Fox in a Box - a DecoArt Mixed Media Project

Hi, servus and bonjour! So happy to see you stop by my little creative corner today!

Time to let you know that my latest project for DecoArt is up today over at the DecoArt Mixed Media Blog!

I have used some of my beloved Calico Craft Parts and several DecoArt media and premium products to create a little starry winter's night scene by upcycling an old (and long ago emptied) tin from my never shrinking stash ;)

There's a full tutorial with many steps images over at the DecoArt Mixed Media Blog and also a grand variety of  beautiful Flora and Fauna wood shapes of all kinds and sizes (and for all the four seasons) over at the Calico Craft Parts shop to choose from...so you can go ahead and create your own favourite little magic world in a tin! It's really easy and you can incorporate almost any of your favourite mixed media techniques and products. And it is always lovely to see the joy and surprise on the faces of the persons who open up the tin - just to find themselves drawn into a little magical world inside!

If you want to find out which ones I have used and how I have used them, simply click HERE to get taken to the DecoArt Mixed Media Blog. Hope to see you over there!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

My Own Little Farnsworth! Yay!

Servus, hi and welcome! I am so glad you're stopping by!
Today I have a little somethin' to share with you that I had wanted to do for a long time...but haven't dared to approach...until now!

Fans of the awesomely charming and fun TV series "Warehouse 13" already know what I am talking about as they know that awesome steampunk-ish communications device that Archie's team use to update each other on the latest artefacts and their powers and effects - the Farnsworth!
And here's my version of it - made from an altered tin.

It is my project for this month's "Anything Goes - Steampunk/Industrial" challenge over at 

SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges 

- and I would love to see you play along with us soon! 

Don't ask me who this guy is that's talking on the phone...I haven't seen him before...maybe a new member of Archie's crew...

I started by searching my bits 'n bobs box for small buttons, screws and switches that I could use for my Farnsworth. A watch glass from my old watchmaker's cabinet was perfect for the little circle screen and the light bulb was turned from white to red using alcohol ink.

To help the DecoArt Metallic Lustre adhere to the tin I first gave everything a coat of matte DecoArt Decou-Page and then a coat of DecoArt media black Gesso. That luckily provided enough tooth for the Lustre to cling to. I used the Metallic Lustre like paint - applying it with a soft wide flat brush.

I cut out the openings for the light bulb and for the speaker.

Then I glued on all the pieces after I had "engraved" the "Farnsworth" logo using a black ball pen.

I stacked some thick corrugated card pieces to insert my finished operations board into the tin and added four gold half pears around the circle screen.

Voila! 

 This is the size of my Farnsworth - a bit small, but I couldn't find a larger tin so far. So a mini version will have to do for now.

It was great fun to make and the result looks astonishingly convincing! Well, at least to me...lol

Our Anything Goes - Steampunk/Industrial challenge over at the SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenge blog is still open until the end of the month! Make sure you check out the makes of Team A and B and let yourself be inspired by the variety of projects made by my awesome DT which I am so proud of! ;) Just click HERE to get to our challenge blog and I hope to meet you over there soon!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

Tim Holtz Tin Tutorial

Good morning everyone!

I only recently prepared a tutorial using Tim Holtz stuff only. It originally was meant for a different blog but things angled off so I am able to share it with you right now.

I had a plain tin with ATCs in it and decided it finally was time for it to be altered. I started with my beloved alcohol inks and gave my tin a coat of "Juniper", "Sunset Orange", "Terracotta", "Stream" and  "Salt Blue Ocean".

Then I went through my Tim Holtz stuff looking for the perfect idea-ology for embellishing and found the beautiful ornate bookplates which were just perfect. Once I had it as my center piece I knew what to do with its "surroundings".

I used Distress embossing ink and Ranger embossing powders "old paper" and "rust" to stamp and heat emboss a harlequin border to both sides - leaving the middle for the ornate bookplate, who was given a treatment with both embossing powders too.

For the panel that was to fit the book plate I stamped only part of a Tim Holtz "Way with words" stamp with Ranger jet black archival ink.

To do so I inked the stamp and then wiped off all the ink around the word I wanted to use. 

I then marked the size of the panel with a pencil so it would fit with the book plate. When cutting it out I added some additional 2 mm width on all sides (so I could glue the panel behind the plate once it was finished).

After that I blended my stamped panel with Distress ink "Vintage photo" to tone it down. 

It was then given three coats of clear UTEE which I cracked once it had hardened. 

