Vintage cigar box

Here I am again with another Ten Second Studio VerDay patina project.

I love to make things out of free items. This super cool box was made out of a cigar box the local smoke shop gave me for free.     This project was so simple to make!

Supply list:
TSS pure copper (not the art copper)
TSS patina
Foam brush
Large size seed beads
Glass Fleur de lis
Copper acrylic paint
Cigar box
Glossy accents
TSS mold or embossing folder
Humongo double sided tape

Step one:
Paint your cigar box with copper paint.
I like to do this so if any edges peak through they will blend in with the copper. Now set this aside to dry.

Step two:
Cut your copper to the dimensions of your cigar box.
Now you want to emboss your pieces of copper. I used a TSS mold (#BDAD-10a)
It is one of their big daddy molds.

Step three:
Attach Humongo tape to the back of each copper piece. Then peel back tape and attach to each side of your cigar box.

Step four:
Time to add a little patina! I used a foam brush to saturate the copper with the VerDay patina. Set it aside for a little while.

Step four a second look:
 Here is what the patina looks like after twenty minutes or so.

Here is the patina after setting overnight. Look how dark and rich it looks after a few hours. I am loving all of the different shades of green and aqua.

Step five:
I glued my Fleur de lis in the center of the box using glassy accents. Then filled the area around it in with seed beads.

 I am happy to be July guest designer at Ten Second Studios!  I had a lot of fun spending the day with Megan and Cheryl at their studio last week. Being with those crazy girls is all ways a guaranteed good time.  I hope you enjoy the projects.

Welcome to the Bunnicula inspired HOP N' SWAP brought to you by Smeared and Smudged!

For this hop n' swap I created three projects. A 2"x2" shadow box featuring none other than Bunnicula, a sweet little Bunnicula necklace and last but not least a box to house it all.

Shadow box: I used chipboard to build the box and layered multiple pictures of Bunnicula to give him a 3-D look. Then I embellished, soldered, and added a nice black patina to give it a bit of a vintage look.

Necklace: I used my favorite close to my heart alphabet stamps for the charm. Then colored it in by using watercolor paints and Twinkling H20 to give it a shimmer.
Finished it off by soldering and adding a black patina to age it and add that vintage look.

Box: Oh yes, I loved creating this gift box! Why you ask? Because it was made out of a Toffifee candy box and I had to eat all of the candy before I could make it. Lol
My husband Andy might have had a hand in helping with that chore. I used torn craft paper and a page out of an actual Bunnicula book.

I hope you enjoyed visiting me today. Next stop http://sugscardsnmore.blogspot.com/">Sugar


http://ndustrial-lemon.blogspot.com/">
http://lynsblogger.blogspot.com/">Black
http://trishliciousandco.blogspot.com/">Trisha
http://sugscardsnmore.blogspot.com/">Sugar
http://jcocraft.blogspot.com/"> http://kemperneck.blogspot.com/
http://dkspinner.blogspot.com/">Dianne

Friday the 13th phobia hop

In honor of Friday the 13th I bring you one of my secret phobias! I am convinced that one day the world is going to be taken over by ZOMBIES! Yes, one morning I am going to wake up and some dried-out dude is going to want to eat my BRAINS (insert shudder here)! Hey it could happen.... I saw Shaun of the Dead!! So sit back and enjoy the show :)

First up we have a mini book filled with the "How to survive a zombie apocalypse" brought to us by the CDC! Yes, kids I am not joking. If you visit the Center for Disease Control's web site they have a plan in place in case Zombies ever attack! See I told you it could happen!!!

Supplies;

Photo's from the CDC web site

Dylusions; Spray Inks- red, green, yellow, pink, orange

Dylusions; Stencils - Letter Jumble - 9x12"

Dylusions; Rubber Stamps - Dependable Dotty

Maya road black laceOld bookChip board

Next up I have the secret zombie vaccine the government doesn't want you to know about..

