As I have said before, Bertie is a reluctant artist, he’s more model maker, writer or a numbers man, everything is always quite small, understated and neat ………..
…….but these two pictures, the bottom one in particular, from his school RE book touched all our hearts …………
I think I am going to see if I can shrink the first picture of Bertie and Iris to fit in fridge magnets and key rings for family crackers this Christmas, it’s just to beautiful to leave in a book.
I nearly gave up with these little blighters, nothing went or looked right, so I walked away from them, slept on the idea and the following morning everything just fell into place. I just found I needed a much lighter, less is more kind of touch.
I’ve had the walnut shells waiting for at least two years now, left in frustration after similar ideas didn’t work a couple of Christmas’s ago.
All I had to do was drill a small hole in the top of the shell and then add a tiny screw eye hook, adding a little B-7000 to help secure the fix.
I used HobbyCraft Superlight Air-Drying Clay (£1 for a 30g pack) for the snow. It’s really, really weird stuff, with a texture not unlike chewing gum! Learning from my mistakes the day before, I used a lot less of the clay than I thought I needed, pressing a small amount into the bottom of the shell, leaving room for the embellishments.
I put a cotton bud tip in the picture (above) so you can see how small the snowman and tree are, aghhhhh! I made a pile of snowmen a while ago using white Fimo, adding a scarf (red thread) and black wire arms, but again, aghhhhh, the heads weren't really quite big enough to add a full face of eyes, nose and mouth except for these two, which means making another pile as I now know I definitely want to make a lot more of these decorations.
The little wooden trees had to be cut down a little to fit at the back of the shell, after a light covering of green glitter. I stuck the snowman and tree down with B-7000, again for a secure fix.
I also learned that I had to hold back with the white Americana Writer for a more delicate covering of snow, on the clay base and round the edges (I was far too heavy handed with my prototypes), followed up with just a delicate dusting of Stampin Up Dazzling Diamonds to add a subtle wintery sparkle.
I am really pleased with how this second version have turned out …….. next mission ……….. to make a pile more!
Following on from the Skeleton Trick or Treat Tins of last week ……….
……. this is my second design, this time with a haunted house theme.
Using old 2cm deep cigar tins I found on eBay for just £1 for ten, plus £3.80 P & P which I sprayed with black paint on the front, back and inside.
……. and then edged with slime using Dovecraft green Enamel Effect 3D paint.
While the slime was drying I started to paint/colour all the various MDF shapes (eBay). I painted the ghosts white with a layer of Ranger Glossy Accents and the haunted house orange with doodles and more green slime.
The other shapes were coloured with orange and black Sharpie pens (bats and pumpkins etc.) followed by more Glossy Accents
When the slime was set I was able to add the shapes to the front of the tins using B-7000 glue to make sure I got a really secure fix, before adding the writing using a fine tipped, white, Posca pen, a few more wooden shapes and then small, coloured confetti stars and clusters of three white dots to fill in the empty spaces and bring the whole design together.
On the inside of the tins I used scraps of Halloween themed papers, gluing them into the lid and bottom of the tin and then edging with green Dovecraft Enamel Effects and writing “Boo” in black.
Then came all the embellishments, with ghosts, silver confetti webs and wooden spiders with tiny red gem eyes and a scattering of clear, flat backed gems…..
……. followed by lots of stars, swirls and dots ……..
……. again using a white Posca pen to fill the area around the centres.
Sooooooooo over the top, but why not? ……
I just can’t wait to find the foil wrapped chocolates to put in them!
The other Sunday I took Iris and Bertie to the nearby Abbey Park, and in between waiting for the tanks to refill in the water park Iris was busying away in her notebook ……
I thought she was writing another one of her detective stories (she’s currently obsessed with Agatha Christie) until she proudly showed me her drawing of Evesham Bell Tower, which was just on the hill, in front of us. Me thinks the girl dun gud!
I’m really not sure about these decorations, which is why I have only made four of them, perhaps they just don’t have enough fiddle fart for me!
There’s not a lot to them, I started off by painting wooden oblong building blocks (part of a charity shop find) with two coats of red acrylic paint.
I then added a black belt around the middle made using a short length of black paper and then applied two coats of Wilko quick drying clear gloss varnish ……
….. before adding a white, textured, 3D effect paint around the bottom for fur.
