Altered Ikea Frame

Hi Paper Lane-rs  today I wish to share with you an Ikea photo frame that I altered into a clock using Martha Stewart's glow in the dark paint on the hour numbers and clock hands.

This is the Ikea photo frame I used ...

I wanted a shabby chic old look so I painted the surface of the clock with brown paint.  When the paint was dry I applied crackle paint and left it on my balcony to dry naturally and over night.  Then I brushed on a layer of white acrylic paint to allow the crackle to appear - loved the effect!

The clock hands and numbers have many layers of the glow in the dark paint.  When you apply so many layers of the glow in the dark paint it becomes like a thick film so half way through the painting process I pulled off some of the layers so that the gold of the clock hands shone through.  Then I applied a few more layers and that gave the effect of the clock hands having a weathered aged effect too.

I used white dabber on a wooden clock trinket - I positioned the clock hands with a brad and adhered to the center of the oval shape - look pretty good don't you think??!!

Next was just decorating with different flowers, I also added a bird and a birdhouse ... simple and clean just the effect I wanted.

I kept the style pink and shabby to go with the gifts I made my daughter for her birthday as she laid claim to the clock while I was in the midst of creating.

PRODUCTS USED

Martha Stewart vanilla bean acrylic craft paint

Martha Stewart weather crackle effect

Martha Stewart glow-in-the-dark finish

Adirondack snow cap acrylic paint dabber

Adirondack metallic copper acrylic paint dabber 

Jenni Bowlin malted milk paint dabber

En Francais A4 Paper Stack
Amy Tangerine Letter Stickers

Prima wood embellishments

Prima shabby chic treasures

Pink artifical flowers

Various white flowers

All these products are available at Paper Lane and more.  Paper Lane stocks the entire range of Martha Stewart craft products;  from stencil crafts to glass and glitter crafts, clay and molds and a vast selection of acrylic paints that are an absolute pleasure to work with. Go get your supplies now!

Happy crafting...Janine

Birds Nest

Hello crafty people....I have been busy busy in my little craft room creating all kinds of stuff...some   for Paper Lane and some for me.  Loved making the Prima Tag (click on the name if you want to see the post) using the left over scraps from the Life Time Collection.  I also made several gifts for my daughters birthday (post to come soon) and a birds nest from this basket thingie...

I bought this wrought iron like basket at Daiso last year some time with the intention of putting it to use as my bits and bobs container which I need when crafting.  But of course the holes in the wire just rendered it useless for that and I did not pursue any ideas on how to utilize it at the time!  I put it aside and while cleaning my room last weekend I found it and placed it within view to do somethign with it. For those of you who know me personally you know I love birds and bird gardens etc...by the way did you see the bird house garden I created??  Click on the name to see the post!

Anyway I got the idea to create a birds nest in the basket while I was browsing pinterest.  I love it and I keep adding bits and bobs to it...seems the idea to have it as a bits and bobs container has some truth in it after all :-)

So take a look and let me know what you think....................

I used strings of burlap, old potpourri (I never throw anything away), twigs, an assortment of artificial flowers, some eggs, bit of shiny bling.  Obviously the two birds - I hot glued the green bird on the rim of the basket and the red/pink one inside the nest near the eggs.

It is so pretty - photographs just does not do it justice.

Family Layout

The beautiful Life Time paper line by Prima inspired me to scrap a family photograph taken on my birthday a year ago at Bab Al Shams.  With half our family living in South Africa it was and is a pleasure when we are all together.  I love this photograph taken before we started to feast and enjoy the nights entertainment.

 This collection is so suitable for a family layout what with one page containing words like family, memories, together, cherish, etc. and another with tags and sentiments among other things.  I used software on my computer to change the original colours of the photograph to various hues of brown - it suited the paper tones perfectly.  The tag with the green ribbon bow slides behind the layers of paper - I will use this tag for my journaling - the black alphas read Bab Al Shams 30-12-2011.

The 12x12 sheet I hot glued onto black chipboard.  I tore the paper somewhere in the middle, added some soft netting I sometimes use on my layouts  and a bit of matching lace to stick out slightly.  I used two layers of patterned paper from the collection before adhering the photograph.  Tore into the paper at the left hand corner and curled it so that they followed some kind of order.

I used many different masks, templates, pastes, glimmer mists and distress inks to alter the sheet I chose for my layout - yeah then I went and layered all my embellishments and now the effects are only peeping out :-)  I just had to add the camel for the desert effect!

The chipboard heart is by dusty attic and frames all our smiling faces beautifully.  I used various dabbers on the chipboard.

The black key is also a Prima embellishment.  I clustered 4 flowers from the collection and placed the pink flower on top - I love how the petals peed out! The little tag that reads smile I fussy cut from one of the sheets of paper.

The flowers are also from the collection.  With the exception of the lace and 3 material flowers everything I used in this layout is available at Paper Lane including the camel.  There are other matching elements available in this collection; it is beautiful and perfect for layouts, cards, mini albums, anything.  Pop into the store and get yours now!

I hope you enjoyed viewing my layout...until next time happy crafting!  Janine

Altered Prima Tag

Today I am blogging about a tag I made.  I was planning to gift this tag but decided to keep it - I totally love how this tag turned out!

Take a look...

 I used the Prima doll tag and Tim Holtz jump rings with eyelets.

 Every embellishment on this tag is Prima

 ...mod podge

 ...texture paste

 ...gesso

 ...paints and dabbers

 ...glimmer mists

 ...distress inks

Love love love it!!

Altered Photo Frame

The Life Time Collection by Prima is so versatile I felt inspired to alter a photo frame this time displaying a photograph of my husband instead of my daughters.  The papers is so versatile it can be used with both feminine and masculine projects.  I am totally in love with these papers - they are awesome!  My blog will be overflowing with projects using this collection; so keep a look out!

I used a normal cheap wooden frame; I chose this frame because the wood surface was broad and not narrow like most - this space gave me plenty of room to experiment with some mixed media techniques.  Of I started by applying a coat of gesso, then white paint and then another coat of gesso - I wanted to really prime the surface before starting all my layers of texture, mediums, mists and embellishments.

I cut out the petals individually from the flowers the "Blue Bayou" sheet and adhered them with mod podge at the top left hand corner, in the middle of the the left panel and at the bottom right hand corner.  I used Martha Stewart texture paste on small strips of a thin netting I found, a left over piece of lace and some bubble wrap.  

I positioned my elements with mod podge and once dry covered all of it with a layer of gesso I left the gesso to dry for an entire day before spraying various glimmer mists and paint dabbers.

On the left panel I positioned a Prima flower spray so that it gives the effect of being outside and inside the frame. The wooden bird and branch are also Prima embellishments.  I cut a dusty attic heart shaped die in two and as you can see by the image below, I positioned them on different places within the frame.  

On the right hand panel I adhered antique brass loops and hung a Prima wooden key on it.  The flowers are all from the Life Time Collection and the wording/phrases all over the frame are fussy cut from the "Familia" sheet.  

I love how the completed look is feminine but totally suits a male photograph too.  The flower collection has browns, grays and blacks too so I choose the black specifically because hubby's favourite colour is black.

I hope I inspired you to create your own photo frame...happy crafting!  Janine