A Few More Hollow Books to Display...Part 1

This will be short and sweet and put together in two parts since I'm using a little free time at work to post this blog!  :)  I finished two more hollow books last week and I'd like to share them with you really quick!   I have already posted pictures to the Facebook page of both books, but here are the details! 

 

Above you can see the actual finished product.  Again, I originally lifted this idea from Renea and have slowly made it a little more of my own.  I knew I was going for a darker look with this particular book so I used quite a bit of Tim Holtz vintage type items and materials.  The bulk of the book is covered with several layers of paper and ink.  I used, for the first time ever, Tim Holtz Tissue paper on this project and I absolutely loved it.  I used a few of my inks and mists to continue to distress the paper and layered it on along with regular paper and cardstock.  A few trinkets and what nots up top completed most of the look.  I also added some lace and a feather brad that I had hanging out in my stash for quite some time.  The butterfly was die cut and inked by me followed by a little experimentation with glitter (another idea garnered from the above mentioned Renea).  I topped it off with a resin frame and a few "flat" paper flowers.

 

 

Below you can see the inside of the book.  This was one of the smaller books so I was limited with the space that I "normally" have with these books.  For the inside cover I used a stamp kit to create the oval.  Inside it reads "This Belongs To".  I made sure to stamp rather lightly to continue with the distressed look and to make it feel "old".  

 

The inside of the book is covered with a floral damask printed paper.  Ad you can see I inked the "pages" fairly heavily here...they have an almost bronzish yellow look.  Overall I was pretty satisfied with the look.

 

 

 

Here is a look from the side.  As you can see, my inks and mists "leaked" from the "pages" onto the tissue paper.  No harm, no foul...since the book is designed to look a little vintage it's okay with me if there are a few "imperfections".  I thought the layers turned out pretty well in this book despite the fact that I was desperately trying to keep the top of the book flat.  From this angle you can also the small art tile that has been dwindling around my workspace for a bit as well.

 

Thanks for looking!  I hope y'all enjoyed looking at my hollow book! 

 

Love,

 

Mel

Congratulations Debbie and Jade!!!

So, I missed the opportunity to go to Italy with my friends and watch them get married.  Originally I was supposed to run in the Army 10 Miler during the planned time of the trip, but then during surgery and recovery I was too drugged up to remember to register for the race...Long story short, I missed the wedding and the race, but not the chance to create a one of kind gift for the happy couple!  I originally lifted the idea of hollow books from Renea of Renea Bouquets, coincidentally to create a hollow book for one of mine and Debbie's vacations.  Although  I lifted the idea from Renea, I am slowly creating my own look for the books, especially with the "pages".  (And might I add that I never even came close to capturing "pages" like the original artist!)  You'll also notice that I didn't post any pictures of the sides of the book today where the "pages" would be.  That is because something went awry during this project and the pages are not even close to where I want them to be.  However, I feel fairly strong that Deb and Jade will still be appreciative!  ;)  Either way, I made three more hollow books this weekend in preparation for the Christmas Shopping Expo, so you will get to see my "pages" variations soon.

I started with a Tim Holtz configuration book and covered it some papers from my stash and used the Scraps of Elegance kit Pretty Things.  I knew I wouldn't be able to complete the project using just the kit, so I chose carefully from my stash to ensure that what I used to cover the configuration components would match.

 

 

For the cover I layered on pieces of paper, some stickers from a travel pack, a little chipboard, some clocks, a few doilies and other whimsical things that fit the the vintage-y travel theme I was looking for.  The resin frame actually came from Michael's.  I like their "store brand" resin items for things like these because they feel heavier. (Maybe it's just me)

 

Here is a close up of the flowers and the frame.  I fussy cut the little bird from the Pretty Things Kit and used a little bit of goldish paint to spice it up some.  A little stamping, some misting, a hint of bling, and adding a few border pieces completed the look I was I was going for.

 

Here is a closer look at the details up near the top of the book.  I inked and misted the chipboard piece pink and used a little bit of gesso to distress it a little.

