"Make pretty things"-altered storage cubes for Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge Blog

Hello there, fellow creative souls! I'm excited to have a brand new scraproom, and I've been having such a great time getting it ready! I had a cute little white shelf, but the things I needed to store on it weren't exactly pretty to look at and would have ended up being a cluttered mess, so I create this instead:

I started off with 11" cubes from the Dollar Tree, and chose the lightest coloured ones as I figured they'd be the easiest to cover.

I brushed the whole front with white gesso, then arranged chipboard, flowers, lace, buttons etc until I was happy with the effect, then glued them all on and covered it all with white gesso (if you put a coat on the blank surface first, you won't get unwelcome glimpses of the original colour peeking through)

I then misted with a variety of pastel mists, adding more after the first coat dried until I reached the intensity of colour I desired.

This was a fun project to put together and I love how well it coordinates with the rest of the decor in the room! I will be posting pics of my finished room soon-as soon as I find places for the last couple boxes of "this and that!"

Have a wonderful week and find time to make some pretty things yourself! xoxo

"Pawprints" frame for Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge blog

Hey there, friends! I had this plain chipboard frame in my stash and decided it would be perfect to use for  a furbaby project-I just love the sentiment "pawprints on my heart"; it and the other chipboard embellishments are from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.

I stencilled randomly with homemade texture paste, then added the  chipboard and other embellishments  before priming the whole thing with white gesso.
I then misted with a variety of Tattered Angels mists, then I rubbed the chipboard pieces with Rose Gold Metallique Wax.

The photo in the frame is of our two dogs, Dudley and Elmo, who have since crossed the Rainbow Bridge. This photo was taken over twenty years ago, but their pawprints definitely remain on the hearts of my family.

Thanks so much for stopping by; I hope you enjoyed seeing my project-give your furbabies an extra hug today! xoxo

Christmas in July Blog Hop...Santa's sleigh 2 ways! And a giveaway!!

Merry Christmas, crafty friends!! Well, maybe not REALLY, but it's always a good time to feel the warmth and joy of Christmas, so along with a bunch of talented and enthusiastic crafters,  I'm sharing a Christmas-themed blog post with you today.

Our blog hop list is as follows, so just continue along until you've paid everyone a visit and by then you should really be in the Christmas spirit!!

It's Oddly Appealing
Psychotic Ramblings of a Serial Scrapper
Scrap Savvy Creations by Cassandra
Kelly Parker Designs
Juli Loves Paper
Jessica Larios
Lynne Joncas (that's me!)
Suzette M Hussey - Paper Mache Patch
Nelly’s Artistic Creations
Betsy Davis at ideastimestwo

One of my favourite chipboard kits from Gypsy Soul Lasercuts is Santa's sleigh; I love it enough that I ended up making two of them, one for myself and one for my best friend. I love that different papers and embellishments can totally change the look of a project like this...

My friend favours the traditional Christmas colours, so I used some lovely old-fashioned papers accented with antique gold and dark greenery. I layered diecut poinsettias and added paper ribbons with Christmas sentiments.

The overlay was dry-embossed, then heat-embossed in antique gold, then rubbed with bronze ink for a richer finish.

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I created this sleigh to coordinate with the soft colours in my house, using the Kaisercraft Silver Bells collection.  I added shimmery white glass glitter to the overlay for a magical, snowy look.

 Fussy-cut ornaments and other items from the paper were added here and there , and I wrapped tiny "presents" and created paper fans to add dimension and height inside the sleigh.

We'll be in a new home this Christmas, so who knows? I just may have to order ANOTHER Santa's sleigh kit from Gypsy Soul so I can coordinate it to the new decor! If you think you might like to  make one for yourself or to give as a gift you can find it HERE in the Gypsy Soul store.

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Since we're moving (and downsizing) I have been sorting through my crafty stash, and have come up with a bunch of duplicates in my chipboard stash, and may still find a few other extra craft supplies, and decided this would be a perfect time for an un-Christmas giveaway! Just follow my blog and leave a comment here, and I will draw 2 names to send an envelope of goodies to!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy blog-hopping!

