Tea Light holder Cards

Hello,

How are you all doing? Crafting much? The state of affairs on this end is sad. I talked about holiday hangover in my last post. Sadly, I am still not over it and kind of lost about what I want to do next. I have been catching up on your blogs and that's about all that I have done for the past week. While looking at Pamellia's latest post about her gift for her mom, I suddenly realized that I do have one forgotten project that I never posted. Her's is gorgeous! Do check it out.

I made some tea light holder cards for Diwali gifts before my vacation and never bothered to post.Now that I have nothing worthwhile to share, I have decided to share those here, even though they are not my best work and maybe make me cringe a little. These are super simple and in some cases boring too.:-).My excuse is that I was in a hurry and I am sticking to it.:-)

Here are some of them which were a bit passable.Others I refuse to share.:-).I made use of scrap papers,stickers and some stamping and heat embossing.

Here is how the inside looks for one of the cards

I had not added a tag or a pocket when I took the pictures.Ideally you need to have something on the left side to write your greeting /message.

Okay that's it.I hope I wake up from my slumber and do something creative today.Wish me luck.:-)

Cheers
Pals
 

Anything But A Card Challenge #41 : Anything goes

Hi,

First of all apologies to all my bloggy friends for being remiss in visiting your blogs and admiring your creations.I have been missing from the blogosphere on account of some long due vacation and then the ensuing holiday hangover. I need to do a lot of catching up.:-)

I am slowly getting back into a regular schedule and today's project is my DT inspiration project for Anything But a Card challenge #41.The theme this time is 'Anything Goes' (as long as it's not a card), my favourite kind of challenge theme.:-)

My project is something that I have done before too.I made some faux tiles and used them to alter some boxes.I love the look of these tiles and also love the fact that it is a wonderful use of all those little cut outs or tags you get in paper collections.

Making these tiles is super simple. Cut chipboard into the required sizes, adhere your chosen designs with mod/podge or glue. Use Mod Podge Dimensional magic or Glossy accents and apply an even layer and let it air dry.

.Do not move or touch or tilt your tiles till they are dry. I left all of these to dry overnight. If you get bubbles while applying the product, use a sharp needle or a pin to prick the bubbles.

The photos do not show it but these do look a lot like tiles and have a nice gloss feel and finish to them.

Hope you like this project.We have new inspiration from our talented team every week. Do check them out and if you have crafted some stuff, go ahead and share with us. We love looking at your gorgeous projects.

Cheers
Pals

Submitting for 613 Avenue Create Challenge #97 :Anything Goes

Anything But A Card Oct Challenge #40 - Autumn Magic /Spring Wonder

Hello,

Today's quick post is to share my DT project for Anything But A Card Challenge #40.This time we want you to play with the theme Autumn Magic/Spring Wonder. You are welcome to submit for either season or better yet combine both. For some fabulous takes on the theme, do check out the blog.

For my project I stuck to the Autumn theme and attempted to create a mixed media painting of sorts.

I started with laying down a thick coat of gesso and scratching and texturizing it before it dried. For the tree line I used a mixture of some sprays and acrylic paints in shades of red ,orange and a little bit of brown. To highlight the texture, I added some Prima Clear Crackle on top. Once it dried, I used a wash of Burnt umber Acrylic paint and rubbed the excess off.

As an Additional step, I added some gold mica flakes with matt medium to showcase the gold tones of Autumn.

The Quote is by Emily Bronte and I just printed it out on my printer and glazed it with Yellow and orange watercolours and outlined with black waterproof ink.

For my trees, I used a script washi tape. I did a wash with white acrylic paint over that to tone it down a little bit. The foliage is done by sponging some acrylic paints with a dish washing sponge.I also stamped some text over it with Sepia Archival ink.

Hope you like the project.

See you soon!

Pals

 

Shimmer and Glimmer

Hello

I am back with another altered jewellery box. This time I experimented with metallics and shimmer and used colours which I hardly ever reach for, so I am not sure if I like it or not ,but I did enjoy making it.

I covered the whole box with Tim Holtz Tissue paper and then used a mix of purple and green metallic gelatos and acrylic paint for the colours. You can't see it in the picture but the design on the tissue paper shows up underneath the paint.

I then used the Prima Elementals stencil with modelling paste for some texture. I painted some of the circles with metallic paint and splattered some yellow paint for some contrast. I coloured some gauze with metallic purple gelato and water and painted my chipboard pieces silver.I also added some pearls to the lid to carry forward the circles/polka dots theme.Everything is sprayed with Lindy's Scintillating silver spray.

The flowers are a mix of Prima and some I am roses flowers.I used some resin pieces from my stash too.As my last step I stamped some text using my all time favourite stamp and Black Archival ink.

I kept the sides simple with some stencilling, paint and stamping.

I hope you like it .See you soon!

Cheers
Pals
 

Lulupu Sparkle With Prima blog hop

Welcome to day 3 of Lulupu "Sparkle with Prima" Blog hop! I am very excited and honoured to be a part of this month long celebration organized by the Lulupu team to celebrate the festive season.The blog hop has a lineup of some amazing crafters and awesome prizes to be won.

All the rules and the fantastic prize details are available on the Lulupu blog.Do check it out!

You must have reached my blog via Priya Sondhi's blog! If not please click HERE for the complete list of the hop participants or to start the hop from the top.

For my project, I really had to struggle to think of a project worthy of the blog hop.I finally decided to alter a book box in a style that I am most comfortable with. It's messy and grungy and I am hoping at least some of you will like it.:-)

I do have a sort of a tutorial.I hope its helpful.So sit back and enjoy.

1. Die cut a few doilies using the Prima Marketing Purple Metal Die Doily #2

2. The die cuts as well as some torn pieces of Prima Epiphany paper were adhered to the box using Prima Marketing-Art Basics Soft Matte Gel

3.  Use Prima Damask stencil with Modelling paste to add some more texture.

4. Cover the whole box with watered down gesso to unify all the elements and use some Heidi Swap Gold Color Shine mist to add some touches of gold. I also watered down some black gelato to make my own mist and sprayed it on the box.

5. Apply Prima Art Extravagance Clear Crackle Texture Paste on random areas of the box and let it dry.

6. Use Pearlescent watercolours to add some colour and shine to the black section of the box.I also added some more gold and bronze to the lighter areas to highlight the gorgeous crackle texture. I also added Prima's Art Ingredients Gold Leaf Mica Flakes using Matt medium.

These are all the steps that I took to achieve the texture.

Unfortunately it got really dark by the time I was done with this,so I do not have pictures of the rest of the steps.I am still outlining them and hope they will help.

7. I die cut some circles from the Prima Epiphany papers and adhered them to the box.

8. I added some seed beads coloured with alcohol inks with matt medium

9. I used some cardstock die cuts and metal pieces from the Epiphany Cardstock Die Cuts pack , some chipboard snowflake pieces , Studio Calico Tiny stars wood veneers pieces and a butterfly from Forever Green laser cut wood icons as my embellishments. The wooden frame is from my stash.

 

Some Prima Rodanthe flowers coloured with  pearlescent watercolours finish off the embellishing.

10. As my last step,I added some stamping using some word and texture stamps and  also added some sequins from the die cut pack and some splatters using white paint.

That's about all I did for this box .I love the texture achieved by stencilling and the clear crackle paste. Hope you like this project and find the tutorial helpful. I would love your feedback, good or bad.It does not look like much in the pictures but its gloriously shimmery and textured in real. I wish I had better photography skills.:-)

 

Don't forget to play along the hop and the challenge.You can find all the details here. Keep checking the  Lulupu blog to see the project reveal by the next crafter Deepti Stephens.. A fantastic card maker and crafter.

See you soon,

Submiting for Primatober BAP

Cheers
Pals

 

Altered boxes with a mixed media touch...Again!

Hello,

I would first like to start with a happy news. I was a winner at a new challenge blog for my Steampunk Canvas. The Mirror Crack'd is the newest blog on the block and they have monthly challenges. If you love to try your hand at mixed media and journaling,the challenge is just right for you.

I know you must be a bit fed up with my fixation with altering boxes.It's one of my favourite things to do. Taking a plain unremarkable thing and transforming it totally. That is magic to me.:-)

So no surprises here, I have another set of boxes to share today.

For the first one ,I covered the lid with a doily stencil and texture paste and use various shades of Lindy's sprays for the colour. I have heat embossed and fussy cut a doily stamp with ranger's Platinum embossing powder. You can see it peeking out beneath the die cut which is one of my favourite dies and a very recent purchase. I cut several pieces of the die for some dimension and added glossy accents to the top for a faux epoxy look.

