Wedding Memories Box - at last!

Hi everyone!

Sorry for delay but I've been away and also been busy with a commission to make some cards for a local cafe.  Took them in this morning and they loved them - bought the lot!!
 

Anyway, here are some photos and a description of how I made the wedding memories box for the happy couple at the recent wedding we attended.  I loved making it and was delighted with the end result and, I understand, the bride was too!

 

Top of the finished box

 


I started with a gift box with lid that I had kept (never throw anything away!) since winning it in a raffle some years ago - it had contained Clarins beauty products. It was a glossy red, so the first thing I did was give it two coats of acrylic paint (antique white). I also used Cosmic Shimmer spray (Ancient Copper) to age/distress it and Treasure Gold to add a bit of interest to the edges of the box.

 


Inside (lid)

I decorated the insides of the lid and base by firstly painting them with a dusky pinky/mauve emulsion paint and then using a couple of matching sheets of decorative paper, customised with sprays, etc, before adding doilies (decorated with stamped images), diecut butterflies, lace, etc.

Inside (base)



 

 

 

One of the box sides

 I found some pinky/purple lace in my stash, so added some of this to the insides of the base.  I didn't want the base to be too fussy as it wouldn't be seen once it contained the 'memories' but also didn't want decorations to be damaged when items were being taken in and out of the box.  The very pretty lace shown in the detailed view photo was obtained from the local scrapstore - I think the pieces were from wedding dresses and have beads, sequins, etc attached - a great find!

The supplies I used are listed below although this may not be an exhaustive list!  Paints (as mentioned previously); Cosmic Shimmer spray (Ancient Copper); Treasure Gold; Rubber Stamps - Tim Holtz (flourish, chandelier & birds), A Stamp in the Hand (script), Craft Stamper freebie, Papermania (Chatsworth), Stampin' Up (Apothecary Art & Wonderful Words), Vap Scrap (memories); Dies/Punches - Sizzix/Stampin' Up Embosslits (Beautiful Wings) and Framelits (Labels Collection); Martha Stewart border punch (Doily Lace); Stampin' Up hearts punch; Rose Bouquet corner from Ebay (coloured with alcohol inks, sprays and Treasure Gold); small frame from La Blanche; doilies from 'The Range' (coloured with Distress Ink Pads (Old Paper & Spun Sugar).

As I said before, I really enjoyed making this box and look forward to making another one (or something similar) soon!








 









Wedding Gift - Love Sign

This is the first of the two gifts that I made for the bride and groom at the wedding that we went to last Saturday (mentioned in my previous post).

 

I die cut two pieces of brown card (covers from old shorthand notebooks) and glued these together.  Cream acrylic paint (made by mixing white with a touch of yellow) was used to add a background colour to the sign and I then stamped the pale blue flowers around the edges.  Two smaller ‘labels’ were die cut from white card – the first one was decorated with pink/red roses and leaves, and the second was embossed with hearts and ‘aged’ with distress ink.  The word ‘love’ was painted cream and then stamped with pink and blue flowers.  The little blue flowers were made from paper coloured with the same ink as I had stamped the background flowers and three different sizes of pearls were added to the centres.  I again coloured paper to match the stamped background flowers and die cut the roses.  Holes were punched, matching eyelets inserted and red garden twine used to hang. 

 

The products I used were Nestabilities Labels Eight dies, Woodware punch (mini flowers), Die-namics Mini Royal Roses, Cuttlebug Love Language (embossed hearts), 'Love' word from The Works (Plaid), Old Paper distress ink, Stampin’ Up products – inks (Baja Breeze, Rose Red and Regal Rose), Stamp Set – Baby Blossoms, Pearls.

 

The second gift I made was a Wedding Memories Box which took many hours of work!  I will show this in a separate post in the next few days. 

 

Bye for now!x

 

 

 

Wedding Card

Front of the card

Went to a wedding celebration last weekend and this is the card I made to send to the couple (son of a close friend of mine and his lovely lady).  I also made a couple of gifts for them which I will show in another post(s).  The wedding was lovely and the weather was sunny although a bit chilly for the summer dress I was wearing!  We had a wonderful afternoon tea (vintage china and delicious food) in a beautifully decorated marquee with chandeliers and lots of bunting (some of which I helped to make!).

Back to the card though.  I own a lot of Stampin' Up stamp sets and products (used to be a demonstrator!) and have used some of them in the making of this card.  The main image of the couple and 'The new Mr & Mrs' on the front are both from the set 'Marry Me', as is the image and words on the inside left.  The 'congratulations' bunting stamp on the front is an 'Anita's' stamp, and the 'On Your Wedding Day' (inside right) is from Rubber Stampede.

The 'label' on front was cut with a Stampin' Up punch and the inside ones were die cut with Stampin' Up Sizzix Framelits Labels collection.  Not sure where I got the ribbon and buckle from! 

The inks I used were all from (you guessed!) Stampin' Up - they are Baja Breeze, Regal Rose, and Basic Gray.  I don't think you can see in the photo (I need to perfect my photographic skills!) but I added some Stardust Stickles to the bride's veil.

Inside card

Close-up of the sentiment (inside left)

Craft Stamper Competition Entry

Thought I would show some of the work that I've been doing recently.  This was an entry for the Stamper of the Year competition in Craft Stamper.  This has been done in 'rounds' this year and this one was for the PaperArtsy round using their stamps.  Unfortunately it wasn't successful and I have entered again for the Crafty Individuals round (I'll feature this one in a future post just in case I get anywhere with it!).  This is a largish canvas (8" x 15.5") which I first prepared with a coat of gesso, then painted with various colours of acrylic paint.  I used a texture paste on the two bottom corners which were then further textured by using round bottle lids to stamp into the areas. PaperArtsy images were stamped in black onto tissue and then adhered with Mod Podge.  Small stamps were used to print in red direct to the canvas.  The 'Sugar and Spice' words were individual PA stamps used to stamp onto an old book page which had previously been attached to a piece of card for strength.  Die cut flourishes were also cut from the same prepared card, and also the words 'boy', 'girl' and 'little angel'.  Butterflies were die cut from another book page (single layer, not adhered to card) and attached with glue or brads.  Bottle lids and a credit card were also dipped into paint and used in various areas and paint splodges, drips, etc were also added.  Glimmer spray and a piece of beaded ribbon were used to add further interest.  The flower was made by stamping onto a tumble drier sheet coloured with sprays.  This was then die cut, crumpled and layered up with a flower brad (coloured with alcohol inks) in the centre.  The edges of the canvas were also stamped with a PA stamp to finish off.

Hope you like it!



PaperArtsy canvas

In the beginning ...

Well hello everyone!  I've created this blog to share my love of crafting with others and hopefully share my knowledge too.  Now I have to find out how to add photos, etc - WATCH THIS SPACE!!