Life....whew!!

I miss blogging, I miss crafting on a regular basis!!
Almost two years ago I sat in a hospital with my best friend as she was told she had cancer. I will never forget the feeling of total devistation that ran through my mind and body. She was diagnosed with stage 3b cervical cancer. I won't go into details but the next 11 months were so hard for her, for all of us that love her. She lost her battle in November of 2016 . My Husband and I are raising her little boy, he has always been a big part of our lives..now he IS our lives. We have raised 6 kids between us and are basically starting over. He has been with us since October 2016 and we have pretty much gotten a great routine down.

Crafting has always been a big passion for me but I put it on the back burner when Donna was diagnosed. Often when I'd walk into my craft room I'd have such a sadness come over me, she was my crafting partner, my crafting sister and I actually felt lost in my own craft room.  Lately though, when I walk into that room I start to feel the familiar excitement and all of the lovely supplies are starting to make me smile again.

Lilman wanted to join football so we signed him up for pee wee and he is loving it. We bought him jerseys , special socks, and an under armor bag that he wanted and I actually cut some htv and put his name and number on them. It felt great!

I realize that my heart is healing and I'm ready to enjoy crafting once again.

It's funny how life works...when my 17 yr old Son was killed in '94 I dove into crafting to keep me sane...this time the thought of crafting made me sad. Go figure!

Thanks for listening.
Michelle

Diningroom Furniture Make over part 1

Happy Easter Everyone!
A few months ago I decided I wanted to give my Diningroom a facelift. I got my Table done and then had to put it on hold because of my Husband's back surgery and complications. Well he's 99% his old self so I'm getting ready to finish the job :-)  Let me start by saying I adore DecoArt Chalky Finish Paint!!!  My poor table was a horrible mess, it's 16 yrs old and had taken quite the beating over the yrs. We're retired so buying a whole new set is out of the question.  I've been a Decorative Painter and Teacher for over 25 yrs and my all time favorite paints to use for that craft have always been DecoArt, of course I'm going to try out their chalk paint :-)  To sum it up, the DecoArt Chalky Finish comes in wonderful colors, it gives excellent coverage, easy to work with and very affordable (especially compared to the overpriced "other" chalk paint).  Here is a photo of my Table so far.

My Hutch/Chinacabinet will be next, just waiting on the rains to stop so I can open the windows to help speed up drying time on it.

I'll post photos as I go along once I start painting again :-)

How I make the Steampunk Boxes

Many of you asked for a Tutorial on how I make the Steampunk Boxes, so here you go....

Supplies used:
Eileen Hull Square Box XL Scoreboard Die by Sizzix
Medium weight Chipboard or Matboard
Ranger Glue n Seal
Heavy Cardstock
Tim Holtz Clockworks Gear Embossing folder
DecoArt Chalky Finish Paint or DecoArt Acrylic Paint
Double Sided Tape
Tim Holtz Metal Gears
2 Part Liquid Resin
Plaid Mod Melts Molds
Metallic Rubons
DecoArt Lustre Metallic Waxes
Sharp Craft Knife
High Tac Glue
Embossing/Diecutting machine Vagabond or BigShot

Begin by cutting your chipboard or matboard with the Square Box Die (you will need to cut 2 pieces).  Assemble your box, here is a quick video showing how to do it  Sizzix Youtube .

Cut your heavy cardstock into pieces that will fit into your embossing folder and machine. Cut 5 pieces.

Apply a coat of Glue n Seal to each of your box sides and top (do one side at a time) and apply your embossed cardstock. Once dry, use your sharp craft knife to cut off excess.

Apply a good coat of DecoArt Chalky Finish Carbon Paint

If you don't have the Chalky Finish you can use DecoArt Americana Lamp Black Acrylic Paint. I prefer the Chalky Finish myself.

While your paint is drying, gather your metal embellishments. I've made quite a few of these this past week and didn't have any of the gears and such left that I wanted to use so I made some with 2 part resin and my Plaid Mod Melts Molds.

Once you're ready to add your embellishments, adhere them to your box with a high tac thick glue of your choice. (I use Aleene's Fast Dry thick glue for this part). Let them dry for about 15 minutes. Now paint a coat of the Chalky Finish Carbon paint all over the boxes and embellishements and let dry.

Once the paint is thoroughly dry start applying the metallic rub, I prefer to rub it on with my fingertips.

Apply the wax all over the entire box, including your embellishments. Lightly spray entire box with a matte sealer or brush on a coat of Glue n Seal matte. 

If  you choose to use the Label Hinge that comes with the box, use all of the same steps and once it's dry apply it with the thick tac glue to your box top.  Be sure to glue it on leaving a wee bit of space between it and the front of the box. If it's too close, it will be too tight to work with. 

 

And there you go! Have fun!

Steampunk Box

One of my newest purchases is the Square Box Die from Sizzix, designed by Eileen Hull. I am SO in love with this Die!!  Last week I made a couple of Steampunk boxes and my best Friend fell in love with them so they went home with her. Well her Sister saw the photo of them and wanted one too so I made this one for her last night.  I will have a more detailed post tomorrow showing how I made them.

Thank you for looking!

12 Tags of 2015 with Tim Holtz-March

Greetings from Southeast Arkansas where winter is stuck LOL!  I'm so thankful for my warm and cozy craft room!
Don't you just love Tim's March Tag? Once again I don't have the exact supplies that Tim used so I improvised. Now normally I make a tag but this month I've made a gift for a very dear Friend.

I built a wood frame, painted it black and then coated the black with DecoArt Weathered Wood medium. Once the medium was dry I applied a coat of DecoArt Mocha Acrylic paint and sat and watched the beautiful cracks appear.

Next I cut a piece of black matboard and used Tim's Clock Stencil along with some opaque texture paste that I had mixed some purple acrylic paint into. Applied to the matboard and dusted with some Ranger Pearl Ex Powder.

I cut and embossed the Dragonfly using Tim's Layered Dragonfly Die, colored her up with pearlex powders, added some half pearls to her tail then covered her completely with Ranger Glossy Accents.

Before I adhered the Dragonfly to the frame, I gave the whole frame a coating of Rangers Glue n Seal and once it was dry I did some antiquing all over the frame with some of Tim's Black Soot Distress Paint. Apply the distress paint , wait about 30 seconds then rub it back with a soft cloth until you get the desired look.  I appllied some Picket Fence Distress Paint to one of Tim's keyholes, waited a few seconds and did a quick light rub with a soft cloth.

I really enjoyed making this, at first I felt funny not doing a tag but Tim does encourage us to take inspiration from his and run with it...I ran LOL  Thank you for looking. Now I must get this boxed up and mailed off to put a bit of happy in a dear Friend's day.

Don't forget to head to Tim's Blog and join in on the fun!

12 Tags of 2015 with Tim-February

My goodness I wasn't sure I'd be finished in time! I just love Tim's tag this month (of course I love all of his tags lol), and wanted to get that same romantic white washed feel that he did. I improvised with most of it and have to admit, I'm happy with what I came up with :-) 

I used Tim's Seasonal Papers, Grungeboard, Seasonal Stickers, Metal findings and his lovely inkable, scrunchable Ribbon Binding. Add in some Distress Paint, Distress Markers and Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter and voila! I adore the look of Picket Fence Distress Paint on metal

What's not to love about Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter...I believe it's my most favorite glitter EVER!

Be sure to head over to Tim's Blog and join in on the fun!

Big Giveaway from The Idea Room!

TheIdeaRoom is giving away a Cricut Explore! Run, don't walk........

TheIdeaRoom big giveaway

Good luck Everyone!