sweet memories box by Tusia Lech

Hello,

Here is Tusia Lech today with altered box. As a base I have used a box in a shape of beautiful flower. I covered it with Distress Paint and then I cut out flowery shape from scrapbooking paper, that was meant to be cover the lid. I stamped it with 7 Dots Studio stamps and StazOn ink. Then I glued it down and on all edges I applied Prima Chalk Ink - Old Rose.

Than I started embellishing. In my Zeus&Zoe kit I have found beautiful, pink ribbon, that I have used to embellish the box - I placed it around the cover.

When I embellish an object, that is meant to be useful, I try to avoid too much elements - because I like when my altered objects can be easily cleaned and are easy for using. So on the top of the box I glued down using hot gun glue two wonderful, fabric flowers (fabric flowers are much more sturdy, than paper ones) and have added some metal embellishments.

All used products come from Zeus & Zoe etsy store. 

My daughter felt in love with this cute box and uses it as a keepsake box.
Have a great day!
Tusia

Welcome Guest Designer...Bellaidea!!

I'm so excited to have her as our Guest Designer and to share with you one of Agnieszka's beautiful project: 

More about her.....

Bellaidea

"It's a pleasure to GD for a shop where romantic stuff is mixed with shabby and where you can find one of the kind stuff.  Gold buttons, old lace and doilies, stunning flowers and great chipboards and stencils.

I  was very happy to get invited to design couple of pages for Zeus and Zoe, thank you Marivic.

For a page showing today I used lace, flowers and buttons from the shop, all papers came from Bo Bunny, loved to mix the newest collection with vintage stuff".

 

Agnieszka Bellaidea is very busy with creating 12x12 pages, canvases and OTP projects for several producers like Bo Bunny, Magenta, 7 Gypsies, 13 arts, Canvas Corp, Tattered Angels, Inkido /Papercraft Scandinavia and Wycinanka. She also designs for a challenge blog SATW and in the past she was also involved with other blog challenges and producers.

 

She mix romantic stuff with shabby style loves mixed media. You can almost always find lace, chipboards, gesso and other media on her projects. 

She is also teaching classes with layouts and canvases and if you live in her area and have some scrappy friends you can book a class with her where you will get your hands dirty with many mists and colors.

 

You can find more of her projects on the blog - http://bellaideascrapology.blogspot.ca/

and Facebook  - https://www.facebook.com/agnieszka.bellaidea

   Thank you Agnieszka!!!

 

Lady in Pink

Hello, It's Aida here with my new project for you:)

Our theme at Zeus and Zoe this month is "Steamy Chic" and we have amazing "Inspiration Board" made by Charlie:)

I was inspired by soft colors and steampunk drawing to create this piece. I used gorgeous white fabric and few beautiful old cards and documents as a background - they are really precious. You can find them in Marivic's beautiful kits on Etsy. I added a page from an old book too and then added a little color to it.  

Few metal embellishments, some laces, some stamps and mediums (13 arts gesso, water ink and gel medium) and the project is ready:) 

Have a great weekend,

Hugs,

Ayeeda

Altered vintage hand mirror by Jen Waugh

Hi everyone and welcome to my first post of September. Our DT theme for this month was a beautiful selection of pastel colours. I'm very much a shabby chic/vintage girl so the colour palette was perfect for me.

I decided to alter a vintage mirror.

I started off by giving the silver mirror a coat of Gesso to prime it. I then gave it 2 coats of pink pastel acrylic paint. The distressed effect you see on the handle is Rub 'n' Buff. 

I downloaded the pretty vintage lady from the internet and then used some Prima Tea Thyme cut off's to frame her on the mirror.

I decided to try and experiment a bit with hand dyeing lace and the selection I got in my pack was perfect. I cut round the edges of one of my doilies and created a trim. I then used the skin of n avocado and boiled it for 15 minutes. Place the lace into the mixture, boil again for 25 minutes and my cream lace is now a beautiful shade of dusty pink. The colour will vary depending on the fabric that you use. I love the effect and will definitely be trying it again. I finished off with some Prima beaded trim and some pretty pink ribbon from my pack.

