Altered book

I attempted to build a doll house from a book in a vintage style. 

I cut out doorways and staircase from the pages of the book and this is how it looks. Them with lots of layering, texture pastes, stenciling through a lace, sketching, fuzzy cutting and embellishing I build a scene of any day in a house. This book depicts a page out of any ladies life…look through some more pictures to see what I mean.  

The basic page cutting such that the book can be folded shut

I wanted to use a metallic lace (which you will see as an outline of the walls) I have been hoarding for a while. It’s also perfect to add a vintage look.   For creating a vintage look to the walls I applied modeling paste though a lace and inked it orange.

See the walls texture, created by stenciling through a lace with modeling paste

Note the stairways

 For the cover of the book refer this link to see how I did it.

See the cover of the book in the mirror reflection

Most of the miniatures I have made from card board. The candle stand and the dressing table were both made in a vintage style to add as accessories. There is also a little doll there , a rightful resident of this doll house!

 

Hope you liked my story book!!

Linking this to:
Lessology challenge: 48 lace up
 

Frangipani earrings from plastic bottles

Another attempt to recycle, this time plastic bottles into earrings...

Here are the WIP pictures..

I have written a detailed Do it yourself instruction here

Tea light holder mixed media

As I was reading my blog roll , I came across 2 challenges(which I am linking to) that have highly inspired this project

Firstly,  Lulupu challenge 49 = color palette+ feminine creations + use wings which has a fantastic picture. In the picture something subtle but what caught my attention the girl in the picture holding a candle stand, the bronze clock and the tinge of pink, blue and peach.

 Another challenge that truly got me starting was CSCC #14 mixed media challenge. The romantic picture kept making me this of candle light. In the picture I loved the magnifying effect with a dash of bright red which steals all attention.

 So there I was sitting in my crafting area staring at an old cardboard box. I knew I wanted to make a candle light holder, but these 2 pictures set my mood going.

 I am making this as an inspiration for the unstampablles challenge with a theme of family tree with a twist to make it vintage. I interpreted the theme slightly differently to think of members of the family as  different elements of a tree (flower/ fruits, roots, flora , fauna), with light meaning family bond in the center.

 

I altered a cardboard box into a tea light candle holder. I added strips of cardboard and painted make it appear as wood. Further randomly added torn vintage pp , dabbed with inks and gesso.

 

I added brown and orange flowers (from flourishwithbling) and some hand made flowers. I made a metal butterfly from some broken old earrings. I also made the peach flowers of handmade paper and added pearls to it to embellish

 

 

Embellished this with pearls, beads, fibre etc. I also stuck a magnifying glass to focus on “our journey” to add some emotion and magnify emotions.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed it and play along the unstampablles challenge which is giving away a superb pillow box die from Die-namics .

materials used

Linking this project to

Lulupu challenge 49 and CSCC #14 and
 BGC #68 (make your own embellishments). I have made flowers, used magnifying glass as embellishment.

 

Water colour card

I was highly inspired by a huge vase that stands at the corner of a Thai restaurant's interiors, which has some intricate Chinese painting of white, blue and gold. Here is my CAS card done with water color pencils. A simple design, but its turned out better than I thought.

Linking this to Lulupu challenge 48: watercolors

CSCC challenge 13: anything goes



  

Altered Hair Clip

One again this month I did something totally out of the box. This time the theme at unstampabelles is to make something implying  “Oh Baby!” Well, you can make a baby themed project or use the expression how you wish!  It is the Easter period so guess you could also use Easter babies! However, you can create anything to do with Babies! Including baby animals if you wish.

The twist is to make a non-traditional styled project for a baby.

 

So I’ve decided to make the best of the theme and alter hair clips for a baby girl.

I started with a simply black clip, stuck white foam cut out  (as per the measurement of the clip ), coated it with modelling paste to create a smooth / flat texture and stuck checked printed paper onto it. Once done I simply wrote “Happy” on it using my stash of transfer stickers. The baby bear is a die cut I have been hoarding for some time. I layered It on the back with a foam sheet and its done. For a final touch I coated it with a matt finish clear mod podge which created magic!!

 

Hope you liked it…Am planning to make more like these (with my stash of epoxy stickers this time)

 
 

Peace within

This month’s theme at unstampabelles is Harmony or/and Peace with a twist to incorporate flight into your article. I made of a card with angels as the first thing that comes to my mind are angels.

For the angels and the frame I have used gelatos. For the sky I have used ink and spray while for the moon (which is my favourite I have used  gesso and ink for a 3D effect. All of the drawing are freehand …….Hope you liked it.

Also linking this to

BGC66: Mixed Media

Pretty gift bag

This is my first post this year and thank you everyone who liked my worked and made my day by leaving your comments.

