golden gift boxes

Good morning! Not many sleeps now until Santa arrives :) Normally, I am a Bah Humbug, but I am feeling very festive this year!

Today at Crafts 4 Eternity we have an anything goes challenge.

I had some little pressies which I wanted to package up nicely. Apologies for the photos, they were taken very quickly on a gloomy morning before giving away.

I used the Sizzix Milk Carton die to create the box.

I decorated them with Teresa Collins ~ Noel papers, having inked the edges with walnut ink distress ink and added distress glitter clear rock candy.

I added a trim of gold beads around the bottom edge. 

On two sides of each box, I die cut a Magnolia tree and a Sizzix star. Distressed each with walnut ink distress ink, gold embossing powder and distress glitter.

I finished the top front of each box with a gold embellishment from last years Christmas crackers and used the sheer ribbon trim from those crackers to close off the boxes.

Well having now given these away, I can now comment that the boxes were discarded, whilst the contents were treasured. Kind of teaches me, not to bother next time :)

calendar 2014

Good morning!! Nearly Christmas!! Woohoo! BUT. At Everybody Art Challenge we have a No Christmas card challenge.

So I have made a 2014 calendar.

I covered Sizzix die cut chipboard pieces with Bo Bunny ~ Block Party papers. You couldn't get any more un-Christmassy than these papers!

I printed the monthly calendars onto the designer paper.

Love the fact that this can just stand up on it's own.

Well that's it from me today. Short and sweet as super super busy with holiday plans :)

Thank you for looking.

keeley 

santa claus is coming to town

Good morning! Friday at last and a new challenge at Crafts 4 Eternity where the theme is CHRISTMAS!

So today I have made another mixed media collage incorporating a picture. It has a bit of a Bruce Springsteen feel to it, I can picture Bruce roaring up in this chariot!

So my background is all kinds of stuff, papers and paints and doilies. I'm really loving using the distress paints at the moment for these collages, they are so vibrant in colour.

The trees I cut from a Magnolia die.

The santa in his car is cut from Pink Paislee ~ Father Christmas papers.

I am entering this in at the following challenges:

• traditional Christmas ~ C is for Challenge 
• inspired by a song ~ C.R.A.F.T. Challenge (mine is Bruce Springsteen)
• typical Cristmas symbols ~ Paperminutes 
• anything goes ~ The Corrosive Challenge 

Thank you for looking!

keeley

no winter lasts forever ... mixed media collage 2

Good morning! Today at Everybody Art Challenge, we have a winter challenge. 

I don't know about you, but I just hate the onset of winter and the gloomy months ahead, they seem to go on forever! So here is a reminder, that no winter lasts forever.

I've created another collage using the online course I am working on and this is for the second lesson.

This collage started out life looking like the second collage here: Mixed Media Collage. Well you might still be able to recognise some of it now.

The tree was cut from a Magnolia die and tucked behind the house which was cut from a Webster's Pages 12 x 12 sheet. Then I blended it all in. Just love doing this.

More of the house. The tiny little deer was also cut from the Webster's Pages sheet.

The reindeer was from a Tim Holtz die. Not really loving the fact that his back legs are caught up in that doily previously layered on, but maybe it look like he's kicking up the snow?

Some more depth.

I am entering this in at the following challenges:

• free and easy ~ Sir Stampalot
• winter ~ The Pink Elephant 
• handmade gift or tag ~ Tuesday taggers 
• holidays/winter ~ Shopping Our Stash

Thank you for looking.

Keeley

Oh! Christmas tree

Hello! Today we have a non-traditional Christmas challenge at Crafts 4 Eternity, so use non-traditional colours, images etc to create you Christmas creation.

I've made another collage incorporating the skills I've learned so far.

I created this on a non-sticky backed canvas piece. Love how it has held it's shape, although my photos don't show that! 

My tree is a little bit higgledy piggledy, first it sways to the left and then it sways to the right.

Here are some close up so you can get a feel for the texture.

The title which I printed out.

Top of the tree with a Prima butterfly. I tried to stick so many things to the top of this tree and they would not stay stuck, even with glossy accents, so I guess they weren't meant to be! I finally struck gold with this butterfly.

I've got a whole box of rub-ons which I've bought over the years and never used, so I am having great fun using them up now. I came across these Christmas lights and knew they would be perfect for my tree.

The sparkly things are some little sequins I received as a freebie with a package I ordered.I used them all here.

Base of the tree.

I am entering this in at the following challenges:

• holidays/winter ~ Shopping Our Stash 
• feeling festive ~ Stampin' For The Weekend 
• happy holidays ~ The Corrosive Challenge 
• Ho Ho Holidays ~ Totally Papercrafts 

Thank you for looking.

