Home Tweet Home - An Altered Box

Hey Peeps

Two posts in one day!!

I have altered a wooden box for the Objet D'Art challenge - the current theme is to ... er... alter a box!! LOL

Last year we decided to clear a patch that was really overgrown in the garden. We were in the middle of cutting down a mini pine tree and found a little nest on the floor, obviously it had fallen out as we were hacking away at the tree. In it was a teensy little blue egg that had already been hatched and as it was late into the season we figured that the birds had flown the nest. I couldn't bear to part with this little nest as it was so intricately made, woven using hair (yes, mine!!) wool and moss. So, the nest has been sitting in a saucer on the window sill since then and I have been determined to "do" something with it.




Hey presto, Jennie has the theme for altering a box. What better way to make use of all these new birdy images I have ... *coughs* ... er, bought (nawty Hels) than to make a little home for the nest.




In my stash, I also had a little birdy that came with a bunch of flowers, it has been hanging about for years and finally, he has a home to live in.




I used a basic wooden box, painting it with acylics, then doing the PVA crackle technique and then adding stamped images, Maya Road chip shapes and the newly aquired images which I cut out. The stamps are by Prima, Art Journey and Darkroom Door and the images are by Crafty Individuals and Oxford Impressions. The Maya Road Shapes and the Distress Inks I used to blend the images are from The Artistic Stamper.




For the title and the insert for the lid, I used some basic cream card and coloured it with Old Paper and Tattered Rose Distress Ink. Then I spritzed this with water and dried with a heat gun. Next, I used an old paint brush and Distress Re-Inkers in Old Paper, Tattered Rose and Weathered Wood to make a speckley background. I collected some ink onto the brush and then tapped it over my index finger so the ink fell in dots onto the card. Finally, spritzing this with water and heat drying again gave me the eggshell look I was after. I used a Fragment to cover the main sentiment inside the lid and used StudioG alpha's to make the title and the words on the lid too.




Oh, I nearly forgot....I added some German Scrap from PaperArtsy to the edge of the lid just to break it up a little and the jaggedy dots on the top of the box are from a plate from Art Journey....doesn't look like much of a stamp on it's own but it makes a fab background!




Thanks for a fabby challenge Jennie ... I love my new nest box and at least now the nest inside will be kept safe and sound.

Thanks for looking - I really wish I could take decent photo's as these don't pick up the colours that I used or the textures.....ho hum!

Hels xx

Objet D'Art - Hanging Altered Art - Photograph

Evening,

Finally, the old Mojo decided to come home today - so, by the skin of my teeth I have been able to enter the Objet D'Art challenge which finishes at 7pm tonight when a new challenge will be set! Cutting it fine eh?

The challenge was to alter a photograph. I have slightly cheated because I used rub ons of photo's rather than real ones - but I think that these are so lovely that they will be ok to enter :O))




I started off by cutting a fairly large piece of mountboard and adding a little bit of Gesso in patches, using a palette knife. Once this had dried, I coloured the mountboard with Distress Inks and then did a little bit of stamping on the edges and corners, the stamps used are from the Tim Holtz Collection by Stampers Anon.




I took some Cosmo Cricket paper and roughly tore a couple of co-ordinating pieces. I used some Coredinations cardstock, running it through the Cuttlebug using a paisley embossing folder and then cutting out a frame shape using Nestabilities. I ran a chalk ink pad over the embossed area of the frame to highlight the pattern of the embossing.




The photo's are rubbed on to mountboard and cut out with a little border, as old fashioned photo's used to be presented with a cream border. I distressed the edges of the borders using a metal file and then touched them up with a bit of Distress Ink.




I had a scrap of material which I dyed using a combination of water and Distress Re-Inker and then ironed dry. I overlaid this with a piece of heavenly lace which has beads and sequins sewn into it and then added a piece of ribbon that has beads sewn onto the edge. This is all held together by two long pins that had little plastic embellies stuck onto the end. I didn't like the colours of these, so I coloured them using Copper Krylon pen. I threaded a few beads onto the pins and then popped these into the lace and fabric.





The word is a rub on by Basic Grey and in order to get this project blogged in time, I haven;t been able to allow the Glossy Accents to dry - I will change the piccie once it is though! The hanging part is from an old belt that my dear Mum-in-Law found on a car boot sale - the hanger is actually the belt extender but I thought it went perfectly with the whole design.




Finally, I prepped some little Prima Flowers - altering the colours slightly by rubbing Distress Inks over the petals and then added a couple of little flower buds to the centre, which I stuck using silicone glue and then added a little bit of beaded cotton under the flowers and around the buds.





Thanks for looking - I shall be dashing off to make the Sunday Stamper for tomorrow while the old Mojo is still here, I don't want it going off on holidays again!!

Hels x

Objet D'Art - Altered Art - Flower Pot

Hi peeps,

I am honoured to say that I have been asked to be the Guest Designer for the Objet D'Art challenge this week.



Entitled "Potting Shed Productions", the challenge is to alter a flower pot, be it terracotta, plastic, pottery, cracked, broken, whole or just in need to a little attention.

