My friend and neighbour Z. hosted a craftapalooza play date weekend. She started by setting out supplies all around her spacious kitchen. Including artfully arranging snacks! how cute is this "paint pallet" of m'n'm's in a muffin tin? we enjoyed a nutricious breakfast of fruit, yogurt and pastries and then got to work collecting supplies.
We were given instructions to not bring anything - that she wanted us to share her loot. Here are all the chunky doodads in little dishes and jars displayed on a painted cabinet.
Here are the ribbons, flowers and lace. K. brought her collection of paper flowers to add to the festivities.
Here was our project "before". two mini shadow boxes about 7 inches square. From the DOLLAR STORE! - Yup, a dollar each.
Here is my box - not assembled - just trying things out for size and pattern placement. I kind of cheated. Another artsy friend gave me a stack of ATC's she no longer wanted - so i just cut them into 2" squares and used them for backgrounds.
Here are the ATC's and other pretty papers cut to size and glued into the compartments. I should mention i gave the shadow box a quick coating of white gesso.
I picked up a blank paper weight at an estate sale on Friday - so i created this background while taking a break from the shadow box. Pretty background paper - a bird cut from a stamp, another bird charm, some script paper, a vintage postage stamp, and a section of Z's grandmother's tatting.
Next we broke for lunch. On our place settings was a gift of some pretty napkins - perfect for future collage - especially with beeswax!
Z. prepared a delicious unconstructed Salade Nicoise.
After lunch i put the finishing touches on my bird themed shadow box. Yes - it is terribly cluttered - but filled with all sorts of fun things. There are bird stamps, bird charms, bird nests, bird images and plenty of non-avian things too. A light dusting of brown ink around the edges, touched off with a bit of metallic paint addeed a nice aged effect.
And here is my finished paper weight. These things sell for big bucks at fancy gift shops. I am so pleased how mine came together for about $2!
Here is the start of my second shadow box, with a slightly different configuration. A light coat of white gesso to get started. I had planned to use an assortment of vintage office supplies - cute little boxes and tools - but alas they were all too big for the small compartments. I had already done a vintage neutral background - so i turned it into a masculine monochromatic shadow box. Which incidently my husband loves!
Here is the finished product. I used three authentic vintage photographs along side an assortment of ephemera - sears add for formaldehide, a cancelled bank check, the table of contents from a law book - which just happened to have my family name listed. Then all the chunky elements like a watch face, optometrist lense, buttons and a key. The phone and train locomotive are printed on transparencies. It is hard to see from the photo - but everything is nicely layered for added depth.
Here is Z's feminine box in progress. She used an assortment of Melissa Frances papers for backgrounds.
She carefully chose all the elements to place inside.
And here are the results - a pretty tribute to baby Sophie. Z even made the tiny copper wire nest with pearl beads!
L. made this fun beach themed box complete tieh rick rack trim, shells behind mesh, a little vial of sand, some pebbles and pretty rosey hues - what a nice change of pace from traditional blue.
L. also made this contemporary styled box with some of the compartments painted green. Love her white painted stitching and the use of measuring tape. Those french vocabulary pages add a bold graphic statement.
K. made this shrine to all things bling! She stained her box and added faded background papers that evoke wall papers from a bygone era. Then centered a piece of vintage jewelry to each section. She cannot decide whether to give it away (the original plan) or keep it for herself!
K. also made this charming shadown box as a tribute to her husband who is spending the summer traveling to race car events all over the country. yeah, like the Indianapolis 500 and Bonneville speedway. Each of those maps is a place he has been, enjoying the fruits of his retirement. She is not finished adding cars and gears and other many embellishments - but what a fun way to document a memorable vacation!
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