Christmas Hope Box

With this post it is my hope that the Christmas spirit finds me!  It has been late in coming this year, but I have a feeling the lack of time left  and the constant fall of snow outside will help it to emerge.  Showing off this cute upcycled box may just do the trick as well.

I made this project for Graphic 45 with their latest Christmas collection, 12 Days of Christmas.

It started out as an old cigar box.  I reinforced the lid with masking tape since the paper holding it together was brittle and old.

On the top I embellished with lots of 12 Days flowers.  I love how Graphic 45 makes embellishing work so easy with all their coordinating accessories.

A few extra leaves, die cuts and embellishments and I had totally revamped a crusty old box.  Note my love of tape continues along the edges with some tissue tape by Tim Holtz.

To keep the vintage look going, I was sure to ink my edges to create shadows, edges and interest.

I even made the inside cute with a bit more paper.  This is one of my favorites in the collection.  I imagine this could be a fun box to add a few exotic spices and recipes in.   Or perhaps I could fill it with vintage craft supplies for one of my artsy pals.  Last idea could be to use it as a junk box and add in all the notes, cards, receipts and lists from your holiday season to capture memories in a unique way.

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of Christmas cheer!  I hope it multiplies with this post!

Happy Holidays!

Rhea

A little more love

I am still turning out a few Valentine's Day pieces.  It is funny to me how much I have gotten into the holiday themes since really getting into mixed media.  I was never one to really embrace holidays previously. I love how there are different flavors and sources of inspiration for each of the different days. 

These both fit into the theme over at Simon Says Stamp and Show.  I am bound and determined to either win a gift certificate, or nudge my way onto their design team over there so I can get more crafty supplies!  The theme this week is a "red letter day," so these little signs fit the bill since Valentines Day was my inspiration. 

These were very simple to create.  I used several of Tim Holtz's dies to get my shapes.  Most of the coloring was done with distress stains, have I told you how much I love these...amazing!  I did add a bit of wire, stickels, rub and buff and a few eyelets to give the project the mixed media feel I was after.



I extended the above project off the chipboard base by adding eyelets and attaching a piece of grunge board with jump rings.  It also adds movement to the piece, and I love movement in  my work. 

Hopefully this post inspires you to use some of those die cuts you have laying around!

Cheers,

Rhea

Day of the Dead Shrine

This project has actually been in the works for quite some time.  Loyal followers may recall that a few months ago I did a charm swap with a Day of the Dead theme.  In doing this swap I found a love and respect for this genre of art.  I had received so many awesome charms from my fellow charm lovers and had no idea what I was going to do with them.  This is what I finally came up with and I am pretty happy with the results.

The theme over at Simon Says Stamp and Show this week is a "red letter day." I think Day of the Dead is a very clever take on a red letter day indeed. I love the imagery and art associated with this day of remembrance.

I actually made the inner shrine some time ago as well.  It is made from Masonite and it comes from a wonderful company called Coffee Break Design.  You can also purchase their line of goods from Alpha Stamps.  I simply used stickels to color the shrine and then I added in an extra altered skull I had from making my charms for our swap.  As you may be able to see, I did not get the best results "filling" in my niche with Glossy Accents.  Even though I let it dry and added more material several times, I still ended up with a very inconsistent "resin" type background.  Oh well! 

It was difficult to get good pictures of this piece as I decided to use the acetate that came with this small configurations box from Tim Holtz to "seal" in my shrine.  Because of my artistic choice, I could not get a good picture without a glare.  In the picture above I was trying to get a little closer so that you can see some of the the clever work from a few of my fellow Art Charmers. 



I did do a few things to create depth in this piece.  I added some charms from the top of the box for movement, I mounted my "inner shrine" on a wood block so that it would not sit flush with the back of the box and I also did that with some of the other charms. 



The outside of the box is covered in Tim's new tissue paper from his District Market line.  I LOVE this stuff!  I was daunted by the price tag at first, but I will say, this is a worthy crafty investment.  It was aged with Tim's distress stains in black soot and antique linen...the stains are amazing too.  I resisted investing in them for a while, but it is pointless...the product is amazing.  

I hope you enjoyed seeing this artistic collaboration with my charming friends.  Thanks for stopping by as always!

Cheers, 

Rhea 

Sugar Skulls

A recent theme I have been enjoying in my creations is Day of the Dead style art.  This all started with one little charm swap that I recently participated in.  While researching, I learned a lot about this holiday and found tons of inspiration in the theme.  It also reminds me to celebrate my ancestors, who have passed and I don't think I do that enough. 

While shopping one day at a big box store I noticed some paper mache skulls that were on sale in the Halloween section.  I did not purchase them at that moment.  Upon going home, I could not get the idea out of my head to create my own "sugar skull" with one of these.  I went back the next day and bought two skulls all for the bargain price of three dollars.  I knew I wanted to incorporate some flowers for dimension, so I also bought a few stems that were on sale.  Here is what I created.

I started by simply coating the skulls with a very heavy duty gesso.  I then aged the skulls with a "magical potion" that was given to me by a colleague at work.  I have no idea what it is, I only know that it is a homemade concoction that she uses in her Mexican folk art.  It provides the perfect aged look to any piece. 

I then planned out my use of flowers and glued them on.  Very simple really.  

Then came the stickels, and I mean a lot of stickels.  I wanted these pieces to have a lot of texture and a bit of shine, so this is the medium I decided to try.  This took some time and some patience.  Stickels take a long time to dry, so I could only add a little "doodling" at a time, for fear of messing it up.  I did not plan the whole design out, just added my different line patters bit by bit.  



I hope this entry inspires you to try something new with stickels or skulls.  I am truly amazed that my perception of skulls has changed so much due to learning more about Day of the Dead and by creating beauty from something I would not normally gravitate too.  Because of this project, I am also using stickels in a few more works in progress and I am really happy with the results.  What do you think???

Cheers,

Rhea 

My Premier Post

Well, here I go.  I have often thought of starting a blog, and day one of my winter break has offered me the opportunity to finally put my thought in motion. 

Today I am going to highlight a little shrine I have made for one of my swap pals.  Little does she know, but the recipient of this shrine is a true inspiration of mine.  She really likes fairy tales, so this was my chosen theme.  I can only hope she likes it. 

I have never made a shrine on this scale prior to this project, it is made from a 250 count matchbox as the base. 

 



The images used for the "door" of this shrine were found in a calendar.  I loved the image of the window and I thought this added some shape, by extending beyond the boundaries of the matchbox.  The keyhole was found in my stash, as was the vintage key I attached to the outside for movement.  Amazingly, the little transfer was also discovered while rummaging through some stuff.  I was so pleased that the perfect little decal presented itself at the perfect time!