My Favourite Thing...

I don't normally revisit my posts, but those nice people at Anything But a Card have set an "Anything Goes/Favourite of 2012" challenge to finish up the year.  So what was my favourite project of 2012?  It has to be my final assemblage for the Timeworn Techniques course - Davy Jones's Locker (or, The Dead Man's Chest).  I'm really glad to have the opportunity to show it again, because I am particularly proud of it!

I learned such a lot from Andy Skinner's course and for the final assemblage I wanted to showcase as many of the techniques as possible.  The effects are mostly achieved with paint plus a few other items and were such fun to do.  (If you want to know how and want to know more then have a peep over at Andy Skinner for his excellent online workshops, http://www.andyskinnercrafts.com/online-workshops.html.  Sorry, but I can't reveal techniques gained from the class, it wouldn't be right or fair on Andy and I would be in breach of copyright.)

The chest is constructed from chipboard which came in boxes of envelopes and is based on a paatern from Laura Denison (I altered the proportions a bit) and the whole thing took me nearly two weeks (on and off) to complete (mainly because I kept thinking of other things to add to it!)  If you want to see more views then the original post is here.

Before I go, I just want to thank you for visiting my blog in 2012 - it's the first year I've really taken the time to share my creations and I appreciate all the lovely comments you've taken the trouble to leave.  Being a bit of a Blog Lurker myself I am always inordinately pleased when someone comments - thank you all.  Especial thanks to those of you who have chosen to follow me.

Anyway, hope you have a happy new year and I'll see you in 2013!

Paint your Dragon!

Hi folks, thanks for visiting! 

Papercrafting has been taking a back seat lately while I've been working on some altered bottle projects for the Evil Elixir Mixer workshop.  The pictures (above) show the early stages of my second project.  The bottle had mineral water in it - I love that teardrop shape - and has been sanded (with a Dremel - or I'd still be working away with the wet & dry paper!) and had texture medium applied.
The dragon is made from Epoxy Putty and based on those designed by Christi Friesen whose work I admire muchly.
Several coats of paint later, some more epoxy putty,and some embellishments and....

 A bottle of Firewater!

WOYWW -26 December

Blimey O'Reilly, is it Wednesday already?  Christmas Day has come and gone (hope yours was as good as mine), my feet are beginning to recover from my being on them all day doing a marathon bake-in (I used to be a primary school teacher and on my feet all day, but I've been a civil servant since 1997 and I'm out of practice!) and I've got a few days off work before the mayhem begins again.  The cat still resents the Christmas tree, though.  It's In The Way Of The View.   And there is nothing that can silently portray resentfulness like a Persian cat.

And here she is trying to disintegrate it with her Laser Vision -

Anyway, if you came here by way of WOYWW, you're interested in my workdesk, so here's a view of my craft space today -

I'm working on a picnic table in front of the TV today!  This began life as a mineral water bottle and is the second of three I'm making for Andy Skinner's altered bottle workshop.  It's nearly finished, just a couple of processes to go.  On the left is my Chrissie Pressie from the Love of My Life - a tablet (Google Nexus, if you're interested!) onto which I am going to save the pdf instruction leaflets.  Cunning plan, eh?

 Okay, now I'm off to have a nosey at some workdesks before going to visit the family as per usual for Boxing Day.  I hope you all have a great day whatever you're up to and that you enjoyed your visit here - you're welcome at any time!

Season's greetings!

Season's greetings to all of you from me and Craft Supervisor Mysti!

How long does it take to make an ATC?

Well, in my case, about three weeks.  I signed up for an ATC swap at Haunted Design House and hit the wall, creatively speaking.  The mojo was well and truly on holiday and the position was getting desperate!  How hard can it be to make an ATC, for crying out loud?

And then...inspiration!  I don't know which haunted wing of my mind I dredged this one up from, but here it is....

The stamp I made with my Imagepac, then masked the image and the moon and sponged on Stormy Sky DI with a bit of Black Soot round the edges.  The hat is a bit of clip art.  The sense of humour is all my own.  Sorry 'bout that.



