Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Sapphire Frame

Today's challenge launch on Gingersnap Creations is to use Jewel Colours in your crafting. I adore jewel colours, and today I have chosen Sapphire. I actually made the papier mache frame a few months ago, but I liked the colour and texture so much I didn't want to add anything, so it has sat there for a while. I had painted it with a sapphire blue Precious Metal paint, and then used Bronze Croco Crackling Colour over the top, to allow the sapphire to show through the cracks. Whilst it was wet I applied some torn pieces of sapphire Angelina film and then heat gunned it.

The beautiful blue glass perfume bottle, with a silver filigree flower and cap was a gift many, many years ago from my sister in law, but has been too beautiful to use, So I made a mould of it before I used it, so I can re-create it:-


The butterfly was made from this roll of butterfly packing tape which I bought for a £1 in my local Tiger. There must be hundreds of butterflies on the roll, in about five different designs. I popped one on acetate and one on grunge, cut them out and layered them and curled the petals.

 
Here's a closer shot of the background. It looks quite turquoise here, but it really is sapphire blue. I decided the perfume was going to be 'Violette Flor', so I popped this rub-on perfume label behind it.

I made some more moulds from the jewellery I bought the other day in Primark, to make two copper friendly plastic roses for the bottom corners, and added some of the chain and pearls.

Crafty Individuals Bird Cage Frame

Crafty Individuals now have a Blog! Isn't that great news! I have made this little papier mache frame using one of their new collage stamps, CI301. I coloured the stamped image with Pro Markers and added glossy accents to the butterflies. I made silicone moulds from some of the jewellery I bought in Primark the other day - the bird from the ring, some flowers, and the butterfly. For the birdcage I used the Tim Holtz Alterations Bird Cage die on shrink plastic, which I have done quite a few times before, but this time I used the shrunk piece to make a silicone mould, then made it up with friendly plastic. That way you can have whatever finish you like on the piece. I used metallic rub ons on the flowers and birdcage, and mica powders on the bird and the butterfly.


The stamped image was exactly the right size for the centre of the papier mache frame. I painted it with acrylic paint and then added some crackle paint, and then different shades of Silkies. I stuck some torn pieces of Angelina film to the wet paint and heat gunned it. Then I splodged some glossy accents in places and sprinkled on some mother of pearl flakes, and some Deko Ice which I coloured with alcohol ink, to match the project. I added a glass nugget to the centre of one of the flowers, then superglued all the pieces in place, including a piece of brass chain for the bird cage.

Shopping Trip Part 2 - Primark

These are the other part of my shopping trip. I was so pleased that Minxy put me on to buying jewellery from Primark for craft projects. It is a great source of dangling bits for wall hangings, and for charms and resin flowers which you can take moulds of so that you can make them up in different finishes. And it is very cheap!

Shopping Trip for the Tin Man!

You know I said the biggest problem was getting a funnel for my Tin Man? Well, of course I will see them everywhere now!

I went into town (more of that later as I bought some bargains for other projects!) and asked on the off chance in the kitchen shop if they had tiny metal funnels. They are very helpful in there and they know me a little as I keep sending students in for meringue non stick craft sheets! Anyhow, I spied these cake decorations! I couldn't believe the axe, wish I'd seen that a few days ago, but why do people want one for the top of a cake?! The tiny candle holders would work well for the hat on a smaller version of the project, and for a larger one I thought I could take a mould of the two horns for future use, and then chop the end off for a funnel shape. The shoe would be perfect coloured with red alcohol ink or pro marker for a Ruby Slipper. The daft thing is, I don't know why I bought these as I am not planning a similar project, so let me know if they are any use to anyone!

Gingersnaps Crown Challenge - Is she a Queen of the future?

This is my entry for the Gingersnaps challenge which starts today, for you to use Crowns in your artwork. I used this image from Lost Coast Designs and I always think this little girl looks very petulant. I think she might be going through that phase of elbowing her friends out of the way to get to her favourite toys. When they come round to play with the dressing up box she says, 'it's my house, so I get to wear the butterfly wings dress with the crown'! I decided she is a bit of a diva and wants to be Queen when she grows up! The words are from a set by Art Journey (the set with the image of Michelle from the French Resistance as I call her!) and you can use the background stamp in one piece, or cut out individual words as I have done here - I thought the words, 'Girl Today, Queen Tomorrow' went with my story for her!

The crown is from the Tim Holtz charms, made into a mould with Siligum then made up with clay and gold mica powder. The ribbon is coloured with ProMarker and sandwiched between layers of mountboard cut with a Nestie. The inner layer is a piece of home-made background paper cut with the next size down of Nestie.

