Friday, June 20, 2014

Boho Chic Upcycle Lantern



Hi again everyone.  This month I am excited to be a part of the collaboration between the Altered Pages Design Team and Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko Design Team.  Imagine Crafts was so kind to share some of their amazing inks, tools and sprays with us.  We get to play with the fun and innovative products and you get to learn a new technique or two.


Today, I have for you a boho chic diy candle lantern made with products from both Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko and Altered Pages.
 

For this project I used my StazOn Midi ink pads to add color and dimension to various sizes of sheet metal. I also used charms, chain and hand dyed seam binding to create the look I was after.

A very important step in colorizing metal with StazOn is to always use GlazOn after each layer of StazOn ink. StazOn...GlazOn (like wax on...wax off...as John from Imagine Crafts would say.) They go together!


Apply your desired color of StazOn ink to the sheet metal remembering to cover the surface with GlazOn after and let each layer dry before moving on to the next.


If you so choose you can easily add your favorite collage images sprayed with Goosebumps to give that embossed and textural look.

Just hole punch and add a jump ring or three to create a unique charm or dangle out of your desired image or images. Goosebumps makes it so fast and easy.  I ended up not using these this time around, but they turned out so cool and they on the workspace front and center just waiting for the perfect project


Once I had my sheet metal inked and dried I began wiring up the actual lantern. I started with a glass globe...the kind you can find at your local hardware store. I actually have a few on hand after replacing various light fixtures over the years. I knew these little gems could have a much more posh life than just hanging out with a dated fixture on the back porch. I used a nice chunky silver chain and wired it snug to the globe.  

Next, I created the hanger that my lantern would suspend from using the same chunky chain.
 

I then created my charms that would dangle and catch the light from the candle inside.
This was for sure the most fun part of this project...wiring all kinds of goodies together creating color and movement. In the next few pictures below
you can see all the fun. You can find all the charmy goodness here.


Then, it was time to attach the charms. One by one I just kept adding.

This is where I added the hand dyed seam binding as well.
To create the hand dyed ribbon I spritzed the ribbon first with water and then with Dylusions Ink in Polished Jade.  I love this combination.  The seam binding takes the ink so nicely and the color options are endless.

In the picture below you can see my new Boho Lantern perched so prettily with all of the embellishments and additions glowing in the candle light.



Ooooohhh pretty...


Supplies used for this project can be found here; 

StazOn Midi in Blue Hawaii, Emerald City, Citrus Green and Midnight Blue
GlazOn
Goosebumps
Ink blushers
Sheet metal in various sizes






Thursday, June 5, 2014

80's Baby!




Hi there and welcome!

Stephanie here and man is this a very exciting month at Altered Pages.  You may have already heard, but this is worth repeating.  We are very honored to partner with IMAGINE Crafts for the entire month of June!   Make sure to check back all month long to see what these two talented groups create for you.

When I was going through my stash of goodies from IMAGINE Crafts there was a set of inks screaming at me to be the focal point.  I knew I had to use the Radiant Neon Ink Pads.  I loved the colors and they immediately took me back to the 80's...hence my title "80's Baby!"   You can see in the picture below I used the Electric Pink and Purple inks with small daubers to get a bright background to kick off this piece.

 
My project is a continuation of my creepy baby book, that you may have seen in a couple previous posts here  and  here , using the Arched Door Book from Altered Pages.  These fun little books are very popular and are back in stock after recently selling out!
 

While working on this the neon colors inspired me to load up my playlist of music with all my 80's favorites, Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears, Stray Cats, and some Bronski Beat.  The ideas came rolling in and it even reminded me of a few concerts back in the day so I knew where to head with this and I knew I had to give these 80's rock star babies tickets to a show of their own.



I had fun creating neon tights, full length lace gloves and Madonna inspired jewelry in this project.  I hope you enjoyed this fun node the 80's, an amazingly fun time in my life, recreated with amazingly cool supplies and tools from IMAGINE Crafts  and  Altered Pages.

Supplies used from IMAGINE Crafts;
Radiant Neon Ink Pads in - Electric Purple, Electric Pink, Electric Green and Electric Yellow.
Staz On Midi in - Jet Black and Cloudy Sky
Ink Blushers
Small Daubers
Pssst! Sheer Shimmer Spritz - Sparkle

Supplies used from Altered Pages;
Arched Door Board book
My Head is Spinning collage sheet
Altered Paper Dolls collage sheet
Misc. embellishments

Thanks for stopping by!
Stephanie