WOYWW, 12 December

And on my workdesk today is - a right old mess, to be honest.  I'm not lucky enough to have a craft room.  My craft room is also my living room, dining room and everything room.  I have an amazingly tolerant husband so it usually isn't a problem.  However, at this time of year, even I must admit that I can't craft around the deccies so my base of operations (usually spread across desk, desk annexe and desk annexe 2 - the sewing machine cabinet and the dining table respectively) has contracted back to the official craft desk.  Where there isn't room for it.  So, gentle visitors from Julia's blog, I apologise for the state of the place.

Not too sure how I'm going to manage to complete my next bottle for Andy Skinner's workshop but I'm sure I'll think of something..

Gotta lotta bottle...

 

Oh my, it's been so busy lately!  I've been involved in a recruitment exercise in work, working at weekends (the overtime pay will come in handy!) as well as trying to get my department to run the way I want and taking exams (thanks for all the kind words and congratulations, by the way - I really appreciated them!)

 

About all I've had time for is Andy Skinner's Evil Elixir Mixer workshop.  I think I may be a Skinnerholic - after doing the Timeworn Techniques course I was so looking forward to this one and I haven't been disappointed.  The picture is of my first attempt and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.  I already have my next one all planned out...

 

Thank you for visiting - I hope you enjoyed!

WOYWW, November 28

I've been a bit quiet lately - my "real life" has been somewhat busy (If you've been following this blog, you might like to know that I passed my exam, by the way!).  And this is just a flying visit to WOYWW.   On my workdesk this week you can see the beginning of my first project for the latest Andy Skinner online workshop.  This one is the altered bottle course, the Evil Elixir Mixer, and I am learning lots!

Thanks for your visit.  I'm off now to pay some flying visits in return!

'Tis the Season

Hi folks, welcome to my blog and thank you for visiting.  I really appreciate that you've chosen to take a look at what I've been doing.  Today it's my effort for The Artful Times blog challenge, which is to make a fabric tag. 

Up till now I've resisted doing anything with a Yuletide theme, for a couple of reasons, one being that I can't really to begin to think about it until after my son's birthday in the middle of November.  However, I think it's about time, so here it is!

The background is white cotton fabric, coloured with Adirondack inks in Red Pepper, Cranberry and Wild Plum and then sprayed with red Radiant Rain and gold Sprinkies.  While it was drying, I stuck green organza to actetate using double-sided adhesive sheet and cut the swirls from the adhesive sheet (the dies is a Sizzix Tm Holtz Alterations die - Elegant Swirls).  I stamped the organza using gold Brilliance ink (stamp from The Artisic Stamper), and cut the leaves with the Holly Branch Alterations die.

Once the background was dry, I stamped the harlequin pattern (another Artistic Stamper stamp) in  gold Brilliance and brushed gold Perfect Pearls where I wanted the pattern to stand out. I stuck the adhesive swirls down onto the background and glittered them with Old Gold Art Institute glitter.  Finally, I arranged the holly leaves on the tag ( I stuck them down with offcuts of the adhesive sheet left over from cutting the swirl - thrifty, eh?)

And there we have it.  In the flesh, the red and gold are very vibrant and I am thinking of developing the theme for one of the pages in the mini-album I began earlier this week.  Could be good!

Ink free stamping

Hi folks,thanks for visiting my blog. I've had quite a week and I've a fairly hectic few weeks coming up so my crafting time is precious right at the moment.   I mentioned to a colleague that my crafting was the only thing keeping me sane.  "Do more of it!" she said - how rude!

 Today's offering began as a response to Simon Says Stamp & Show blog challenge - ink free stamping. I've had this Papermania mini-album hanging about the place for a while waiting for inspiration to strike so I decided that the time was ripe to make some use of it.

I covered the page with white cotton fabric then went to work with Distress Inks in shades of blue (applying them from the pad with sponge applicators) and once they were all covered, sprayed some Radiant Rain in blues and purples (plus a touch of pewter to grunge it all up) added a fine mist of water to get it to blend together, and left it to dry.  It was so pretty it was a shame to cover it up, but I spoke firmly to myself and added the netting.   The netting is recycled from my Dead Man's Chest project - it was gold to begin with but a dip in some diluted brown acrylic paint sorted that out.