For this one ,I die cut a heart and layered several pieces. The heart was then painted with Lindy's Dark chocolate truffle and Cocoa bean copper sprays. I did the same thing with the clay bird pieces and the Prima resin fairy. I also coloured the lace with some green and brown shades of Lindy's.

I love the texture on this one. I used a memory box stencil with Liquitex modelling paste and then coloured it with various shades of green and gold.

That's about it for today's post. I must warn you that I am not done with altered projects. I have several more coming in subsequent posts. I can't help it. Most of my September was spent doing just this.:-)

Cheers
See you soon
Pals

Altered Mixed Media Box

Hello!

How is everybody? I have another altered box to share with you. I have to say that I have a soft spot for this one. I wanted to create a white/cream toned box and I love how it turned out. Doesn't happen too often in my neck of the woods.:-)

I used papers from Prima's Sunrise Sunset collection. Though it's not visible in the picture very clearly, I used Prima's Damask stencil with some glitter paste on the lid. The whole box and all the embellishments are sprayed with Lindy's Scintillating silver.

I used some dimensional magic and tiny beads to fill up a bottle cap. The flowers are a mix of Prima Rodanthe flowers and some foam and mulberry flowers bought locally. The butterfly chipboard piece is from Itsy bitsy.All the papers are distressed with Vintage Photo distress ink.

The sides of the box are textured with a Kaisercraft doily stencil. I used some twill tape and a chipboard corner piece with a metal flower. I have fallen in love with these metal flowers. I am already running out. Have to get some more.

And, that's it for today. Have a lovely Saturday.

See you soon!

Cheers
Pals

 

Altered Vintage Ladies Boxes

Hi

In my last post, I promised you that I would state all my excuses for missing for so long and today is the day.:-).

I have nothing dramatic to say, just that I got some urgent orders and had no time to post regularly and then I got sick, so it took a long while to be back. I know I said I will be creating everyday and more such proclamations. I of course did not or rather could not do that, but the good news is that I did create a lot of things, so all was not lost and I now have a few posts to share. Yay!

First in the series are a few jewellery boxes that I altered with Vintage ladies images. I have done these kind of boxes before and the client wanted the exact same thing. I did change out the images though. These  make great gifts for the festive season.

Here's the first one.

Isn't she gorgeous. I love how serene she looks! I printed these images out and mounted them on chipboard, sprayed them with varnish to prevent the ink from running. I sealed them again with Mod podge just in case.

Here's the second one

There's not much to share about what I did here. The boxes were painted in silver and I used papers from the DCWV Luxury stack and Prima's Sunrise sunset collection for covering up the top ,sides and insides.
Both the images are free images from here and here.

That's about it for today.See you soon with some new projects.

Cheers
Pals


 

Steampunk Mixed media canvas and a little announcement!

Hello!

I am back after a long break. I have my usual list of excuses, but I will bore you with them in some other post. Today I have something a little more exciting (for me) to share.

Sometime back I found a blog called 'Anything But a Card" or ABAC and found out that they were looking for design team members. If you know me, you know my struggle with making cards, so I was intrigued and applied. I am thrilled to announce that I have been SELECTED! Yayy! I think it's a match made in heaven.:-).The challenge blog comes up with great themes every month and you can submit any type of project as long as it's NOT A CARD.:-)

This month's theme is called STEAMPUNKtember. Do check out the challenge blog and I would love to see you participate.

Steampunk is not something that I really understand very well or have done too much of. My understanding is limited to the usual clichés of machinery, gears, clocks etc. and that's what I did in my project.

I used the reverse side of a deep edge canvas for a shadowbox type effect. To create the background,I used some Cheery Lynn die cut gears and stuck them down using matt medium.

I also used the Tim holtz eye chart ,Crafters workshops Time Travel 6 by 6 and Art is stencil with Liquitex modelling paste for added texture.The coloring mediums were a mix of Ranger's Color wash and Lindy's sprays.

I used my all time favourite Tim Holtz's Reflection words stamps with Archival ink to add a little more texture.

The colourful heart ,which you can't see much of, is a hand cut chipboard piece, which I covered with embossed aluminium tape and then coloured with multiple shades of alcohol inks. The rest are embellishments from my stash.

That's about it. Hope you like the project.

