Friday 9 March 2018

Treasure our Planet

Hi there and thank-you for stopping by.

I'm delighted to be featuring today at A Vintage Journey - one of my very favourite challenge blogs, as one of their Pinworthy mentions. It is an honour thank-you ladies!

Brenda and team are celebrating their 4th Birthday this month and so Brenda has chosen the theme of 'Treasure' for their current challenge. I decided to use gold foil cardstock that came with perfume bottle packaging as I've been 'treasuring' it in my stash for quite a while. Somehow I ended up die cutting a globe, creating a galaxy by altering a chipboard shadow box, and then turning the whole scene into a kind of protest with Tim Holtz paper dolls carrying placards with 'suggestions' as to how to treasure our planet more and help slow climate change. Here it is ...
































How-to and Ingredients





I began with a chipboard shadow box by Snipart that I won over a year ago
















To get the background 'Blue Planet' I whooshed some Tim Holtz distress inks around watercolour paper. (Used Broken China, Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean). Later diecut a circle from this paper that I applied to rear of Goil Foil 'Earth' that I diecut using Tim Holtz / Sizzix mini Globe die.






Cut a new sheet of chipboard to fit inside the shadow box and blended layers of Tim Holtz distress inks (Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot).

Reason for new sheet, (as opposed to the original backing that came with the shadow box), was that I knew the sheet would begin to curve when heat was applied and I didn't want to end up with a bent back for the shadow box.







Splattered on Ecoline liquid watercolour in white and gold plus Winsor & Newton ink in gold.

Not shown in photo but I also swirled around some Ranger Perfect Pearls for a milky resist.









Dabbed Versamark on card, coated with embossing enamel and heated with Ranger heat tool until melted. Added 4 layers of embossing enamel whilst sprinkling crushed glass glitter between layers. (Stampendous Steel Blue & Prima Gold Rush). Splattered more watercolour ink, and flattened overnight under books. (If any cracks form when trying to flatten, just do a localised versamark / UTEE patch and melt to fill crack).






Cut 4 extra strips of chipboard to fit outer sides of shadow box and gave them the same 'galaxy' treatment as before.

I didn't want to risk bending the original sides of shadow box so painted them with Dina Wakley acrylic paint in 'Night'. (So glad I had this as I had exhausted my chipped sapphire ink!).












Here you can see the box begin to take shape before I adhered extra side panels (above)  using a combination of double sided tape and hot glue.














 
Some staging for the final edition. After this photo, the top flat panel was given the 'galaxy' treatment as before. I diecut all the letters using Sizzix / Tim Holtz Holiday Words 2 die set from my treasured gold foil.. This die set had all the letters I needed in its words except for 'U' so I used a 'C' on its side! The foil was fairly thick so it took an age to get all the fiddly letters. In the end I mounted the letters onto thick chipboard strips that had been 'galaxied' (!) so that the letters appeared to hover.




I edged the Tim Holtz paper dolls with a Krylon gold gilding pen. Using said pen I also gilded a chipboard square frame to hide the joins. Added Swarovski crystals and pearls (definitely 'Treasure' to me) to decorate the dolls. I'm glad that the new packs of paper dolls include a more ethnically diverse range of paper dolls, but sadly I don't yet have a new pack, as it would have been more apt for this creation.

The gold foil cardstock couldn't be printed on, so I printed text on Stix2 printable acetate and glued to foil with Ranger glossy accents. Gilded a few cocktail sticks so that the paper dolls could carry their placards! Diecut some tiny leaves from my blue inked paper to try to link the dolls to the 'blue planet'. As usual I had lots of plans to add other ingredients such as flowers, and clock dangling from a hinge clip, but it then looked overdone. So I just let the the words, globe and little people speak for themselves (and hopefully more and more of us!).


Thank-you so much to all the super talented team at A Vintage Journey for allowing me feature amongst their Pinworthys today. You should check out this months challenge of 'Treasure' to see the wonderful design team inspiration, and sure why don't you make your very own 'Treasure' project too!