Hope that you like my vintage altered mirror, see you later in the month.

Jen x

A lace background on a canvas by Yvonne Yam

If you are just starting on your mixed media journey, consider using lace to create beautiful textures on your background instead of creating a background from scratch.

I adhered lace on my 8 x 8 canvas, then added colours with watersoluble crayons. Some PearlEx was added to create a sheen.

I did have fun applying mediums to my chipboard lovebirds to create textures.

Then I added gorgeous vintage buttons from the Zeus and Zoe store. You can see that I couldn't decide which ones to use so I used them all! *winks*

Try using lace for the base of your next canvas...share your link in the comments so that I can come take a look!  Cheers, Yvonne.

Upcycled tea tin by Yvonne Yam

Hello there! It's Yvonne here to share my creative project. I'm a huge tea drinker and have amassed a collection of tea tins. They make excellent gift "wraps".

Just adhere some patterned paper and fussy-cut some portions for texture and interest (I added glossy accent for dimension), then embellish with pearls, a pretty bloom and button. Everything can be found at the Zeus and Zoe store. :)

A mixed media canvas with a gorgeous vintage tag...by Yvonne Yam

Hello there! It's Yvonne here to show you my mixed media canvas using a gorgeous tag that Marivic made. 

Yep, sometimes I like to "cheat" a little by using a beautifully assembled vintage tag on my canvas. It is available for sale at Berry71Bleu. :)

The 8x8 canvas was covered with wrapping tissue and lace from the Zeus and Zoe store. Then I gessoed the piece and misted with Lindy's Gang spray mists for a subtle colour. After that, I played with some gold paints and mediums and glued more yummy embellishments from the Zeus and Zoe store to match the beautiful tag.

I love how my canvas turned out. What do you think?

And check out the gorgeous new kits Marivic just added to the Zeus and Zoe store!  Go grab yours now! :)

Love Plaque with Dana

Thanks so  much for stopping by today! Dana here with my last project as part of the Zeus and Zoe Design Team. It's been great being a part of this team and I hope I have inspired you with my projects!

I created this plaque with one of Marivic's stunning Berry71Bleu Handmade Tags and supplies from my Zeus and Zoe Kit. I love the colors on this tag and the gold accents. Using the tag as my inspiration, I added a brightly colored patterned paper to a piece of cardboard. I used molding paste, a DecoArt Jacobean Floral Stencil and Glamour Dust Glitter Paint to add a floral design to my base.

This quote sticker is part of the 7 Dots Studio Hopefully collection and fit perfectly with the love theme of my piece. I tied a piece of May Arts ribbon around the plaque and highlighted the edges with some acrylic glaze as a finishing touch.

You can find more of my work at Berry71Bleu and my personal blog, They Call Me Tatar Salad.

Little Gift with a decorated box

Hello everyone! It's Riikka here with my second project for June. We got some lovely papers from Donna Salazar and dies from Couture Creations and I created my project with those together my Zeus and Zoe kit. The creation has two parts - a little gift box made of two sheets of 6x6" papers and a necklace inside.

The gift box is made using an origami box instruction. I made the top part using the 6x6 sheet as such. To make the bottom part, I trimmed a centimetre of the other sheet. The origami instructions are really simple and you can make a box like this in no time!

To decorate the cover, I used items from my kit together with sponsored goodies. The butterfly is fuzzy cut from a piece of Donna Salazar paper as well as the "Beauty" tag. The little banner is a diecut. The heart underneath is cut with a Couture Creations' die. The lace, the flower and the rhinestones are from my Zeus and Zoe kit.

Inside the box you can find this necklace. The blue heart is cut from transparent shrink plastic with  Couture Creations' die. I don't recommend to use the die for shrink plastic as it can damage the die, but I just had to give it a go! After shrinking the piece with a heat tool, I colored the heart pale blue with alcohol inks.

The little rings as well as the chain are from my own stash, but other pieces in the necklace are from my Zeus and Zoe kit. The necklace includes some key charms, a few pearls from an old piece of jewellery and also a sparkling "diamond" chain.

Thank you for your visit! I also want to thank Marivic for this awesome opportunity to be a part of a great, super talented design team. Thank you all team mates, too, you rock! Wishing you all a great day and lovely summer!

