Altered Matchbox: Theme - Birds

This month's theme on the Flickr group

 Matchbox Monthly Swap 2011 

is 'Birds'.

I immediately knew I wanted to make one of those cute little

 bird's nests made from wire and beads.

I googled and found a great tutorial on a blog called

Vintage Susie & Wings.

Inside as well as the wire and bead nest, I adhered some glass

pebbles - which perhaps look a bit like some more eggs?

There's also a used postage stamp with a bird on

and a little bit of twine around the edge.

The outside of the box I textured to make look like a tree's bark.

This was created with several layers of ink, paint, glue, more

ink and paint and a final layer of crackle glaze.

There's also another used postage stamp with a bird on,

glued onto a piece of chipboard and again covered with

crackle glaze.

The gold bird at the bottom is cut from shrink plastic

 from the Tim Holtz 'Caged Bird' die.

Can you see his beady eye - lol!

I enjoyed making the little bird's nest so much

I made another for the drawer pull.

Swap partners will be announced on 10th March

so I'll soon know who my little birdy box

will be flying off to!

What's On Your Workdesk - Wednesday week 91 & Mick Jagger!!

I've missed quite a few WOYWWs recently, but I'm back now - yay!!

There wasn't much on my desk so I've neatly arranged a few things (is that cheating!!) so I have something I can share at least!

The large rolled up item I received in the post today from the very talented June from Santa Cruz, CA, USA - I was lucky enough to win one of her giveaways on the recent One World One Heart giant blog hop.

It's a print of her original artwork of Mick Jagger - it's quite stunning and I know I wouldn't be able to photograph it properly so show below the photo from June's own blog.

Isn't that so special - I love it!

June's blog is The Art of June and on her OWOH post she shares her special story of how she found love during last year's event - a real life fairy tale!

Many thanks again June if you're reading this!

So, what else is on my neatly arranged desk!

I've had this book for ages and keep intending to make one of the cloth dolls in it - well, the other day I finally made a start - by tracing and cutting out the paper pattern pieces.   That's as far as I've got though since I now cannot decide which fabrics to use!  I can therefore see this book and the pattern pieces sitting on my desk for a while to come - unless I get my act together!

What else is on my desk?

I bought this magazine from Sainsburys on Monday mainly because I liked the look of the free acrylic stamps on the cover - especially the little bunting!  I'd never heard of it before but that's because it's the very first issue - it's great, full of simple little sewing projects - including how to make a bag from a pair of old jeans and another from a cardigan.  I don't know when (and if even) I'll get around to making some of the projects, but it's a great read anyway.

Why am I telling you all about my desk?  Ask Julia over on her blog

 Stamping Ground - you won't regret it!

Yesterday I saw her post about the upcoming second year anniversary of WOYWW and the 'pass it forward' event she's planning.  I've never been involved in a 'PIF' event before but this sounded so exciting I had to make a start on the gift for it immediately! 

 Using one of the little freebie stamps from the above magazine made including the acronym 'WOYWW' a piece of cake!

   Still, no more clues as we're not supposed to reveal our gift until after they've been received!

Thanks for looking and I'll try to get around

 as many of the other desks as I can!

OWOH prizes I won

I was lucky enough to win a few prizes from the recent

 One World One Heart event 

which was a bonus as the around the world trip visiting all the different blogs  was a great experience in itself.

This beautiful tote bag was made by the very sweet and talented

 Lorri Lennox

She also threw in some little charm embellishments too! 

 Lorri said she was new at making these bags but I would never have guessed as it is very well made, fully lined and has an inside pocket too.  I shall enjoy using the bag especially as it is in one of my favourite colours too!

If you want to see some beautiful artwork be sure to visit her blog. 

This beautiful mermaid tag was made by

 Elaine.

It has a wonderful shimmer to it which Elaine told me was created by using

'Radiant Pearls'.  When posting the tag to me Elaine said she used different postage stamps in case I like to use them in my artwork - and I do!  How thoughtful of her.

  She has a giveaway on her blog at the moment to celebrate her 'one year blogaversary' with no less than five different prizes to choose from! 

