little framed fashion boxes...

I loooove making miniature vignettes in small boxes or large boxes or room boxes, etc. So, when we received a lovely pink and dark grey paper pad (with a fashion theme!) from Prima Marketing, I immediately started assembling a few vignettes (in boxes) in my head, lol.

I knew I wanted to use some shoe boxes and hat boxes in my vignettes, so, I took a look at a collage sheet I designed a few years back and decided to revamp it to work with this project. I removed the cake/pastry boxes from the sheet and added a glove/scarf sized box to the sheet instead. I recolored one of the shoe boxes pink so now there are four. AND everything remaining was resized to work with 1:12 scale miniatures as the original boxes were more playscale (or Barbie) sized.

I really like the resulting boxes and how they work with the pair of 1:12 scale metal shoes I painted a few years ago.

 The paper pad I used to "wallpaper" my boxes had so many cute images I had to frame one! Doesn't it look great with all of the boxes and pink tissue paper? The glove peaking out of the hat box is from my "A Lady's Boudoir" collage sheet and I used lots of other images from that collage sheet to complete the sweet dresser top vignette box below.

The above vignette box is done in 1:24 scale using the absolutely adorable 3 Inch Miniature Dress Form. I can't believe how cute this dress form is, and I love it even more with a strip of "lace" wrapped around the bottom. The pearls are a strand of super tiny ball chain I found while looking for finger nail decorations somewhere on the internet. I made the round hat box by gluing some of the paper from my paper pad onto a small tread spool and adding a bit of dresden trim. The "poster" on the wall behind the dress form is from the same paper pad.

 My last box portrays the top of a lady's dresser. The lovely ivory and gold jewelry box featured in the vignette is filled with vintage cabinet cards cut from "A Lady's Boudoir" collage sheet and a sweet bit of tiny gold chain along with a scrap of lace to mimic a handkerchief. I'm not really sure where I got the standing mirror but we do have a similar one available here.

All three boxes were framed with wooden frames I painted black. I am seriously running out of space to display miniatures and boxed vignettes so these were made to hang on the wall. I simply glued a picture hanger from the hardware store to the back of each frame and will hang them on my wall in the formation shown.
Thanks for stopping by and reading my post, it is always appreciated. My supply list can be found here.

Easter celebration boxes...

Alpha Stamps has a new monthly kit out today and I helped design it :) Since Easter is on April 1st (April Fools Day, lol) this year, March's kit is Easter themed. Some of the things in the kit are gorgeous papers from Bo Bunny, an adorable Happy Easter collage sheet from Catnip Designs (me), and a sweet shadowbox with an egg shaped cover. Here's a photo of the box I made using the kit along with some other goodies...

Isn't it sweet? There are three other shadowboxes and lids available, in the Easter theme, that get progressively larger in size. I, of course, had to make one of each...

I used paper from the new Jubilee 6x6 pad for this cute bunny box. In the box is a nest I built with eggs from the kit nestled inside it.

This adorable chick box has a vintage bunny girl ornament holding a fuzzy yellow chick and Easter basket inside.

*Note: It's a good idea to reinforce that little piece of die-cut chipboard between the chicks legs. I just glued a small piece of toothpick to the back of mine.

 This chocolate bunny box is my favorite! I made an Easter tree decorated with vintage colored eggs, a vintage basket and vintage look bunnies that are available at Alpha Stamps :)

Look how cute that bunny is...

And, yes, I did add Easter grass and colored eggs to that tiny basket!

Here's a photo of the whole group...

I bet you're wondering what that thing in the middle is, am I right?

Here's a closer look...

I love the the shutters we recently got in from Prima so I had to incorporate them into my Easter group. Amazingly, the rabbit cover from the Easter Covers for Mini Shadowboxes set fits inside the shutters perfectly. How cool is that :)
Now, I wanna share a little tutorial with you on making your shadowboxes deeper than they actually are. Although the depths range from 7/8" to around 1 1/2" and may be just fine to accommodate a paper collage or thinner multi-media vignette, I chose to use fatter items to create my vignettes. This made me scramble to create more space! Here's how I did it...

 Build your shadowbox and ink or paint any areas that may peek through the paper you cover the box with.

 Cover your box with paper inside and out.

 Paint your box cover on both sides as well as the edges. Notice I removed the tabs used to make this a removable cover.

 Paper your cover and cut out the egg shaped window with a craft knife. Then carefully fold the edges of the cover around the shadowbox to ensure a proper fit.

 Cut up a small cork, dowel or piece of balsa wool into four equally sized pieces. Mine are 1/4".

 Create a cute vignette inside the shadowbox. Hot glue the four pieces of cork/wood to the corners of the shadowbox so they don't stick out beyond the outer edges.

Lay the cover over the cork/wood pieces and fold the edges down into place.

Holding the cover in place, as shown above, lift up one flap and run a strip of hot glue along the shadowbox edge. Press the flap down until the glue cools. Repeat until all four sides are permanently glued down. That's all there is to it.
So who's ready to start making some cute Easter boxes?? Come on! You know you want to!
You can find my complete supply list at this link. 

playing with new products...