I chose to alter a flower pot because it is something that most of us have kicking around either in the house, garden or shed and we all know how expensive some of the fancy pots can be!



I found this old pot in the back of the shed and after a little dusting down it was ready to alter. I started by priming the whole surface both inside and out, with Gesso. I needed two coats of Gesso as this pot already had a little design on it which needed to be concealed.



Once the Gesso was dry, I applied a thick layer of Ranger Acrylic paint, mixing Willow and Lettuce to get the right colour I needed. Once this was dry, I painted over the outer surface with PVA glue and then immediately applied a coat of Ranger Gold acrylic paint. This is the new to me technique that I am hooked on and it does work really well....in a warm room...and unfortunatly, the Room of Stash was a little bit cold today, so the crackling isn't as effective as I would have liked. I will put that one down to experience!




The pot had two panels inset where the original design was. On the front panel, I used a piece of Appletini Ten Seconds Studios metal and a couple of moulds to make a pattern. I aged the piece by sanding and then applying a thin coat of gold acrylic paint, buffing when this had dried off.




The back panel has been decorated by stamping a flower head onto the Appletini metal and embossing in gold. I attached the metal to some cardstock for ease of application to the pot - using silicone glue to stick the flowers on.





I used a gorgeous scroll stamp by The Artistic Stamper, stamping randomly, using Ranger Archival ink in black, along the top and bottom of the pot and embossing in clear to set the ink.




Finally, I used my Melt Pot and poured gold UTEE into a couple of little mould and pour moulds I had made using an old earring and a fancy button. I added the button UTEE embellies to the top of the pot and the leafy earring embellies enhanced the metal flowers.




Thank you to Jennie for inviting me to be a Guest Designer on the challenge, I am over the moon you asked me and as you know, I just love altering stuff :O))

Thanks for looking peeps and I hope that you find some time to join in with this challenge as it is fun and it will jazz up a tired looking pot, making a cheap and attractive addition to your home.

Hugs Hels x

Sunday Stamper (feat. Objet D'Art Challenge) - Week 43 - Green Green Grass Of Home

Good Morning Stampers,

I will start by saying thank you to you all for joining in last week - I saw some heavenly black and gold designs, all very different and all very gorgeous :O))

You may have noticed that The Sunday Stamper has a featured challenge Blog today! The theme for the Sunday Stamper this week is Green - you may have already guessed that one LOL However, to be a little bit different, I am featuring the Objet D'Art challenge which can be found here.

As usual, all you need to do to join in with the Sunday Stamper is make a piece of artwork that incorporates the colour green and includes some stamping too. I have made my piece but also it is going towards the Objet D'Art challenge which is why I have featured this challenge today. It would be fab if you fancied doing this too as I know that a lot of you enjoy altering things but please don't think you have to - you can just make a Sunday Stamper piece as normal :O)) The main element of the Objet D'Art challenge is to make an item that is altered. As this challenge runs for two weeks, I will be holding this weeks Sunday Stamper open for a fortnight too. This will give you loads more time to play too :O))

The theme on the Objet D'Art challenge, which was announced last night, is Tin. All you need to do is alter a tin, or something that is tin, or, well, anything you like as long as tin is involved LOL

I altered this tin for my entry - and made it green for my Sunday Stamper entry. It is a Tim Holtz Cropper Hopper tin and can be bought from The Artistic Stamper.




I used some of my Ten Seconds Studio (I know, I know, I am truly an addict) goodies and made a little plaque to cover the clear part of the lid. Using a few different letters made of Grungeboard and chipboard, I popped these under the metal, then I embossed over them to make them stand out.

Before



After



Once this was done, I used a few tools to make patterns on the letters and then I used a cup and ball tool to make some mini "rivets" and a pointy tool to make some hand scribled doodles. To antique the metal I used my finger to apply some black acrylic paint and let this dry off, then buffed it with a soft cloth. The paint stays in the debossed bits of the patterns, making it look a bit aged.





I then moved onto inking the tin, for which I used Kuretake & Ranger alcohol inks along with some blending solution. Covering the whole tin was a bit of a mission to be honest as there are lots of curvey edgey bits that are quite difficult to get the inks into, so I clipped the application felt to a mini paperclip and applied it that way! Once the inks had dried completely I buffed over the surface of the tin with a paper towel, I don't know if you have found this but sometimes I seem to end up with little fibres from the felt sticking to the inks and I don't like that at all LOL






I used a brass brush to take off some of the inks, making circular motions on the top and sides and then sweeping along the edges. I then put some more black paint to my finger (you should see the state of my nails) and swished this over parts of the tin where the brush had been. Wiped down with a soft cloth, this gave the tin a more co-ordinating look with the metal plaque.




Finally, I added a few Tim Holtz Idea-ology bits and bobs to jazz it up a bit. Now, you are probably wondering where the stamping is! Well, I haven't had chance to do that yet cos the tin took me way longer than I planned, so I will do my stamping later on and then blog that piccie...hope I am forgiven! :O))




All that is left for me to say is have fun, get inky and messy and please remember to add a post here with a link to the place you are showing your work of art so I can come and have a look.

