Altered Canvas Swap

Hiya!

I was missing again,wasn't I!Well that's the norm rather than an exception here.I like to be different.Lol.

Work has been keeping me busy,but that does not mean that I haven't been doing stuff.Apart from blowing away my money on craft supplies like there's no tomorrow,I participated in a couple of swaps and also made a few itty bitty things for other people.My problem is not with creating,but with taking decent pictures afterwards.I suck at taking pictures and it bugs me when I can't capture all the details of the project.
Anyhow,the first swap that I was involved in was an altered canvas swap at www.myscraproom.ning.com .My partner had requested me for a Halloween themed canvas and boy did that throw me in for a loop.Being from a non-Halloween celebrating country,I had nothing related to that.I did come up with something anyway.Here take a look

There is a lot of texture on this canvas which of course is not very visible in the picture.I used texture paste with a brick stencil and also bandage.If you look carefully at the bottom right corner,you can probably make that out.

The canvas was cut out in the middle and I inserted a box and made doors with corrugated cardboard.I was trying to make a haunted cabinet sort of thing.All the images on the canvas are from http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.in/.The candlestand  and the ghost have some heat embossing done on the them.I also have some bat images at the top left and a skeleton hand at the bottom right there.The inside of the box has a skull printout stuck to a wire and a spider,caterpillar and a creepy rat.I got those plastic creatures from a stationery shop here.Those are meant for children's school projects.I painted them black and just ran some gold paint over them.The background picture in the back is that of a graveyard.:-).The white thing that you see is my attempt at making a spiderweb.I used those bandages that you get at medical stores for dressing up wounds.I am not sure what you call them.

The rest is just stamping,stencilling etc.I am pretty satisfied with my attempt.Hope you like it too.

Cheers
Sumi

Birthday explosion box : Photo Heavy

Hello!

My husband had his birthday in July and I had made an explosion box for him as a surprise additional gift.Never got around to taking pictures till now.This was my first ever attempt at such a thing.Yeah,one of many firsts.:-)

I had started out with the idea of making a sophisticated, adult version of the box but you will see that it's nowhere close to it.It ended being a mish mash of everything.This is how it looks from the outside.Plain and simple.

This is how it looks when opened.

The center has a paper cake.:-).Not an original idea,I know.:-)

All the four flaps have a two page booklet and a pocket.I tried to include things that he liked, so each of the booklets have a pic he has taken of some birds on his nature photography tips.Now please don't ask me why I have pinks mixed with red.Remember, shortage of supplies drives me to do crazy things.:-)
You can stop here if you like.Go further at your own risk, unless you want to be overwhelmed with too many photos.

Pocket one has a tiny birthday card which in my opinion was messed up.I was trying embossing with a hairdryer and glitter etc.It's kind of grungy but passable I think.

The second pocket has a poem that I really liked and printed out and posted on decorated cardstock which was made to look like a scroll of sorts.

The third pocket has some coupons I made for him.I am very proud of that.I am technically challenged, so using MS word to make these was a new thing for me.They are all bent out of shape because the booklet is a bit too long.

Last pocket!Phew!For this I made a booklet with pockets and each pocket has some fun facts about birds.I couldn't help it.Birds are his passion.:-)

All flaps have a mini album of sorts with bird photos like I said.

Okay folks,that's it.You might wonder why I have put so many pictures here.Well,because this is my blog and I can.;-)

Kidding! It's because when I was making this, I was searching high and low for inspiration and though many many people have made beautiful things, there were often very few pictures.I am hoping this provides some ideas for souls like me who are not overly creative and might need some help.:-)

Cheers
Sumi

My very first scrapbook layout - Yay!

