Up, Up, and Away in my beautiful...

Hello friends!  Today I have a tag project to share with you showcasing both Altered Pages and Leaky Shed items.  The two companies are partnering in July to bring you some fun and exciting projects.  My project uses two Altered Pages collage sheets, ephemera and art supplies and this wonderful Leaky Shed chipboard balloon.

Begin by finding a piece of mica large enough to fit inside the balloon shape.  Place the balloon face down on the sheet of mica and trace around the outside edge of the balloon with your craft knife.  You can decide later if you want to separate the sheets of rock or leave it whole. 

Separating them will make for a lighter color rock and is a good idea if you really want the background to show through.  Set the mica aside.

 

Apply the ink to the balloon directly from the pad.  If you are using pigment ink, you may want to either heat set or heat emboss.  I used a different color for the basket part of the balloon before embossing.  I really wanted a shine on it so I sprayed an even coating of clear Goosebumps texture spray over the entire piece and let it dry.  After that, I adhered the mica to the backside and used a gold paint marker to add some detail to the basket of the balloon.

To create the tag itself, I used the middle image on the Fly With Steam collage sheet.  I didn’t want to have the balloon in the image get lost behind the chipboard so I cut the collage piece in three sections and pieced the words together for the background.  I fussy cut the balloon and glued it to the bottom corner.

 

 

Ink was sponged around the outside of the tag and around the balloon.  Strips of German scrap border were attached on three sides.  I used a ticket stamp from my stash for another collage element.   Once those pieces were together I sprayed the tag with bronze colored irRESISTible texture spray.  I also sprayed a flower I found in my ribbon drawer while looking for these fibers to complete the tag.

The word “BALLOONS” is from the Steampunked Machines collage sheet and has a touch of the same ink on it as the tag.  The blue ink from the balloon was added to the torn edges.  A few Dew Drops and some fibers from my embellishment collection finishes it off.  And as the Fifth Dimension sings, “Up, up and away in my beautiful, my beautiful balloon!

 

See you next time.  Until then, be sure to check out the blogs for Altered Pages and Leaky Shed Studio Designs for daily inspirations!  I hope you'll also stick around for a while and look at some of my other projects.  Happy crafting!

Scanned tag

 

Fun Upcycled Cheese Box

“Have you laughed today?”  That’s the question that Laughing Cow cheese asks.  Hopefully, your answer is yes!  Laughing is so important…and in my world so is cheese.  Ha-ha-ha.  But what do you do with the box that these little yummy wedges come in.  In the past, I’ve tossed it into the recycle bin.  This time, I peeled off the labels and thought I’d play with it. 

 

There are two collage images from Altered Pages that I have been looking forward to using for quite some time.  One is a dragon in flight and the other is a beautiful Oriental background in neutral colors.  I chose the Spiced Chai and Emerald City StazOn inks and copper Maya Mist spray.  I rubbed the entire box with the brown ink and then added some green here and there.  The box had labels on top, bottom and all around the side which left rough spots on the otherwise smooth cardboard.  This gave the box a rustic look once the ink was added and I loved it!  I sprayed the copper ink liberally on both halves.  It’s a gorgeous color full of sheen!  When the ink was dry I took them out to the deck and sealed both pieces with a workable fixative to seal the mist.  The StazOn is already a permanent ink.

I sponged more brown ink onto the bottom since there were still white freckles.

 

The lid of the box has a slight lip so I measured the inner circle and cut the background using my circle cutter set to 4”.  The background was rectangular so I did not get a complete circle.  I tore the straight edge off to give it a little texture.  I added brown and green ink to the edges of the circle and to the torn area.  The scrap had two visible patterns so I cut them out, inked the edges and glued them to the background before gluing the dragon in place.

The inside of the box was white cardboard and I painted it very lightly with dark brown paint.  Be conservative because the box needs to close so you don’t want a thick layer.  My largest scalloped circle die was perfect to make a bottom for the box.

 

The dragon comes as part of a scene so I cut him out and touched up the white edges with a marker.  The head, body and tail of the dragon were glued directly to the background and his wings were lifted with double sided foam adhesive.  The disc was then glued in place on the lid.

 

 

This Leaky Shed medallion embellishment was perfect for my design, but the square shape didn’t work for my round project.  I sponged green ink onto the entire medallion and then sponged brown around the edges.    Then I ripped it in half!  I sponged brown ink onto the rips.  To help it stand out, the floral designs on the tips were dipped into gold Delicata ink. 

Once the medallion pieces were in place I added some strings of pearls, stopping at the base of each one.

 

 

And there you have it!  A pretty little gift box, perfect for a gift card, jewelry or even M&Ms!  Thanks for stopping by to check out my upcycle project!  Until next time...Happy Crafting!

ICAD Week 4

This was such an unusual week for me.  I had to spend a lot of time in my mom's tiny senior apartment kind of watching over her (while staying out of the way).  Thank goodness for ICAD and my art-on-the-go kit!  Two and a half days of nothing but sitting around.  Yes, she has a TV.  No, she doesn't have cable.  And she isn't much of a conversationalist anymore so I was pretty much on my own for amusement.  Below are my cards for the week and a lot of extras.  Most of them are backgrounds because I was operating on very little sleep and it got increasingly difficult to create.

Here is the weekly prompt:

 

And here is the daily:

And here are my cards for the week:

 

Beach Umbrella

 

Star Wars - old postage stamp borders

 

Brown - image from www.alteredpages.com

 

Maple Leaves

 

Magnifying Glass

 

Album Cover

 

Robot

And, in no particular order, here are my extras.  Most still need work and may show up later in the project.

 

 

 

 

Have a great week everyone.  HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY to all of my fellow Americans