Memories frame .... Mixed Media Monday Challenge

I didn't want to wait for the arrival of the Configurations boxes by Tim Holtz so a little while ago I started on this frame and made my own little compartments inside a shadow box frame.

I loved Tim's idea (and I'll be trying out the configurations boxes now that I got my inky hand on them finally!!) and just had to give it a go. So I split the frame into little boxes using foam board. I made some compartments for certain objects I wanted to use and others were just random sizes. A favourite of mine is the old miniature bottle I bought a while back, it's all sticky and the contents have evaporated and the label looks all old and dirty.

It's a great way of creating a memory box, this could be to any theme you like or just filled with random objects. It's fun, give it a go.

I also recently discovered the Mixed Media Monday Challenge, check it out, Im off to link my box to their blog now and browse all the other fab boxes entered this month!

Dragonfly ATC

Just a little ATC to share today. I am still having trouble uploading certain photos the right way up so whilst I figure that one out, here is a little dragonfly ATC.
I painted the background and stamped a wendy stamp on on it, crackle paint over the top and some ribbons wrapped round, very easy yet effective and pretty I think.

Sunday Stampers - Old and New

When I got back from Spain with my market finds like the wooden measure and old keyholes n stuff I already had this design in my mind, I just had to make an A out of the measure. Little did I know at the same time Hels was making an "Art" frame for Sunday Stampers and the theme is old and new. That's pretty creepy.
So I went ahead using old bits like the key, snaps, fabric tape measure etc and combining it with new things like the piece of chain, the vial (I poured some alcohol ink into this) and one of my new Wendy Vecchi stamps.
And there we go, an arty frame worthy of Sunday Stampers (I think) and it's also being entered into the Artistic Stamper challenge.

Home sweet home....

I've had this design in my head for a little while. I just love the little house stamps from Paper Artsy. And I also wanted to make houses out of the memory frames and corners. The other larger house is actually made from them wedges that come with a canvas. You know the little bag of wedges that's always stapled to the back?! That's with A5 or larger canvases. I was about to throw them out and thought, hang on, 2 put together make a little house. So there you go. It's covered in book page and painted and stamped on.
The HOME letters are grungeboard painted with crackle paint and then spritzed with the chalkboard glimmer mist, I love the finish of that stuff, gives an actual coverage of the colour whilst still being glimmery. Gonna have to buy more of that, although at £6 a bottle is quite dear.
This is being entered into the Alter it monthly challenge. Check it out here.

Little treasures....

This is one of the many wooden boxes I bought at the QD store a while ago. I have almost run out. May need another trip there, shame my closest is in Romford.
I just used crackle paint and glimmer mist on this and then decorated it with the flowers I also made for the canvas art. It's very straightforward. Also used more memory thread, I just love curling that stuff!!!

A week of firsts ..... distress embossing powder, memory thread and swooshy inkiness

Hows that for a title, eh?!

So here is another crackle frame, but I did try out a few new things on it. The background for example is made by "swooshing" some card through ink and water, all mixed on a craft sheet. I wanted to create a blueish sky for the background and it worked ok, I don't think you can tell very well from the photo. I also spritzed some glimmer mist over it and stamped some branches and a birdy onto it.

Now for the distress embossing powder. I never got on well with this, i like the shiny glossy embossed finished more than this but have found that it works so well for rougher textures like the tree branch and cage. I have invested in a few more colours of the stuff and will be testing it out on other projects for sure.

In the tree there's some curly wurly memory thread, purely for pretty cuteness. I used this on everything I made this week, I just love the stuff. It was given to me as a present but I love it so much I ordered myself another 6 or 7 colours. There will be more projects full of memory thread in the future!!

A week of firsts ..... meltpot & mini canvas

I finally got my meltpot the other day and already have a load of ideas in my head of how to use it. First one is these mini canvases. I used the back of them and painted them in pale umber as a base, then crackle paints and glimmer mists over the top. Pop a picture inside, these are from the tim holtz lost and found stack. I do wanna make more of these using actual family photos, I think it's a great way of displaying photos and only last year I dug out LOADS of old pic from my grandparents and stuff.

So anyway, I poured in some clear utee but it did set a bit funny and I re-melted the whole thing with a heatgun til almost all of it was liquid in the frame again and kinda swooshing around. It set a little better after that. But I was aiming for perfect anyway, it's supposed to look old and vintage.

Add some idea-ology and that's it!

I can see myself using a lot of utee doing this again. Also, I got to stock up on mini canvases whilst their on sale. Something to do in my break today I reckon!!!

Addicted to crackle paint....

I think I have a serious problem, I am addicted to crackle paint!!!

So here's another frame, painted with above mentioned paint and spritzed with glimmer mists. I'm still grateful to Hels for introducing me to this technique, you just don't know what kinda crackle monster you created!!!

I had a little play with the alterations on the edge die and since I love anything laced up I thought the 2 pieces of swirly grungeboard be perfect to be laced together with some string. Although I did lace it up about 4 different times til I ended up with this result. So many different options. The birds are crackled too and the tree bunch covered in distress embossing powder (had that for ages and never got on with it until now, it makes the perfect texture and look for a tree branch).

Some detail here for you.

I added a little frame that has part of an old stamp behind it and then it's filled with glossy accents.

The leaves have been cut from card with a punch. I inked up some white card and splattered water over it to make that effect, then just punched loads of leaves from the whole sheet.

There is also a little light bulb vial filled with watch parts hanging in the tree. I couldn't get a good enough close up shot, sorry.

I'm off to crackle some more.....

Wiiiiiings....

