Altered Cigar Box

There is a relatively new and fabulous challenge blog called Creative Carte Blanche and I have entered for the first time with my altered cigar box.  It is the first box I have altered and everything went wrong but I got there in the end!  The post is a bit photo heavy of the finished box but I only took one of the process, sorry!

Here is the finished box, I took the photo's outside as the indoor ones were terrible.  These are not brilliant but hopefully you get the idea!

I should have taken a photo of the box as it started.  It was wooden with stickers on it. First I painted the whole box inside and out with Gesso.  My idea was to paint it in several different colours of paint then add stencilling, texture paste etc. but I had a mishap! I put some lilac and green paint on a tile then went to add the Picked Raspberry Distress Paint but when I took the lid off and tipped it up, I forgot it was more liquid than the other make of paint I was using and emptied most of the pot everywhere!  Luckily I was working on a tan mat.  The only thing to do was paint the whole box pink with cut and dry foam to use it up.

Then I had a pink box inside and out and no clue what to do with it!  I shut the door on my craft room and left it till the next day.

So!  To continue!  I still didn't know what to do so went through all my patterned paper to see if any inspiration came - none!  Shut the door and sulked!   Went back later and looked again and found a very old set of papers designed by Lawrence Llewelyn Bowen and found two patterns that went together really well and included a gorgeous bird and flower image with a matching pink! Yahoo!  Cut all the pieces to fit leaving a border of the lovely pink (which I was happy with now)  and adhered with matt Modge Podge.  There were a couple of bubbles when it was dry, another lesson learned but nothing I could do!  The frame on the front is a cardboard frame from my stash which I painted to match and glued to the front then added beads in the corners and a couple of Tim Holtz Chit Chat Stickers.  Also added beads to the corners of the lid and to the centres of the flowers and the birds eye.  Then added the gorgeous butterflies to the sides, my lovely friend Anne sent them to me the other day and they are perfect!

Next I was going to Modge Podge over again but decided to go with Crafter's Companion Spray and Shine.  Now bear in mind, my head was addled and I was pretty exhausted by now (CFS/ME only lets me play for so long) and I should have stopped, but no!  I decided to carry on with the spraying! Didn't read the can, just went for it, the sides and the inside (thank goodness left the top).  Shut the craft room door and left it.  Next day went to check and nooooooooooo!  Some was shiny, some not and the front especially was covered with rough textured patches of nastiness!  Big trauma!  Box ruined!  Hubby looked and said nothing would fix it and read the can!  I had sprayed too much and too close - silly me!  I did the top, following the instructions, perfect!  The sides and the back were not too bad but the front was terrible! I nearly threw it in the bin! I could'nt think of anything to do!  Then I thought 'beads' - so I covered the front with beads! Yay! rescued and luckily I like the effect!

I am pleased with how it has turned out in the end but what a learning curve!

Here are some more pictures:

I am entering this into the challenge over at Creative Carte Blanche - April Adventure, Think Outside the Box!

Please pop over and look at all the other awesome boxes!

Thank you so much for visiting me, I really appreciate it!  Have a wonderful weekend and take care.
Luv Chris xxx

Sparkly Poinsettias

I have a sparkly poinsettia card for you today!

The Layered Poinsettia die set is by Spellbinders and I cut them out of snippets of white card - the label is from Oval Bliss also by Spellbinders and was also cut out of a snippet.  I sprayed all the separate poinsettia layers with spray adhesive and sprinkled with glitter.  I glued two of each together and popped a jewel in the centre. The sentiment is from the set of stamps that goes with the dies.  I didn't use the stamps on the poinsettias as I just wanted them white and sparkly.  The red layer is another off cut of card from my bit box and the sentiment is inked with Festive Berries Distress Ink and I added glitter around the edge with my quickie glue pen.  There is so much sparkle in real life!

I would like to enter the following fabulous challenges:

Scraps of Life - April Rudolph Days Challenge - Anything goes as long as its Christmas.
The Craft Barn - Red and White and a bit of Black.
Pixie's Snippets Playground Week 226 - use Snippets.

Thank you so much for visiting me and have a fabulous Monday!  Take care. Christine xxx

Yellow, Pink and Green!

I am loving this colour combo which came up in a challenge - the colours look so lovely together!

I stamped the beautiful IndigoBlu Stylised Flowers in black Versafine and embossed with clear powder.  I used watercolour card and taped it down to a board then brushed the whole thing with clean water and added the watercolour paints.  I used Gansai Tambi paints which are lush, I treated myself last year when Amazon had them on an amazingly cheap deal!  When dry, I added some white texture paste which I had coloured with some of the pink paint, through a stencil and left to dry.  The sentiment is a Spellbinders die and I painted it with clear Wink of Stella.  For a bit more sparkle, I added Liquid Pearls sprinkled with glitter around the flower heads.  I was going to trim the panel to take off the uneven painty edges but I liked them so left it as it was.

I would like to enter this into the IndigoBlu challenge which is to use Yellow, Pink and Green.

I love IndigoBlu stamps - I bought these awesome flowers second hand and didn't use them for ages. When I did, I noticed they was absolutely covered in glue that had obviously been there for a very long time!  I used IndigoBlu Easy Peasy stamp cleaner which got some of it off and then I had to drench it in Crafter's Companion Stick Away, leave it for a while, then scrub at it for ages with a tooth brush then wash it in soapy water! It was a right hoo ha!  Worth it though cause the flowers stamp out perfectly which is testament to the wonderful quality of IndigoBlu stamps!

