She was a good egg

Hi Everyone,
Jess here today with this altered tin.

My crafty mojo has been on a major hiatus the past couple of weeks.  You know when you sit down and everything you make is just blah? Or you just sit there and stare at all of your supplies and you've got no ideas? That's been me.  I decided to just play.

I started by taking the Feathers and some PaperArtsy Infusions to colorize them.  I gave each feather a layer of gesso.  Once the gesso is dry I made a puddle of white paint and sprinkled in some infusions.  The infusions will react with the paint, but if you lightly spritz it with water they really come to life.  I dipped and dragged the feathers through the paint.  On a few of them I sprinkled some extra infusions on top of the first layer and spritzed with water. I inked the edges(on the feather I used on this project I used Peacock Feathers) and added a bit of gold using a paint pen. Now I have a whole bunch of feathers in different colors and shades for future projects. 

A while back I got a blank tin from Gina(Ms. Gypsy Soul) and I decided it was time to use it.  I painted the tin using a layer of clear gesso.  I added a crackle glaze from Deco Art.  It's a super fine crackle and I ended up covering most of it up with my paint job, but in certain areas the crackle peeks through.  

The main color is Dina Wakley Turquoise mixed with a hint of Umber.  The speckles were added using Distress Oxide Sprays in Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain.   I wanted the tin to look like a robin egg.  

For the inside of the tin I added Tim Holtz Collage paper to the shallow side. I used collage medium to adhere the paper to the tin.  Using water on my finger I ran it around the edge of the tin to rip the paper.  I didn't want it to be exact in the tin.  If you peek there are little spaces where the silver of the tin can be seen.  The frayed and wrinkled edges make me happy.  You all know by now that perfection is not my thing!I added some clipping stickers and edged the paper with a gold paint pen. I love how it looks like loose gold leaf on the ragged edges.  

On the deep side of the tin I cut a piece of paper to fit the back and glued it in using collage medium.  I took one of the Scalloped Tin Inserts and ran it though my 3d Kaleidoscope embossing folder.  Using my finger I ran a thin layer of white paint over the surface.  Before it was dry I rub it to expose the raw chipboard underneath.  I ran my Hickory Smoke Oxide pad over the top to age it too.  The inside edge was inked gold using the paint pen. 

The good egg fairy is sitting on a small plastic egg that I smushed so it was dented on either side.  This gave me a flat surface to glue to the bottom of the tin and a concave side to sit a second egg in.  She is propped forward by placing a small wooden die behind her.

The fairy is a tiny Tim Holtz paper doll that was coated in clear gesso and colored using distress markers.  She has tiny shrink plastic wings and a crown.  The "good egg" was trimmed out of a dictionary and glued to her dress using collage medium. 

To finish the outside of the tin I layered up three washi tapes and glued them to the tin. I used a rub on word in the bottom corner and used foam tape to attach the feather.

I feel like I am back in the groove and hope to start making more projects! 

What do you do to break out of a creative funk?

Jess

Halloween in Wonderland Altered Altoids Tin

Hello, Friends!  It's Kathy Clement here, filling in with a little guest tutorial.  With the rapid approach of fall, my mind turns toward Halloween projects, how about you?  Well, today I have the cutest little Halloween in Wonderland altered Altoids Tin to share with you.  I hope you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Isn't it fun?  I used two different Altoids inserts: Scalloped and Alice along with Tiny Alice Props chippies from Gypsy Soul.

I have a few process photos to share with you, and then lots and lots of pics to inspire you.

I began the process by aging my Altoids tin with Prima Rust pastes.  I found lots of online tutorials for this process, but basically, you just use a brush to tap the paste on, starting with the darkest color.  Let the layers dry before you add the next color.  I treated both the inside and the outside of the tin.

While my rust paste was drying, I painted all the inserts with black soot distress paint.  Paint both the front and the back.  You can see that I kind of cleaned my rust paste brushes off on some areas of the painted chippies.  I didn't want them to look too perfect.

I also used a white Sharpie pen to outline some of the shapes.  I tapped shades of blue Distress Paint onto the chips as well, just to add some texture.  Then I sponged over the ink with Black Distress Ink and a blender tool to knock the color back a little.

I traced each insert onto Halloween in Wonderland papers, trimmed them out and glued them to the back of the insert.  Easy, peasy!

I hot glued some purple trim and a border piece around the edges of the tin.  I tried using Glossy Accents but it would not stick to the rough texture of the rust paste.  Glue gun to the rescue!

I painted a selection of Tiny Alice Props with Wilted Violet and Shaded Lilac Distress Paints.  The edges were inked with Black Soot DI.  I also used my White Sharpie pen to add a dot border around the inside edge of each insert.  I really like the way this helped define the shape as well as provided some pattern and contrast.  

I wanted my tin to look really old and battered so I distressed it even more by tapping it lightly with a craft hammer.  Then I rusted a Tim Holtz Idea-ology word band and glued it to the front edge of the tin.

I filled the inside of the tin with all the inserts.

I also painted some tiny mushroom chippies from the Tiny Alice Props and added them to the final card in the box.  I love the dimension this adds.

So that's all for me!  All these fun bits and pieces will be coming to Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts soon, so keep your eyes peeled!  They'll make spook-tacular Halloween decor.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy