Sunday 20 January 2013

"remember"

As you may still remember, I have been given some awesome cigar boxes by a very dear friend of mine, that are waiting to be altered. The first one I altered was this one.

As I guess I am best known in blog-land for my altered pieces, for distressed, dark, grungy and/or time-worn looks, using aged embossing enamels and for embellishing with metal pieces and vintage pics, I cannot withstand to enter SSSS's challenge with this project, as they ask "what are you known for? " ( a clever theme for a challenge and my cigar-box just fits in perfectly - if this isn't the perfect coincidence, huh?!!!).

I am also entering the challenges at Pin And Tack ("Anything Goes" - SYCN), Happy Daze ("use something recycled"), Eclectic Paperie' ("Altered boxes"), Out of a Hat Creations("most useful stamp" - which my Hero Arts tiny alphabet stamp set I use for the "remember" in fact is, as it is the one I use most often) and Vintage Stamping Challenges ("Vintage") with this project (at least the "remember" is stamped - hope this will do ;).

I altered this cigar box (its orginal state can bee seen in my first altered cigar box post which is linked at the beginning of this post) using the faux leather technique from "Technique Tuesday's" awesome tutorial (which can be found here) again. But for the second box I varied that technique a little by covering the ink-blended masking tape surface with a heat embossed coat of "Old Paper" embossing powder and after that another coat of clear rock candy Distress crackle paint. That was followed by spraying the hardened surface with loads of spray paints from Mr. Huey's, Glimmer Mist and Maya Road to achieve a quite dark appearance that should match the mainly silvery aged embellishments.



The lady on the photograph assumably is a very early ancestor of mine...I found her picture in the photobox my beloved grand-aunt left me. According to her dress and hat this one has to be taken in the late eightteen-hundreds I guess. (wow!)

I distressed a copy of the image with the distressing tool and blended the edges with "vintage photo" and the image with "antique linen". I gave a piece of white lace a bath in Distress inks and stains.

Before I attached the embellishments to it using tiny loops, I darkened them with StazOn jet black ink, which I rubbed in using a small sponge dauber, wiping off the excess with my "painting cloth" (a piece of one of my husband's old (and can be seen through) t-shirts I finally managed to sort out from his all time favourites pile unseen...*phew!).











The hinges (cut out from a Kraft core sheet using the awesome Alterations die from the TH series for Sizzix) were embossed with Fran-tage "aged silver embossing enamel" and glued to the box using special power glue (as usual craft glues won't stick to that kind of surface).


For easily opening the box I attached a piece of brown lace ribbon to the lid's inside, fixing it with a piece of masking tape and later with an additional layer of paper from one of my stashes that would cover the whole inside of the lid.








The book plate was heat embossed with aged silver embossing enamel too and glued to the box instead of fixed with the brads as the lid would have been too thick to simply punch holes in it.

I had one of my awesome Prima flowers left, that matched the design of the box perfectly and I embossed that one too with small traces of aged silver embossing enamel (you possibly could have guessed by now which embossing enamel is my absolute favourite ;). I added two punched leaves, that were coloured by using Distress stains "brushed pewter". (Maybe you can see some of it on the picture.... love these crackles!!!)










For additional embellishing I used some silver parts for making jewelry. The "remember" was stamped with my Hero Arts tiny alphabet stamp set.





As usual some close-ups (which means you have finally reached the end of this post ;)













Hope, you enjoyed your visit today!

Wishes,

die amelie xx


29 comments:

  1. Boah, mir fehlen die Worte, das ist ein ober-hammergeniales Kunstwerk. Ich bin überwältigt, die Box ist umwerfend schön geworden, liebe Claudia. Suuuuuuuuuper.

    Ich wünsche Dir noch einen schönen Restsonntag

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  2. Wow, Claudia - I'm blown away - what a fabulous cigar box transformation! That crackle texture on the surface is awe-inspiring, and the masking tape on the sides really gives the impression of age and decay. The image of your ancestress is such a wonderful piece of ephemera to include, and all the silver embossing is scrumptious!