A good cup of coffee in the morning can cure even the meanest zombie :)

Supplies:

Wooden coffee cup "Michaels' $1 section"

White paint

Brown micro beads

Mini alphabet stamps

Stazon ink; black

Last but not least a Zombie angel tag

Supplies:

TagDylusions; Spray Inks- red, green, yellow, pink, orange

Dylusions; Stencils - Letter Jumble - 9x12"

Dylusions; Rubber Stamps - Love Struck Lucy and Dependable Dotty

Maya road black lace

Vintage page from a dictionary

I hope you have enjoyed your visit. Next stop is a visit to http://happycraftings.blogspot.co.uk/ (shell' blog)

April Smeared and Smudged Member Hop
FRIDAY THE 13th PHOBIA!
Blog Roll
http://ndustrial-lemon.blogspot.com
http://lynsblogger.blogspot.com
http://kemperneck.blogspot.com
http://tinktime-tink.blogspot.com
http://jcocraft.blogspot.com
http://dontbeaprude.wordpress.com
http://ajsalternativecreativeendeavors.blogspot.com
http://phoebekattebeest.blogspot.com
http://piecesoffatesusan.blogspot.com
http://craftylittlewoman.blogspot.com
http://www.ladybrayton71.blogspot.com
http://trishliciousandco.blogspot.com
http://happycraftings.blogspot.co.uk
http://ms-ruin.blogspot.com
http://suzy-ikesworld.blogspot.com
http://zombielicious-happyscrapper.blogspot.com
http://cromscubbyhole.blogspot.co.uk
http://kc-consultant.blogspot.com
http://bcreative1.blogspot.http://idontdostraight.blogspot.com

Quick little gifts

Here is a quick project I did as a gift for a friend who recently had surgery. I wanted to cheer her up, and let her know I was thinking of her. It only took me an hour to complete the box and cross from start to finish.

Ten Second Studios recently come out with a line of paint and patinas that are just AMAZING!! I have been dying to try them out.I covered one of those plain jane jewelry boxes that you can get at the Dollar Tree. They come in a package of three or four for a dollar. The sides of the box are covered in a 7 Gypsies tape and I used scrap copper I had laying around, made by Ten Second Studio, on the top of the box. After getting it all assembled, I sprayed the top of the box and flower with the TSS copper patina. Then I let it sit overnight, and the next morning it had these elegant shades of greens & teal. Then, I soldered this fun little cross necklace to fill the box. The cross is also a class I am teaching in April at The Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie, Texas.

Welcome Smeared & Smudged Bloody Valentine blog hoppers!

My project was created for the Secret Sister Bloody Valentine swap on Smeared and Smudged. I have to say that I really enjoyed creating these projects for my secret pal. I chose to make a couple of non traditional items: Altered cigar box, soldered hanging ornament, and a soldered "dark fairy" necklace. Hopefully my secret sister will enjoy everything and I hope all of it makes it over the pond in one piece.

One thing I loved about this cigar box was it opened in the middle as opposed to one of the sides. This also presented me with the challenge of what to do with the heart center piece I wanted to be the focal point. I decided to split it into two halves and it worked like a charm. I then filled the heart with broken jewelry, beads, spiders, skulls and a few other odds and ends. At the top of the heart I spelled out "Be my bloody valentine, insert my secret pals name here". I also stamped the words forever and love hurts. I need to note here this little gem of a heart took me over two weeks to create.

Anyone who knows me knows I will solder anything that doesn't move faster than I can get my hands on it! I am not joking. Lol The black and cream flowers were soldered individually to the front side. I figured it was going to take me awhile to do this but the whole thing only took me 45 minutes from start to finish (This included cutting the glass). Speaking of the glass.... You can not see it in the photo but the glass has a special scratched finish you can only see when you tilt it in the light.After trolling through some images I settled on a dark angel and a poem that reads;

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

My rose is white and it bleeds for you.

