Boxing Clever

Boxing Clever

Hi There!

Beautiful sunshine here today!

Woohoo!

Hope you have sunshine too

wherever you are

Helen Chilton dropped by with

a clever idea that would work

with any small box - might

be one to try in the Easter Holidays

if the weather turns inclement ...

"Here's my box. I actually used a domino box

 and took the lid off so I could make

 a diorama:

Painted the box in PaperArtsy Fresco,

 Pixie Dust and Starlights Rich Gold on the edge.

Covered the box inside and out 

with some rice paper 

Used this Crafty Individuals stamp on some card

watercoloured the image and then cut out the bits I wanted.

Gathered together some twiddly bits and added them all on"

This is delightful Helen, thank you very much

I have a small stash of rice paper.

Of course, I have watercolour and

I'm sure I can find a suitable box....

Guess what I shall be doing

 this afternoon..............?!!

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

For the Girls

For the Girls

Hi There!

Good to have you with us

today and you won't be

disappointed......

Craftyfield is here with a

gift we'd all love to

receive.....

"The best thing about the Art-C products 

is the ability to customise an item entirely 

to the person you are creating a gift for. 

Colours, textures, and even features such as

 drawer inserts can be made exactly

 how you want!

The construction of the box is self explanatory 

but I suggest you first lay down all your pieces

 according to the notice to avoid errors later.

 The pieces of the box slot into each other 

and hold together well in the finished item 

but a bit of glue is required. 

The above photo is showing where I apply

 the glue (in the recesses) but really it's a 

matter of looking at the contact points and

 spreading a bit of glue at these points.

There... much easier than an Ikea flat pack! 

I gave my box 2 layers of Gesso to provide

 a blank canvas for my rice paper 

and possibly my stamping, stencilling etc...

I cut the paper to size and used gel medium

 to stick down, immediately covering

 with gel medium on top.

In the end, the paper looked so good I 

covered all sides and the drawers! 

Still, I had to add a bit of stamping... For this,

 I used some Starlight paint in Dark Orchid, 

applied to the stamp with a piece of 

Ranger Cut N Dry foam. 

And yes, as the picture suggests, I use the 

WRONG side of the foam, because the right side 

has a tendency to deliver too much paint 

to the stamp, spoiling the details.

A bit of Metallic lustre on all ridges... 

[Cosmic shimmer Gilding polish or 

Treasure gold will work too].

At this stage, I varnished the box with 

2 layers of DecoArt Ultra matte varnish.

 For embellishments, I made corners die-cut

 from recycled metal and "molded" around 

my box before glueing down with gel medium.

 For earrings (the kind for pierced ears),

 I made a drawer insert with a piece of 

styrofoam covered with découpage paper. 

I'm still mulling over how to make 

cylindrical cushions to hold rings...- 

all suggestions gratefully received - 

but, in the meantime, I just lined the drawer 

with a piece of the same decoupage paper.

More pics for you:

The back

The side

and the front again

I hope this has inspired you to make 

gifts for the girls...."

Supplies: 

Art-C Masonite Shelf with Drawers kit:
Gesso:
Imagination Crafts Rice paper:
Matte Medium:
Kaiserkraft stamps:
Imagination Crafts Starlights :
Gilding wax:
Decoupage papers:

Absolutely gorgeous Craftyfield

and you make it all look so

easy to do too  Thank you

Now come on Everyone..

who wouldn't want to 

receive such a beautiful gift.........?

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Better & Better

Better & Better

Hallo Everyone!

Welcome to our new topic, the title

of which is a narrowly disguised

Get Well!  So many of us have 

folk who are ailing in some way

we thought we would devote this

week to offering cheery Get Well

wishes in a range of different styles

Today we have Hazel Harler with

us and her style is Vintage:

"Hi everybody.  Good to be with you today!

I used these lovely Imagination Crafts rice papers

 I glued the striped paper to the front 

of the card blank then I tuned the card over 

and used a waterbrush to wet the edges,

 this enabled me to tare the excess paper 

away from the card.

Using the water gave the rice paper 

a nice frayed edge.

I cut the lace butterfly out of the 

patterned rice paper.

 I used a Carabelle Studio stamp and

 leaf green archival ink to stamp 

on the background.

The stamped background.

