Altered Bottle with Mseal

Altered Bottle

          There is something so exciting about recycling crafts....if you are a recycling/ altered project enthusiast like me I am sure you agree it is so thrilling to see the transformation ! So when it was my turn to choose a swap theme for our small group of "Bangalore Papercrafters" I chose the theme altered bottle. There are so many beautiful wine bottles out there but my hubby is a teetotaler and I had to settle on altering a Dettol bottle [ yeah we have plenty of those being doctors and all!!]

Altered Bottle

After the usual scrub and label stripping , the Dettol bottle got painted with Gesso and white acrylic paint and sponged light green with Mowed lawn distress ink

Altered Bottle

Mounted a  3 D decoupage fairy image with nearly 5 layers  atop a lacey heart on one side of the bottle .[Here are more examples of similar fairy 3 D decoupage : Spinning card tutorial  and Altered Tin can]. Added a spray of pearls to splay over the little fairies!

3 D decoupage

          The other side of the bottle has a floral image which at first sight looks like paper/ napkin decoupage...well its neither! The image is a beautiful tattoo I had picked up from a local super market and experimented on the bottle using water to transfer the image! Haha yes it worked much to my surprise!! Anyway gave it a top coat of modpodge so that it doesn't flake off!

Thai clay rose

I experimented with Thai clay [an expensive air dry clay]for the first time and made the red roses. Working with Thai clay  was a bit of a struggle as it would dry out so fast; so used the much cheaper Mseal to make all the leaves [Click this link to read about Mseal and how to use it :  Mseal Art tutorial ]

Mseal Art

Mixed green oil colour in while kneading the 2 components of the Mseal and hence could achieve a better look than my rose leaves in Mseal Roses Art.

         

Thai clay rose

The lacey white bow was made with a Sue Wilson die [ a gift from Shalini of Crafters Corner] and those pearly leaves are a find from a local fancy store!

Paper Bow

Here are the Mseal clay leaves winding over the edge of my altered bottle! The best thing about Mseal is you dont have to use an additional glue to stick it ! If you work while the Mseal is soft and pliable it will stick easily to glass/ wood/ metal!!

Mseal Art

The Dettol bottle had a rather sorry looking cap and I sculpted a more glamorous faux cap using Mseal and gave it a skirt of dangling crystal beads! Not too happy about the faux cap painting though!

Mseal art

Here is my altered bottle sitting in our showcase and the mirrors reflecting the other side too!

Altered Bottle

My bottle went to the multi-talented Anuja...hope she likes it !

Supplies : 3 D decoupage sheet :from Dufex, Crafters Companion company, Dies :Sue Wilson Filigree bow die from Crafters Corner ;Spellbinders Lacey Hearts, Mseal : local stationary Shop; Thai Clay : from Itsy Bitsy; Distress Ink : Mowed Lawn and Victorian Velvet

I hope you like my altered bottle...do tell me how it is....

Glass Cabochon Tutorial

Castle Shadowbox

             Dear friends sharing a Castle shaped shadow box  which I made for my DT project with Crafters Corner using a kit manufactured by LaLaLand Crafts. I had a lot of fun altering the MDF/chipboard pieces with distress inks, pearly  mists and clear sparkle embossing but my favorite element in the castle is the glass cabochons!

Glass Cabochon

I laid my hands on the gorgeous  glass domes called cabochons only recently and have fallen in love with them! They are economic, super cute and super easy to transform into embellishments and jewelry!

Glass Cabochon

         I wasn't really sure how to use them and when I Googled, I landed up on several you-tube videos.I am more of a pictorial person than a video lover so thought I would share the simple steps to make the glass cabochons if you are like me, and love to run through a pictorial in seconds than spend so much more time watching a You-tube video!

Glass Cabochon Tutorial 

Glass Cabochons are available in several cute shapes and sizes like ovals and rounds

Glass Cabochon Tutorial 

Choose a pretty pattern paper /glitter paper/ fabric or even a special  photo to use with your cabochon. If you have a punch the size of your cabochon...makes your life even easier-- but it doesnt really matter!

Glass Cabochon Tutorial 

Place your cabochon on the design you want and trace loosely around with your pencil and cut-- you don't have to be super accurate as the convex edges of your cabochon will hide all little jagged edges and minor mistakes!!

Glass Cabochon Tutorial 

If you have a punch that fits your Cabochon size like I did- punch from the under-surface as shown above so that you can  see exactly where you are punching.

Glass Cabochon Tutorial 

Apply a clear drying glue like Modpodge [can also use our good old fevicol mr ]on the flat under-surface of your glass cabochon with a paintbrush/ foam etc.

Glass Cabochon Tutorial 

Place your paper cut on it and blot with a tissue/ cloth and leave to dry.

Glass Cabochon

Dont you love the lovely transformation of that bit of paper! The sparkling gem studded  dome atop is a broken earring I recycled and  the diamond chain was snipped off and old dress! 

Glass Cabochon

               My Castle Shadow box holds a royal Christmas scene with a glittery foam reindeer and a chipboard Christmas tree decked in rhinestones and a diamond chain [snipped off the old dress!] Added a metal filigree Glass Cabochon pendant on the Castle Banner to step up the grandeur!