I covered the lower right of the shape with gold Ferro paint in a nice thick layer, sprayed my stamp (a foam one designed for stamping home decor projects) with water and stamped it into the Ferro.  Result!  The opposite corner was looking a bit bare so I covered that with Croco paints in turquoise, bronze and gold.

I don't know about you, but I love peacock feathers and the colours of the album page were reminding me so much of them...so I had to include one.  The peacock is the bird associated with the goddess Juno (Hera), queen of the gods of Olympus, and this gave me the title for my page.  I printed out the word "Goddess", aged the paper with some Vintage Photo and Pumice Stone DI's and put it behind the Tim Holtz ornate plate, which I'd coated with Celtic Bronze gilder's paste and a touch of Patina paste.  While I had the gilder's paste handy, I gave the edges of the page a touch of both colours.  Finally, I put an acrylic AB gem at the base of the feather to neaten it up.

I'm thinking that I may theme each page inside the album for different goddesses - what do you think?

Compendium Of Curiosities II- Challenge 28

Hi folks, and thanks for visiting.  It's Reflections Stamping this week!  The challenge set by Linda Ledbetter (and sponsored by Simon Says Stamp) is to create something using the technique as described in Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities Volume II, and here's what I've come up with.

This tag is the result of another series of happy accidents.  The silhouette stamp is one I made with my Imagepac that went a bit wrong, due to a timing issue (i.e. the timer works better if you remember to press the "start" button when you want it to begin timing) and as a result was too dense.  However, we never throw anything away, so I kept it to use on this technique.  Then, when I thought I'd got the hang of the technique and was ready to stamp onto my tag, blow me down if there wasn't a missed bit right where the left eye should be!

After taking some deep breaths, I decided to make a feature of the gap by gluing a Kanban Dew Drop over it- and that looked like a monocle...and I had an "Aha!" moment.

I am a big fan of Dorothy L Sayers's fictional detective, Lord Peter Wimsey, who wore a monocle, so I added a jump ring and a bit of chain, blended in some Distress Tea Dye ink around the edges, stamped around the edge with a Creative Expressions newsprint stamp (second generation ink, Vintage Photo), and stamped "mystery" in the place where the reflections stamp wasn't in quite the right place (I told you this was a series of happy accidents!).  I die-cut the "Lord Peter" from black card using a Quickutz alphabet I've had around for years, and stuck it down using peel-off tape to get the alignment right.  And there we are, as if it were planned.  You won't tell, will you?



Ironmongery with Ambition

Hi folks, thanks for coming by.  I really appreciate your visits and I hope you enjoy reading my ramblings and looking at my efforts.  Today I'm featuring my entry for DragonsDream Tag-It-On challenge, theme - Self-Propelled Flowers.

“Butterflies are not insects,' Captain John Sterling said soberly. 'They are self-propelled flowers.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls .  One of my favourite sci-fi authors, and one of my favourite books of his.  In some of his books, Heinlein wrote about self-aware machines - computer "brains" that became so complex that they "woke up".

So here's my "butterfly" - some ornamental ironmongery that woke up and wanted to transform into something different.

 

The roses I painted with texture medium and then painted grey for a stone effect.  The die-cut corner pieces (dies from Marianne) have been given a coat of gilder's paste, as has the little body piece.  The tag had various shades of blue and green DI's (Broken China, Weathered Wood, Spruce and Evergreen) blended over it and the little butterflies (from Lavinia) were stamped in Stormy Sky.  The sentiment is one I made with my Imagepac and is stamped in Cobalt Archival ink.

 

And there we are, sidling in just as they shut the doors again.  I hope you like it, and you'll call again soon.  Bye for now!

 



Cherish your Dreams

Hi folks, thanks for stopping by!  Hope you're all having a lovely crafty weekend, wherever you might be, and welcome to my blog.

 

The Stamp Man's latest blog challenge is to make something embossed, and as it's my younger son's birthday next week (he'll be 25 - how is that possible?) I thought I'd combine making something for the challenge with his birthday card. 

 

I have to confess to another happy accident here.  The coloured panel (done with an Alterations embossing folder) was orignally a practice piece for a "painted chipped metal" technique.  The technique is paint-heavy so the card used in the making needs to be a good weight - 300 gsm is recommended, and I use Centura Pearl (the plain side) for most things.  In this case, I put the card into the folder the wrong way up.  Rather than waste it, I reasoned that the piece was going to be covered in paint so Nobody Would Ever Know.  Which worked until the final aging layer was wiped off, and took some of the lower layers with it, leaving behind areas where the pearl card is peeping through. 