 I coloured a white piece of card by swiping

 the distress inkpads directly over the card

 I stamped the Carabelle Studio tag and 

butterflies onto the coloured card and 

cut them out. 

The sentiment is a Woodware stamp.

I glued the lace butterfly and some lacy fabric

 to the card, then I added some lace,

 tissue tape and stamped some script.

Before I glued the butterflies to the card 

I covered them with stickles, 

I also added some gems for the bodies."

Supplies:

Card blank.

Imagination Crafts rice paper..

Carabelle Studio stamps.

Woodware sentiment stamp.

Archival ink - black and leaf green.

Distress ink - victorian velvet and old paper.

Stickles.

Lace, tissue tape 

A great start to the week

Hazel.  Thank you.

There's no end to what you can

stick on a card is there?  Get 

out your bit boxes and see what

inspiration lies within.  

'Till tomorrow, 

Mickie xx

Rice Paper

Rice Paper

Hi there!

Today is the last day

in the Rice Paper set.

Hope you have enjoyed these

projects as much as I have

Today's project will take

your breath away...........

Here is Hazel Harler to

talk you through her

gorgeous project:

" I needed to make a thank you card for a neighbour

 and thought it would be nice to make a tea light card.

I searched the internet for a template and

 found one made by Crafters Companion. 

I cut the card and box from green card

I covered the card and box with a some pretty rice paper

 and attached some ribbon and lining to the inside of the card, 

then I die cut a window in the top of the box.

I glued a piece of acetate insideof the window 

and glued the box to the card 

leaving the opening for the tealights at the top

I lightly dry brushed some white acrylic paint 

on the front of the card being careful 

not to cover the birds. 

The two flowers were stamped onto tissue 

paper with black archival ink

I stamped some script onto the cover and then 

cut out the flowers and glued them to the card.

I coloured a tag with watercolour and stamped the flower. 

I'm going to write a note on this for my neighbour.

 The box was filled with tea lights."

Supplies:

Card
Rice Paper.
Acetate
Ribbon
Acrylic Paint
Tissue paper.
Archival Ink
Double sided tape.
Cosmic Shimmer glue.
Honey Doo Stamps - lilies.
Tag.
Watercolour.

Many thanks Hazel.  I'm sure your neighbour

was delighted to receive such a lovely Thank You

This would make a really nice card/present

for every occasion.  

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Rice Paper

Rice Paper

Hi There!

We have Craftyfield with us 

today and she is going to talk

us through some up cycling 

to make a beautiful piece of home

decor - to be specific Bathroom

decor......................

 "I wanted to decorate this cylindrical box 

and give it a feminine feel so that 

I can display it proudly in my bathroom. 

A quick and easy way is to cover it 

with a printed Rice paper (Imagination Crafts).

 My "box" is a modest Pringles can so this 

works out as a very cheap storage option!

I first gesso'ed the can and chose 3 sheets of rice paper. 

In the end, I only used 2

 Using a wet paintbrush, draw around 

the bit of paper you want to use 

and after a few seconds tear the piece apart 

from the main sheet. 

This way the sides are feathered 

which is much more pleasing once collaged.

To glue the paper you can use any type 

of acrylic medium, matt or glossy, 

or even some of the newer Tim Holtz mediums 

such as "Crazing" or "Vintage" to add a little something...

I used a matt medium and applied it

 with the purpose built Collage brush.

Alongside the papers, I filled in with some paint and stencilling. 

I load my brush with several colours of paint at the same time 

to give a stripy look, echoing one of the Rice paper.s

I will be applying a matt varnish, 

I love using the DecoArt Soft touch for these projects, 

it has a matt aspect and, 

as the name implies, a soft feel to the touch.

This is a picture of the finished can, showing all 3 "sides" next to each other.

Had my can been a little bit smaller, I think I might have 

just used the paper as is, they are so beautiful, it doesn't 

seem right to tear them apart!"

Items used:

Rice paper:
Matt Medium:

Collage Brush:
Fresco paints (Lavender, Dolly Mix and Cheesecake):
Stencil Carabelle Weft Fabric and Numbers:
Tim Holtz Layered Stencils (Wildflower and Flourish) :
Varnish Soft Touch:

Thank you Craftyfield a lovely way to

get affordable storage colour 

matched to your home and you could even

 use up any bits and pieces left over from

a previous project.

I love the up cycling aspect of this

project too.

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx