arrangement on the top panel.

Top panel...a bed of TH tattered leaves with hand made flowers all using CLD sunflower and shasta daisy die, heavily inked .


the front panel...the acetate widow with ornate metal corners and some more flowers on the sides with a little thank you banner!

And when the tea lights are on.....wow!
Just the moment I wanted to capture...I invite you all home to see this in real!


I told you it is a 360 degrees deco...so on the other side...
Cute little frames in all shapes heat embossed with UTEE platinum and some more hand made flowers.

This is how it looks with some pictures in it...I just slipped in some Xmas pics from the net. This can ofcourse be changed according to the occasion!
I also went a step further and gathered some twigs from the garden, colored it and layered it to form the feet for the box!


So, My "Fall" frozen forever in this little box which will find a place as a center table deco! Do let me know what you think of this project.


I am linking this to the following challenges...
Beyond Grey Challenges - Fall challenge
Decorate To Celebrate - Anything Goes
Divas By Design- Born fire colors
Creative Moments Challenge - Anything goes/ Celebration
Shopping Our Stash Challenge - Leaf me alone
Try it On Tuesday- colors of autumn
Sugar Creek Hollow - Re cycling and re purposing
A Vintage Journey _ Bountiful harvest
Inspiration Journal - Happy Holidays

Until my next creative journey...
Happy Crafting and Recycling.
Cheers.