The festive season always brings loads of inspiration for me. This month at unstampabelles, is to create a thank you memento with a twist to take inspiration from something just outside the window. So as I head to my window, this is what I see looking closer.

So taking inspiration from this I decided to make a Thank you gift bag. I made plenty of these as a return gift for my daughters birthday now.
This is a quick goodie bag I made up of hand made paper. I also made crepe paper flowers and added silver twine as a handle.

Well, I made 20 of these and packed them with toys and chocolates. They are quick to make, fun to decorate and add a whole new flavor to the gifts. And kids love them (as much as the mommies!)

Xmas card

Yipee............. its Xmas month and is time to make a fun xmas card. This time I tried my hand at a reverse sand-shaker card (ah this is my own term!) with a summer time xmas theme. I have recycled plastic packaging. I have folded an OHP sheet to create a card, stuck my plastic packaging on it, written with a marker inside and stuck paper on it, hence the word 'reverse'.

To go with the summer time my Santa (hand sketched) is in his swimwear on the beach. I have made a  palm tree by simply cutting and swirling paper and stuck metallic glitter buttons. And now for the fun part, have filled this plastic with glitter powder, sand and white beads. I have added lots of glitter powder to reduce the weight of the sand (although in the picture its not so clear I know).I have stuck Christmas sentiment stickers from imaginationsonline.


And the best part of this is that when the card it kept flat the glitter and sand spreads all over, but when held straight it gathers right at Santas feet. For the background I have painted on a water color paper (remember my 60 sec water color technique!)

Hope you enjoyed it. Merry Christmas to you all!

Linking this to Imaginationsonline challenge : Xmas with traditional colors 

BGC 64 sparkling Christmas

Lawnscaping challenge 96: merry christmas

This month at unstampabelles the theme is Summer fun - twist: to make a Southern Hemisphere Christmas card: Sponsored by Bizzy Bec http://www.bizzybecscardmakingscrapbooking.com.au/

Cake decoration spree

Recently I went on a cake decoration spree.....here are some pics of the cakes I baked and decorated. Most of it is buttercream icing but some figures are fondant.

Everyone enjoyed eating it..especially the little fondant animals

This is a vanilla cake

This is a strawberry jam cake

Sum of parts
 

 

Sand Art Rangoli

Hey all..I have been extremely busy with the festive season and plenty of birthday celebrations in my family. This is a rather delayed post but here is a quick glimpse of some of the Sand Art (Rangoli) I made this season. For all those who are not familiar with Diwali, in India this is a very important festival of lights, color, food and firecrackers...Ofcourse lots to do for crafters, chefs and artists also. Cleaning, decorating, preparing delicacies, gifting and vacationing is typically what we all do.

Something most Indian Homes do is draw a rangoli at the entrance of their how like a welcome gesture. Rangoli these days is a colorful sand/ marble powder which is thrown into patterns and shapes to create great pieces of art or design.  Here is a glimpse of the Rangoli I made at our entrance.....

This one was huge 6 X 6 feet

this one was smaller 3 feet...

Come sunset, and we light up with tea candles



 

And lastly, I cant resist but share with u a glimpse of these colorful sugar puffs i made

mmm...yummy!

Yes, if you did notice, this festive I was obsessed with peacocks!!!..I even ensured everyone in my house was wearing peacock- colored dresses!!!
 

Mini dressing table for a doll house

 

November 14 is celebrated as children's day so I thought of making a dressing table box unit for my kids doll house (something I have been promising her for long).

 

  

This month the theme for the unstampabelles challenges is - Box it up - with the twist being create a tutorial for others on your  blog on how the box was made; you could have a link and show progress photos and tips as an alternative . The challenge is sponsored by:

 

 

Well, this time I interpreted the theme box it up differently.  I thought out of the box quite literally!!! I decided to use boxes to create a miniature box unit dressing table, for a doll house.

 

So I gathered a couple of match boxes and cardboard. I measured an area (in my kids doll house) where I wanted to place this and cut out the cardboard as below.

 

 

 

Since I wanted to work on a grungy look, I tattered the cardboard as you can see and then folded it to my dimension. Remember the side flaps have to equate to the height of the table. Further, I used the natural corrugated portion of the cardboard to form the rims of the table.

For the drawers I stacked the 3 boxes on top of each other.

 

I covered the whole box unit with a crumpled masking tape to create an uneven texture. Yes I know it looks ugly at this stage.

 

There on I have done the following to get to the next stage:

1. Coated the masking tape with black gesso.
2. Next rubbed silver embossing powder onto the black with a sponge. At this stage naturally the protruding portion gets colored.
3. I cut out an oval shape of thick paper and coated it with foil for making a mirror.
4. Since I did not have a mirror border chipboard of this size, i decided to go with a cut out from a piece of lace.
5. After having picked the lace you want to use, cut it to dimension and dip it in glue, such that it hardens when dry and become stiff.
6. Post this I dabbed it again with black gesso.
7. The small beads paired very well with color combo and used that for my drawers and mirror.

