Let's Upcycle

Time for another blog hop with Imagine if . .  and for this week Jo has left it open and has allowed us to do anything we please.  If you are following the hop correctly, you should  have come to me from Katrina's  awesome creation,

 This has been a great chance to do a bit more with my storage boxes, as I have planned to ultimately have all boxes looking pretty - yeah right ! !  I store my individual and random papers by colour and decided to paint several pizza boxes for the job, to be decorated as time permitted.  So here is my first decorated box.

 

This box obviously is for all my green paper, so I wanted everything to be differing shades of green.  I started by covering the box with scraps of green papers, then added some texture by using texture paste through several different templates, added random scraps of laces, dry wall tape, & random flowers.  These were all gesso'd, then all was coloured with various layers of green paints, Dylusions ink sprays & Lindys stamp gang sprays.  The grey Prima flowers were painted, then sprayed; the old black flourish with black felt flowers were painted, the quote was distressed then inked to match as well.  The peacock feathers add a bit more dimension and interest as well. 

 

When it was all assembled and glued down I thought it would look great with a face in the middle, so if you look carefully you will see I've inked thru one of the Imagine if . .   face stencils.  Sadly with all the texture and with the flowers already attached its hard to see, but I wasn't brave enough to use a stronger colour incase it didn't look good.

 

Here is how it now looks back on the shelf with the other plain boxes, you can see why I've decided to 'pretty' things up a bit.

 

Next stop on your journey through the hop is Carol where she is also touching on the subject of storage.  I hope our ideas give you inspiration to sort out your own collections.

 

 

Treats for Halloween

Halloween is upon us again, so I've been busy preparing some wee bags of treats for the visiting kids.  Also this months challenge at I am Roses is for an altered bag, using orange & black, so doing these bags was a no brainer. 

 

The three I am Roses products I've used are Daisies, cherry blossoms, carnations and buds.  As my supplies are very limited I've coloured some of these blooms with Dylusions Ink sprays, which is super effective, and very easy to do.  I've also used feathers, cheese cloth & wool to give some texture.

 

Now I'd better get busy and make some less feminine bags for the boys.

a Stitch in Time

Is it a canvas? is it a book? . . . No . . . its a sewing kit.
For this weeks Imagine if . .     post I've been busy putting all the pieces together and created a wee surprise out of Jo's hollow book.

 

 

 
 
 
                           

  

 

 

I struggled at first for inspiration on this project, but once the ideas came I was away laughing.  After all these pieces were sorted, the fun began.

  

 

First the cover was created, using some sticky back canvas as the hinge.



 

Then I attached lots of die cuts (recognize these Ngaere??), used several stencils with texture paste, then painted it all with several colours with Lumiere paints.



 

All the embellishments were then mostly hot glued in place before getting a coat of gesso to seal them all.



 

Most of the bigger embellishments then received a coat of a very dark purple (yes scary I know) just to give them a solid base, then several layers of different colours were added until I was happy with the end results. 

Products used were: Lumiere Metallic Acrylic - Pearl Turquoise & Grape

                                 Folk Art Acrylic Paint - Heather

                                 Lindy's Stamp Gang - Starburst, Azure Sea Asters

                                 Viva Décor Inka Gold - Platinum

                                  Rub'n'buff - Gold leaf

 

I created the 'page' effect by adding book paper and scraps of lace between the chipboard 'pages'.

 

Enjoy more closeups of the embellishments.

 

 

Lots of Imagine if . .  products have been used in this, from lettering, random chipboard, felt flowers, stencils, quote from quote sheet, words.  All these products are available from the website and now can be found in several shops around New Zealand along with their very own new shop in Morrinsville.

 

Thanks for visiting, I hope my work inspires you to go forth and create something similar.

 

 

We are Family

Another busy week  has been had by us all yet again, so instead of a blog hop as we usually do just follow the links at the top of the Imagine if . . home page.

This week we are all showing off the new range of frames, and from what I've seen before this has even gone live . . . WOW . . . there is some amazing work being done.  As I'm now really busy at work I've stuck with something fairly simple, which I'm sure showcases the Imagine if . .  products well.

 

Lately I've been spoilt with lots gorgeous photos, which are usually mostly 'girly', so I'm loving this chance to show off a male page. 

Another Kaisercraft paper has been used, this one is from the 'Honey Chai' collection and is a lot bluer than the photo is showing.  I've distressed, inked & stamped the background, then underlayed some burlap & fluffy trim.  I've used 2 Imagine if . .  frames on this lovely 4" x 6" photo, which were firstly embossed to give a bit of texture, then painted, inked then finished with some crackle accents (they look great in person).  Cogs and arrows add more 'male' items to the page.



 

And lastly, no matter how hard I try I just can't seem to do a page without using some flowers.  I love this big blue Bo Bunny bloom, it works well with the I am Roses daisy and the whole colour theme of the page.

Thanks for visiting, please take a look at what the other DT ladies have created for you also, you'll be amazed, and also check out all the gorgeous products now available on the Imagine if . .  website.  As always your comments are greatly appreciated.