Prima Design Team Call

When I heard the news that Prima Marketing Inc. was hosting an open design team call I decided to give it a try!  I am obsessed with their newest line called Relics and Artifacts and I know my work would be well suited to this line (and many others) due to my love for assemblage.  Additionally my addiction to their metal embellishments, trinkets and flowers will be quite obvious in this post! So, without further ado, here is my application post to design for a wonderful company that I would be absolutely blessed to represent.  P.S. this post is long, please stay tuned!

Altered Metal Box

Supplies:

Altered Metal Frame - Pedestal

Prima Flowers

Gears

Screw Heads

Hexagons

Faucet Wheels

Engraver Buttons

Satin Strip with Rhinestone Center

Faucet Wheels

Resin Icon: Feather

Printery Paper 6x6

Microbeads Silver

Mica Flakes Frosted

This project was inspired by the metal frame as well as a bird's nest I found that had fallen to the ground.  I decided I liked the contrast of the delicate nest and nature theme alongside lots of industrial touches and a metal base.

You may notice that I "hacked" the small gray flowers a bit.  They used to have a pearl center, but I replaced them with lots of metal trinkets that fit better with my theme.

Inside I was sure to embellish in layers to ensure lots of texture and dimension.  The background of the box was treated with silver leaf.  I intended for the reflective quality of the technique to keep the inside as bright as possible.

Perhaps my favorite technique in this project was how I created my little bird.  I started out with Printery paper I treated with Ice Resin.  

Just after adding resin to both sides of the paper, I sprinkled in some art ingredients from Finnabair: micro beads and frosted mica flakes.  After the paper had cured, I used my steel rule die to cut out the bird shape and then I added the gear for an eye, which made for a really cool embellishment!

Printery Shadowbox

Supplies:

Printery 6x6 paper

Art Ingredients Glass Glitter: Pitch Black

Ship Parts

Plate and Label

Typewriter Words

Handles and Turns

Faucet Wheels

Steampunk Air

Hexagons

Screw Heads

Zipper Pulls

Typo Bulbs 1

Engraver Buttons

Gears 

For this portion of the application I wanted to showcase my love for assemblage, texture and found objects.  I have paired a fair number of Prima metal trinkets and junkyard findings along with a few special treasures to make a fun nostalgic collection.

To achieve texture in this piece I chose to blend my edges and corners with a treatment of black glitter.  I love how this adds some sparkle, but still looks grungy and industrial.

I found myself drawn to using symmetry more than once as I pieced this together.  I framed out the outside corners of the box as well as the large inset. 

One trick that I often use to alter things is to layer them.  By adding the tiny gear inside of the hexagon and framing it out with the watch fobs, it created a whole different embellishment.  You can also see my layering technique below with the faucet wheels. 

The special touch of a few trinkets that are vintage also give this piece a bit more of a story.  A vintage clip, a skeleton key, found safety pins from button cards, anything like this can give a piece personal meaning.  I also love these old jacks and how the color has been worn off of them through play!

Winged Heart Plaque

Cartographer Paper
Archival Cast Relics and Artifacts Rising Spirit III

In this project I really wanted my love for mixed media to shine through.  The focal of this project is from the new Archival Cast Relics and Artifacts line and I am just absolutely in love with these art elements.

The plaster pieces are easy to alter and they accept so many different mediums.  I have layered on so many things and they still look fantastic!

Peeking out from behind the heart is a snippet of Cartographer paper.  The map symbolism for me represents growth, new journeys  and a global point of view.  All things I hope to get with a potential new design team appointment! I love incorporating personal meaning and symbolism into my work, I think it makes it just a little bit extra special.

Last up is just a quick snapshot of a project that really shows off the new microbeads as well as some sweet gray flowers.  While this project is not totally Prima, I absolutely love the texture that those tiny beads gave this project and I wanted to show off this creative application of yet another amazing Prima product.

Thank you so much for tuning in for this extra long post!  

Cheers, 

Rhea

Springtime Bunny Box

This project was recently featured in Graphic 45's newsletter. I thought it made for a fun piece of springtime decor, but it could easily be modified for any season, holiday or even a memory.

For this project I used Time to Flourish. This paper line is beautiful and super versatile too!

For those of you who are interested in seeing how this was put together I have created a snapguide for you to check out.  There are so many great tutorials on this site!

Check out How to Alter a Small Graphic 45 Book Box by Rhea Freitag on Snapguide.

I absolutely adore the lace sticker edging I used on this project.  Sad that it was the last bit I had in my stash...  Another great trick here:  I used a layer of 7 gypsies tissue paper that I covered in resin over the bunny rabbit that I cut out of chipboard.  This makes for a cool textural element.

I was super happy to have finally used one of my resin bezels I made a while ago with lots of Graphic 45 goodies sealed inside.  

I hope you enjoyed today's springy offerings!  I know one thing for sure, here in Michigan we sure are happy it is indeed the first day of spring!

Cheers,

Rhea

Spring Time Book for Alpha Stamps

I absolutely love all the new spring time goodies I got my hands on from Alpha Stamps!

I could not wait to make this fun Spring Time in Paris Collage book.  It was so super easy with the help of my trusty goodies from Xyron.

I used a bit of Wild Honey Stain by Tim Holtz to unite the book.

To age the lovely crochet ribbon edges I actually added gilders paste to the material.  It cast a mild blue hue and I just love it.

Some of my left over Ice Resin tissue flowers ended up in my book.

The butterfly Dresden scrap made for a perfect addition.

Lots of Tim Holtz rub ons were used through out the project.  My secret is to try to use up the whole sheet so I don't have left overs.  That way I keep layering and layering them in as well.

The Tim Holtz ephemera made for great embellishments along with collage images from Alpha Stamps.

Cheers,

Rhea

Springtime Pocket Book

This is a simple accordion fold pocket book I made recently for Alpha Stamps.  Here is a link to lots of good stuff from this project.  We were challenged to make something that would hold Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) and this tiny book ended up fitting the bill quite nicely.

I am not sure where my love affair with pockets came from, but I am certainly obsessed.

I was inspired by this Once Upon a Springtime paper I had on hand.  Coupled with new images and fun floral bits from the May 2013 Language of Flowers Kit, a sweet book was made in no time.  This was may last little whimsy flower, these were super handy to have around.  Amazing that this one was not touched with gilders paste, I almost always add a coat of that stuff somewhere on a project.  

Inside each page I crafted a tiny flap, just thick enough to hold in an ATC.   I made them by simply cutting small strips of paper and  both gluing (along the outside edge) and stapling (under the lace) them in.

A bit of old school distressing with tearing and ink give little bit of age and interest to this super simple book.

The flowers came in the kit and I layered them with a few sequins as well.

I had some scraps of lace that already had adhesive on them.  This was huge bonus as I have adhesive issues.  I used the left over lacy bits to cover up the staples on the front side of the pages.

One of my favorite things about Graphic 45 papers are the postal elements.  They always have a postmark and the one above is just top notch as I love butterflies. 

A trick I used on the lace for the cover was to metier the edges.  They are not perfect, but it is way better than overlap.  Another way I have dealt with bad transitions such as that in the past is to simply cover them up.  

I hope you found a bit of springtime inspiration!

Cheers, 

Rhea