Thank you so much for visiting me, I love it when you do and your comments are much appreciated! Have a lovely day and take care! Christine xxx.

Spring Flowers

It doesn't feel much like spring at the moment - its cloudy, rainy and pretty chilly too!  Never mind, it could be a lot worse!  My card is quite spring like though, spring coloured flowers to brighten things up!

The flowers are cut out with copier paper using Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die.  The leaves are a different Sizzix die.  I watercoloured them with various colours of Distress Inks which had been watered down on a white tile as a pallet.  Then I stamped over them with various stamps to add texture.  As the flowers were rather flimsy, I gave then a spray with Crafters Companion Spray and Shine to make them a little tougher so they now have a sheen to them.  I am not sure if I should have left them as they were but its too late now!  I used kraft card as my card base and the square of white card has been distressed around the edges with scissors and then Distress Ink.  The words 'Spring' (Clarity) and 'Flowers' (Sheena Douglass) were stamped on snippets of card in Vintage Sepia Versafine and edged with Distress Ink, cut out roughly and added to the card along with wooden beads to the flower centres and splatters of the watered down inks in the background.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

A Vintage Journey - Spring is in the air.
Pixies's Snippets Playground Week 224 - Use Snippets - mine are the sentiments.
Make My Monday - Watercolour - I watercoloured my flowers.

All of these blogs are awesome!

Thank you so much for visiting me, I love it when you do!  Thank you for your comments too!
Take good care of yourselves! Christine xxx

March Rudolph Day's Challenge

Yay, two more Christmas cards done!  A really quick post as I am running out of time to join in with the Rudolph Day challenge - I am late again!  Two cards the same but in different colours.

The wreath stamp is by Chloe Creative Cards, I have had it for ages and not used it before!  I stamped both in Versemark then embossed with silver and gold detail embossing powder respectively.  Edged with more embossing, added toning stickles then punched the labels out of snippets of matching card and stamped and embossed the Inkadinkadoo sentiment.  Two corners on each were rounded with my corner chomper.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

ScrappyMo's - March Rudolph Days challenge
Make My Monday - Going round in circles
Pixies Snippets Playground 222 - use snippets

All these are fab blogs, definitely worth a visit!

Thank you so much for popping by today!  I really appreciate it.  Take care. Christine xxx

Thank you Di!

A couple of weeks ago I was a very lucky girl!  Not only was I chosen as a 'pick' over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop's Snippets Playground No. 219, but I also won the random draw prize which was a gorgeous paper pad, a fab Spellbinders Labels Set and a cute book of Bunny images.  The images and patterned paper are by Lili of the Valley.  So, what could I do?  I had to play and so I made Di a thank you card which she has now received.  I found it quite daunting as Di's cards are always so wonderful!  She liked it - Yay!!!!!!!

I inked around the cute image with Scattered Straw Distress Ink then glued the image to the back of a sheet of the paper from the paper pad which I had die cut with the largest Spellbinders die so the image peeks through.  The 7 x 7 background card was inked with the same DI.  The branches are a Memory Box die which I cut four times so I had extra flowers to scatter around the card as well as the ones that are on the branch with the leaves.  I used Distress Inks and Markers to colour the die cuts then sprayed them with pearl Glimmer Mist before adding to my card with Cosmic Shimmer glue.  I also added orange Stickles to the centres of the die cut flowers and the centres of the daffodils.

Here is a photo of the inside.  Its a terrible photo, sorry!  I inked around the edge and sprayed the whole thing with the Glimmer mist then used the left over piece of pattered paper together with the next size cut with white and inked.  The sentiment came free with a magazine and I used brown Versafine embossed with clear powder and added some leaves for decoration.  The inside sentiment is the only stamping which is rare for me!  I had such fun making this and playing with my new stash, thanks again Di!!!

I would like to enter Pixie's Snippets Playground 221 - I used Snippets of card for my die cutting.

Thank you so much for visiting me!  I love it when you do!  Have a lovely Easter weekend. Take care. Christine xxx

Happy Mum's Day!

Here in the UK its Mother's Day so Happy Mother's Day to all you Mums!  Here is the card I made for my wonderful Mum-in-Law, Sue.

The background is Distress Inks on glossy card, spritzed with water then covered with cling film that was crinkled up, I left it to dry, then removed the cling film  The die I popped over the top is by Spellbinders and the butterflies were made using a fabulous stamp by Visible Image.  I stamped in black Versafine on scraps of card from my bit box and embossed with clear powder.  I then watercoloured them with Distress Inks.  The two end ones are blue with purple in the centre and the centre one is blue and green with purple in the centre.  I just had to add some sparkle so used some different colours of Stickles around the edges of the blue butterflies and lots more on the centre one.  I put the sentiment inside the card as I like the front as it is.

I am going to stay with my Daughter for a few days from Tuesday.  I am looking forward to lots of cuddles with my two Granddaughters.  I will be seeing my Son  too as he lives quite near my Daughter.  It will be so cool to see them all!

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Darnell's NBUS Challenge - I have never before used the butterfly stamp or the Spellbinders die.
Pixie's Snippets Playground - I used snippets of card for my butterflies.
Butterfly Challenge - This time you must use butterflies plus glitter and/or grape - I have used glitter and the purple in the centre of my butterflies is a grape colour.. I am not sure how well this shows in the photo though!

These are all fabulous blogs, all well worth a visit!

Thank you so much for visiting me, I really appreciate it when you do and value your comments so much! Take care. Christine xxx

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