Vintage jewelry box remake for Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge Blog

Hi there friends! As some of you know, we are moving/downsizing at the end of the summer so these days I am all about getting the most storage in the smallest areas. I found an old jewelry box f my mom's in one of my dresser drawers; it was pretty beat-up looking, but it was still sturdy, and I needed somewhere more compact for all my dangly earrings. This is what I came up with:

I used Kaisercraft papers and cut out some of the bricks from the one side of the paper, inking the edges and popping them up for added interest and to further pull the paper designs together. Random stencilling with texture paste and some flowers and tulle finished it off. I repainted the latch silver, as it was a bit marked up.

I attached a piece of corkboard to the inner lid and created compartments for more earrings, so I was able to replace the bulky, unattractive plastic holder I had previously used.

I love being able to reuse a vintage item, especially as this one had belonged to my mother. Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful and creative day!

"Grow Old Along With Me"-mixed media chipboard card for Creative Artiste

Hello crafty friends! We have recently purchased a new home, and I've been a bit fascinated with house-themed projects lately (you'd be amazed how many GAZILLIONS of them there are on Pinterest!) so I created this to commemorate our upcoming move. It's a Design Team piece for the Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge Blog's June challenge.

I had some leftover pages from a chipboard album and drew my pattern onto one of those. I copied just the grassy mound onto a second piece to serve as the opening part of the card. When these were cut out, I started with patterned paper, which I distressed, inked, gessoed and painted like crazy, then I added bricks which were created using baking soda texture paste which was coloured and spread onto pieces of cereal box board.

I added corrugate pieces for the chimney and door, and added bits of lace, ribbon, metal and wood for the various finishing details. I attached the front with tiny hinges.

I dug deep into my stash of alphabets and word art to create the sentiment, which is a line from a poem by Robert Browning.

The inside of the card simply reads, "Welcome Home."

Thanks so much for stopping by; I hope you have enjoyed seeing my project, and wish you a delightfully colourful and creative June, wherever your home may be! xoxo

"Wine O'Clock" mixed media canvas

Hello there, crafty friends-I love creating canvases and I had some fun with this one! I had some great wine-themed chippies from Gypsy Soul Lasercuts in my stash, and I was REALLY in the mood for a glass (or two) of wine, but didn't have any and REALLY didn't feel like getting dressed and going to the store...so this is what I did instead!!

I added gems to the chipboard grape clusters for extra texture and interest, and I used the corkscrews included in the chipboard set as substitutes for the letter "T" in my title work. Bits of stencilling with homemade texture paste added some extra detail.

After gluing everything down with a hot glue gun, I painted the entire surface with black gesso,
then rubbed some Art Alchemy Metallique waxes onto various areas, then sprayed some Rustoleum Stone Textured Finish (from the spray paint section at the hardware store) and added a little Tattered Angels mists here and there. The mists are subtle on a black surface, but do add some tint and a bit of shimmer.

I am entering this in the May challenge at Bleeding Art-the criteria is to add stencilling to your mixed media project.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful and creative week! xx

Altered Tissue Box for Creative Artiste

Hello crafty friends! I decided to create a piece of home decor this month; I found the wooden tissue box at a thrift store-it had been painted white and stenciled with some simple and very colourful Christmas images. Since I used very thick papers, I didn't even bother to paint over them.

After cutting the paper to size. I added stencilling with homemade texture paste and some Tattered Angels mists. After the papers were adhered to the box with white glue, I inked the edges, then added diecut flowers and foliage along with some shells, beach glass, chipboard and wooden embellishments to create texture and interest.

I cut the image from another piece of the paper and attached it to the end that would be facing outward in my room-I loved the image but the piece it was on was too small to use for the front. I like how it looks on the end, though.

 I make my texture paste quite thick for crisp lines and no bleeding under the stencil.

Thanks so much for stopping by; this was fun to create and I love the idea of altering thrift store "uglies"! Have a terrific and creative week! xx