 

The faux leather/crocodile is made by taking brown card and brayering a layer of PVA or gloss gel medium over the top.  If you try this, work quickly, brayer in one direction and don't overwork it - and clean your brayer immediately if you're planning to use it again!  Once dry, the card can still be embossed, as you can see.

 

What else? Oh, the "stitching" on the vertical strip was done by pricking out the holes (with my Tim Holtz ruler) and then dragging the tip of the piercing tool from hole to hole.  The sentiment is from Pink Petticoat, cut with a Spellbinders die and coloured with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.

 

Well, I've had a lovely week off work, crafting to my heart's content, but now it's back to real life.  I may be a bit quiet for a while as I'm going to be busy elsewhere - a Risk Management course in work for one thing - but don't worry, I will be back!  See you soon, I hope.

 

TTFN!



Lest We Forget

In the US and Canada, November is the month of Thanksgiving, but here in the UK it's the month of Remembrance - first we remember the Gunpowder Plot with fireworks and bonfires (which were originally lit to celebrate the Celtic New Year and the final harvest of the year at Samhain), but mainly we take time to remember those who died fighting to protect their homelands. 

Both my grandfathers fought in the First World War.  My father served in the RAF in the Second World War - he was a mechanic who kept Spitfires flying.  Happily, they came back home again, but many didn't; my great-aunt's first husband was killed in France.  So my take on Tim Holtz's tag for November features poppies.

"The poppy is an instantly recognisable symbol of respect for those who've made the ultimate sacrifice in conflicts past and present. As the nation's custodian of Remembrance, the Legion is committed to helping everyone understand the importance of Remembrance, so those sacrifices are never forgotten." Royal British Legion

 

The poppy stamps are from Sheena Douglass's Paint Fusion range, stamped in Versamark, then embossed with detail embossing powder before masking them off and stamping in the leaves.  The "Remember" stamp I made with my Imagepac kit .  I had to adapt Tim's method a bit - I used DI pads instead of Distress Stains as I wanted to control where the colours went - I'm hoping the Craft Police won't be paying me a visit as a result.  After I'd taken the embossing powder off,  I stamped the "Remember" again in black archival ink and added the poppy stamens in black marker.

I'm going to be observing the two minutes silence at 11 a.m. on Sunday and I'll be thinking of the men and women who fell in action, defending their country.  Please consider joining me.

Thank you for visiting.

Nautical but Nice!

I live beside the sea - from my living room window I can see the Bristol Channel, a few hundred yards away.  The last part of my journey home from work parallells the beach, and I always feel refreshed ti see it.  So perhaps it isn't surprising that the seaside is an influence in my crafting.

This is the frame that was on my desk on Wednesday,  given a coat of gilder's paste in Rich Gold, some Timeworn aging and some more gilder's paste in Patina.

 

I filled each "porthole" with a piece of Core'dinations whitewash card, embossed with a swirly folder and lightly sanded back.  The embellishments are moulded out of paper clay and were part of my final assemblage item for the Timeworn Techniques course.  They have been painted in acrylic paint to get a faux ivory appearance (you'll have to sign up for the course to find out how - I'm not going to reveal Andy Skinner's secrets!).  The idea of using Pledge Multi-Surface Wax (formerly known as Klear polish) as a sealer/polish on the embellies is entirely my own, though, so I can share it with you.  It gives a lovely soft sheen, I just love it.

 

I'm so enjoying my few days leave, relaxing and catching up on my crafting.  I do hope you enjoyed visiting my blog - thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again soon!

WOYWW- 7 November

For once I'm not rushing my contribution to WOYWW in between coming home from work and rushing out the door to my dance class (it's Samba and Foxtrot at the moment, two flippin' hard dances, and not helped by the fact that the Love of My Life loathes Samba with a passion!). 
I'm halfway through a week off work.  Next week I will be taking a challenging course, so right now I'm relaxing and making the most of the crafting time!

Yesterday's contribution was a pretty blue card;  today normal service is resumed and the grunge is making a comeback.