The dangly bits are a pair of earrings. I got a necklace and earrings for £2 as I wanted the necklace but I don't have pierced earrings so I knew I could use them on a project. The butterfly is an Anita one. I don't use a lot of bought embellishments but I think these can't be beaten, and they are so well priced.

The all-important crown a bit closer up!

Thank You for the Tin Man Kind Comments!

Thank you so much everybody for the kind comments on the Tin Man!

I mentioned I had been very unsure of how to tackle his face. Well, I was surfing tonight and I spotted what look like ideal faces if I wanted to do a similar project again - Yes, I know, always wise after the event! It is these Sarah Lawrence charms from the Fruit Pixie, either the Oval Face or the Moon Face. Might have to get some!

The Tin Man Has a Heart!

A few weeks ago, one of my US forum friends was using an American set of stamps with a Wizard of Oz theme and it set me thinking what wonderful imagery the story has. I thought it would be a romantic idea for Valentine's Day to make a Tin Man, the thought behind it being that even he has a heart, and if you can find it, it is a precious thing.

I was away until the end of last week so I couldn't do anything to put my ideas into action, but they really started to take hold, so I had to make this otherwise the ideas wouldn't go away. The starting point was that I wanted his body to be made out of one of the blank 'Mint Tins' you can get, by Creative Expressions, and I wanted to have layers of watch parts and cogs, with a red beating heart in the middle! Recently I mentioned to my Mum that I love to use old watches and did she have any. The next time I saw her, she had collected 11 complete watches from family members. She doesn't understand what I want them for, but it was lovely that she humoured me!

As a back-drop to my Tin Man, I used a Wizard of Oz film poster inside a reversed canvas. I wanted the edges to look like a Yellow Brick Road, so I painted it yellow and used a stone wall mask, with some Vintage Photo on a tiny piece of foam, so I could just 'outline' the edges. I added some cogs, cut from a Tim die, mainly to cover the rough corners of the cheap canvas.

You can see the brick work here - used a stone wall mask

For the little tin, I flattened out square silver brads and glued them down the front like a placket, with rivet buttons. I made a shrink plastic heart and coloured it red, then a shrink plastic stop watch, and adhered these and added a little piece of ball chain. Inside, I did one layer of cogs and watch parts at a time, waiting for the Glossy Accents to dry overnight, and then added another shriink plastic red heart amongst them.

His working parts on show! I put the cogs and watch pieces in, in stages, leaving each layer of Glossy Accents to dry overnight. His neck says 'Stainless Steel' and is part of a watch clasp. I added a silver ribbon bow tie!

I had a lot of self-doubt about the face as I wanted it to be right. I had the idea that the Tin Man looked a bit 'simple' (Col said I should look in a mirror to get it right!), so I made the face out of clay and added some extra for the nose and poked my little finger nail into the clay at the edge of his mouth to give an upturned look. Once it was baked I painted it silver, added googly eyes, coloured the mouth red, and added a silver bow for a bow tie. The funnel was such a saga! I searched high and low in the house as I thought I had a metal perfume funnel somewhere. Eventually I found this Estee Lauder one, but I wanted a silver one. I did an extensive and fruitless search on e bay, and also tried Boots, Superdrug, etc. This was probably the most time consuming and problematic part of the project. In the end I decided on the copper one I had found in the first place. Colin said, 'but isn't it an expensive perfume one?'. Well, that wasn't going to stop me! I thought the funnel was important to the overall look, especially if the face wasn't quite right. I wanted smoke coming out of it but Col thought that was overkill. I positioned his head where the O of Oz is on the poster, to form an O.

Head made  from Fimo and painted silver, added a red mouth and googly eyes!

I wanted the arms to be from a lady's metal watch strap, and legs from a man's one, each divided in half. The feet are the two clasp pieces, and the hands are the buckle end of a lady's leather watch strap. He only has one finger sadly, but that is enough to hold his axe, which was fashioned from a roasting tin and a coffee stirrer! Colin had the idea of cutting some semi-circular disks from the rest of the roasting tin to link the arms and legs to the body, in a suit of armour sort of way, and this made such a difference in pulling it together.

Axe fashioned from roasting tin and coffee stirrer. Heart pocket watch from shrink plastic, with a bit of Glossy Accents and some chain.

He had a heart hidden away in there all the time!

An angled view

The final canvas, with cogs at the corners

I hope you have enjoyed this bit of fun, and my metaphor for St Valentine's Day. It was fitting that Col helped me so much with this project, as he helps me with everything in life. I hope that, even if you have a Tin Man, you have found his precious heart!

Postscript - I am entering this for the Simon Says Stamp 'Anything but a card' challenge, and also Dezina World, and the Stamp Man Hearts Challenge. I am new to joining in Challenges but Jack suggested I join Theme Thursday's Challenge which is Crazy!