Hello (empty blog room/place),

I have been thinking of trying my hand at scrapbooking for a long while.Here in our family,we are not very active at documenting life's moments.My husband is an avid photographer,but he is more interested in birds (I do mean actual flying birds,heh heh) and nature.Yeah,we have tons of trees and hundreds of bird photos in various settings and probably a total of five of us together.I know you can understand my non interest in scrapbooking now.:-)

Anyhow,I stole a bunch of photos from my mom's album and have been meaning to put them in a layout.I have to admit that I kept looking at them for months and could not think of anything.These are sepia or black and white and aged photos and I could not figure out which colours to use and what to do with them.I finally kicked myself into actions this weekend and decided that I have to stop being afraid of making mistakes and finally did it.This is created on a 10 by 12 canvas and I think i am happy with what I have done.Atleast my mom is and that's good enough.

So here it is.Ta da!

This is a photograph of my younger brother's first birthday.I can't understand why I am incapable of taking better pics,where my work looks exactly like it looks in real life!Frustrating.

Anyway,the polka dot paper is actually edged with antique linen and also misted with gold perfect pearls.All the other things are new purchases and things I have been hoarding for a while.The canvas is black,white and gold,Hope you can make that out.

Some closeups?

Hope you like it.

Cheers
Sumi

My first mini album : Photo heavy and too much talking going on

Hello,
Today I wanted to post some pictures of my first ever mini album.This is made for a friend's little girl.I am not too happy with it.I see the pictures and cringe a little bit when I see how some of the pages are so amateurish. I promised myself though,that I will document everything I make here on this blog (good or bad),so here it is.In my defense,all my tools decided to abandon me.My glue ran out,double sided tape was not to be found anywhere,the paper trimmer blade started acting up and by the time I was done,I was pretty fed up with it all.:-).I haven't lost hope though.This was a practice run.My next attempt is to make one for a baby boy and I will user better quality papers and take better pictures too.All these were taken in a hurry as usual.

So, a few details about the album.It's made of envelopes and the cover is a recycled cardboard.The papers are a mix of whatever I had.I don't really know which paper stack it was honestly.Its all pink and green because...those were the only papers I had with me.:-)

This is the cover of the album.I fixed the pleated lace at the top.It was too short and I should have also removed the butterfly.It was not looking right to me, but I forgot to do that!Needless to say,I am not too happy with the cover.It's definitely better than how it looks here,but then I always say that,don't I?:-)

Each spread has a pocket on one side and holds a photo mat.The page itself is a pocket so there are photo mats within each pocket too.I hope I am making sense.You see the cutesy flowers on each page.Those are photo mats within the envelope pockets which can be pulled out.

The first page.This gatefold thingy opens up and has a photo mat inside.

Page 2 spread: Pocket on one side with a photo mat and another pocket with a double photo mat booklet/insert.

Page 3 spread :Another photo mat with a mini doily to hold the photo.The other side is just the regular pocket just like it is on all spreads.

Page 4 spread: Just a mini insertion.This can hold 6 small sized photos.I think this is called the waterfall flip book.

Another pocket with photo mat on the other side.

Page 5 spread : Photo mat pocket and a mini book of sorts,The frame was actually a fridge magnet.I just painted it and added some bling.A tiny photo can be inserted inside.The book opens up and there's place for three photos.This is my fav page, even though I know that the pages don't go very well with the background page.I was trying out something on this paper and it was a royal fail.I did not want to waste it, so I used it on the only blank album page I had left.:-)

 

Page 6 spread : One side has a waterfall card.Basically you pull at the tag at the bottom and the photos flip.Its cool.Can't show it in action,because I had already stuck some photos of the baby in there .The waterfall card is just the front of a card which can open up and hold two more pictures.