Glass Cabochon Pendant

Most of the glass cabochons have matching metal case pendants to make jewelry like earrings and pendant but paper crafting being my first love I used my handmade pendant on my shadowbox! The gemstone stop my pendant is recycled from an old earring!

Glass Cabochon

Lots of ideas to use the Glass Cabochons --you can adhere a bit of felt to the back and use it on dresses or adhere it to a magnet and use it as a cute fridge magnet!

Castle Shadowbox

More about my Castle...here you can see the shimmer of the castle and the little bricks I made using clay which  I rolled out,cut up and inked with distress ink!

Castle Shadowbox

Used the tattered lace rose die to make 3 dimensional flowers with crystal beaded pollen centers and the also used the same die to make a stand for the Christmas tree .

Castle Shadowbox

My little girl felt the reindeer and Christmas tree did not match the castle ...but somehow Christmas is on my mind and I couldnt bring myself to remove them!!

Castle Shadowbox

Added a royal scepter charm atop a "crackled" castle turret!

Castle Shadowbox

And here is the Glittery Royal Castle all ready for a Pink Christmas! I hope you enjoyed the simple tutorial photos and liked my Christmas Castle! Do tell me how it is

For details on how I altered the Shadowbox kit do drop by  my Crafters Corner DT post on 12 ideas to Alter Chipboard/MDF 

Supplies :from Crafter's Corner,La La Land Castle Shadowbox ;Dies : Tattered Lace Lacy Rose, Sue Wilson Filigree Bow, ,Sue Wilson Faux quilled Leaves , Memory Box Rounded fence, Spellbinders Lace hearts:Embellishments : Crystal beaded Pollen , Charms , Cabochons and Pendants 

Diwali Lantern

Diwali lantern 

          For my non Indian friends lemme explain the heading "Diwali Lantern" ...being a multicultural country we have many many festivals in India and Diwali is a widely celebrated Hindu festival and its also called the festival of lights ---it celebrates the victory of "light over darkness" or "good or evil"! We light oil lamps, lanterns and have a blast with firecrackers! This year I thought I would make a Paper Diwali Lantern .

          If you have missed my Christmas themed 3 D paper lantern tutorial do have a look at it to understand how I used 3 die cuts  from the Marianne Petra Corner die set to make the framework of my Paper Lantern

Paper Lantern tutorial 

        I love lattices and decided to dress up my basic lantern  by adding lattice die cuts between the pillars of the  Paper lantern.

Diwali lantern 

         The Paper Lantern houses a battery operated tea light and like every crafter who has laid hands on one of these...I just love how the light shimmers!

Diwali Crafts

My lattice die cuts [Wild rose studio floral frame die] fit snugly between the pillars of the lantern

Diwali Decorations 

At first kept it simple with just lacy red bows and  rhinestones.

Diwali Craft 

Red and white is a favorite color combination of mine and I think I can use this lantern for Christmas too [ Yes we celebrate Christmas too at my home !!] The photo below shows the bows alternating with the glittery embossed Marianne die cuts in the roof of the paper Lantern.

Diwali lantern 

I hinged one of the lattice windows instead of sticking it so that it can swing open .

Diwali lantern 

You can take out the tea light and switch it on when you want to light up the festive Lantern!

Diwali lantern 

           My daughter and I debated whether to add the red beaded garland or not...simplicity versus grandeur...and well since it was a festival project...the more decked up the better...right? I hope you agree!!

Diwali Decorations 

Do tell me how you liked this festive lantern!

Supplies:Embossing: WOW Embossing Powder Clear Sparkle, Versamark Watermark Stamp pad, Ranger Heat gun;Dies : Marianne creatable Petra Corners ,Tattered Lace Lacy Rose, Sue Wilson Filigree Bow- all from Crafters Corner ;Lifestyle crafts Circle Die, Spellbinders Lace hearts,Wild Rose studio floral frame [won from the wild rose studio blog];

Edited : This Lantern came top 3 at Imaginations festival themed Challenge

Clay Bunny and Girl

Clay Bunny

           Dear friends super excited to share  some clay models made my by little daughter[ she is not so little any more-- she is 8 now!].Like many doting mums I do buy expensive toys for my little girl but despite me and her grandmother spoiling my little girl with expensive Barbie dolls, I am proud to say my daughter has the most fun while crafting with her hands!!

Clay Bunny

My daughter has holidays now and today my husband acted as babysitter! I was so thrilled to be greeted by this cute clay bunny on clay grass when I cam home from my Clinic today!

Clay Girl

Her father gave her an old tile to put her clay models on and she was so excited we loved her clay bunny she made a Clay doll to keep her bunny company!

Clay Models

The white and pink are some new clay colors I got for her, so like any little/big girl who wants to play with new crafty goodies you see a dominance of pink and white!! Ha Ha

Clay Craft Artist!

And here is my darling Clay artist with her clay models! Do pen down a few sweet words for my kiddo....believe me she is going to want to read all the comments and ask me what each one of you had said!!