Thes little papier mache frames will be given the timeworn treatment eventually, but at the moment the flatback pearl "rivets" are drying.  Once they are dry I will roughen them up with some sandpaper so that the next layer will stick to them - I may even give them a coat of a medium of some sort as I am probably going to cover them with gilder's paste.  I'm aiming for a "porthole of a ship" effect this time.

Now I'm off to post this, link to Julia's blog, and go whizzing around the blogiverse visiting other peoples' workdesks.  See you soon!

Singin' the Blues

I've always crafted - needlecraft mainly.    Like so many crafters, I came to papercrafting through cardmaking.  (It started when I went to buy a greetings card, saw a "hand-made" card I liked - then saw the price - and said "I can do that!" and a habit was formed). It suddenly occurred to me that I haven't made a card for - well, months.  Not that I'm likely to run out of greetings cards any time soon - I have a large box full of cards I've made - but I thought it was about time I got back to my roots for Sunday Stampers this week.
Hels has chosen "blue" for the theme this week, and here's my blue card.

 

Delicate and pretty isn't my usual style, so I don't know what came over me here!

I began with a shaped card which I turned into an easel card with the help of a Go Kreate fancy label die.  ( In case you haven't seen how to cut part of an aperture into a card, here's my way of doing it)

For the embossing on  the dark blue panel, I inked up a rubber stamp with silver Brilliance ink (Platinum Planet, do be precise) and put it face-up on the craft table, then put the velvet paper face down on top of the stamp and pressed it with a hot iron. If you've never done this, it can be a bit scary, but I am assured that rubber stamps can take very high temperatures.  Don't try it with clear "jelly  acrylic stamps though, as you will wreck the stamp. (Fortunately, the stamp I killed that way wasn't one I particularly liked!)

This little ballet dancer die from Marianne is one of my favourites.  I've cut her out of silver foil card and the three roses are cut from copy paper that I've coloured with Starburst Stains - you can see them a bit better in the close-up.  

 The sentiment is a digital stamp from Pink Petticoat and the label die is from Spellbinders;  the pearl pin is by Creative Expressions and the polka-dotted card is from Hunkydory. 

Hope you like it, and thanks for stopping by!

(Don't worry, the grunge will be back soon!)

Black in style!

I have a week off work, which means I can get caught up with my crafting (I pour scorn on the suggestion that I could get caught up with the housework instead!).  I do like to enter blog challenges when I have the time - they make me try things I wouldn't usually attempt. 

 

The challenge over at the Anything But A Card challenge blog is to make something that features black.  So I'm hoping that this tag qualifies!

 

 

 

 

 

The background I embossed with an embossing folder then stippled some black acrylic all over to get a rusty texture, then employed some of Andy Skinner's Timeworn Techniques to make it all aged and grungy looking. I couldn't resist a bit of "decayed rust" along the bottom of the tag . 

The roses I made from velvet paper.  I LOVE velvet paper and I really like the texture it gives to the flowers.  The petals are die cut using the Spellbinders Rose Creations dies and my favourite method (see here for how-to's)  The leaves were cut from some Kraft glassine "gilded" as shown in TIm Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities Volume II. 

The gears I die-cut (using the Gadget Gears die from the Sizzix Alterations range - has to be one of my favourite dies!) from scrap greyboard before getting the timeworn treatment.

The whole thing came out looking a bit Gothic to me - what do you think?

I never drink...wine...

Ah, Hammer films!  Memories of going to the pictures in the 70's with the latest boyfriend, going to see such gems as The Abominable Doctor Phibes or The Devil Rides Out - burying your face in his jacket at the scary bits!  (On reflection, this may be the reason our boyfriends were so keen to take us to see the films in the first place).  The king of Hammer has to be Christopher Lee's Dracula, so that was what I wanted to feature in my challenge piece for Haunted Design House

 

So here he is, ol' red-eyes himself, stamped and masked while I built up the background with red inks - Adirondack Red Pepper, Distress Fired Brick and Barn Door.   I added some hits of red to eyes and fangs with a cut and dry nib.  And I couldn't resist adding in the words (printed onto Safmat) - it's my idea of funny.  You'll just have to get used to it, I'm afraid!