Page 7 : By this time I was tired and irritated,so this just has some flower stickers which can act as photo corners.:-)

Now onto the credits.I followed various tutorials on youtube for some of the pages and the album itself.You can check them out if interested,

Long envelope mini scrapbook album : Followthepapertrail
Waterfall flip book :Kathryn Krieger
Sweet as sugar image from free vintage digital stamps

Comments,good or bad are welcome.:-)

Cheers
Sumi
 

Brand Spanking New Project

Hello,

I am very excited to show you what I  made yesterday.Generally I can never stop finding faults with the stuff I make ,but this is the second thing that I have made and loved,even if I say so myself.
Talk about humility.:-)

Okay,so this was done to submit for a monthly mixed media challenge which I really wanted to participate in.I am a part of a facebook group of some amazing people who are all interested in mixed media and art and I am kind of addicted to visiting the group.

It is run by Limor who does a lot of beautiful mixed media work herself and graciously shares her knowledge and art with us.You should go check her out.She can be found here .

When I finished with it,I realized that it also meets the requirements of the ITSY BITSY BIG B Challenge this month,so I am going to submit it there too.No,I am not being greedy.:-)

So here it is ..ta da! Oh before that,I am not even sure if I qualify for Limor's challenge because she said we are supposed to recycle something.This stuff is not technically recycling.It's upcycling.:-)

This poor tray has been messed up a countless times.I never had the heart to throw it away.Ignore the stuff on the tray.I was just drying out some things I made.It was a cheap laminate thingy which I just gessoed over here.

 

 

Some close ups are in order

I made this for my kid cousin who is down in the dumps because of her new job and stuff and I thought this will cheer her up.The text is the lyrics from one of my favourite songs.Frankly speaking,I was dying to use these lyrics somewhere and these seem apt for her.

The background is textured ,stamped,perfect pearled (if that's a word) and stencilled in silver and portrait pink ( Not too visible).The Butterfly is stamped, cut out and glittered.The pearl spray which is hardly visible behind the blue flower is handmade.The flowers are Prima.I put some pearly acrylic paint on those too.The picture is not all that great and there's a lot of glare, but if you see it in natural light,its all pearly and shimmery and silvery.Love it!Oh and the feather is also handmade.Saw this idea here .Check out this blog.Gabrielle makes extremely pretty things.

The image is from The Graphics Fairy.I love her site!

Since this has bling and beads,I think it will work for the ITSY BITSY Big B challenge too.Hope they accept multiple submissions.

Cheers!
Sumi

 

Art Tiles

Hello there,

I was really inspired by one of the videos I watched on youtube.The lady there created some beautiful art tiles and I immediately wanted to make them.The process looked simple enough,but I have to admit,I messed up a lot of times.To start with,I don't own very many tiny stamps and whatever I used did not stamp very well.I must have covered the tiles at least 5 times before I could get passably okay.I added some glitter and tiny beads as the last step and I like that.In retrospect,I should probably have been more careful with the placement of glitter.Well,learning for another time!

The small tile with too many beads looks horrible in the pictures,but in real life you can totally see the image and its quite a nice effect ,seeing the image through the beads.Of course,it would have been better if I had not gone overboard with the beads..

The inspiration came from Linda from Livartnow on youtube.If you want to see it look for it here. She used wooden tiles,but I didn't have those so I used multiple layers of thin chipboard.

Hope you like it.Sorry for the glare on the pics!

Submitting this for the ITSY BITSY BIG 'B' Challenge .Not sure If this qualifies or not,but it does have beads AND bling,so hope it does.:-)

Cheers
Sumi
 

Easel Card

Hi

Another attempt at cardmaking.This time I tried my hand at an easel card.I think,even though I messed up the dimensions a little bit, it is pretty easy to make.

Can I be shameless and say that I love it?I used a regular brown cardstock as the card base.Then it was layered with a silvery wrapping paper Then Iayered it with black cardstock.I stamped butterflies on the black paper with versamark and then used perfect pearl to colour in the butterflies.Loved the technique.

The flower is handmade.It was just a trial at trying to make a handcut flower and I thought it looked okay enough to put on the card.

The sentiment is embossed with white embossing powder and then bordered with washi tape.I also made a beaded spray and I love it.I didn't know it was so easy to make.I am going to make a few more for sure.

Cheers
Sumi