Cheers
Pals
Submitting for Simon Says Monday challenge : Stencils and stamps
The Mirror Crack'd -Anything goes

 

General rambling and a resolution

Hola people,

A blog post on two consecutive days. You must be shocked! Well as the title suggests, I do not have anything crafty to share today, just a confession and a brilliant idea that came to me.

I was as usual wasting time surfing on the internet and suddenly realized that I have a lot of issues/problems/ailments/maladies..

Malady #1 : I am a certified internet addict and much of my time is spent on reading other people's blogs, youtube and general surfing of random things. I just spent the last two hours looking at funny pictures and laughing all by myself.

 

Malady #2 : I have "Pin-itis".Yes my name is Pallavi and I am addicted to Pinterest .I am a hoarder collector of things. I obsessively spend hours pinning stuff if I find a good board. Just following someone is not enough for me.If I like one of their boards, I have to go and look at all the other boards of that person ,you know just in case I miss something fantastic.

 

 

 

Source : here

I have a lot of other ailments like analysis paralysis, the couch potato syndrome etc,but I won't bore you with those.:-)

Okay, now that we have identified the problems, we need to move on to the solution. That's where my brilliant and not so original idea comes into the picture.

I was thinking, that to counter all the above stated problems, all I need to do is create AND on a regular basis. No lounging around and spending countless hours " getting inspired" or waiting for my non existent muse to strike. This will keep me away from the computer and sort out both my problems. You know one stone ,two bushes ..or was it birds?

So, I have decided that for the next thirty days, I will create something every single day. It could be very simple and small or could be very elaborate. All I need to do is create one thing EVERY SINGLE DAY.

I was planning to call it "30 days of creativity" and was supposed to start from the beginning of the month, but of course ,this is me. So I will start from tomorrow.:-).Story of my life!

If you have any brilliant ideas for what I should call this, please let me know. We are talking about creativity after all.

If you would like to join me in doing this. raise your hand. If you won't, still raise your hands to the heavens and pray that this new found enthusiasm of mine does not fall flat like my other resolutions.

Amen.

See you soon!
Pals

Altered Mini dresser

Hello!

Happy 1st day of September to you! This year is going by so fast, isn't it? I can't believe that we are already into September.This time of the year makes me happy though,with all the big festivals and general jollity and fun to be had.

Remember,when I showed my mixed media mini dresser a few posts back, I had mentioned that I am working on something for a friend. Now that she has received it and thankfully liked it, I can show it here.

She wanted something in blue and I happily obliged. I really don't have much to explain what I did here. I used some modelling paste with stencils for texture and lots of glitter over the whole piece. I used some tiny keys as "pretend" pulls

I have to admit that I found it a little tough to embellish the top of the dresser. I wanted it to be nice to look at but still simple and practical.

 That's it for today. Hope you like this project.

See you soon!
Pals

Sunday Sketch-capades

Hello!

It's Sunday ! The weather here is dark ,but not so dreary. A slight chill in the air and I am having fun wearing warm socks and enjoying a movie marathon curled up on my couch.

I know I missed the last two Sunday sketch-capades. Life was busy! It still is, but I did do some quick sketches. These were really really fast without placing any stress on getting to be too realistic..

Since its been raining EVERYDAY and heavily, I obviously had umbrellas and rain boots on my mind.

This one is still in progress

While reluctantly doing some general housekeeping, realized that I had a lot of animal and bird artefacts scattered around my house , so I decided to try sketching some of those.

I love this rooster.

 and isn't this hedgehog the cutest!:-)

Okay, I think I have made up for the last couple of weeks. Yay me! Time to go back to the couch.

Have a happy ,cheery Sunday.

Cheers
Pals

Submitting for
August he Art party
Paint Party Friday Week 25
The Artist's Play Room #121

 

"Getting to know me " Blog hop

Hello friends!

