New Inspiration

Just a couple of pics of inspiration for my latest craft creation. I'm sure it has a proper botanical name, but for now, I will call it a Flame Tree. This impressive and beautiful specimen was once part of my grandparent's garden. It's coloured in my favourite colour palette.

Stay tuned!
Crafty Rach xo

A Jewellery Box - Fit for a Princess

Another late-night wander through Bunnings helped me arrive at this next crafty idea for my Niece's fourth birthday. I was sure she probably had jewellery boxes, but I was determined to create one that she will hopefully keep for a very long time!

M is a little girl who loves the colour pink and lives in pink outfits, decorates her hair in pink accessories and walks in pink shoes everyday. I thought it would also be special to personalise this jewellery box for her (hence the letter M), especially seeing as she has a younger sister (my youngest Niece is so cute!!). I know she will take care of it as best as a four-year-old can, but just in case, the jewellery box is made out of pretty heavy and sturdy pieces of MDF wood.

I also found these cute diamante-style pink heart jewels at Lincraft that  I thought I would use for decorating once finished (see above).

Using my best magenta, pink and white paints (Derivan Matisse) and mixing these with the iridescent medium, I created colours that would be for the base design and decorating trim. I also used masking tape to ensure my lines were straight and minimised paint-bleeding.

At first I was going to paint a checkerboard design on the lid of the box, but decided on not doing that in the end as the way in which I was measuring the individual squares (using the width of the masking tape) would not have created an even design. I ended up doing this:

 Lid and "M": Masking tape used to create a boarder around the lid. "M" painted in metallic Magenta paint.

Inside: Painted with metallic Pink paint.

 Box: Masking tape placed at very top and very bottom. Created line gap in the middle, painted with metallic Magenta paint in keeping with the other trims of the box (around the bottom of the box and the outside of the lid).

 All three jewellery box elements: A work in progress.

Box and Top: Painted with metallic Magenta trims, metallic pink boarder (top), and metallic white background (top).

Ok, I experimented with the iridescent medium to create metallic white. Honestly, it didn't really work. If anything it just added more volume to an already viscous tube of paint - which caused application issues (like streaking, bubbling and glugginess). I was a little bit disappointed when the paint dried as the surface wasn't smooth as what I hoped it would be. I felt the box was missing something.

A couple of days before the big birthday, I stumbled across another decorative medium in Spotlight's art and craft section:

New paint medium: Jo Sonja's Opal Dust

I decided to coat the metallic white painted areas with the opal dust to bring them out a little more, as well as hide some of the paint blemishes. Finished the box off with a gloss varnish to preserve the paint and the glitter on top. I also cut a piece of glitter pink felt for the inside of the box, so that scratches are kept to a minimum.

And here's the finished product!

I have a few more projects that I will be blogging about in the next couple of days, so stay tuned!!

Crafty Rach xo

Ok, I realise I've been a bit slack lately with putting up pictures of my latest creations. I will be posting up more bits and pieces by the end of the week. How exciting!!