One of my favorite things to do is to try new paint or patina products. This weekend I was lucky enough to score several new products to try. First up was the new Finnabair Art Extravagance Patina Effect Paste Set. This set is magical! I was a little skeptical when I saw the color of the pastes as I pulled them from the box, but, as I worked with them I was quickly won over.

 I used a Memory Hardware Resin Frames - Vincennes Regal as my "canvas".

 I applied the Brass paste, with a paint brush, to completely cover the frame.

 Next I opened up the jar of Blue paste and thought to myself, jeeze, that looks kinda fluorescent...

 but brushing it lightly over the Brass paste created an instant verdigris patina!

 So when I opened up the jar of Mint-Green, I couldn't wait to see what would happen.

 The Mint-Green is the thickest paste in the kit and it really adds a sort of crusty-ness to the frame...

 the more layers you apply the more the piece seems to age right before your eyes!

 To finish my frame I added a backing of Black Suede Paper glued to lightweight chipboard.

 My next project uses a Memory Hardware Resin Frames - Marseille Grand as the canvas.

 I've been dying to try the Nuvo Embellishment Mousse - Black Ash so decided to cover the whole frame with it. OMG! This stuff is like soft butter! It goes on so smooth and covers like a dream.

 To accent the details on my frame I used the new Art Alchemy Antique Brilliance - Red Amber and Art Alchemy Metallique Wax - Aged Brass. These waxes are soft, creamy, smell good and are easily applied with a tiny brush for detail work. They cover very well too, as you can see, since I used them right over the Black Ash.

 I applied a backing of Black Suede Paper and lightweight chipboard to this frame too.

To finish off this frame, I glued some Relics & Artifacts Rhinestone Chains - Amethyst around the inner edge with a bit of E6000.

You may be wondering what the heck I plan to use my frames for since I glued the backings onto them...

 Well, I'm going to use them to display my treasures and shiny bits of course!

I hope you've enjoyed this post and it inspires you to go out and make something :)

Nature Encroaches, a mixed media canvas...

 It's been ages since I've produced anything on a canvas, so when Leslie (of www.alphastamps.com) asked me to make a sample using the new Dragon Sconce, I thought it would be the perfect time to dust off my easel.

 I had loads of fun producing this piece. I used lots of different techniques and some new products, and I tried really hard to document my progress so I could share it with you :)

 I started with a 10" x 10" canvas bought at Hobby Lobby. To the canvas I added layers of sewing pattern tissue and cheese cloth adhering it with Golden Regular Gel Medium. I glued the Dragon Sconce together and adhered it to my canvas with gel medium. Then I painted some random areas with Golden Garnet Gel (Coarse).

 After that dried, I used a cobblestone stencil (made by Clearsnap) and Golden Hard Molding Paste to add more texture to the center of my canvas.

 While the molding paste was still wet I sprinkled on some coarse glass glitter that I had in my stash. I knew I would paint over the glitter so it didn't matter what color it was.

 I let that dry overnight then I used gel medium to adhere a Faux Plaster Ceiling Molding Strip down the side of the canvas where it looked a bit bare. I added a bit of Golden Coarse Pumice Gel around the edges of the strip to make it look like it is embedded in the canvas.

 When completely dry I covered the whole thing with a nice thick coat of white gesso.

After letting the gesso dry, I added a layer of Golden Fluid Acrylics in Quinacridone / Nickel Azo Gold (one of my favorite colors!). To add interest and depth I layered Carbon Black over some of the textured areas and over the Dragon Sconce.

 While that was drying I used a Silicone Mold - Architectural Flourishes and some Creative Paperclay and made a nice scrolly bit. (When cured) I adhered it to the canvas with gel medium and painted over it and the sconce with Golden Fluid Acrylics in Micaceous Iron Oxide. Then I added some green and brown down the center of my canvas to prepare for my next step.

 I Googled "mossy stone wall" and found a photograph I liked so I could refer to it as I painted my cobblestones...

 This is what I came up with after several hours and many colors of acrylic paint. I don't think I could duplicate it if I tried but I love how it looks :)

 I was hoarding a Finnabair Art Extravagance Rust Paste Set and was dying for the perfect project to use it on and this was it. So off I went to google "rusty metal"... and I found the perfect photograph of rust to refer to so I could dive right in!

 The first color I used was this nice chocolatey brown...

 the paste has chunky bits in it to help make it look really organic and just like natural rust. I didn't cover every bit of the sconce and scrolly bit as you can see below.

Next I opened the lovely ripe pumpkin color and started painting it right over some of the still wet brown areas.

Here's what it looked like...

While that was drying a bit, I opened up the rich mustardy yellow. The yellow is the only one without the chunky bits in it.

I dabbed it on here and there until I liked the look I was achieving...

Then I referred to my sample rust photo and realized I needed to add a bit more of the chocolatey brown. I fussed around with it until I thought it looked pretty realistic.

 Here's a side view of my finished sconce.

Once the rust completely dried I added some Flower Soft around the cobblestones and on the edges of the canvas.

Of course this led me to want to add moss, twigs, and mushrooms!

Thanks for reading all the way to  the end! I know that was a lot to absorb but I hope it will inspire you to make a canvas of your own or to at least try the wonderful rust paste kit. I think I want to put rust paste on everything now!

For a list of products I used go here. Golden Gel Mediums and Fluid Acrylics can be purchased through Blick.