Altered Element DT Upcycling Challenge - Beaded Boxes

One of the exciting aspects of being on the new Altered Element DT is that Lynne is going to source charity shop items for us to upcycle! I was particularly delighted about this as I have bought things in charity shops all my life, and since I've been stamping I have looked at everything differently - but of course it is more challenging when the item to alter has been chosen for you as normally I would buy something because I have an idea already. It's sort of scary, but in a good way!

This is the item Lynne chose for me:-

 

My immediate thought was to keep it as a necklace and decorate it, as I love jewellery, and knew I would wear it, but I felt in the interests of altered art, I should take it apart! I have also received from Lynne these glorious Lumiere paints, which I was keen to incorporate:-

 

In addition to the beads and paints, you will need:-

Crafty Individuals Stamps CI 206, 235, and 252 (www.craftyindividuals.co.uk)

White tissue paper - nothing special

Mod Podge or Gel Medium (Altered Element)

StazOn Jet Black

Selection of Ribbons and Trims

German Scrap Border or Metal Leaf Sheet - Gold Colour (from the Altered Element) and Adhesive Paper Lace

Round Boxes

Sand Paper or Tough Emery Board

Inktense or Other Coloured Pencils

Selection of Beads and Gems

This is what I made:-

I sanded the beads, and then painted them with the Lumiere paints, some in gold with splodges of jade, some just jade, and some of the small ones in the sapphire blue. I was going for jewel colours. I then stamped some Crafty Individual Flower and Swirl images (CI 206, 235, 252 ) onto tissue paper using StazOn Jet Black, and coloured them with Inktense pencils. I adhered the pieces of tissue to the beads with Mod Podge, and then stuck them to the round boxes with strong adhesive. For the largest box I added gems and beads, and a piece of adhesive lace covered with gold leaf around the edge to mimic German Scrap, as I didn't have any, but you can get either this, or the gold leaf, from the Altered Element. For the smaller boxes I used the smallest beads in Jade and Sapphire and added some additional pink faceted beads, and added ribbon trims around the sides. With the benefit of hindsight, I think the stamping showed up more vividly on the Gold paint, rather than the Jade, so if I hadn't committed myself already, that is what I would have done.

Thank you, Lynne, for giving me this opportunity. It was particularly lovely that you asked us what we fancied working with and listened to us, as you have given me a chance to dabble more with paints