"Keepsakes"

A dear friend of mine recently gave me some awesome cigar boxes for altering. (Thanks, Alexander!)

For a start I wanted to try the "faux leather technique", which is shown here at Technique Tuesday, who are having a DT call right now! (Check it out if you are interested!)

So, as shown in the wonderully made tutorial, I first covered the box with torn pieces of masking tape all over. Then I blended the surface with Distress inks "rusty hinge", "vintage photo" and "walnut stain" using the blending tool.

This picture shows a "before and after":

To give it a glossy finish the whole box was covered with clear embossing powder and heat embossed, which gives it a stunning leather-like look! (I admit, I really was surprised by the effect as I hadn't expected it to be that "leather like").

 Then I cut out two hinges using the Sizzix Alterations die from Tim Holtz and heat embossed them with Ranger embossing powders "Rust" and "Verdigris". They were glued onto the box using special power glue as the normal crafting glue would not work with the embossed surface (so pay attention for good results).


What remained to do was embellishing the box with some nice "goodies" as distressed and inked copies from pictures of my ancestors, Prima flowers, Tim Holtz die flourishes, key holes, clock faces, gears and a self made label to indicate the box's purpose.

The "keepsakes" label was made using one of the Xcut "Dielicious dies and stamping the quote (surrounded by a flourish design in "Sepia" archival ink, which is a stamp from Rico Design's "Ornamente" stamp set).

...at last some spritzing and spraying with darker tones of Maya Mist and Mr. Huey's colour sprays for an even more used look and for the inside of the lid a cover, using some scraps of my paper stash....done!

Here are some close-ups and views, which I hope you will like!
Thanks again for visiting and a big hug!

die amelie xx

I am also entering Simon Says Stamp and Show's challenge "Embrace the Old", Loves Rubberstamps "Use Dies or Punches" challenge, Fashionable Stamping Challenges "Surprise Us" and Vintage Stamping Challenges' "Vintage" challenge with this project.