Hello sweet friends.
It's another day to CeLeBrAtE life's
goodness and beauty.
It just has to be a choice sometimes.
And, today, I wish for you the strength
to look beyond those bumps in your road
and find the exquisite in the everyday.
*********
In the following photos,
I'd like to share with you a papier mache'
heartbox that I found at a Goodwill
several years ago.
As you will see, it's
all dressed up Shabby.
This is one of my favorite things to do!
Find something with so much
potential and just let my heart and
hands go while trusting the process.
Sometimes it can be a little scarey because
I don't know where I'm going but
that's all part of the journey and learning!
I always forget my before photos and so I
cheated and found this one online.
So... TaDa!
This is before her makeover.
I don't have photos of the entire process
because it was very involved.
But I will share the basics and I
would be glad to answer any questions.
The first thing I did was to Gesso
the box. This covers and
water-resists the paper
for painting or glueing, inking, or
whatever wet medium
you may want to use.
I also gessoed some old sheet music.
It gives it a washed sort of look that I love.
There are many places online where you
can learn how and where to use
this very versatile product.
I then dry-brush painted the box with
Vintage White acrylic, craft paint.
The little texturing that you see here
was done with a gesso
and Vintage White paint mixture.
Gesso is white and I wanted
the creamy look and so I
just mixed some of the paint with it!
Another wonderful thing about gesso (love it)
Is that you can tint it any color you want!
I spread a little on and then I took
my french script rubber stamp
and stamped the image on it.
After it dried, I rubbed
a little Victorian Velvet Distress Ink and
Frayed Burlap over it
to give it that color.
This tearing back of the paper
was a look that I had seen all around online
in mixed-media projects and in
card making. It's very simple.
I just dampened the paper and very carefully
tore the size opening that I wanted.
The gesso makes the paper a bit stiff
when the water dries which helps
it to hold it's shape. I then,
with my finger, just carefully
rubbed some Frayed Burlap
Distress Ink on it.
I also distressed the edges of the box
and the sheet music
with a mix of dark and pink inks.
I really like to mix
tattered and grungy with
sparkle and elegance. To me,
they just seem to compliment
each other so beautifully.
Do you like the grayish-green leaves?
I wasn't sure at first but the fabric
matched the color hues and so I went
with it. Do you think it blends well?
(I am not good at color blending!
I have learned a lot from
others but I still have to
ask my family for their input at times :)
To get the the pink splattered look,
I used the Perfect Pearls Forever Violet
spray from Ranger. It can be messy!
I hold my piece over
my large trash basket and spray carefully.
It takes some experimenting.
You can add a little or a lot and
the shimmer of the pearl
is very subtle.
The embellishments were
just what I had on hand.
Fabric yo-yos...
shabby flowers... rhinestones... tulle...
I just love the mauve flower.
It's made from a thrifted, silk shirt.
That's where I come by most of my
fabrics for my crafting.
I wanted the inside to be somewhat finished
so it could be used for special keepsakes
but I really didn't want to line it. And so
I decided to paint/gessso it and then I made this
little lacey pillow to lay in the bottom.
It's up-cycled from a thrifted curtain.
The sweet bear came home with me from
a thrifting adventure as well. This post
wasn't supposed to be about thrifting
but you can sure see how many ways
to save on your crafting supplies!
Well, I hope that you've
enjoyed the project
and that I've shared some tips
that have been helpful.
This project was a lot of fun but it
did take a while in the thinking of
the design. I'd love to hear about any projects
that you've been working on.
Or just say hello!
Have a wonderful day and thank you so
much for stopping by.
Tamara xo
I'm joining the party at
Share Your Cup Thursday!
The Enchanting Rose
(oh my! I just noticed that the corners of some of my pictures are
edited differently. And it would take a lot of effort to fix them all,
including re-doing this entire post! I'm sorry.. It seems that no matter how I try,
my "fine details" are a bit quirky.. I guess that's partly who I am.
Thanks for understandin'!)