Collaged Oriental Tin

I mentioned before that we were sent such a generous box of items from the Altered Element DT this month that it was difficult to use them all in one project. The theme was stamping on different surfaces, and I still haven't used the Tyvek and the Metal so they will be for another day, but have used several of the materials provided for today's project.

For this tin, which will house a mini album, you will need the following items from the Altered Element:-

Translucent Shrink Plastic
Grungeboard
Angelina Fusible Film, Shimmering Raspberry
Stampbord Dominos
2 ins sq Canvas Board pieces
White Inkssentials Opaque Pen
Glass Tiles
Deko Ice, Amber
Artemio Clear Stamp Set, Bird and Butterfly
Alcohol Inks, Raspberry, Wild Plum, Sunshine Yellow, and Gold Mixative
Stickles or similar
Large Tin

Chipboard Squares
Distress Inks, Wild Honey, Worn Lipstick

I also used some pieces of card left over from the He Loves Me daisy game project.

What I did:-

1. Alcohol ink the tin.
2. Ink the canvas and stampbord pieces with co-ordinating colours of Distress Inks.
3. Stamp blossom and fronds onto stampbord.
4. Stamp the daisy on tissue paper and adhere to canvas. Fill centre with Deko Ice.
5. Make a butterfly with grungeboard and fusible film, layer together, and add Deko Ice to spine.
6. Stamp cherry blossom on rectangles of shrink plastic, shrink, and colour flowers.
7. Adhere pieces of card remaining from He Loves Me project to chipboard squares and behind glass tiles.
8. Stamp the bird on grunge in pink ink, cut out and add Stickles.
9. Add white pen where needed, and scratch back detail on Stampbord, to give white highlights.
9. Assemble as shown.

This was quite a quick project by my very slow standards. I feel collage is something I need to practice as I really admire people like Hels, who do it so well. I don't find it difficult from a technique point of view, just the composition and making sure there is a pleasing juxtaposition of colour and images. I left a few blank areas as I tend to over-do things, plus I aimed for a deliberate lack of symmetry. It is something I want to persevere with. I have a few of the components left over to make another tin, or similar, for a friend.

Oriental Wall Hanging

In our DT packs from the Altered Element this month, we were sent a range of surfaces to stamp on. I used the same stamp set as for the He Loves Me Daisy game yesterday, the Artemio clear stamps, which feature flowers, a bird, and a butterfly, with an oriental feel to them. For this hanging I used the following items from the Altered Element:-

Tea Dyed Calico
Fusible Film, Shimmering Raspberry
Artemio Clear Stamps
Deko Ice, Amber
Grungeboard
Cosmic Shimmer Mists
Inkssentials White Opaque Pen

I also used:-

Contrasting Lining Fabric
Chopsticks
Gold Braid
Marker Pens
Small Circle Hole Punch
Chain from Primark Necklace
Gold Leaves Trim
Sequin Waste
Gold Wire

To make the hanging:-

1. Tear a rectangle of the calico, encouraging the edges to fray, spray with Cosmic Shimmers and dab ink through sequin waste.
2. Stamp with a selection of the Artemio stamps, adding fuchsia marker pen to the centre of the tiny flowers.
3. Colour daisy petals with white pen and fill centre with Deko Ice. Add stem with black pen and white pen.
4.Stamp Butterfly onto Grungeboard with Fuchsia StazOn, make another with the fusible film using an iron, and stick just the centre onto the Grungeboard version, adding Deko Ice down the spine. Shape Grungeboard wings with fingers and adhere spine to calico piece.
5. Cut leaves from the scraps of fusible film left from fusing the butterfly with the iron. Use the tiny hole punch to cut out 'sequins' from the remaining waste. Adhere as shown.
6. (At this point I added the white labels from the chopsticks as I liked the oriental writing. You may like to add some white highlights or white stamping instead)
7. Stitch the gold leaves braid or similar to the bottom to weight it down slightly.
8. Tear a slightly larger piece of contrasting fabric (I used brown silky lining fabric). Place the chopsticks end to end so that each end is equal and not tapered, fold the two layers of fabric over them and stitch in place. Cover stitching with gold braid or similar.
9. Twist some gold wire around the end of each chopstick.
10. To finish, stitch a piece of necklace chain in place behind the chopsticks, as a hanging loop, and add a sparkling gem to the bird's eye.