On the back side I added some bloody halloween paper by Martha Stuart and another image. Oh come on.... You knew there was going to be blood somewhere. It is a bloody valentine swap after all! Lol

I thought it needed a little contrast so I soldered black and clear bling to the top and bottom of the ornament. Then finished the whole thing off with a black patina.

Last I created a goth like fairy necklace. It was quite the trick to line the wings up, hold them in place, and solder all at the same time. But necessity is the mother of invention after all and I managed to do it.

Products used:Rock Star Black metal by Ten Second Studio

Tim holtz: Advantus - Idea-ology Collection - Foundations Metal

Feet 7 gypsies: Red -

Knob - Antique Brass

Paper clay

Silver leaf

Crimson acrylic paint by Heidi Swapp

Martha Stuart 3X6 "Vampire paper"

All kinds of stuff from the "junk" box

Glass, solder, and copper tape

Thank you for stopping by! Now you are off to see Dianne. http://dkspinner.blogspot.com/

http://smearedandsmudged.ning.com/

http://ndustrial-lemon.blogspot.com/

http://suzy-ikesworld.blogspot.com/

http://welcometomydarkside.blogspot.com/

http://www.kemperneck.blogspot.com/

http://alisonsrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/

http://cromscubbyhole.blogspot.com/

http://jcocraft.blogspot.com/

http://lynsblogger.blogspot.com/

http://kc-consultant.blogspot.com/

http://sugscardsnmore.blogspot.com/

http://www.phoebekattebeest.blogspot.com/

http://www.ladybrayton71.blogspot.com/

http://cajunstampingqueen.blogspot.com/

http://www.ldfdesign.blogspot.com/

http://dontbeaprude.wordpress.com/

http://stephscreativechaos.blogspot.com/

http://insanedaze.blogspot.com/

http://piecesoffatesusan.blogspot.com/

http://jamiescrazycraftylife.blogspot.com/

http://idontdostraight.blogspot.com/

http://happycraftings.blogspot.com/

http://trishliciousandco.blogspot.com/

http://dkspinner.blogspot.com/

A wreath tale.....

Christmas 2011 I had the bright idea that I was going to make a wreath for all of the mail boxes on my block. This was quite the undertaking and I had to call in reinforcements in the form of my Mom and Aunt Peggy. We had a huge assembly line going for 12 wreaths. Needless to say they were a HUGE hit with the neighbors and our block ended up winning the best decorated street award. Well last Thursday I went to neighborhood bunco and heard my wreaths were the talk of the home owners association meeting. I ended up being asked to create wreaths this year for three different blocks within the subdivision. Lol
So wreathapolooza 2012 is in the works! In the mean time.........

I love after Christmas shopping and can not pass up a bargain! For 2012 I decided to change the Christmas decor in the family room to red, green, and gold with a Santa Claus theme. So the day after Christmas I started hitting the stores for those 1/2 price must have ornaments, wreaths, ribbon, garlands, and other holiday embellishments.

First project up for Christmas 2012 is a 4 foot wreath for over the fire place. I bought the wreath at Hobby Lobby for 80% off (final cost $10) and the blown glass ornaments at Macy's, Hobby Lobby, Dillards, JoAnn's, and Michaels for between 0.50 to $3.00. The ribbon I found at The Christmas store in Arlington for $5 it was 30% off and came in a 100 feet roll. I will have enough left to use the same ribbon on the garland and table arrangements as well.

Start off by making the bow for the top of the wreath and then attach it with floral wire. Next I added the big Santa that sits in side the wreath. I have to confess to using chopsticks as a brace for the back of Santa. He is a heavy guy and needed the added support. The chopsticks also gave me something to use to wire Santa into the wreath.

Last I did a dry placement of ornaments before I wired and hot glued them into the wreath permanently. I have priced wreath's this size with a lot less decoration and they were $300 and up. I spent a total of $50 for all of the supplies and have enough stuff left for a garland and table arrangement. I told my husband I saved him a boatload of money by spending some. He actually agreed. Lol