Keeley

cherished girl

Good morning! This week at Everybody Art Challenge, we have a brown and pink colour theme. 

I've used some really old papers from the first My Mind's Eye ~ Lost & Found collection, which are sparkly and glittery.

The cute image is Magnolia ~ Tilda with Winter Flowers coloured with copics and some added stickles.

The chipboard sentiment is also by My Mind's Eye.

Thank you for looking.

Keeley

autumn into winter

Good morning! This week at Everybody Art Challenge, the challenge is kraft.

I have used Graphic 45 ~ Kraft Reflections papers and a little kraft bag to hold my tags.

The adorable image is by Pion Design.

Everything has a generous dusting of Tim Holtz Clear Candy Distress Glitter.

The card is a Prima Paintable which I've coloured with distress inks and distress glitter.

I bought the fences which were just plain wood and I distressed them with distress inks and glitter. Then I decorated them with some die-cut grass and flowers. I die cut the flowers from some manila cardstock which I had coloured with distress inks.

Finished off with a couple of tag, complete with bells, in a pocket and a string of flags covered with buttons.

Thank you for looking.

Keeley

let the music play on

Good morning. Today at Everybody Art Challenge our challenge is for a man or boy.

I have actually made another collage using the same techniques that I learned when making this collage: Follow Your Heart. As soon as I had finished that collage, I had this one in my head, so decided to go with it straightaway.

I've now invested in some Artists' Canvas Board. So much better to be creating these collages on a solid surface that doesn't curl all over the place!

I had a bit of a problem with the blending on this one, especially that tree! Not quite sure whether I have pulled it off. I wanted to give it a feel of a Victorian park at night time.

For my night sky, I created stars using the Tim Holtz Stars Layering Stencil. I created a layer of stars using modeling paste and then later, I created another layer by tracing through the star stencil onto cardstock and cutting them out.

For the lamp post, I stamped the lamp post from the Tim Holtz Festive Sounds set in Versamark onto a sheet of cardstock, embossed it with black glitter and then cut it out.

I love this fence! Very Victorian looking. I made it using the Memory Box Estate Fence die.

OK, over to my little man. I created him with the Sizzix Tim Holtz Victorian Carolers die. I tried to create the feel of movement with the swirls of rub-ons around him.

I created the tree with a Memory Box Tree of Wonder die.

More fence!

I am entering this in at the following challenges:

• open theme ~ Collage Obsession 
• tantalizing texture ~ Unruly Paper Arts 

Thank you for looking.

Keeley.

mixed media collages

So excited and honoured, that Daria Pneva has shown the mixed media collage that I made, after following her online class, on her blog today.

Check out my original post HERE.

Check out Daria's blog post and the collages that the other girls have made HERE. 

I will be back tomorrow with another mixed media collage that I have made :)

Thank you for looking.

Keeley

follow your heart ... mixed media collage 1

Good morning! Today at Crafts 4 Eternity, we have an ANYTHING BUT A CARD challenge. So, I thought this would be a good opportunity to finish off my first mixed media collage.

OK. So back over a month ago, I joined up with a mixed media class by Daria Pneva. The task was to complete five collages.

I just love this whole mixed media stuff and Daria's work, but did not think I could accomplish it. The course is entirely in Russian, which I do not understand a word of, I just followed the techniques which Daria demonstrated in her videos. Hopefully I got it right!

For my first collage you can see how it started out life here here: mixed media collage 1 start.

At first base you can see this. To be honest I did not like it :(

You can already see the papers. I used Basic Grey ~ Eva scraps from a 6 x 6, with some 7 gypsies washi tape. Where would this go? 

So by the end of video one, it looked like this.

 

Hmmmm. Still not liking it. Why ever did I create with these papers? So it gave me a mental block and I didn't do any more for over a month!

OK. So then I picked it up again, wanting to challenge myself to finish it.

I got to here, by the end of the second video and realising I would go with a 'love' theme. One evening took me through these steps.

Still something lacking, but I was seriously loving the whole creative process.

This step created lots of texture which I love.

 

And then I entered into the third tutorial. Adding the depth and texture was sooooo much fun and I loved every step. Rummaging through my box of rub-ons, it started to take on a life of its own. It took me just one more evening to get to the final product. I cannot even believe I made this. It's not often that I love what I make, but I love this! I cannot even believe that what I started out with, ended up like this! I have loved the whole creative process. I want to do more!!

Here is the finished piece, although it looks a million times better in real life.

And some close ups. Click on pics to see better.

I am entering this in at the following challenges:

• hearts ~ Take A Word
• bright or seasonal colours ~ Tuesday Taggers 
• texture with stencils ~ Unruly Paper Arts 

Thanks for looking.

keeley