Happy accidents happen, take heart .....

Today I am sharing a project with you that took a completely different direction from where I initially expected it too! It started out as 3 different sized MDF hearts, which I set about creating a different texture background for each one. The biggest heart, which you can hardly see anymore, I made a fabulous crackled base, I covered the 2nd heart with lace & for the 3rd heart, I stuck on some little wooden swirls. Next, I went looking for other bits & pieces to use, low & behold, I found lots more hearts, which I set about colouring in various ways.
Now this is where everything got lost & the direction I had planned for this project went by the wayside.

I had a phone from my sister, telling me that my Dad was in intensive care & I needed to get there quickly.  As you can imagine, my mind was all over the place. Thankfully, I got to the hospital just in time to say goodbye to my Dad for the last time ... My world had just fallen apart. That was a week ago!

After a few days, I felt strong enough to do a bit of crafting again & this is when I realised that one of the hearts I had glued down  at the wrong angle. I use gel medium as my glue, so no way would it come apart now without damaging it, so I had to work around it.  I just could not bring this heart project to anywhere near to liking it, I even tried adding even more hearts to try to alter the shape, but nope I still didn't like it.

So in the end, I threw caution to the wind & decided to blacken it all out with Gesso & start again. Finally, I managed to produce something that I quite liked, with the help of the fantastic Inka-Gold wax paints by Viva.

EDITED to say that this piece was chosen as Runner Up over on the Bleeding Art Challenge blog

I am entering this in to the following challenges
Bleeding Art Challenge   Altered Eclectics

A simple, but pretty box

Today I am sharing a simple box, which is quick, inexpensive & fun to make, even someone with no experience could make it.
I plan on making lots of these, so that I always have one ready to gift as adhoc gifts, unexpected guests, birthdays etc. However, the main reason for making them is to donate them to fundraisers, charity shops & so forth.

I painted a simple wooden box with a pretty pearly paint, while drying I prepared my scallop shell. The inner part of the shell was a little dark for the finish I wanted, so I painted the inside with a white pearl paint & while still wet, I sprinkled the inside with some original dazzle dust & touched the outer edge of the shell with some mica powder in a baby blue colour. I then sprayed it with a cheap hair spray too seal it. Next I stuck a couple of paper leaves & rose in place, added a faux pearl inside the shell, then glued in place. These boxes are cheap, easy & fun to make, perfect on those days when your time is limited or your mojo has done a runner!