Thanks for looking

Hels x

PS Almost forgot to say what the tin is for! You will have noticed that it says Tools on the lid...well, it is for all my TSS tools LOL Well, I have to keep them tidy after all :O))

Time In A Bottle - Two Challenges in One

Evening Peeps,

I have made a tag for the Lots To Do challenge, the theme of which is Time. I am also including this one as another entry for the Objet D'Art Challenge as that is to alter a tag.




I used some Antique Brass CracklePaint - my new favest stash item - and painted the top part of the tag. Once this was dry, I stamped and embossed in clear the big clock from the Tim Holtz range of stamps. I then blended Antique Linen, Tea Dye and Peeled Paint Distress Ink over the top of the tag. I crumpled it slightly so the Tea Dye enhanced the peaks of the creases, spritzed water into the palm of my hand, then flicked the tag with it.




I used another Tim Holtz clock image and stamped using Peeled Paint, stamping randomly over the tag. I edged the tag with gold Krylon pen and then using an extra piece of card, made a little raised sentiment, also a Tim stamp. I tore the edges of this and used my Krylon on these too.




The flower is hand cut from a piece of Claudine Hellmuth's sticky canvas - which is also my favest new stash item LOL. I roughly sketched a flower, cut it out, stuck it onto some metal and then blended Aged Mahogany Distress Ink over the surface. Spritzing the flower with water really brought the colour to life, I dried this with my heatgun and then using black VersaFine ink, I stamped the little clock image randomly. The centre of the flower is actually a watch glass which I stuck on with silicone glue.




Finally, the "Time in a Bottle" is actually the mini vial which I filled up with bits and bobs from the insides of watches. I popped the cork into the top of the vial using a dab of Glossy Accents to make sure it doesn't come loose and then stuck it to the tag with silicone glue. I added a few co-ordinating ribbons to finish it off. The Distress Inks, Cracklepaint, ickle vial and the watch in'erds and glass are from The Artistic Stamper. The tag is from LB Crafts and the stamps are from various sources :O))

Thanks for lookin!

Hels xx

Objet D'Art Challenge - Tag

Evening Peeps,

Wow, my last Blog post of 2008 - where has this year gone?????

I have joined in with the Objet D'Art challenge which is to alter a tag.....mmmmmm, perfect for me as I love playing about with tags!




I painted some Shabby Shutters Cracklepaint onto the tag and then let it dry. I then used Shabby Shutters Distress Ink and Peeled Paint Distress Ink and blended these over the top of the tag. I spritzed some water into my hand and flicked at the tag, so I got a nice splotchy effect.




The stamping is all done using Tim Holtz stamps by Stampers Anon. I used Peeled Paint and Walnut Stain inks for this and also used gold embossing powder for the tree and Walnut Stain Distress Embossing Powder for the birds. The word is mounted onto 3D foam and then I added a little Grungeboard crown, which I coloured with gold Krylon. I edged the tag with Walnut Stain and then dragged my Krylon pen around the edge to finish it off.




I added a sentiment disc, which is from the Tim Holtz Idea-0logy range but because I didn't really like the colour, I used my gold Krylon to alter it and make it all shiney and golden!




Thanks for looking and also thank you for all the lovely comments I have received this year. All that is left for me to say is a very Happy New Year to you and yours and may 2009 bring you lots of happiness.

Hels x

Objet D'Art Challenge #1

Evening all,

A brand new Challenge blog has started this evening and I am really excited about it because it is all about my favest thing....Altered Art :O))

The Blog is called Objet D'Art and can be found here.

Here is what needs to be done - I have copied the words straight from the Blog - saves me typing them out!!

"If you haven't already guessed this is a participation theatre and you are required to make something, anything, you like from ANY Kitchen utensil! Tonight the sieve, the saucepan, the wooden spoon or chopping block is centre stage! Let your imagination run riot, use those long forgotten beads or papers, or stamps you bought long ago , and make something sensational from any kitchen utensil."

I used to collect old spoons so I raided the box they are stored in and altered three of them as my entry to the challenge.

The first is an old fashioned baby feeding spoon so it has a curly handle:

Here is the before piccie


And here are the pics of the "after" - once I had sploshed Alcohol inks all over it, covering my fingers, hands, desk and t shirt in the process LOL. I also added some wire, micro beads and a couple of pearls. It is the first time I have ever used wire on a project and I have to say, I really enjoyed using it!







I got really carried away once I had finished this spoon and ended up altering another two!! I used the same method of alcohol inking the spoons and then adding the micro beads and wires...but the last one had a little extra added....by way of a little plastic Gecko that I coated with Zig Zag glue and then dipped into gold metal flakes...and then wired his body and tail.







I can feel a new addiction coming on here you know...and, I have even managed to root out a few more spoons to alter, so watch this space!

This is a great new Challenge Blog and I highly recommend you pop over and have a look and have a play too.

Thanks for looking

Hels x