Altered seathemed box for GDT spot

Tiny glassvial filled with "pearls". I colored one of the beads with shimmery black paint to make a "black pearl" out of it. I also added copperwire and a beadcap to it. The vial is about 3cm high.

Hello my dear readers and welcome to my big reveal.

I'm so pleased to finally be able to show you my altered project as the guest designer for the 

mixed media warriors challenge blog 

I'm so honered to have been invited as part of the amazing design team for this month. Have you seen their other creations? 

AMAZING!

So for my seainspired altered box I have used papers from 
Graphic45 "Voyage beneath the sea"

 I absolutely LOVE these papers and they were a blast to work with.   

The box measures about 15x12.5x3.5 cm and can be hung by the handle on top with a pearlstring.

I started by painting the whole box with gesso. Then I added smears of ranger's distress crayons in the colors rusty hinge, fossilized amber and peeled paint. I also used distress ink in the color evergreen bough and vintage photo here are there.

The crayons I rubbed first with a dry, then with a moist stiff brush to get the desired look.

I kept checking the papers to get the perfect colorscheme.

I then chose papers and used ranger's matte collage medium to glue them onto the box in different panels. Before I glued them on I distressed the edges and rubbed them with vintage photo distress ink. 
The medium dries fast so you need to keep up.

 
After that it was a quest through my embellishments to find odds and ends that would fit this steampunk underworld scene. I found things like small gears, pieces of glass, goldwire, seashells, stones, mirror mosaicpieces, pearlstring, a glasscabochon with fitting and a tiny handle that I colored with Annie Sloan's chalk paint. Among other things...

I painted the shell with gesso, then I added stickles glitterglue "waterfall" in the grooves. When it was dry I rubbed the edges with distress ink in the color "vintage photo". Finally I cut up a turquoise flower and stuck it in the shell to make it resemble some kind of anemone. I also added the same glitterglue to the anemone's edges for some extra pizzazz.

Arranging it all together took the longest and I waited - no joke - a week before the right combinations presented themselves.
Do you get that too where you can't figure out what's "wrong" with a piece and you keep looking at it and something is missing for it to be completely done? I sometimes struggle with being patient because I just want the project to be done and move on to the next, but it's always worth the wait. 

The last thing I did was making the "starfishflower" with the fishcabochonbutton (custommade with an image from the line) and adding the gold crumped wire to the side. That was ultimately what gave the box the oomph I was looking for and made me feel like it was made to perfection.

I must say I'm quite pleased that it's finished and am happy to clean up my table and start new adventures. But I'm so glad I waited as long as I did for the piece to "reveal" itself because I'm so extremely pleased and proud of it.
You can't rush creativity, right? 

Supplies: 

Papers: graphic45 "Voyage beneath the sea"

Color: distress crayons in rusty hinge, fossilized amber and peeled paint, distress ink in evergreen bough and vintage photo

Tools: starfish die from Impression obsession DIE077-W
Others: Ranger's collage medium matte, wooden box, embellishments

Chalk paint tutorials

 Just a quick note to let you know I found a fabulous site with lots of tips and tricks on how to use the Annie Sloan's chalkpaint. If you make a project using the chalk paint - let me know. I'd love to see what you've made.

http://www.thepurplepaintedlady.com/