Today is a non project post.A couple of weeks back I had a chat with one of my crafty friends and ex DT colleague Priya from Priya -n-papers and she asked me if I would like to participate in a unique blog hop. This blog hop is a nice way of introducing yourself . Priya is a fantastic crafter and I have always loved her style. Her projects are fresh, vibrant and trendy. Nothing is over the top and her projects always turn out to be striking. She has started blogging again after a brief hiatus and is experimenting with cards and I have loved each and everycard that she has posted recently. Do check out her blog here.
.
Okay, now on to me.There are a set of questions that one needs to answer and I shall try my best.I will also be a copycat and add some pictures of my previous work. :-)

1. What am I working on?
Umm, the answer is .....nothing specific really. Lately I have been bitten by the card making bug and in a moment of weakness bought some amazing AND expensive stamps.( I do have regular "moments of weakness").I now have to justify my purchases, so I plan to make some cards using those.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I really don't think my work is any different from all the other crafters worldwide. I feel that I am still in the early stages of my crafting career. I like to try out various things. Some I am successful at, others are a royal fail. If I had to pick ,I would say working with paints, textures, inks ,canvases etc really floats my boat and I spend a lot of time learning techniques and trying them out. I have also been obsessed with sketching and painting lately, so I have a lot to keep me occupied and I keep jumping from one project to another.:-)

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

Well I create because it gives me happiness.The process of having an idea and executing it and seeing the end result gives me a high. I personally do not consider myself very talented ,so when something I make turns out half decent, its always a pleasant surprise and a little bit of shock to me and I thrive on that feeling.:-)

4. How does your writing/creating process work?

Hmm...I have never really sat down and thought about it.I guess I am inspired by pinterest ,you tube,other crafters' blogs.One thing that is consistent with me though, is that I never can plan or visualize the end result of my project.I generally wing it 90% of the time.It's a highly inefficient way of working, I know, but it works for me.

Another thing that I really try to avoid is getting swayed by what is 'in ' just because its trendy,I will not invest into a product or concept unless I personally find it pleasing or interesting.For me trends really don't matter and most of the time I am not even aware of them.hee hee.

Okay,I think that's enough and hopefully you were not too bored.Unfortunately,everybody that I know in the crafting world has already been tagged and done this bloghop,so I would like to tag everybody who reads this blog.Please do write about yourself.I love reading and knowing about you.

Last but not the least, thank you to Priya for tagging me.:-)

Cheers
Pals




 

Case Study Anniversary Blog hop

Hello,

Case Study is has completed 4 years and to celebrate, they are holding a blog hop with a lot of awesome designers and beautiful projects. I am not much into blog hops but this is so much fun. Now that I am trying to polish my card making skills,this blog hop was truly inspirational.

I have been meaning to participate in the challenge that is hosted with the hop but I am so slow! I missed the last two, but this time I am determined to get my entry in time.

We were supposed to pick up one of the designer's project and CASE it. Well, I was so inspired ,that I could not stop at one.Let's say I am making up for being a slowpoke.:-)

My first card is inspired by Debbie Hughes.I fell in love with it the instant I saw it. Look how pretty it is!

Here is my card.Boy,I really did mess up the splattering.Will you laugh if I tell you that I made two cards exactly the same and messed up both of them with my horrible splattering.At least I was consistent in that.:-)

Sorry about the awful pictures.Not enough time to fix them.:-)

Since I had my watercolours out,I decided to also case Jocelyn Olson's card.

I liked the white die cuts against the rich watercolours.I heat embossed the whole panel with Wow silver pearl embossing powder. I love the subtle sheen that this powder provides.

That's it for today.Hope to see you soon.

Cheers
Pals

Something I made for myself

Hello !

A while back, I had a request from a friend to alter a mini dresser for her. I had some spare MDF so I got it constructed by a local carpenter. Unfortunately,the finishing of the product was not so good and I couldn't give it to her.I altered a store bought one for her (will be showing it soon). This meant.that I could keep the dresser for myself and do whatever I wanted to do with it. You know me and my love for mixed media ,so this dresser got a lot of artsy love.:-).No flowers on this one.Yay!

 I was planning to work directly on the dresser but then chickened out and created my own pattern paper (would you call it that?) with Kraft cardstock, Tim Holtz tissue paper, washi tape, stencils and lots of spraying and splattering.

I used some clay butterflies made using mod melts moulds (that's a mouthful!) and painted them black. I also used Tim Holtz's ornate plate for the middle drawer.

The front pieces are darker than the sides because I did not seal the surface before adding Mod podge and that made the colours run a little bit, but I don't mind it too much.

The sides are a bit brighter

I have yet to decide what to use it for.I am happy that I made something for my craft room.:)

That's all for now.See you soon!

Pals

.Submitting for Simon says Monday challenge :Anything goes
The Artistic Stamper challenge : Anything goes
The mixed media monthly challenge : Stencils with modelling paste