For the inside of the book where the boxes go, I added a few items from the kit to the "bottoms" of the boxes as well as a few things from my stash.  For the most part I left the boxes as empty as possible just in case the happy couple wants to store some precious memories in here.  :)

 

On the inside of the cover I used a piece of stash paper that I was saving for my trip to Italy...since it looks like it might be a few more years before I get there I thought there was no better time than the present to use it as a backdrop for a photo of the happy couple.

 

So there it is!  I had a blast making this book despite the issues with the "pages".  As I mentioned I'll get some pictures of the other hollow books up here before too much longer!!!  Thanks for looking in!

 

Love,

 

Mel

Just a little Christmas Fun!

I finally got brave enough order some "Rustic Pallets" from Walnut Hollow to play around with.  I originally noticed these pallets in a Scraps of Darkness  kit, but I didn't subscribe to the kits until the month after I saw the awesome pallet in the kit!  I ordered a few "extra" since I am a hoarder person who doesn't like to pay for shipping more often than I have to.  I started small, with one of the ones that is about 8" x 8" and decided to use it as if it were an actual pallet to stack things on.  In keeping with the upcoming holidays and to help me get into the Christmas spirit I decided to go for a Christmas theme.  I had some great papers in my stash that fit my mood so I started by covering the top of the pallet with the Christmassy papers.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to cover the bottom with papers, so  I used the green Lumiere paint that came with a Scraps of Darkness Kit (Transition) because with the gold undertones in the paint it seemed to go with the theme.

 



 I didn't want to go too overboard with the details because I was already fairly certain that I knew what I wanted to "stack" on top of this pallet.  I layered a few doilies onto the center of the pallet.  The top doily was one that I had previously tried to color and wasn't satisfied with the outcome.  This time I layered some mists on the doily using a combination Heidi Swapp, Lindy's Stamp Gang, and Maya Road.  I'm still not totally satisfied, but it works for the project!  :)  I added some flowers up top and again used some mist to soften the pink on the "top" flower with the bling around it...

 

Here is a close up of the flowers...

 

And here you see my pallet with my Scentsy "stacked" on top of it...I hope you like and thanks as always for looking!!!

 

Love,

mel

Today I'd like to share a little paper project that turned out "okay" for my first time experimenting with the KaiserCraft "Beyond the Page" product.  I chose the Single Shadow Box and some amazing papers from Prima's Cigar Box Secrets collection. 

The project itself was fairly straightforward...use some modgepodge, assemble the pieces, add flowers, and VOILA!  One small issue I ran into was that although I thought I had carefully planned which direction to adhere the pages to my project, I was wrong.  No harm, no foul though, I simply assembled the product upside down.  The shadow box is now on the bottom and the drawer is on the top. 

I did run into a little bit of trouble covering the cardboard that eventually formed the drawer.  For this reason I used some scraps of paper and modge podged them over my "mistakes:



 

To finish it off I used some flowers from the same Prima collection to add a little pizzazz to the top of the shadow box!  

 

My apologies for this post being somewhat short...I have a few more of these great "off the page" pieces that I can't wait to get my hands on this weekend.  Thanks for looking in!

Altered Picture Frame Project

Although the finished project didn't turn out quite like I expected, I wanted to share this project for a little inspiration.  Also, many of the smaller details I incorporated I ended up layering paper or picture over.  I had the idea to do this for quite some time, but I was waiting for something both elegant and rustic enough to "fit the shape" of the frame.  While we are on the subject, I have been pleasantly surprised with the wood products I have purchased at Wal~Mart here recently.  They provide an affordable wood medium (frame, tray, or square) that allows for experimentation without going over the budget!

Finished project created with the Scraps of Darkness Transition Kit.  I used the color add on and the creativity add on for this project as well: 

I started by applying a sheet of the Deco Mache sheets to the entire frame.  I wasn't sure how I wanted to "do" it so I just used the entire sheet planning to cut the hole out for the frame later. 

 

I misted and sprayed the back of the frame and kept the color scheme with a vintage fall look using Lindy's mists and some Heidi Swapp Bronzer mist.

 

 

I then used the Lumiere paints included in the kit to create a green and gold sheen over the misting work and also to tone down and lighten the "harsh" dark colors on the back of the frame.  I used the Lindy's Stamp Gang embossing power included in the kit and a stamp from my stash to 

 create the scroll corner border on each corner of the frame.  I love how this is on the back of the frame.  It's like a little secret that only a few people will know about!

