Altered Bottle, Aqua

I started this project with an empty bottle.

empty vinegar bottle

Here are some of the elements I was thinking of using for this project.  White mulberry roses.

Butterfly and laces.

After thoroughly cleaning the jar I poured aqua acrylic paint into the bottle and swirled it around to cover the inside.  Then I tossed in a little gold powered pigment I had in my stash and swirled again.  Next I turned the bottle upside down on a stack of paper towels and let the excess paint drain out and dry.  I like the way the colors swirled together.

Next I glued an assortment of images to the bottle with hot glue and coated with Mod Podge.  Then the laces where cut and glued into place.

I added the mulberry roses, some rhinestones on the butterfly and a pearl.

Next I added the top piece  Originally I thought to use a clear knob on top attached to a cork but changed my mind and used a clear crystal.

I inserted the crystal into a wine cork, glued in place and covered with gold foil.  After pushing the cork into the bottle I used a candle to drip wax over the foil and then topped that with drips of Platinum Stickles.

Around the neck of the bottle I hot glued a piece of lavender velvet ribbon. Then I covered that with 2 pieces metal filigree.  I attached a rhinestone to the center of each piece of metal I glued over the ribbon..

And here is the finished bottle.

Happy Crafting!

Rescued Bunny

I came across this sad little wooden bunny and just had to give him a new life.  Did you ever see such a poor little creature?

First thing I did was clean him up and give him a fresh coat of white paint.

Gave him a face including a pink nose and pink paws.

Then I added a smile and whiskers.

Next I went to my paper stash and found 5 small pennants I cut out, glued to black chipboard, Punched holes and threaded onto baker's twine.  This I hung between the bunnies paw's. using thumbtacks to secure in place.

 And here he is displaying his fine new banner with his fine new look.

Happy Crafting!

Garden Butterfly

This poor little butterfly spent the winter in the garden and ended up with quite a coat of rust.  You can barely see it in front of the carpet in my studio.  It used to be so pretty I couldn't bring myself to just throw it away.

Time to repaint and refresh for the summer.

Again I painted the entire piece white to seal it and give me a nice base to add color.

Here is the close up of the butterfly painted shades of blue, green and lavender with a touch of orange.  I used Martha Stewart Metallic Pearl paints.

The feathers I painted green, blue and lavender.  It is all refinished and hanging on the patio.

Happy Crafting!

Altered Styrofoam Head

While wandering through a second hand store I came across a styrofoam head.  Just what I had been looking for to hold hats and earrings.

The first thing I did was to give the head a coat of Gesso. When that was dry I drew a light pencil drawing of the features I wanted her to have. Then I got out my acrylic paints and started filling in the areas with color.

Decided on a Flapper style for her.

I highlighted her black hair with gray and white paint and along her hairline I painted a darker tan line than her skin tone to give dimension and shadow.

She has a vintage 1920's Flapper lip shape.

Before painting I bent a piece of wire into a "U" shape, glued the ends and inserted into the styrofoam so she could model a pair of earrings besides modeling my hats for me.

Around her neck I made a flowing scarf and added a few mulberry flowers for decorations.

Happy Crafting!

Wooden Book with Pull Out Drawer

 We have had two wonderful days of gentle rain.  According to today's newspaper, last year was the driest winter in 500 years.  I hope this rain is a sign of a better winter to come.

For today's project I finished this wooden book. Doesn't look like much at first glance but when completed it will hide in plain site in any bookshelf.   A good place to stash something you don't want out in the open.

You can find these wooden book boxes at craft stores or online.

I found an old book in a second hand store that the front and back covers weren't in the best shape but the spine was the right size to fit the spine of my box.  Carefully cut the spine off the book.  I saved the covers and pages for other projects.

You start by painting the top and bottom edges of the box spine to match your book spine. Next glue the book spine to the front of the drawer. (Box spine).   I left as much of the soft edge of the spine attached as I could to give me something to glue to the wooden spine.  That edge you wrap around the edge of the drawer and glue in place covering the wooden edge of the drawer.

Find yourself a scrapbook paper to match you book spine.  Paint the edges of the box to match the scrapbook paper with acrylic paint.  When the paint is dry glue the paper to the front and back of the box.  Next when your paper is dry give it a light coat of Mod Podge, if you like, to make it durable.

I found a washi tape in the same color family and applied that to the inner exposed edged of the book cover. You can just see a bit of the chevron pattern peeking out on the lower edge in the following photo. It gives the inside edge of the box the look of having end papers inside the cover just like real books have.

I had some tan packing paper, it's thinner than copy paper, that I cut the same length as the top, bottom and front edges of the book and about 1 1/4 times as wide.  Here you apply a liberal amount of Mod Podge to all the sides of the box (book pages).   Next, roughly accordion fold and scrunch the paper lengthwise and apply to the edges to resemble the pages of a book.  When that is dry lightly distress with a brown distress ink for an aged look.  Another idea would be to photo copy the edge of a real book and apply the image as your book pages.  I like the texture the scrunched paper gave.  Old books don't have smooth neat edges on their pages.

For the inside choose a coordinating paper and cut strips to glue around the 4 sides and 1 piece for the bottom.  Again, when that was dry I lightly coated the entire inside with Mod Podge.

Here is the finished book box.

And when it is put in a bookcase with other books no one can tell it is a book with a hidden drawer.

Happy Crafting!