A Very Busy Day

I spent Saturday doing nothing but arty projects from the first thing in the morning to well into the evening.  I had an unexpected free day because I thought I had a friend coming for lunch but that isn't until next week, I found.  Crafty stuff was way better than watching both Scotland (where I live) and Wales (land of my birth) getting totally gubbed at the rugby.

Here's a round up of the day...

An ugly charity shop find was turned into a (relatively speaking) thing of beauty:

I used embossed metal tape, black acrylic paint and Ranger alcohol inks to get this effect.  The Embossing folders are from Tim Holtz Alterations Texture Fades by Sizzix (Diamond Plate & Rivited Metal Set and Blueprint and Gears Set).

Next was Tim Holtz February tag...

I didn't have most of the items he used, but that was okay as it makes for creativity. The 'chalked' area was made with American Crafts silver embossing powder.  This isn't very shiny, so was a pretty good substitute for chalk.  I used a random little red heart stamp and Tim's distress inks for the background, and embossed them with clear embossing powder from Papermania.  The red chipboard heart was coloured with clear distress stickles in clear rock candy coloured with a little alcohol ink.  I love that you can do that, and have any colour of glitter that you want!  I was happy with the overall result.

Next!

I had covered a box with embossed foil a couple of weeks ago (okay I'm obsessed with that at the mo) but I wasn't happy with it as it was looking far too shiny. So I gave it the rub on-rub off black paint treatment and then splodged it with alcohol ink to antique it.  Much better.

I also covered a little chest of drawers with the (Next) wallpaper we have just decorated the guest bedroom with. The handles are Tim Holtz curio knobs, just perfect for this.  This will hold some of the toiletries, soaps, shower caps and sewing kits I have hoarded from various hotel stays.  Who knows, they might all get used eventually. We just need some guests who forgot to pack there spongebags to come and stay for a month.

I love thie quote on the front (by Arrigo Boito apparently, not Shakespeare as often attributed).  It says 

'When I saw you I fell in love

and you smiled because you knew'

Sigh.

Better Late than Never

Okay, so it's 1 February, but I've only just managed to do the January tag from Tim's 12 tags of 2014. Better late than never, and delayed because I was waiting for the pocket watch die to arrive from Sizzix.   I bought a whole bunch of dies in the Sizzix sale  in January, and can't wait to use them all.

I've also been distracted by some lovely foil tape that I purchased from  a company called Tapes Direct.  This foil tape is a lot thicker than the regular stuff you can buy, and is fantastic for embossing with.  I used it to cover a little metal box to keep important receipts in, and a tiny little bird house.

Another project with the foil is a direct lift from YouTube, so thank you Linda Neff I love the look of this.  You can find the link to her video here http://youtu.be/B8hfwQmPGYI

I've been hoping to move all my craft stuff into the small spare bedroom but this involves moving the remaining son into the bedroom vacated by son 1 ( now left home) and buying 2 new beds, decorating the new guest bedroom vacated by son 2, getting rid of 3 old beds, and buying a new craft desk.  All this has fallen down because the beds that were due to arrive this week will not now be arriving until 5 March 'due to lack of stock'.  Thanks Homebase.