Oatmeal Box to Gift Box

I started my life as an oatmeal box.  Hung out in that lazy susan for quite awhile.  Got dizzy many a day as Barb looked for something she had hidden in there.  Of course, she never lost sight of me, I was big and tall and round.  Alas one day the last bowl of oatmeal was eaten and I was thrown in the brown recycle bag.  Barb must have suffered garbage remorse because before I made it to the big bad green bin and then a ride in the noisy truck, Barb rescued me and put me on the counter.  I will live again but what will a big, tall and round box become.

I just heard I am on the way to becoming a gift box for a lovely teenager.  I know I will like living with Haille and her family. 

I was wiped out several times with a damp cloth to remove all the oatmeal dust.  Some scrapbook paper was glued to me for my first layer.  Now for a true recycle project why didn’t she use some magazine pages instead of good scrapbook paper.  Of course, believe me, with all her paper, she will never miss two pieces.  A layer of Gesso was scrapped on me with a palette knife. 

After I had dried, Barb scrunched up a paper towel and got out bottles of acrylic paint and started dabbing/sponging it all over me.  She put on about 4 different colors so you can see lots of variation in my color.  Barb heard that Haille’s favorite color is blue. 

She cut wacky circles out of a catalog with her Silhouette machine.  This is a fun machine.  She could have cut these circles by hand but the machine makes it so fast.  Some of the circles were cut in half to make the border at the top.  Other circles in different sizes were randomly glued onto the surface.  Now the fun will begin.  

Now she got out the blue and green paint and started painting the circles.  

Of course every box needs to have a perfect top.  She cut circles to fit inside the top of the lid.  She then painted them to match the colors of the box.  

The edge of the top had to be covered also so she cut a strip of colored paper to glue on the edge.

Everything was glued to the top of the lid.

She then added some finishing touches.  More circles, little dots and glitter.  Every teenager loves glitter.

So here I am in all my glory, once an oatmeal box and now a beautiful glittery gift box fit to bring a gift for a teenager.  

Oldie Moldie Monday

Monday - time to show some love to your old supplies.  An old monkey stamp from Stampendous.  The paper isn't too old.  Glossy accents were added to the bubbles which had a little glitter on them

This card is going to a young boy with a very tragic story.  Hopefully it will cheer him up a little.

Remember to show your love for your old supplies - they still make great cards.

Oldie Moldie Monday - Masculine Card

I have a friend retiring who is a big golfer so I have been making some cards for him to celebrate this important time in his life.

I have a folder of golf paper and stuff.  Everything for this card is from the folder except for the sentiment.  The golfer is a sticker.  I put the sticker on some watercolor paper and then used distress paints to paint around the sticker.  I added some gray dots through a stencil.  I really do like how it turned out.  The sentiment and image are pop dotted.

Remember to show some love to your old supplies.

ATC - Groovy Chicks

I am having fun making at least one ATC a week for the challenge weekly challenge at Wicked Wednesday Weekly ATC Challenge.  The theme this week is Groovy Chicks.

I love this quote from Audrey Hepburn "If you obey all the Rules, You Miss all the Fun."  I think maybe it is time to start breaking some rules.  The beautiful stamp is from Dina Wakely.  Since she is groovy she needed to have magenta/pink hair.

The background of the ATC is distress paint.  Over the top I sprayed some spray through a stencil.  I don't think you can even see that layer.  The chick was stamped on some gessoed pages and colored with distress paints and gelatos.  She was glued to the ATC with gel medium.  I added the purplish dots through a stencil and then dabbed them off with a paper towel.  To finish off the background I stamped my favorite circle stamp and colored them with distress paints.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good week.  I do hope to be a little more creative this week.

Oldie Moldie Monday

Monday - time to show some love to your old supplies.  This is paper from Basic Grey from 2010.  I wanted to make a retirement card for a friend who loves to golf.  Both stamps are old also.  The sentiment is a new die cut from Hero Arts.

I am also entering this card in the April ODBD monthly challenge on the Operation Write Home blog Stars and Stamps.  The challenge is to make a masculine card.

Our Daily Bread Designs will pay postage for up to two boxes of cards to go overseas  to our heroes.
Glad to be creating again.

Creativity - Mixed Media Canvas

The monthly challenge on the Faber Castell blog by Mou is CREATIVITY. How are you creative, your favorite creativity quote, is creativity your life style or just a hobby... whatever it means to you, create a project around the idea of creativity.

Being creative is such a wonderful part of my life.  It brings some beauty to each day that I am able to create.  It eases some of the hardness of the day or makes a good day even better.  But everyone will tell you I work in a mess.  A horrible mess so I thought this quote was quite appropriate for me.

Creativity is messy and I am very creative.  

This is a 5 x 7 canvas that I gessoed.  I added several shades of paint on top of the gesso.  I took the Tim Holtz splatter stencil because I thought it looked messy to add the brighter orange color on the back.  I added some blue paint through another stencil.  The flower was cut with my Silhouette.  I needed something to ground my sentiment.  The sentiment was generated on the computer and colored with watered down paint.  I stamped the circles and colored them green.  I added texture paste through a stencil in several locations on the stencil.  On top of the black flower I brushed a layer of Glitter and Bead Gel.  It really sparkles.  

Thanks for stopping by.  I did enjoy my creative therapy this week end.  

Recycled Art

This month on Mixed Media Mojo the monthly challenge is to use recycled items.

The recycled/upcycled items in this ATC are the card stock from programs for commencement.  I have sprayed the white card stock with pink and blue sprays.  I have also recycled a tag from a piece of clothing I purchased.

I matted the pink card stock with black.  I stamped the circles and dots on the pink card stock.  I inked the stamp with VersaMark and VersaFine black ink.  I then clear embossed the stamped images.  They shine and have a little texture.  I painted them with yellow distress paint to pick up the color in the flower I am going to use.

I covered the outside and the inside of the recycled tag with the blue card stock.  I stamped the sentiments and clear embossed them.  The tag was adhered to the front of the ATC.  I cut off the end of the top of the tag.  The flower was glued to the end of the bottom of the tag.  The top edge slides under the flower and closes the tag.  A few pearls and a enamel dot were added to the ATC.

I am entering this in the weekly challenge at Wicked Wednesday ATC which was to use a fold on your ATC.

Christmas ATC

I have found a new love for creating.  It is tiny pieces of art called ATC's.  They measure 2.5  x  3.5.  They are very fun to do.  I also found an ATC challenge site so I am going to try and play along each week.  The site is called Wicked Wednesday ATC.

The challenge this week is April Fools Day or your favorite holiday.  I chose to go with Christmas.

I dug through my box of backgrounds I have made and found this pretty blue.  I believe it was made with distress inks.  The little stamp is made by Hampton Art.  I inked the stamp with VersaMark Ink and Black Versafine Ink.  I then put clear embossing powder over the top.  The little penguin and sentiment really pop and shine.  The beak and flippers were colored with distress ink.  Glossy accents was added tot he eyes.  I matted the image on black card stock to frame it.  I added a strip of patterned paper on the side.  I thought it needed a little bit of something.  I also randomly colored some of the squares with blue distress paint.  The stars and circles were punched out of silver paper that I made.  I rubbed VersaMark ink along a piece of paper and then added silver embossing powder.   You now have Silver paper.  A few rub ons were added along with some small enamel dots.

Everyone enjoy your Friday.  I am not working today so that is a plus to start the day.

Mixed Media Mojo April Challenge

It is April - time for another monthly challenge on Mixed Media Mojo.  The challenge this month is Recycle/Upcycle with Flower as the added twist.

I love to recycle items into my crafting.  My first post for the month of April using recycled items is a lowly oatmeal box.  I turned it into a gift box for a teenager for her birthday.  It was lots of fun to make.  I sure do hope she did not throw it away.

The box has many layers on it.  I will be posting a how to later in the month.  Come join us at Mixed Media Mojo and recycle something.