 

Update - I made the Gruesome Twosome!  Whoo-hoo!

Compendium Of Curiosites II - Challenge 26

Two-for-one again.  The challenge set by Linda Ledbetter this week (sponsored by the Funkie Junkie) was to create something using the Crumpled Kraft Suede technique in Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities Volume II, and Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers challenge was to make something Autumn related, so that worked out well!


The leaves (cut with Sizzix mini Tattered Leaves dies) and the tag were both treated to the Kraft Suede technique;  the leaves also got a bit of bling by way of some Perfect  brushed on.  The words were stamped with some of the 99p-a-set alphabet stamps I picked up - all so simple, but I hope you like it!

Happy Hallowe'en

Samhain blessings, everyone!

Don't worry...

Bee Happy!

Inspired by Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers challenge to create something honey-coloured or with honeycomb as a theme,  and running in just as they shut the doors, here's my tag -

The message is very apt at the moment because we are having one of those times where things have to be replaced. Latest casualty is the washing machine - the door latch is broken (luckily, it's insured but I'll have to take a day off for the repair man!).  Husband has also broken his Kindle and misplaced his set of car keys somewhere in the house.  I'm afraid to touch anything now.

Nothing very challenging as to technique - Wild Honey distress ink sponged onto a background of Scattered Straw DI through a That Special Touch mask, bees die with a Spellbinders die, once in acetate and wings glittered, and the sentiment iin sepia archival with 99p a set alphabet stamps.  And it made me smile, so I like it.

WOYWW - 24 October

Ha, bet you weren't expecting that, were you?  Normally, on WOYWW my blog is all about papercrafts or messy painty stuff, but with a swift change of direction, this week my workdesk has been given over to jewellery-making! I've had these scrumptious Jesse James beads for a while and I've finally decided that it is time to stop admiring them and do something with them.  (Plus, I've got another two strands in red and have ordered some pink ones...) I'm thinking my son's girlfriend might like this necklace and the matching earrings...when I've finished them of course.

Normal crafting service will be resumed as soon as possible...

Twinkle, twinkle

"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!

How I wonder what you're at!

Up above the world you fly,

Like a tea-tray in the sky."

(Lewis Carroll - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

The Altered Alice's challenge this month is to create something that twinkles or shines, and by happy chance Tim Holtz's tag for October uses glitter (Tim uses glitter!  Whatever next?), so it's one stone, two bats for this one.  I used a background stamp from The Artistic Stamper (Sequin Waste) as I didn't have a cobweb stamp (how did I let that happen?) but I think it works OK!

 

Hallowe'en is my favourite festival of the year.  When I was a child, the emphasis was more on Guy Fawkes night (we used to have HUGE bonfires in the village) and because legislation was a lot looser then going out at night was positively hazardous from the end of September until November 5th due to fireworks going off (usually "bangers").  It's probably just as well that we make a bigger deal of Hallowe'en now.  I've got all sorts of plans for this year..

 

Update - Honourable Mention at The Altered Alice - thank you so much!

 



Heavy Metal

I've been away from Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers challenges for a few weeks , busy with other projects.  This week Hels has asked us to make something with metal, and here's my interpretation!

I'm not usually this quick off the mark, but it just happened that I'd done the background for this tag - using the method that Tim Holtz demonstrated for his tag for September-intending to enter it in another challenge, and then didn't get the time to finish.   I will admit that the surface wasn't the easiest to stamp on - so I cheated and stamped the IndigoBlu stamp onto Safmat.  The roses were made using Donna Salazar Create-a-Rose Spellbinders dies made to look metallic with silver Gilder's Paste (I still love Gilder's Paste!), made some time ago, so all I had to do was stick them on.

There we are, job done!  Thansk for your visit - hope you enjoyed!

Davy Jones's Locker

Hello everyone, and thanks for visiting! I've been somewhat quiet on the blogging front of late, partly because my "real life" has been insanely busy but largely because I have been working on my final assemblage for Andy Skinner's Timeworn Techniques course.

Andy's course runs over eight weeks. At the start of the course, you get access to the "how-to" videos and it's up to you which order you try the techniques. You also get access to a private forum where you can post pictures of your efforts and Andy will critique them, offering constructive comments. The techniques are all achieved using acrylic paints plus one or two other items, and if you want to know more, invest in the course!

