Wednesday 17 September 2014

Add a Little Dazzle to Stampendous And Make It Beautiful



Hello Lovely Bloggers! I am so happy that you stopped by today - as we have a real treat for you in store!
Blog_header_add_a_little_dazzle 

This week the Design Teams at Stampendous! and Add a Little Dazzle Craft Metal Sheets are hopping together to inspire you and temp you to try out some cool new techniques and products! 

If you missed the earlier posts, here are the links for you for MONDAY and TUESDAY. The team over at Add a Little Dazzle has even created a special pack featuring the metals from this blog hop and you can find it here - Add A Little Dazzle Stampendous Hop Special

And we know you'd love to win some goodies, too! So we're giving away three prize packages this week for comments on the blogs. A nice package of Metal Sheets, Stamps and Cutting Dies - life just doesn't get any better than this, does it? lol :-).

  Prize Package from Add a Little Dazzle 

Now onto my offering :). Earlier this summer I collected some sea shells at the beach in Brighton and I was really keen to make something with them. I love all things nautical and can never pass on an opportunity to pick up shells or pebbles whenever I'm by the sea.

And when I saw this frame in a charity shop I thought it would make a perfect setting for my shells. It had raised edges all around, which would work as a border for my 'shell mosaic'.

This is what the frame looked like before...


After I painted the frame with DecoArt acrylic paint I laid out my shells ready for setting in. As I didn't have any fancy mosaic stuff I raided my hubby's shed and found some Polyfilla. I spread generous dollops of the filler within the frame's recess, one dollop at a time, and just pushed the shells in.



Before the filler was dry I brushed on some Pearl-Ex powders and set it aside to harden. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out but it worked perfectly. The shells were safely embedded in the frame :). Finally, I dry brushed gesso over the coloured parts, wiping the excess as I went, to create a washed out look.



I wanted to carry on with my nautical theme so I stamped Ship Elements and Navigateur onto white card with Cloudy Sky StazOn. Then I adhered some eyelets (saved from my old curtains) over the images to create ship's portholes. To add rust around the 'fixing bolts' I used Spectrum Noir OR2 marker, softened with alcohol ink blending solution.

And then I stalled... I had to put this frame aside for a while to let it 'mature' as I wasn't happy with the result. It was missing something... the oomph just wasn't there.

The inspiration how to finish it came unexpectedly when I stumbled upon this post on Jolanna's blog Miedzy ziemia a niebem (Between earth and heaven). I knew then I wanted to add a sail boat to the frame as my focal point.



And I knew that the fabulous metal sheets for Add a Little Dazzle would work with my metal portholes beautifully :). To create the boat I used a piece of drift wood and the sail came from a paper mache boat I bought at Hobbycraft.



To decorate the sails I cut a piece of Precious Pearl and Wondrous White metal sheets. I stamped the pattern from the NK Studio Grunge set onto the white sheet using Cloudy Sky StazOn. The pearl sheet was embossed with Tim Holtz Rays Texture Fades folder and I lightly sanded the raised parts. Then I simply wrapped the sheets over the sails - no adhesive was required as they as stayed firmly in place.



To fix the boat to the background I used a double sandwich of foam board scraps and Crafty Foam Tape.

Do check out the other terrific projects and leave us your comments! The designers so appreciate when you comment on their blogs. Thanks for hopping with us! Here's who is playing today:




Asia King (yours truly!)


Thank you for stopping by and for all your lovely comments! Have a fabulously crafty week!

Big crafty hugs
 



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Challenges for this project:
Country View Crafts September - Nautical
Rhedd's Creative Spirit September - Anything Goes
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Rock the Techniques

42 comments:

New Creations said...

OMGoodness!! What an art piece you created. Stunning frame,Love this nautical sail boat with metal embellishment, the choice of colour and those sea shells you added around the frame, all are gorgeous.

barbara macaskill said...

I am blown away! This is absolutely gorgeous! I love the texture from the shells and the portholes are genius! I love the sailboat also!! I am into all things nautical lately and this satisfies that nicely! The metals look so pretty the way you used them!! I thought the portholes were metal rings until I read the steps! INCREDIBLE!! TFS!

Keren Baker said...

Nice to visit a fellow Brit!! Love the frame and the stamped and textured boat- what a transformation of that bargain frame! x

Stampendous said...

This is stunning! The frame is beautiful and the sailboat came out amazing. Thank you for being a part of the collaboration this week.

Vicki Dutcher said...

