Saturday, 19 January 2013

Happy New Year


We're more than half way through January now, but better late than never to wish you all a very Happy New year, and good health in 2013.

Thanks so much for joining me through my tentative steps into Blog land since the summer of 2012.  

I’m looking forward with great anticipation to 2013 and all the possibilities it may hold. 
New year resolutions? Well...
I will try to be more positive in life and more active, (my exercise classes start on Tuesday, I need to get rid of my "Christmas pudding" tum, lol)
I hope to be more creative this year too, I need to make time for this, as it always cheers me up I find myself smiling more...seemingly for no reason, people must wonder what I've been up to... lol
... but in my head I'm thinking through ideas, projects, art, design, colours, stamps, inks, paints, texture etc.
when an idea comes to my mind and I smile until it comes to life as a finished project, then I'm truly happy.
I'm hooked on the good feeling I get through being creative.
Anyway, enough waffling. I wanted to share this frugal crafting  project I made using mainly Wendy Vecchi stamps, paint, ink, some recycled card from packaging from scrapbook paper packs I had, large frozen pizza boxes & cereal boxes.



I've not played much with stencils so didn't have embossing paste to play with or many pennies left to buy some after Christmas. I wondered if decorating filler would work, and was curious to see what happened. 
 So I used plastic packaging to create a stencil and a tube of DIY wall repair filler for texture.I wanted a raised leafy design which I don't have, so I used Wendy's leaf stamps on flat plastic packaging then cut away the image with a craft knife to create a stencil. 


This proved to be tricky cutting, and I didn't manage without mistakes but hay-ho I wasn't aiming for pretty perfection as I knew the messy stuff was to follow.
I made my no glue drawers first, I used the centre of the scallop rectangle thick cut sizzix die as my starting point then halved it for the side depth to make my template as below. 
By drawing around these the template turns out very slightly larger than the original shape so when decorating with the original die cut shape, it fits better both outside and inside the drawers.
The long sides have the folding tabs attached to tuck under shorter ends then fold the long sides down to secure the base... and no messy gluing, they hold together firmly just tucking the sides down. Amazing!


I then made a wrap around to complete the drawer, match box style.     I used glue to secure this bit though. I made 4 each of these using card from recycling bin. Then came the good fun and messy bit.....

I die cut 4 Sizzix rectangles to stick to the drawer fronts and sides and cut a Spellbinders grand lable to add to the top, then had fun decorating these with the stencil and filler which I found out puffed up when I speeded up drying with my heat gun, yaay! I like surprises! lol. 
I applied layers of blue, green, bronze and white acrylic paint along with a navy blue emulsion tester pot I had that I liked the colour of and a bit of white emulsion too, these were repeatedly painted over, blended, knocked back with wet wipes, dried and sanded until my heart was content. 
I added metal gilding wax to the raised stencilled leaves, then stamped the finished pieces with Wendy Vecchi stamps and black archival ink when I was happy with the background and inked over with vintage photo to warm it up a bit. The drawer knobs are game pieces which Lori sent me in my lovely bingo prize I told you about in a previous post. These were given a coat of paint then I gilded the fronts to put back the detail.


You can see the raised leaf design on the drawer fronts and a bit under the grunge paper roses. 


I lined the drawers with same Sizzix die cut paper which I stamped again with Wendy's wild flowers stamp.

If you want, please leave me a comment I love reading what you think and knowing you dropped by. 

Thanks for visiting.

Alexandra x

Edited after reading comments;
 Thanks for all your lovely comments and 
Thanks Marjie for suggesting entering the eclectic paperie challenge "altered boxes" with this. 
So I've been, gone and done it now.
Marjie Kemper is hosting the challenge here.
Very cool idea.

24 comments:

  1. Hi Alexandra, it is so lovely to see you back! This is an utterly stunning creation and you are so very clever using that filler and making your own mask, not to mention working out a template for the drawers! Wow. Love this piece, the colours are gorgeous, the roses are beautiful and the stencilling is - Wow! Brilliant job. Hugs, Anne x

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  2. Alexandra this is absolutely GORGEOUS!!! I love it!

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  3. Seriously gorgeous, Alexandra... the details are amazing! I hope you will join us at Eclectic Paperie for the Altered Box challenge... your piece is incredible!

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  4. Alexandra, what a stunning project. I just love the colours and everything about it. Well done!! Ursula xxx

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  5. wow alexandra what a fabulous project...love your adapt and overcome atitude...happy crafting in 2013...hugs kath xxx

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  6. This is just an awesome creation! I am blown away by your creativity in coming up with this stunner! Gorgeous!

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  7. This is fabulous Alexandra! I love that you made your own stencils, I've thought about doing that with some of Wendy's stamps, just didn't think I'd have the patience for all the cutting! lol! A truly fab piece here, I just love it!

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  8. Holy Moly, that is simply awesome. It would take me months to finish something like this. WOW. Stunning!!!!!! Thanks so much for playing along in eP's Get Altered challenge.

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  9. Wow!!!...this is spectacular!!!I am so glad you played along with the challenge :-)

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  10. Hi Alexandra, thank you so much for popping by my blog and your tip for taking photos of glass and stopping the glare, much appreciated. So pleased I popped by your blog your work is fantastic and your drawing,well WOW. Love this piece too, so creative, great stamping and colouring too. Tracy x x

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  11. Oh my is that ever Gorgeous, such terrific detail, and very creative, awesome work with the painting details!

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  12. Wow!!! This is a stunning project! What a great job, love every little inch! Thank you so much for playing with the eclectic Paperie eTeam Picks challenge!

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  13. This is an amazing project! What a creative answer to the challenge.

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  14. Alexandra..woohooo that is beautiful!! It's amazing what you can make from everyday objects isn't it...lover it a work of art!!
    Thanks for joining us overt eclectic Papers.
    Hugs
    Tracy xxx

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  15. This is amazing!!! Thanks for leaving a comment for me on my blog - I just had to come over here and see your blog and my jaw dropped when I did!!! This really is sooo beautiful xxxxx

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  16. Oh, my goodness, this is beautiful! How can you ever stop looking at it? Love all its lovely warmth and charm. Absolutely wonderful, Alexandra!

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  17. PINNED!!! Amazing! Love the grunge! Love the Wendy images! Love the drawers! A real pick me up this morning...WOW!

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  18. What a little masterpiece, wonderful colors and decoration!

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  19. I love what you have created here. And I'm really impressed with the hand made stencils (and the hand made box). I love how aged and vintagey it looks. Just beautiful!

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  20. Hi Alexandra, thanks for leaving me a comment today, nice to hear from you. I have a pot of the silver paste (it is open but like new) and don't think I will ever use it. Would love to send it to you to practice with - it's really messy stuff but fun. My email address is on my blog under my profile. If you would like it please let me have your address - it will help with my clearing out!! Hugs, Anne x

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    1. Wow, thanks for popping back. I would love to try this out. Thanks Anne. x

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  21. Oh wow Alexandra the finish you have hear is just the kind of finish I aspire to achieve. Just adorable. Sam

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