So here it is - my final piece.

The Dead Man's Chest!

I started with this -

and constructed the trunk, based on Laura Denison's Trunk Full of Memories pattern, adapted a bit.

And after a lot of work -

The spyglass extends and collapses like a real telescope.  Took me ages to work put how to do it!
The hasp of the fastening and the ring that holds the chains are plastic curtain rings;  the anchor and the skull are moulded from paper clay.  Apart from the chain, everything else is recycled cardboard from packaging.

The side of the chest - the octopus was moulded out of paper clay before being given the timeworn treatment!

A chest has to have treasure!  The spyglass fits into the case.  The skulls are plastic beads.

The tray comes out for more storage

The telescope case -

When I started the course, I didn't think I was going to enter a final piece (it's not compulsory)   I certainly didn't think I'd be waking up in the morning thinking "I need to make a telescope!"  or making "rum" out of clear acrylic floor wax and ink!  I've enjoyed every minute, recommend it to anyone with an interest in achieving these effects, and have signed up for the altered bottle course next month.  So I'll just have to start stockpiling wine bottles to alter...have to empty them first, though.  It's a hard job, but somebody's got to do it....

WOYWW - 10 October

Did you miss me?  I’ve been just SOOOO busy the past couple of weeks.  I’ve been making my final assemblage for Andy Skinner’s Timeworn Techniques course (can’t show you just yet but I learned so much, I amazed myself!)  It’s been a hectic time in my real life as well, so I’ve had no energy to blog or participate in blog challenges, or even to join in WOYWW.  (I did visit some blogs, though, but only to lurk – sorry, I didn’t leave many comments...)

This is my desk this week – not much going on as I have cleared the decks after finishing Andy’s stuff and haven’t decided what I’m going to do next.

 

By way of contrast, this was my desk LAST week.  What a state – and this is after I’d tidied up a bit.  Why is it that, no matter how much space I have available, I wind up working in a space six inches square and covered in glue? 

 

Hope you enjoyed your visit.  I’m off to see what you’ve all been up to lately - see you around the blogiverse!

Gilded Gears

If you've been visiting my blog lately (Thank you!) you can't have failed to miss mentions of the wonderful Andy Skinner, who is to Altered Art techniques what Tim Holtz is to Grunge.  Andy offers online courses at a modest cost, which show how to use paints and a few other items to create great effects.

This tag features two of the techniques, the Steampunk Brass and the Burnt Oxidized Copper.  Just for once, I'm not entering it in any challenges;  this ones just for me. If you've done Andy's course then you'll know how I got the effects;  if you haven't - well, I'm not telling.  It wouldn't be fair to Andy. 

The course is coming to an end now, and I'm already contemplating the next one;  the Evil Elixir Mixer sounds like fun...

Compendium of Curiosities II- Challenge 21

Where does the time go?  Thursday already and my entry for Linda's challenge not yet posted!  If you don't know about it,  every week Linda challenges us to make something using one of the techniques from Tin Holtz's most excellent book, A Compendium of Curiosities, Volume 2.
This week the challenge is being sponsored by the generous folk at Simon Says Stamp.
This timewe've been using the Blended Stains technique, and that's how I've created my background.  And then I stamped all over it, so you'll just have to take my word for it that the background is truly awesome.  The tag also features some Andy Skinner Timeworn Techniques - I don't know how I'm going to cope when the course ends...I'll just have to sign up for another one!

WOYWW - 19 September

Didn't think I was going to make it this week due to a serious collapse of broadband service in my area.  (ARRRGH! NO INTERNET!  PANIIIIC!!!)  However, it has returned in time for me to join in the fun that is WOYWW.

It's all a bit if a mess at the moment.  On the left is a bag of Radiant Rain sprays, just delivered (well, there was a half price sale so it would have been rude not to).  The dark brown bit is a practice piece for Andy's course (here's a better pic  -)

The tag on the right is going to be my contribution for the Compendium of Curiosities challenge this week, if I ever get caught up!  The rest of it is just stuff I really ought to put away...when I get a chance...

OK, I'm off to visit some blogs.  Hope you enjoyed your visit - thanks for stopping by!