 Well worth a visit. 



This ephemera pack came from

Jennifer

The description Jennifer used for this prize was a 'super-duper ephemera package no filler, all good stuff' and I couldn't agree more!!  It's full of wonderful varied items and I will so enjoy using in mixed media projects.

If you'd like to go and visit Jennifer here's the link to her blog

Adventures In Mixed Media.

Many thanks again - Lorrie, Elaine and Jennifer xxx

Framed it at last!

When I made my hubby a card for his birthday last October

 we both thought it'd be nice in a frame and hung in our study

 - at least, I suggested it and he agreed - lol.

Here's what the card looked like before

 and if you're interested in how I made it have a look here.

Well today, I finally got around to framing it - but only because I was sorting out my craft cupboard and right at the back found a frame I bought a few years ago and had sprayed it with some Starburst Stains.  I'd obviously run out of ideas what else to do with it so just bunged it out of sight, as you do!

Today I further decorated the outer frame with some of Tim Holtz tissue tape and toned down the brightness with some metallic rub ons.  The lace I attached with upholstery tacks which I was able to just push into the frame by hand as it's made of that stiff cardboardy stuff.

The inside part of the frame I rubber stamped onto tissue paper and adhered with gel medium and added a bit of gold ribbon to the top and bottom.

The finishing touch I must confess wasn't made by me - the Secret Garden embellishment was a brooch I got free from LB Crafts at the last Ally Pally show (for spending a silly amount of money there no doubt!).  I removed the pin at the back and using E6000 adhered it to the frame. 

This photo has a strange red glow about it - I think it may have been the reflection from the bright red T shirt I'm wearing!!!  Either that, or I really do need some lessons in basic photography.

I showed the framed card to John and he made the appropriate appreciative noises, so if I'm lucky he might even put it up on the wall!!

Finally here's a photo of the inside of my craft cupboard - you'll see my new eleven drawer plastic unit I got from Hobbycraft yesterday.  I did have plans to fill the drawers with specific items but having had to make room in the cupboard for it, I just ended up filling them with things which had been on the floor or in separate little tubs in there. 

As you can see I do still need to sort out all that fabric though, but it is a lot tidier than it was before though - honest!

Why can't tidying the rest of the house be as much fun as that was!

One World One Heart - and the winners are…

Did you have a good trip around the hundreds of

participating blogs in this year’s OWOH event?

I know I did!

I used the ‘True Random Number Generator’ gadget

 located in my sidebar and it randomly selected the following

 four lucky winners.

(I wish I knew how to incorporate the graphic showing

 the winning numbers in my post, but I don’t at the moment, sorry!)

Without further ado

the winners are -

Prize No. 1 (Fabric Rag Quilt Bag and Pincushion)

Kim aka IMGirl from Arkansas, USA

(prize posted by air mail 19th February & receipt confirmed 5th March)

Prize No. 2 (Fabric Collage Hanging)

Teresa of Delightful Whimsy from California, USA

(prize posted by air mail 19th February & receipt confirmed 24th Feb)

Prize No. 3 (‘Clarinda’ Paper Doll)

Alice Stroppel of Polymer Clay etc from FL, USA

(prize posted by air mail 19th February & receipt confirmed 27th Feb)

Prize No. 4 (Tim Holtz Alcohol & Distress Inks)

June of The Art of June from CA,USA

(prize posted by air mail 19th February & receipt confirmed 23rd Feb)

Congratulations to you all, I hope you‘ll enjoy your prizes!

I will send each winner an email requesting their postal details and once received, I’ll post their prize off to them.

I will edit this post to indicate the date the prizes are sent (edited as above) and the date receipt of them is acknowledged (edited as above).

All that remains is to say thank you to

 Lisa

 for once again organising this huge event and to all the people who visited my blog and left lovely comments and to those who became new followers!

I am now also following quite a few new blogs myself, so it looks as though I’ll be spending even more time in Blog-land (sorry John!!)

If you didn’t take part yourself this year but want to get involved in something similar next year, have a look at what Lisa has got in the pipeline here!

That’s all folks, hope to see you again soon!

xxxxxx