To continue my tradition of napkin decoupage and fall colours, I have a little treasure box to show today. As I have recently found the courage to create napkin decoupage with whole napkins thanks to youtube tutorials like this, I thought I might as well start using all those napkins I have in my stash.
"All of them" sure is an exaggeration, but since I can now decorate big spaces without major wrinkles, I thought I'll slowly try to organize my jewelry collection: a couple of wooden boxes, one colour per box and a napkin decoupage of matching colour on the outside.
Before I could lay hands on my project, however, my sister asked whether I'd have some kind of jewelry storage she could use as all her necklaces are collecting dust while being displayed on the windowsill. And since the box I created recently didn't suit her, I decided to make a new one - partly as a rehearsal for my own boxes, and partly, because it would make a great present for her upcoming birthday.
Unlike other times, I had absolutely no problem to choose the right napkin this time - because what could be more suitable for a coffee junkie than a coffee themed treasure box?
After placing the napkin on the box lid that I've priorly painted with white acrylic paint, I decided to not follow my original plan of a cracked bottom section and go for an evenly dark brown coffee shade instead.
To make the painting and varnishing easier, I again removed the clasps and screwed them back on once everything was done and dry - much more convenient than trying to remove the paint from metal!
For the inside, I thought I'd go completely blank this time - no paint, no varnish.
On the one hand, I think an empty inside guarantees a better overview of the bling, but honestly, it also saved me a lot of time as I didn't need to take any other action than just a bit of sanding to get rid of possible chippings ;)
Unfortunately, a bad-weather-photoshoot doesn't do justice to the true colours of the box - what looks somehow grey-ish is in fact purely white. Also, the full-napkin technique worked out quite well this time, except for a minor tear on the middle coffee cup.
A little contribution to the September collection of Create in Austria - artwork created by Austrians and/or in Austria.
Kind of immune to caffeine and not really a coffee drinker myself, I'd prefer hot-chocolate-shades over coffee anytime ;)
challenges:
- 4 crafty chicks: ATG
- 613 avenue create: ATG
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- craft-alnica: autumn colours
- crafting with an attitude: ATG
- crafty catz: ATG
- crafty gals corner: more than 3 layers (layers of acrylic paint, napkin & varnish)
- crafty sentiments: fall colours
- create and inspire: ATG
- creative moments: ATG
- cute card thursday: monochrome
- bawion: shades of brown
- everybody art: ATG
- kreativtanten: kitchen
- love to craft: ATG
- modsquad: fall colours
- my time to craft: food & drink
- through the craftroom door: ATG
- wortartwednesday: ATG
- pinspirational
- worldwide open design team challenge: ATG
Among all the things I have in my stash, I happened to find a set of plain wooden hearts in one of my drawers. I must have bought them quite a while ago as I don't remember where they come from, but as I'm recently working with napkin decoupage, I thought I might as well use some of my smaller napkin motifs to create a little autumn ornament.
I decided to make one heart as a try-and-see project to figure out wheter they'd be suitable for what I had in mind, and this is the result:
Once I've covered the heart in multiple layers of acrilic paint and crackle varnish, I let it dry overnight. Then, I tried to figure out how to place those autumn leaves and swirls in a way that would fully use the heart-shaped space without making it look too crowded.
In the end, I went with three cut-outs on each side, carefully applying multiple layers of transparent varnish to seal the cracked surface.
Once that was done, I was looking for a way to turn the decoupage heart into a pendant. I took a dark brown cotton cord which I decorated with a couple of wooden beads: a coloured oval one to unite the threads and fix the first knot, and a plain round one right where the loop would start with another simple knot.
In between the beads, I created a swirl using a set of surgical knots.
Because that was literally the first thing that came to my mind during basic knotting training.
Me, as soon as I realized that a repeated set of surgical knots would create a spyral: "What a cute spyral, that must look great in a bracelet or necklace!"
My friend next to me: "OMG, are you serious?"
Me: "Well, but just look at the swirl, and imagine to just keep going, that would make an awesome spyrally cord, and now just imagine a couple of beads..."
My friend: *trying hard to contain herself*
Ooops!
Turns out the swirl is good not only for imaginary bracelets, but also a leaf-ish autumn pendant :)
And as such, the heart will probably end up at said friend, partly as decoration and partly as proof of my knotting theory. Ooops!
A little contribution to the September collection of Create in Austria - artwork created by Austrians and/or in Austria.
More autumn clours, slowly taking over park Tivoli and Rožnik hill...
... while underneath the colourful leaves, more and more of autumn's treasures can be discovered each day.
challenges:
- 4 crafty chicks: ATG
- 613 avenue create: ATG with optional twist "CAS"
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- city crafter: fall colours
- crafting with an attitude: ATG
- crafty catz: ATG
- crafty gals corner: more than 3 layers (layers of paint & varnish)
- create and inspire: ATG
- creative moments: ATG
- bawion: shades of brown
- love to craft: ATG
- love to scrap: ATG
- through the craftroom door: ATG
- use your stuff: friendship
- wortartwednesday: ATG
- worldwide open design team challenge: ATG
Just a quick post to present the newest storage space in my stash. And to try to catch the deadline of the current butterfly challenge :)
After finishing my box of greenery by using the clasps of a tea box, and being left with a lid-less tea box, I thought I'll make use of it by turning it into an open container.
Once I was done with sanding and painting it with white acrylic paint, I decorated it with napkin decoupage using various butterflies which I've cut them out ages ago.
Since I had no use for the box in mind, I thought I'd go with sunshine colours that fit almost everywhere.
However, I decided to add a couple of blue butterflies as well for the sake of contrast.
Unlike my other decoupage boxes, this one is left completely unprocessed from the inside (except for the sanding) as I didn't want any colour to interfer with the colourful creatures on the outside.
When everything was done, I first thought I'd give the box away or use it in my kitchen for some kind of spice container. However, it then occured to me that my medicine cabinet drawer could use a little organizer. It's probably not a permanent solution as I'm a little sorry about hiding the box in the drawer, but well...
A little contribution to the September collection of Create in Austria - artwork created by Austrians and/or in Austria.
challenges:
- 613 avenue create: ATG with optional twist "CAS"
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- as you like it: favourite non-card project (napkin decoupage - I like cutting out pieces and placing them on wooden objects until I'm satisfied with the arrangement; also, every time I see a napkin that catches my eyes, a hundred ideas on how I could use it pop up in my head, which explains the huge collection of napkins in my stash :))
- brown sugar: all creatures great & small
- butterfly challenge: E (electric yellow, eucalyptus)
- city crafter: fall colours
- crafting with an attitude: ATG
- crafty catz: ATG with optional twist "butterfly"
- little red wagon: back to basics
- love to craft: ATG
- sunny day crafting: any animal
- through the craftroom door: ATG
- use your stuff: animals
- wortartwednesday: ATG
Is it time for autumn yet?
The hot summer has certainly come to an end, and so did the adventures it has brought. Before I get busy again, I'd like to begin the new month with a new Fadengrafik Challenge, and as we have a "Birthday" theme for September, I have created this simple male birthday card.
The card iteslf may remind you of a very similar design I've created a couple of years ago for a friend, and to be perfectly honest I've created it for my exhibition a while ago.
However, as I needed simple flat cards back then, I decided not to add any 3D details on my project. Also, as I had no particular recipient in mind I thought it would be better to leave the card as it is and maybe add a name/age/sentiment later if needed. And I guess due to this lack of an additional *something* the card always looked somewhat unfinished to me.
Recently, I finally decided to paint the stitched motif with coloured pencils. The addition of colour certainly makes the whole thing look better, but I still might want to go for a little note on the empty space once the card is ready for delivery.
A little contribution to the September collection of Create in Austria - artwork created by Austrians and/or in Austria.
A little contribution to the collection of hand-stitching at made with Blümchen.
challenges:
- 4 crafty chicks: ATG
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- crafty sentiments: ATG
- craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper
- creative moments: ATG
- friendship challenge: ATG
- fussy and fancy: ATG
- love to craft: ATG
- modsquad: ATG
- pennys papertake: ATG
- through the craftroom door: ATG
- wortartwednesday: ATG
After ages of neglecting my paper stash, I finally digged out those paterned papers, card bases, and crafting accessories. And since I haven't joined any craft-alnica challenge in a while, I thought I'd let the current sketch inspire me.
I had a couple of different ideas on my mind, however, I decided to go for a Christmas card this time. Because onde can never be too early when it comes to prepare Christmas stash. And mainly, because I stumbled upon this vintage paper cut-out when I was actually trying to clean up one of my drawers.
Matching the holly in the girl's hair, I picked a holly-themed backgound paper with snow roses. However, as I didn't want the entire background to be super colourful, I left two of the squares blank. My initial thought was to stitch a little holly ornament on the white squares, but in the end, I thought it would still be a bit too much of everything.
Instead, I decided to take a white texture paper and only add three golden star stickers in each corner to match the sketch. To make sure the white paper pops out from the white cardbase, I placed an additional layer of dark green cardboard on the card itself before arranging the paper pieces.
For the base of the central motif, I used a chipboard ornament which I decorated with two rows of tiny white pearls. After placing the picture in the right position, I added another golden sticker to create a shimmering border.
A little contribution to the August collection of Create in Austria - artwork created by Austrians and/or in Austria.
And even though we're currently having wonderful late summer days, the Christmas markets will be back in Ljubljana in virtually no time...
... alongside with a beautifully set up nativity scene at the Franciscan church of the Annunciation just off Prešeren square.
challenges:
- 4 crafty chicks: ATG
- 613 avenue create: ATG
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- craft-alnica: sketch
- crafty sentiments: ATG
- craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge: ATG as long as it's Christmas
- craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper
- creative inspirations: holidays
- creative moments: ATG
- friendship challenge: ATG
- fussy and fancy: ATG
- love to craft: ATG
- moving along with the times: texture (texture paper)
- my time to craft: Christmas in August
- pile it on: old stash (vintage cut-out)
- scrapping4fun: ATG
- 12 months of Christmas: optional theme "greenery"
- through the craftroom door: ATG
- wortartwednesday: ATG
- worldwide open design team challenge: ATG
