Altered Box

On AFTCM we are doing an altered Box Swap. A while ago I bought a little box at the dollar store so I chose to use it.

I took some Mariposa Paper and attached it around the box and on the sides, and added some black German Scraps trim around the edge of the closure part. I took a little Dragonfly brad, removed the backing and coloured it with sharpies and attached it to the knob which I painted black.

I stamped some little butterflies on some book text paper then attached them to some cardstock and cut them out. I embossed them with some clear embossing powder and added them to the box with pop dots. I had the little punchie flowers left over from another project and just added some gems to the centre and applied them to the box. I stamped the saying and attached it with double-sided foam tape.

 I had some wooden scrolls in my stash and painted them with black acrylic paint then when they dried I added some black foil over the top; which I attached to the sides of the box. I took some little self-adhesive beads and painted them black with a sharpie and added them around the scroll

I also made  little mini book to go inside. I made a mistake in the size and could not bind it and did not want to start all over again, so I just placed a coloured binder clip on it to hold it together. I was thinking that way the recipient could use the pages as tags or for other purposes.

I made some of the pages with the Mariposa paper and the rest are done with stamped backgrounds. One of the stamped pages is blank as I thought my partner could use it to add images or stamps.Both the box and the pages are butterflies, flowers and children-some of my favourite things.

Fan

The AFTCM group is continuing the apparel swap and this month it is a Fan. I had several ideas for the fan but most of them were disasters and I was getting too frustrated to continue trying to figure out the instructions so fell back on an ordinary fan with folds.

I took some old large calendar pages and fan folded them in two directions. I laid them in a spray box and sprayed them with Adironack Cranberry and Pesto spray. When they dried I stamped images with Onyx Black Versafine ink and a Magenta and Hero Arts stamp to cover the dates and some of the writing on the calendar pages.

I attached the pieces together with Sookwang tape and placed a Popsicle stick in the middle, which I coloured with a black sharpie.

I attached ribbon along the top with some (3M) 465 tape. Since there was a hole at the top of one piece I attached some coloured reinforcements to it to make it sturdier and attached some charms with a piece of light-weight cording and a jewellery ring. To finish the edges I attached some lace with tape.

To cover the rough edges at the bottom of the fan near the "handle", I embossed some tape from the hardware store and coloured it with a gold Krylon pen, and put it around the end. I added a tiny tassel at the bottom of the Popsicle stick.

Rolodex Swap continued

February theme for the AFTCM Rolodex was Hawaii and for March it was Ireland.

For the February one I printed off an photo of Hawaii in the sunset, glued it to the Rolodex card and cut out the slits. I printed off a template of a palm tree, cut it out, coloured it and attached it on the left.

I stamped the Leaf  and the two word stamps (PSX and a dollar store) and attached them to the Rolodex card. The little sequin flowers on the leaf represent a Lei.

The background on the Ireland one was done with fluid chalk inks using Cathie Allan's "Stamp Smoosh" technique. The clover leaf with the ladies and the saying is from Lisa Vollrath's free images. The stamped clover leaf is dollar stamp from Michaels.

Folded Artist Trading Card

On the Art-Ventures group Carol suggested a folded ATC Swap, which is a bit different than normal folded ATC's and the idea is based on the ones in Bernie Berlin's  Artist Trading Cards book in the section titled Ultra Cards. For this swap we can do any kind of folds, but it must end up being folded down to fit in an ATC sleeve.

I love the Umbrella Man stamp by Tim Holtz and decided to use it on the front of my ATC, and I guess the theme is a journey or seeking something.

I cut a piece of white cardstock measuring 7.5" X 3.5" and folded it in three to measure 2.5"X3.5" when closed.  I coloured the front with green shades of fluid chalk inks and stamped the TH stamp in Versafine onyx black, added some grass and a vine.

 I cut around the top half of the image and left a portion at the bottom the would fold over.  The right side fold was done in the green tones and I stamped the Hill scene (A stamp in the Hand), the people and the Tim Holtz saying.