 

I applied a paper from the kit on the backer board of the frame and used another stamp and the embossing power to create a little effect on the picture back ground.  As you can see, some of the mist bled onto the paper as a leftover from my color work on the backside of the frame.  

To cover up the mist bleed on the front of the frame, I used the flowers from the kit and arranged them expertly to cover my "mistake".  This kit also included some great leaf chipboard elements.  I painted them with the green Lumiere paint, used my stamps to "messily" stamp an embossed pattern on them.  After embossing with clear embossing powder I finger brushed the pinkish gold Lumiere paint over the embossing to get the detail I was looking for.  For a finishing touch I applied some of the Lumiere paint to the bodies of the butterflies and dragons on the paper and added some embellishments from the Prima Ephemera pack included in the kit. 

 

Thank you so much for looking and thank you for all of your love!

 

Love,

 

Mel

 

So...in an attempt to reach more people with my "pretties", I have decided to repurpose this blog to focus on my crafy items!  I realize that I quit blogging somewhere early in my trip to Iraq, but let me reassure everyone that Lyle and I made it back safely (about 3 years ago).  Stand by for my first crafty blog post! 

Overdue again!

So I just read Boni's latest blog via facebook and realized that it has been over a month(almost 2 months in fact) since I wrote anything on here.  SO a quick update from Speicher...it's dusty today...and I do mean dusty.  We heard from the weather guys early this morning that "severe dust" would be here by lunchtime. Lunchtime came and went with no dust and we were starting to feel pretty silly for hurrying up all of the missions.  Then I went into THE meeting...and lo and behold, 20 minutes later was severe dust everywhere!  It's so gross when it does this.  The dust just hangs in the air and then when it settles you make little dust clouds with your feet wherever you walk.  To make matters worse, our room isn't what you'd call exactly "sealed off from the outside", so dust comes into the room and settles on every available surface.  This means that all of the cleaning I did on my day off last week is now in vain.  Builds character though!  :)

For anyone that knows me well, this next story will come as NO surprise, but will make you giggle.  The other day we went flying and swung by the range so I could get a little target practice in.  After I shot all my bullets, I had to change ammo cans.  If you've ever done this before while flying along at 120 knots you know it's no small feat.  If you have never done this before, let me tell you, it's not small feat.  In order to get the weapon close enough to me to reload without risking dropping a full ammo can over the middle of nowhere, Iraq, I had to stick my foot out the window and push on the gun mount to relieve enough pressure to bring the mount close to the aircraft.  This led to FAIL #1...I got my foot stuck between the aircraft and the gun mount.  Luckily the wind was strong enough to KEEP my foot stuck while I reloaded. Don't worry folks, it didn't hurt...much.  Which brings us to FAIL #2, upon getting my foot unstuck and getting the gun mount back outside of the aircraft where it belongs I somehow managed to bang the top of my knee into the bottom of the ELT.  If you know what and ELT is, you know that this must have hurt.  If you don't know what an ELT is, it's a small black metal thing.  I promise that it was not a gentle bump and it did NOT tickle.  I now have a large purple bruise on my knee.  But the bruise could possible have come from FAIL #3.  After the flight was over I took my empty ammo can back to refill it.  I picked up the full ammo can and I swear it was as if my knee and the ammo can were two magnets.  For some odd reason I swung my arm and banged the full ammo can into my knee(at exactly the same place I had hit it earlier).  As previously mentioned, to those who know me and my accident prone ways, this story comes as no surprise.  I can assure you that Lyle was not surprised at all to hear of my wonderful day.

On that note, things are well with us.  We're staying busy.  Lyle and I have started doing Crossfit.  I whined a lot at first, but I'm starting to find that I really enjoy the workouts now.  Good thing Lyle never reads this because I'd never admit to him that I'm enjoying the workouts.  PS, If anyone can get the address to this blog to Mimi, I'd be ever so greatfull!  Hope everyone has a wonderful day and if you're in Iraq, watch out for the dust!  :)