You may have noticed I've been going a little crackle frame nuts recently and there is no end in sight. Here is another one. This time it's all purply-pink and I used the fanciful flight alterations die as well as adding a trusty tattered floral (no frame without them!). Also used a swirly mirror piece I picked up in a craft shop back home in Germany. They do all sorts of mirror bits including letters and numbers, which I'm yet to use.












Here is some detail. If you follow Wendy Vecchi's blog you will have read about this. Make your own embellishments using memo pins. Just get an image or piece of card the size of the circle and attach it with some pritt stick. then fill the circle with glossy accents. I couldnt think of anything to put behind this so I just used plain card, filled it with glossy accents and sprinkled glitter over the top. It sinks in a bit when it dries, so I stuck some gems in the middle.


Check out Wendy's instructions here.






And last but not least, a quote using one of my Catslife Press stamps, which I love. I just don't use them enough.

This frame will be entered into the Wings challenge at Gingersnap creations.


Anika xxx

Idea-ology storage box....

As mentioned before I've been working on some long needed idea-ology storage boxes. Well, I do store other things in it, like any old metal finding and bit but you get the idea.

I bought 2 of these boxes on ebay and they are perfect to alter.

I gave the outside a good coat or two of a neutral basecoat. I just use an acrylic paint from the art shop. Then I use a lot of crackle paint, again a neutral colour like old paper (not the one in the photo, sorry for any confusion). And then I got spritzing with glimmer mists.

Add some grungeboard elements, some idea-ology and done. To be fair it sounds much easier than it was, I spent hours doing the glimmer mist and getting it right and then deciding what to put on the lid, but I guess that's the creative process and it should be fun. So if you attempting something similar, take your time to get it right, sometimes it's better to leave something overnight and then come back to it in the morning.

And here it is with all my bits in it:

I did buy 2 boxes cause I knew one wouldnt be enough to organize everything, so I will be back with the other box soon to show you what I did to that one.

Anika xxx

Things with wings.....

Hey everyone....
It's been a very busy day (and past week), I was away in Germany too see my family and I had a rummage around a flea market and brought back some bits... old fabric tape measures, snaps, keyholes... I have been playing with some of them already and the result will be posted later in the week.

For now let me show you what I came up with for Hels Sunday Stamper challenge.
I've had the birdcage die sitting in its box for a week now and finally had to get it out and play with it.
On someone's blog (can't remember where it was, sorry) I saw these layered flowers made from the tattered florals die and here I've used 4 flowers, all cut from Core'dinations whitewash cardstock in various pink colours. Just crumple it up, sand it a bit, cut flowers and there you go, instant embellishment.

I also had some red pearls lying around from my jewellery making attempt late last year (I decided to stick with card and ink!) and they work rather well on the birdcage I think.

Here is some of the snaps I bought a whole box of at the market, much cheaper than buying the idea-ology ones and they look the same. If you've been reading my previous post about the crackle paint frames, you'll see this is the pink frame I created back then. I've been using a lot of crackle paint recently, and I'm really into making these little frames. A trip to Ikea is overdue to stock up on frames!!!

I'm also hoping to do my first blog candy this week, so pop back for some goodies. It's all very exciting really! Read you soon!

Anika xxx

I totally forgot to mention that it is also being entered into the challenge on the Alter it monthly blog. Check it out if you havent yet. Some nice artwork for inspiration there. I hope this qualifies as something altered, I'm just never sure, but it's a frame I altered and decorated etc so surely it qualifies.

Distress crackle paint frames ..... my findings

I've been meaning to decorate some picture frames for ages. I've always loved frames and old photos and having been inspired by Hels over on Ink on my fingers and her crackled frames, I thought I got to give it a go. Let me tell you now, it wasn't easy!!! To cut a long story short, I spent a whole day painting and re-painting some frames (cheapy ikea and other wooden frames) and spraying endless amounts of glitter mists and perfect pearls only to end up with some hideous frames. So that's when I decided to paint over them with a thin layer of my base colour, in this case an umber acrylic paint. And immediately the frames looked so much better.

I tried to take the photo on the left in the sunshine so you can see the glimmery shine on it, but not sure you can tell too well.

This is the blue frame. Im not even sure how it ended up blue, I have no blue glimmer mists nor crackle paint nor anything blue. Must just be a mixture of all those layers of mists and paints and stuff!

It's my mum's birthday this weekend so I made her a little frame of fun. I'm very pleased with it. Again I have to give Hels some credit for inspiration that comes from her blog.

This is being entered into the Sir Stampalot Challenge as my second entry. The theme is Butterflies and Blossoms so I think it's perfect.

This is the pink frame. I know why it ended up pink. I used bronze crackle paint and it looked really patchy. So i painted the whole thing in the crackle paint and sprayed vast amounts of red glimmer mist on it. (I think less is more here!!!) It looked awful. A thin layer of the base paint over the top rescued it and then i got some white acrylic paint and dry brushed over the crackly patches which picked them up really nicely. some glimmer mist over the top and this time i dried it with a heatgun as i went along (this was advice from Hels again) and it soaked nicely into the crackles. Done.







As for this one, I eventually emailed Hels and she had some more tips for me (and she also said shes doing a tutorial on this at Gingersnap Creations, so check it out when it goes up) I painted on an umber base. Then I did an even layer of old paper crackle paint, a little thicker in places. A mixture of walnut stain ink with golden perfect pearls was sprayed over and dried with the heatgun. Then again I picked up the crackle patches with a bit of drybrushing. And there we go. Didnt take a whole day and now I know what I'm doing. So it was definitely worth the effort. And all I can say is, give it a go. Even if it doesn't look right the first time round, just keep at it!!!