Very many thanks for your visit,

Nicola x


I wish to enter shadow box to the following challenges:
Simon Monday Challenge - Whatever The Weather (I think climate change relevant)
Scrapyland - Anything Goes #85 using die brand carried by store (Sizzix)
Mix It Up Challenge - Anything Goes + make your own background
Alphabet Challenge - Y is your choice
Aud Sentiments Challenge - Anything Goes + a sentiment
Use Your Stuff - Anything Goes
An Inky Mess - Challenge 18 Anything Mixed Media Goes
Creative Artiste - 18, Anything Mixed Media goes
A Bit More Time to Craft - 63, Anything Goes



21 comments:

  1. Oh my dear Nicola!!! You truly are AMAZING!!! Your creation is inspiring and has a mission! I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT! I am a huge "tree hugger" :)
    Samra
    Paper Talk with Samra

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  2. Pretty mixed media piece Nicola, nice to see you are still creating.

    Have a good weekend.

    B x

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  3. Dear Nicola, this is in so many ways a gorgeous creation.
    The theme , as we should all demonstrate more against how we all are spoiling this earth, and your amazing creation- -a picture of our beautiful world- the planet so gorgeous in blue and gold, and the dark glittery sky . And love the kids, you gave such detailed gifts in form of belt,necklace,buttons, and more- also so right, you chose them and not adults for the wonderful demonstration, Nicola. Fantastic, dear.
    Hugs, Dorthe

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  4. what a fabulous idea!

    thank you so much for playing along with us at alphabet challenges!

    hugs and kisses from germany,
    silvi xoxo

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  5. Oh my gosh, Nicola, this is absolutely stunning!! Wow!! I love the theme and the message of this!! The sky looks amazing!! I love the gold planet and the little kids!! Everything is spectacular!! Huge congrats on your so-deserved Feature spot!! Have a great weekend!! Big hugs :)

    Lisa
    A Mermaid's Crafts

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  6. Dear Nicola, I am almost at a loss for words, this creation really is a true treasure in every sense of the word! Your attention to detail, as always, is exemplary and I have enjoyed every moment of your 'construction' right down to the little pearls and gems you added to the gorgeous little dolls. The galaxy sky is just stunning and the golden globe looks fantastic against the distress background you created. I love the whole piece and the message it conveys. Thank you so much for joining us as a Pinworthy too!! Big hugs, Anne xxx

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  7. What a fabulous project...this is amazing Nicola! I just love everything about it and the message is so strong and perfect ~ it's stunning! Thank you so much for sharing and for playing along with us over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog... xx

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  8. Fantastic project which reminds us of the Treasure God has given to us! I love that you used your message as the treasure as well as used your physical crafty treasure to convey it. What a great crafty score in that frame!

    Thank you so much for being our Pinworthy Guest at A vintage Journey and for all your hard work! Hugs!

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  9. Stunning! This is so thoughtful and I love that you used the kids for the placard messages. I love this!

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  10. A very beautiful piece Nicola, congrats. Hope you are well. xxx Véronique.

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  11. This is a great entry. I love your post and all the time and pictures you took so we can learn techniques from you.

    Diana
    Playingwithoutlimits.wordpress.com

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  12. What a fantastic idea!

    Thanks for sharing this with us at Aud Sentiments,

    Hugz Tinz

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  13. I was blown away upon first look! It's absolutely beautiful and pulls you in. The placards made me laugh out loud.... Especially the diet one. Oh how I wish we would all take care of mother earth and each other. Absolutely wonderful work.

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  14. I love your message and the scene you created here. So many details and a great step by step. Thanks for sharing with us at Creative Artiste Mixed Media challenge blog!

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  15. What a beautiful shadowbox!! Love all of the details and the step by step tutorial. This is so pretty!! Thanks for joining us at Scrapy Land

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  16. Beautiful project, love the depth you achieved and your backdrop is wonderful. Thank you for the step by steps . Tracy ❤️

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  17. Hi Nicola, lovely to see you creating again and this is a stunner. Love your take on the theme using all those paper dolls and the attention to detail is fabulous. Great step by step instructions too.
    Avril xx

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  18. What a brilliant creation, Nicola, with such a powerful message too. The golden accents are magical against the dark sky, and I love the paper dolls offering their advice for how to protect our one and only planet. Marvellous work - sorry it's taken me so long to catch up with it!
    Alison x

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  19. Thank you so much for your lovely comments - it's great to hear from you. Do hope all is well, and that you're finding some time for you.
    Alison xx

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Thank-you! Your visit and comment is very much appreciated. Nicola x