The buckle is an MDF shape, that I coloured with one of my new silver chrome maker pens. I only put buttons on one of the decorations as I wasn’t really sure about them re: proportion and I’m thinking about it, I’m not even sure Santa actually has any on his jacket?
The last stage was to put a tiny, silver eye screw in the top of the block with a short length of silver thread to it hang by.
DOH……. having just Googled images of Santa, I now know where I’ve gone wrong with these decorations and why I am not that keen on them, not only do I find that he doesn’t usually show his buttons but that I have completely forgotten about the fur trim that goes down the front of his coat, doh, doh, doh …… what am I like?
If I can find some largish wooden dominoes pieces on my travels I might have another go, but this time making gift tags, just to prove I know what Santa actually looks like!
My usual crafting motto is “less is more”, however that certainly isn’t the case with these Halloween Trick or Treat tins, I am afraid I got totally carried away, but if you can’t get carried away for Halloween, when can you?
The asking price for used cigar tins (or similar) on eBay is stupid! My husband used to smoke Café Crème cigars and if I’d kept all the tins I threw away when I moved, I’d be a very, very, rich lady, with prices going from about £5 to over £12, madness! So, when I spotted these 2cm deep cigar tins on eBay for just £1 for ten, plus £3.80 P & P, I knew they were a bargain, so I bought 20. The lady offered me more, but I declined, but now I am wishing I’d bitten her hand off! However, a bargain isn’t a bargain unless you use what you’ve bought and these have been sitting in my drawer since August last year, so they needed to be used.
My first thought was Halloween and since I also had a can of black spray paint (£2.69) it was a no brainer. I couldn’t believe how easily and well the paint went on, the tins only needed one coat on the back, front and the inside.
With the tins beautifully covered, (the one above was my first effort where I scratched it to add some wear and age, before I decided the tins didn’t really need it) I then proceeded to edge the tins with slime using Dovecrafts green Enamel Effect 3D paint.
While the slime was drying I started to paint/colour various MDF shapes (eBay). I painted the ghosts and skeletons white and then a layer of Ranger Glossy Accents. I did find that the white wasn’t as clear/sharp as if I had just used white Ranger Glossy Enamel on its own, but with so many shapes to do I was being mean with my enamel!
The other shapes I coloured with orange and black Sharpie pens (bats and pumpkins etc.) followed by more Glossy Accents
With everything totally dry I was then able to add the shapes on to the front of the tins using B-7000 glue to make sure I got a really secure fix…….
….. before adding the writing using a fine tipped, white, Posca pen, a few more wooden shapes and then small, coloured confetti stars and clusters of three white dots to fill in the empty spaces and bring the whole design together.
With the fronts done, I looked at the inside of the tins and that’s when I think I got carried away, taking scraps of Halloween themed papers, gluing them into the lid and bottom of the tin and then edging with more green or purple Dovecraft Enamel Effects and writing “Boo” in black.
Then came all the embellishment, silver confetti webs, wooden spiders, bats and cauldrons with clear, flat back gems bubbling out ………
……. followed by lots of stars, swirls and dots, again using a white Posca pen to fill the area around the centres. I also used a little gold chrome pen on the flames/smoke coming from the cauldrons.
Now the tins are finished I need to be patient and wait for all the foil wrapped Halloween sweets to hit the shops to fill them with.
I am dead chuffed with how these turned out, Iris and Bertie are going to love them with a few treats inside and when they’re gone they will have a spooky box to put all their little treasures in afterwards. I have only have another four tins left over, I wonder if I could do something similar for Christmas? I really wish I’d bought some more tins when I had a chance, now I have realised their potential!
I think I must have painted these tumbling blocks sometime last year while staying with Marc, but that’s as far as I got with them.
The box of 57 8cms x 2cms wooden blocks cost me just 50p from an Evesham Charity shop, so it was a no brainer purchase really and having them painted already all I have left to do is the fiddle fart!
My aim is to complete ten a day over the coming week so all the fiddly work doesn’t feel too onerous or repetitive.
Last year Iris and Bertie helped me drop similar snowmen all round Evesham as a random Christmas kindness, this year as I will be continuing to listen to readers in school two afternoons a week, I was thinking that they could be popped into reading book bags at Christmas, but before I do I need to check with Health and Safety that they are safe to do that.