The inside portions are all coloured in purple. At this point I was finding that the Umbrella part was a bit wobbly so I stamped it again and added it on the back, but was not happy with how it looked. I was trying to think of a way to make it sturdy and still look good, so I stamped the image again on the wrong (rough) side of a transparency with Stazon ink, making it a mirror image; cut it out and glued it on the backside of the cut out piece; stamped the grass again along with a Tim Holtz word stamp.

The centre inside panel was stamped with a Magenta scenic stamp and the Stampscapes people. The right panel is the grass stamp, another Stampscapes stamp and a Tim Holtz stamp.
 
This is the ATC folded up and ready to mail once the partners are announced.

Altered Sardine Can

Another swap that I joined is to alter a sardine can. I actually had no idea what I was going to do for this swap until I came across a free vintage picture of a lifeguard on Robin's blog while surfing for something else. I decided to resize the image and use it for my project.

I started by painting the outside of the can, then added some K & company paper to the bottom inside. I have a booklet of travel images from Hot off the Press so I cut them out the compass and signs, stamped a little sandcastle and added Judikins Diamond Glaze over them.

While these were drying I put Antique distress powder and embossed it around the inside edge of the can to look like sand. I attached shells at the bottom of the can, coloured a toothpick and attached it to the water sign; added the other images.

I coloured the lifeguard with distress inks and a paintbrush, then added multiple layers of double-sided foam tape to the back to make him raised enough to stand on top of the shells.

I found the beach sign in my stash and coloured it with alcohol inks, placed some tiny screw brads in the holes and attached it to the top with hot glue. Unfortunately this is not the best picture as the scanner has a picked up a glare on the signs that were covered with the diamond glaze.

Birdcage Tags

On AFTCM I am participating in a tag swap, where we are to make two different tags featuring bird cages.

The first tag was done on glossy cardstock. I stamped a Stampscapes image with  watermark stamp pad and brayered over it with Big N Juicy ink.  Stamped the Crafty Secrets bird cage and the branch and embossed them. I stamped the little birds, cut them out and attached them to the bird cage with double-sided foam tape.

I stamped and embossed the saying then added an additional piece of cardstock at the bottom.

The second tag is the one I did for the Ezee Pzee design team. The little circle had come loose and in my quest for a good glue I used a new one that I had purchased. Unfortunately, I used too much and had set a heavy object on top of the circle for it to dry. Not a good idea as the glue oozed out...great glue but should have been more thrifty with the amount!! Another disaster as when I removed the circle with the glue I also managed to pull of the top of the birdcage.

Since I did not want to redo the whole tag I had to improvise. I used a mini washer for the top of the cage, added the wire back, stuck a paper flower over it and attached the circle again, using jewellery glue this time. Actually I think this is one of those "mistakes being a creative moment" since I think it looks better now.

Steampunk Watch

The AFTCM group is running a swap for an altered Steampunk Pocket Watch and as usual I jumped in with both feet and joined.

The watch I bought is quite small so I had a hard time finding things to place inside. I used a small cog, a spiral circle, a star  stamp, square embellishment, a washer, a small spinner and a page pebble that had words underneath. I coloured some cardstock and stamped and embossed some script in copper embossing powder and glued it to the watch back.

I coloured the washer with some Perfect Pearls and the cog with alcohol inks. I glued all the pieces to the cardstock. To finish the piece I added a little bird charm to the outside.

The spinner and the bird kept falling off even though I tried almost every type of glue. I even tried super glue which was a bit of a disaster. The bird still fell off and left residue all over the top of the glass piece. I tried rubbing alcohol and Goo-Gone but no luck. Since the glue bottle suggest soaking your fingers in hot water if they get stuck together, I decided to place the watch in water. Again, another disaster!! It removed the glue but also removed most of the finish. Sot this is "what not to do" when creating!

I do hope my partner will not be disappointed with the watch and will think of the outside as being well loved, used and worn.