DIY floral pennant

Hi there!! Janel here from NellieBellie ...I’m back with a second fabulous project for the month using Zeus and Zoe projects. Today I wanted to share with you how you can customize these wonderful fabric pennants (that came in my Zeus and Zoe box, of course!)…

I simply dip any stamp that I love, in this case a floral set, into fabric Puffy Paint. Dip, stamp, dry. To add a bit of color use colored Sharpies and fill in where you like. It’s that easy!

Because I had only 4 stamps and wanted to use 6 pennants I used some adorable paper from Zeus and Zoe for the final 2. I cut my favorite section out of the paper and Mod Podged it onto the banner. So easy and oh so sweet! How lovely would this be done in a patchwork effect on each banner? Makes me want to do it all over again!

I tied all the pennants together in twine (my favorite for getting a simple and sweet look!) and hung it on my chalkboard wall above my desk. It is now my favorite thing in my little living room office. So sweet!

Beauty Unrefined Tag

TGIF! Dana here today sharing a tag that I put together with some of the gorgeous jewelry and buttons from my Zeus and Zoe Kit and some leftover bits and pieces from the goodies that Donna Salazar provided this month.

The Donna Salazar Natural Beauty collection comes with a sheet of glossy images that are ready to cut out and add to projects. I used several small roses and leaves here in addition to this "Beauty unrefined" sentiment. I really love the subtle shine!

I created this butterfly embellishment using a Faux Paper Casting Technique and Donna's mulberry paper from her Mix'd Media Stax, Mix'd Media Inx, Butterfly Stamp (DS1127) and Fairy Dust Glitter.

The vintage jewelry and buttons from my Zeus and Zoe Kit are fabulous and I love to include those special pieces on my projects. I also added 2 "Zs" from Donna's Chipboard Alpha set, for Zeus and Zoe, to my tag.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! There is still plenty of time to enter the June Challenge for your chance to win! There are some fabulous prizes up for grabs, one of which is autographed by Donna Salazar!  How cool is that?!

Main Prize: 

Donna Salazar

http://donnasalazar.typepad.com/

Donna Salazar is a wife, mom, grandma, artist, designer, teacher and kid at heart. Her playful nature tends to come across in her products and classes because she believes that art should be fun. Donna is known for blending contrasting elements to create what she calls her “Girlie Grunge” look. Donna's style is especially appealing to mixed media artists, however her love of flowers and all things sparkly seems to appeal to crafters of all types and styles. 

Donna is a licensed designer and has product lines with 5 different companies: Clearsnap, GCD Studios, Spellbinders, Want2Scrap and Zutter. Donna offers free video tutorials, e-classes and a LIVE webshow, called Tuesday Tutorials, where she gives away lots of prizes from her partner companies and/or original artwork created during the show!

Random Prize:

Couture Creations

http://couturecreations.com.au

An Australian owned and loved brand, Couture Creations is the culmination of 20 years experience in the scrapbooking industry. From its final inception in 2010, Couture Creations has been devoted to producing expertly designed, high quality products overseen by veteran designers and crafters for a result that is both simple and elegant.

Couture Creations is part of Artdeco Creations growing collection of quality craft brands available worldwide. Distributed through a network of the best industry representatives in scrapbooking and craft internationally, Artdeco Creations has the ability to test and meet global expectations for quality and precision beyond local trends and markets.
 

Create Happiness - Art Journal Page

Norma here with you today to share my second project of the month featuring the beautiful products from our sponsors Donna Salazar and Couture Creations.  

I was inspired to art journal by the Donna Salazar dictionary pages so I chose to highlight: artistic, journal and happy.

I like to use my excess inks and paints in my art journal so that nothing goes to waste.  So I flipped through my art journal and found this page filled with the over sprays of a previous project.  Next I dug through my Zeus and Zoe kit and found an unfinished page that never made it onto another project along with jump rings and it hit me!  Create an art journal page within an art journal page, does that make sense, lol?  I punched holes on my art journal page and the mini album page I found then connected them with the jump rings, easy peasy right?!