 

This is a fully operational dressing table, with usable drawers (for the doll!).

 

hope you like my piece of furniture, all boxed up....

 

Am linking this to:

 

Lulupu challenge 41: Childs play
Imaginationsonline challenge 5 : Out of the box
 

Imaginations online products

Yesterday I received my much awaited gift parcel from imaginationsonline. The items very extremely well packaged and though it was raining in my part of the city everything was in great condition.

I received 2 packs of rubons with very handy sentiments, a pack of Epoxy stickers and bottle caps, a pack of 3d Foam tabs, a pack of die cut stickers, pack of epoxy embellishments and embellishments. Imaginationsonline is definitely a place for embellishments. This packet had pretty butterfly metal embellishments, plastic buttons, wood buttons, wooden shaped embellishments, plastic embellishments, gears, mini keys. The very adorable baby embellishments, paired with stickers are perfect for baby projects.

My favorite are the handmade flowers from happy crafters, these are very versatile and are ideal for mixed media projects. The little heart shaped buttons are so cute and will pair them up with my stamping projects.

Now my brain is already all over the place looking for craft inspirations. ..Keep checking for more on how I use these goodies in my projects.

So while you check out the Imaginationsonline store, lemme tell you they are offering upto 50% on several stamps, inks and embossing products in the clearance sale. And even if your desired products are not currently in the clearance, you can add it to you wishlist to get updates!!

 

Celebration time!!!!

Hello Belles, this is my first post as a part of the design team of UnstampaBelles challenges.

 

The challenge for October is .....

 

..TIME 

 and the twist is shabby chic!

Time can be many things - a moment, a place in the day, a memory.....

Remember also you can make a card but 

you can also make anything else that suits the challenge theme!

Just also remember - NO STAMPS to be used please either digital or rubber or clear/cling - not even in the background or for a sentiment.

October is Sponsored 

by

Flourish with a Bling

 

They are currently having a

HUGE $2 FLOWER SALE 

for the month of OCTOBER!

Now, have a look at my project. I interpreted the theme quite literally, using a clock. My project indeed has a flavor of shabby chic but is also what I call "cute".

 

I received this triangular desk clock with a big corporate logo inside…and I couldn’t help but alter this one. I wanted to go with the baby theme. I made this as a gift for namakaran  (It is a festive celebration in India  when a new baby is born and is also named in this ceremony). To the clock, I also added 3 photo areas where  photos of one’s choice can be displayed.

And dear readers, I also have and easy step by step tutorial for you!

 

 

To start with I opened the clock piece to paint (white)the inside to hide the logo. Since a new mommy is tearing herself part between feeding, changing diapers, playing with  the baby and taking care of herself I thought of adding stickers / sketching cartoons with copic markers to add flavor. I also  stuck a monkey on the long hand of the clock suck that he can do the rounds(pun intended) 24 times a day, accompanying the mommy.   

Click for an elaborate view

Next I cut out a tree with my paper knife from a Kraft colored cardboard (Which is one ingredient I almost always use for my mixed media project).

 

 

Please click for an elaborate view

 

 

I had hoarded the yogurt cup holders we buy from the store. When I stick two together in allows me to even slip  photo through it acting like a frame. I decided to use it here as the radius of these perfectly matched the clock (I broke the 3^rd circle as you can see).

For the base of the clock, I first coated the glass with masking tape. Then I coated it with gesso and modelling paste and scratched with a fork to create a checked pattern. I once again smooshed the ink pads directly on this. Then I stuck my tree onto the side.

 

I cut out my textured papers and stuck them onto the created frame. This is the space created to add photos.  Now comes the fun part, embellishing this. You can see a lenient use of chipboard, beads, lace, twine.

The bird is a chipboard, the eggs are beads while the nest is burlap string. The baby and the milk bottle are embellishments  (of polymer clay) by Sunglow Art.

 

 

Note that I have leniently used lace behind each embellishment and inked it for adding drama!

 

 

I made flowers  using the same textured paper and pearl. The green moss/ grass is fibre moss. If you do not have this green wool which is torn and tattered will work equally well!

Did you also notice a tad of shimmer i added?

'

And here it is!

Hope this inspires you to play along and make your own time piece….Link your project HERE

 

Supplies used (If not mentioned in the post already):

Embellishments/ stencil from itsy bitsy

Gesso white

Modeling paste

Hot melt stick

Archival ink pad: rose, magenta hue

Dylusions ink sprays: Funky fuchsia, bubblegum pink 

  

Am also linking this to

Imaginationsonline: Festive Celebration of baby birth

BGC 61#: Baby shower

Lessology: Created a baby scene

SSS: Show us what you made

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #5 - Ribbons, Twine, & Fibers