    I've mislaid all my Frantage powders, can you believe it?! Put them in their own box, and put it somewhere... and they've vanished!*@!
    Alison xx

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  3. Love the addition of the crackle glaze to the faux leather effect. Need to use this on a piece for my eldest son and this is so inpiring for that. Thanks for the detailed tutorial. Maybe you could find out more about your ancestor and write about her inside the box? Love the frantaged elements and that gorgeous flower too. Hugs. Jenny x

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  4. I love this grungy old style...you did so well...it all fits and the result is a more than amazing box...compliments!

    greetings, Alie :-)

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  5. Hi Claudia, I love that vintage photo, she looks like royalty! I think you did an awesome job on your box! Had a giggle about you snitching your husband's shirt without him noticing! lol ♥ waving hi from the hills of North Carolina ☺

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  6. Die ist einfach unglaublich schön - eine wundervolle Arbeit und es gibt so viele Details zu entdecken!
    LG Dagmar

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  7. Ich komme hier aus dem Staunen gar nicht mehr raus. Du hast aus der Zigarrenbox ein Schmuckstück gemacht.

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  8. Wow Claudia! This is one amazing grunged up, time worn and distress piece! Love everything about it! It's really stunning! Hugs, Sandra

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  9. Thanks for sharing this amazing piece of work with us and for the picture heavy post which details how you achieved it - what an inspiration

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  10. Stunning, I had to come back and look again, I loved it so much!

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  11. Your altered box is absolutely stunning Amelie.

    Thanks so much was sharing with us at FlonzCraft Vintage Stamping challenges.

    B x

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  12. Fantastic box and great to have you join in with us at Out of a Hat

    Love Chrissie xx

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  13. A stunning box alphabets are very useful stamps thanks for joining us at Out of a Hat Hugs Sandra X

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  14. Wow...this is stunning! Like an unearthed treasure...love the details and the texture, a truly amazing project! Thank you so much for playing along with the eclectic Paperie eTeam Picks challenge!

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  15. Beautiful & inspiring!!!
    Alison x

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  16. Stunning box,great choice alphabet stamps
    Thanks for sharing with us at Out of a Hat
    Janet x

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  17. Wow oh wow. I love this!!! That vintage, aged box looks amazing! All of the technique you put into this is so worth every second of it. The crackle looks fantastic and it almost makes you think that the box is about to fall apart! Love it! Thanks for sharing your work with us at Simon Says Stamp and Show. <3 Candy

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  18. I'm back again! Thanks so much Claudia for your lovely comment today - it means a lot coming from you - and your english sentence is perfect too! Hugs from a freezing Dublin, Nicola x

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  19. wow, beautiful and most certainly very you, I just want to touch it, great textures x

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  20. WOW!!! This is one vintage grungy piece of goodness! I love it! The texture alone all crackly good is fab. You are known for great things. Thank you so much for playing along with us at Simon Says Stamp & Show this week!

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  21. Back with my "official hat" on to say thank you so much for playing along with us at eclectic Paperie!
    Alison xx

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  22. Holy cow! Look at all that aged loveliness! The colors, the cracks, the depth of textures. I love it!

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  23. Awesome! These boxes are really cool to alter aren't they? Must get me some of that crackle!! Lpve what you did with the nameplate as well. Cindy x

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  24. Oh my goodness... this looks a treasure box you've found hidden from ages ago... it's just fabulous. The texture is incredible!!! Thanks so much for joining in the Altered Boxes challenge at eclectic Paperie!

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  25. Claudia what gorgeous grungy transformation ....stunning and I adore it all!!!
    Thank you so much for joining in over at eclectic paperie .

    Hugs
    Tracy xox

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  26. Wow! this is gorgeous, This looks like found buried treasure. I love the textures and the old photo is beautiful.

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  27. Wow....I love all that crackly texture you achieved. It's so beautifully aged...gorgeous!

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