Boxed In...

Cor blimey, where has this week gone huh?  Last weekend I was over at Crafty Bunch in Telford and Sue kindly had ordered me a Sizzix die I have had my eye on for a while... the Eileen Hull 3D Block Cube... and of course, I had to have a little play this week.  I was lucky to be given some of Ken Oliver's gorgeous mew Studio Collection papers, by the man himself no less, when I was at the trade show a few weeks ago.  So, armed with new die and new papers, I got playing.

In the paper pack is an ephemera page, I loves ephemera and the stars a-top the box are just perfect... I popped them onto cardboard and cut them out, inked them, grunged them and then layered them with a pearl in between them to build up the height.

I made ickle panels for the sides and top of the box - stamping with Jet Black Archival and a script stamp and inking with Gathered Twigs to age up the effect.  The butterflies are Tim's new Watercolor butterflies... aren't they adorable?  These are stamped onto Ken's paper, cut out, inked and then stuck onto the panels with little twists of rusty wire for their bodies. The words are one of my most beloved Darkroom Door stamps - Word Block Journey - I love how the words on this are all different sizes and the font is just *perfect* if you know what I means.

Now, no self respecting box would sit flat on its bum... it needed feet... and the idea of using cotton reels soon had to be forgotten as I have run out of them!  So, I hit on the idea of using bottle caps... I just popped some gold Krylon pen over the edges to make them uniform in colour... and then added Potting Soil Archival to age them a bit.

Right, I have waffled enough... tis time for me to get meself to bed... I am away to the North East first thing in the morning so I needs me beauty sleeps!  Please check back Sunday for the new challenge theme Sunday Stamper - I have scheduled it!  I know, I am organised for a change! Thanks for looking, have a great weekend... TTFN

Hels x

EDIT.... I had the heads up from Anne about Eileen's current blog challenge... which is HERE... so I have entered this little box into that challenge... ooh, exciting, I never get the chance to enter challenges!!!   Thanks Anne! 

Sunday Stamper - Week 258 - All Those Years Ago

Goooodly Morning stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all.  Thank you muchly for all the fabby entries for last weeks' challenge... I am still on my way around to visit you all, I will be with you soon!   This week the theme is directly linked to one of my all time fave songs by George Harrison.  Here's a linky to YouTube so you can hear it for yourselves.  So, the theme is... VINTAGE/OLD.   To join in is simples; make a little something, it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme and some stamping and then pop back here to leave me a link to the place you are showing your entry.  If you haven't got a blog/web-photo hosty thing you can also join in via Facebook or by email.  The theme will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 25th May 2013.

My entry this week is a tag, using my fave old ink pads; Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain,  to colour the base of it.  I used the spritz and flick method to add some water blobs to the base and then used Frayed Burlap to overstamp my fave old script stamp (Letters To Santa CMS052 Tim  Holtz Collection)  Another old stamp was used to add the flourish (another fabby Tim stamp) this time stamped using Black Archival as I wanted this to pop more.

I wanted a nice vintagey look to the tag so I kept it pretty simple with the embellishing (well, I tried lol)  The flower is one of the new Susan's Garden Sizzix dies, this one is the Peony and I am deffo collecting these dies, I LOVE the flowers they make!  They are all individual petals glued together (good old Cosmic Shimmer glue) The old Ornate Frame is actually not that old (being as I use so many of them, I buy them all the time) but it is one of the first Idea-ology things to be released, so it is a bit old.  I used Alpha Parts to make my word... and yep, it is WISH again (I still have another 6 months of the year of the wish word...) and I popped on one of the new Wishbones (Idea-ology)  I just punched a hole thru the top of it and then added it to the ickle Ring Fastener (Idea-ology)  I bunged a bit of frayed hessian underneath the flower just to tie the tag to the flower... and voila, finished.

Thank you all for  your efforts in identifying the plant I asked about yesterday.  Pat Taylor went the extra mile and searched through her RHS books... and Ruth told me it is actually the Dwarf Bow Bells Rhododendron, which makes sense as it is a shrub and the whole of Portmeirion is ablaze with colour from Azalea's and the Rhododendrons are all budding there.  I do love an Azalea and I did have one that was amazing, sadly I had to leave it when we moved house but now our garden is beginning to look more normal (hey, it only took three years!) so I might have to buy myself one of these little shrubs.   Anyways... I am back in the real world and I now have inky fingers... and I will be back with my Snazzy DT tomorrow.   What you got planned for today?  I am going to spend a little time in the Room of Stashly Goodies, I have a project I have sketched and I want to turn it into the real thing! I shall away now... thanks for looking, have a grand day!  TTFN

Hels x