Then I began by adhering torn and inked strips of Donna Salazar papers from the Natural Beauty collection.

Once I figured out the basic design, I focused on adding the layers of inks and paints to grunge it up a bit and give it my "Norma twist" ;D.  I used a doily stencil with an acrylic dauber to create texture.  I really like the way the acrylic paint puffed up.  This allowed the inks to really get in those groves to help define the shape.

With all the stencil work done, I started layering more of Donna Salazar's Natural Beauty papers and even ran some through my sewing machine.   I used a beautiful flowing vine stitch, distressed and inked all of the edges.  Next I added the dictionary strips that I wanted to use.  I highlighted the edges with fluid acrylic using my finger then outlined the entire strip with a black pen.  I created a small banner using the Donna Salazar Natural Beauty die cut pieces.  To give them a little more presence in my design, I glued them on some of the paper and cut around them leaving about a 1/4" border.  Then I added the Natural Beauty Chipboard Alphas with a little pen work to make them pop.

For the insert, I focused on journaling about why I love to art journal.  I wrote:
"These pages are so much more to me than a place to learn through my creative play.  
They see me through the darkest days.  With each layer, the troubles of the day fade away and I'm transported to my happy place."
This is so true for me, my art journal gives me wings to soar above whatever challenges I might be facing.  I truly believe in the the healing power of art.  Being creative has a wonderful way of lifting the soul and one of the beautiful things about art journaling is that it can be done with no expectations or pressure.  You don't have to worry about incorporating a photo or story.  All you have to do is play, let the page become whatever it wants to be.  If you don't like the way it's turning out, just keep going.  Add another layer of paper, ink or paint; whatever you want until you feel that smile on your face and twinkle in your eye.  You know the feeling you get when you're so happy with what you've just created.

For the cover, I used a page from a mini album that I received in my Zeus and Zoe kit.  It already had paint and stencil work on it from before.  I was gonna use it on a layout but ended up leaving it off.  So all I needed to do was add some of Donna's Natural Beauty paper, a little more stenciling and chipboard alphas.

To finish off my pages, I added some doodle work, strips of torn fabric and cording from my Zeus and Zoe kit.  I also added the key and hanging sign Couture Creations dies.  I love the grungy feel of these art journal pages and the bonus mini page tucked in.  If you've never art journaled before, I encourage you to give a try.  Just remember to have fun and JUST PLAY!!  It's also a wonderful way to use up all those scraps, odd letters and embellishments you have laying around.  Well I hope I've inspired you to give art journaling a try!!

Oh and don't forget to enter this month's challenge: My Favorite Things!!!  There are wonderful prizes up for grabs including this autographed kit from Donna Salazar, so get to craftin peeps!!

The Main Prize

Donna Salazar is a wife, mom, grandma, artist, designer, teacher and kid at heart. Her playful nature tends to come across in her products and classes because she believes that art should be fun. Donna is known for blending contrasting elements to create what she calls her “Girlie Grunge” look. Donna's style is especially appealing to mixed media artists, however her love of flowers and all things sparkly seems to appeal to crafters of all types and styles. 

Donna is a licensed designer and has product lines with 5 different companies: Clearsnap, GCD Studios, Spellbinders, Want2Scrap and Zutter. Donna offers free video tutorials, e-classes and a LIVE webshow, called Tuesday Tutorials, where she gives away lots of prizes from her partner companies and/or original artwork created during the show!

Random Prize:

Couture Creations

http://couturecreations.com.au

An Australian owned and loved brand, Couture Creations is the culmination of 20 years experience in the scrapbooking industry. From its final inception in 2010, Couture Creations has been devoted to producing expertly designed, high quality products overseen by veteran designers and crafters for a result that is both simple and elegant.

Couture Creations is part of Artdeco Creations growing collection of quality craft brands available worldwide. Distributed through a network of the best industry representatives in scrapbooking and craft internationally, Artdeco Creations has the ability to test and meet global expectations for quality and precision beyond local trends and markets.

Also included in the Random Winner Prize Pack is this 6x6 paper pack from Donna Salazar:

Thanks for joining me today and have a BEAUTIFUL, INSPIRED day!!!