Fabulous ABC project - love the use of metal and that boat!

Iris said...

Gorgeous shell project.
isoscia at aol dot com

Monica Weaver said...

Beautiful work of art! Thank you for showcasing AALD metal sheets so beautifully!

Monica

Kate said...

This is a great project love Brighton but haven't been for years :)
Kate x

Lee-Anne said...

Stunning work of art, Asia! Love the sails and your frame is amazing!

Viki Banaszak said...

I love the frame and sail boat. Great inspiration.

Amy C. said...

I love how you used the shells in this project! Beautiful!

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful idea. I collect shells and then stick them in a jar. How much nicer to put them in a frame so I can look at them and remember where I found them.
Love the little circles with the nautical pictures and the sail boat.
Beautiful project.
thanks for sharing.

Lynne said...

Love all those details and how everything pulls together.

Heather said...

I love snagging my hubbies stuff. It turned out stunning. Way to use your resources.

Cheryl in Texas said...

Wow, I'll never pass a resale shop again and not wonder if there is a great object I can use in my crafting. This frame is the perfect one for your project and you did amazing things with it.

CathyP said...

Wow! What an impressive project! This is really beautiful! So clever to raid your husband's stash! LOL

Unknown said...

Hi! It really has a lot of work your project! I really love the nautical decor items and your project will serve me inspiration. very beautiful ... Thanks !!!

Crafting Queen said...

Really wonderful creation!

cghundley said...

How fun! Terrific
look from the before
to finish.
Carla from Utah

Donna said...

What a lovely way to display shells! the frame is perfect!

Jenny Marples said...

This is so inventive! I love the addition of your Brighton shells to the frame and the embossed and patterned sails are fabulous. Jenny x

Diana Nguyen said...

Ok, that. is. just. wow. That is so cool; love how all the elements worked together so beautifully!

Unknown said...

The frame is just gorgeous.

Carolina Kathy said...

What a gorgeous project!

Papertangler said...

So many beautiful elements to this piece. The shells in the frame are so soft and sweet. But its like the whole piece was just waiting for the amazing sailboat.

Pat K said...

So creative, great work of art!

stampingvickisvisions said...

NICE!!! I love how you used the metal for the sails of the boat!! I'll have to remember for my brother-in-laws birthday he has a sailboat he loves to use.

mswhizz said...

What a clever idea! It's nice to see such a unique take on using these products.

Elena C said...

Asia, Great wall hanging. Thank you for walking us through your project, I love that. I love the sailboat...those sails are special but also the driftwood for the boat...great thinking!

Joanna Wiśniewska said...

Wspaniala!

Ros Crawford said...

Absolutely wonderful!! I love those 'portholes' ... genius!!

snazzyjj said...

The portholes really pop this project and love the sail boat.

Pam Hornschu said...

Truly beautiful and unique!

Carol said...

Such fabulous ideas, thanks for sharing your talent for design!


Carol B
ciaoitalia2007(at)gmail(dot)com

Meihsia Liu said...

Wow... this is such a gorgeous and creative project, Joanna. Love all the beautiful details you created. Thank you so much for sharing with us at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. :)

Janis said...

What an AMAZING creation!!!! LOVE all the little details you added: Perfect Pearls, found shells, the reused rings, etc. Wonderful!!!
<3 J

jwoolbright at gmail dot com
HerPeacefulGarden.blogspot.com

jordanbev5@yahoo.com said...

You amaze me! Your frame was fabulous and would have been a gorgeous project in itself but then you added the centerpiece! Wow!! You amaze me, Asia!

Sandra Wright. said...

I just love your entry,I adore anything nautical...love how much you have put in to the altering the frame and the yacht finishes it off perfectly.
Thank you for joining in with our challenge over at Rhedd's Creative Spirit...x

Unknown said...

That would look so lovely in my bathroom!! so pretty! great project! Many thanks for joining the Rhedd's Creative Spirit challenge and good luck!!! Melissa (DT)

Sammy said...

This is beautifully done! Love it! Thank you for entering your project at Rhedd’s Creative Spirit. Sammy-x

Words and Pictures said...

This is absolutely stunning! From the shells embedded in the frame to the driftwood body of the boat to those amazing metallic sails - just brilliant! Those metal sheets look like "necessary" additions to the stash!! Thanks so much for playing along with us at Country View Challenges.
Alison xx

SJH D said...

How beautiful. I have lots of bags of sea shells. What a creative idea.

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