To make the cracks more visible I squished in some Distress stain "brushed corduroy".

Now my panel was ready to be glued behind the ornate bookplate. 

 To fix the bookplate to the tin's lid I had to punch two holes for the brads, which I used a nail and a hammer for. I set the lid on top of my bench vice and saw to it that the nail could go right through on the other side.

Once my bookplate was fixed to the lid with the brads I was done! I hope you like it! As I love altering tins I had great fun turning it into a tiny treasure (ATC) box. Thank you for visiting and enjoy the close ups:

Witch Myrtle's Favourite Travel Case

Hello, dear readers and followers old and new,

welcome back to my tiny spot! I am so glad that you stopped by again (or even for the very fist time!) and I am ever so thankful for all the lovely comments you leave with me. They really mean a lot to me and I know I have been MIA for quite some time now (due to our long school holidays and all the preparations for my son's start at the new school directly after returning home - gosh, they grow up sooo fast!) I hope you forgive me that I have just started to try catching up with visiting your blogs and leaving some lines there.

Today I want to share my first Halloween make with you. I made it on the first day with enough spare time to sit at my workdesk and although I had planned to do something "quick and easy" it turned out as a whole day's project in the end ;)

Last Halloween you met the three witches Amealia, Prudence and Porticia who live together in a flat sharing community. They had some problems when you saw them the last time, but those luckily seem to have been fixed shortly afterwards. ;)

Well, they have a very dear friend, Myrtle Twizzlethwaite, who is one of the youngsters among the witches' community.  Young witches often get used special items from their witch ancestors. So did Myrtle. She got her Grandma's Travel Case - a very practical item, even though it is not as modern as the tiny Witches' Emergency Kit I showed you last autumn. But it provides a lot of space for travel equipment and therefore Myrtle is using it very often and with pride.

Myrtle's Grandma became very forgetful and absent-minded during her last years - so she put on the "Poison" stickers as a reminder of the dangerous load the travel case carried then. A lot of the labels on the travel case are remnants of Myrtle's Grandma's great times as a highly notable witch...which makes the travel case even more precious to Myrtle.


And maybe you have already spotted Archie, Myrtle's Hercules guard beetle in there.

Every witch has an animal partner with her - some love to have ravens by their sides, some love the company of snakes and lately some have started choosing small creatures like mice, rats and even beetles or spiders (which some of the old fashioned witches think is humbug and just a short-lived fashion).

But Archie has already proven very useful, as he drives off  pickpockets by his rather ghastly sting (which is extremely hurtful and makes a victim puke for four days).








Archie always guards Myrtle's Spellbook, which is the most important thing a witch owns.

Myrtle also carries a crib with her, as she still is not too firm with some of the spells.

As you can see she has been using it quite a lot and has also added a lot of handwritten notes to it during her first years as a graduated witch.




One of the compartments holds a pencil and some stamps, as Myrtle loves to travel and write postcards to her friends and family from all over the world.




The tiny metal tin once held a dangerous poison but now holds Myrtle's earplugs, as she is a very light sleeper.

But the most important things Myrtle carries with her are her tiny bottles with spells ingredients - from simple ocean salt over glowing termites, poisonous spider bones, ancient scarab's shine, hornet's sting, bristles and wings to concentrated pumpkin crystals.

The "Happy Haunting" pennant on the case's handle is a memory of Myrtle's very first studies trip to "Blocksberg Manor", THE meeting point and seminar hotel with the best sorted library of the world.




 With this project I'd love to enter Frilly and Funkie's "Anything Goes" challenge.

I leave you with some more close-ups and a materials list and hope that you enjoyed your visit!
Hugs and happy crafting,

die amelie - Claudia x

Materials used:

cardboard, glue, scissors, ruler, hole punch, crafting knife, cutting mat, crafting sheet,  DIs "spiced marmalade", "walnut stain", "vintage photo" and "gathered twigs", Distress paint "brushed corduroy", DecoArt Traditions Acrylic Colors, DecoArt "Weathered Wood" Crackle Medium, 7Gypsies label stickers, new Tim Holtz stamp sets "Poisonous" and "Laboratorie", alcohol inks, masking tape, MyMindsEye brad, Prima brads, stamps from Martha Stewart, archival ink "jet black", leather from an old leather rucksack, corked vials from idea-ology and Vaessen, papers from Echo Park's "Chillingsworth Manor" stash and Graphic45.