Good morning, everybody! I have good and bad news to report today. First the bad news... my computer crashed Friday evening and I spent the entire weekend restoring it! What a pain in the patootie! That has never happened to me before so I had no idea what all was involved in doing a complete restore. Thank goodness I had saved almost everything on a backup drive that updates automatically on a periodic basis. It just takes a very long time to reformat the computer hard drives and then to reload software, like MS Office, internet/virus protection and photo editing software, not to mention restoring all the files. But I'm back up and running faster and smoother than before so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.
Now, for the good news! Challenge #11 at Amber's Crafts and Stuff starts today and this week the theme is "Something Vintage". My project was actually completed a while back, when I made a similar box for a blog hop I participated in. This is not really vintage in the antique or shabby chic sense of the word but more in style and feel. This was a "naked" wooden box I found in the dollar bin at Michael's several months ago. They had only two left of different shape and I was intrigued by them enough to buy them both. I thought they would make wonderful altered projects but I had no idea how they would look when I was finished. There was no definitive plan for them until I actually started working on them. There was just something about these little boxes that screamed vintage to me. I wanted them to be similar in feel but very different in color and overall appearance yet both had to have that old-fashioned feeling to them. If you'd like to see the first one, you can find it
here. I haven't made a card to match the second box but that may be something I'll do in the future.
This box is much brighter in color with it's gold, orange and hot pink. It "feels" kind of art deco to me and it, like the first one, is the perfect size to hold a pair of reading glasses. I think it would look very nice on a bedside table or sitting on a coffee or end table in a shabby chic bedroom or sun room, even though it's not really shabby chic itself. The curly ribbon doesn't lend itself to the vintage theme but I hope you can overlook that minor detail. Hee hee!
Here's my recipe:
naked balsa wood box from Michael's dollar bin (I think these were discontinued so you might have trouble finding more of them)
DP from the Que Sera Sera Specialty Paper stack by K and Company
paper flowers from Prima
tiny silk flowers from Michael's bridal section (these are sold in little bunches and I cut them apart to use the individual blossoms)
organza ribbon and gold elastic cord from Michael's
golden plastic gem attached to the wooden button closure (I can't remember where I got it but you can find them almost anywhere)
tiny gold braid trim from Jo-Ann
brads used as centers on the paper flowers by Recollections
blue/violet Crystal Glitter by Mark Enterprises (I don't recall where I bought this either but any crystal type ultra fine glitter will give the same effect. I used this on the flowers and leaves to give them that pretty sugared appearance.
I really like how it turned out but I would love to know what you think. I'll do my best to begin posting those new cards I promised you last week. Between the computer crash and my job hunting, there hasn't been time. I have spent the past 2 days interviewing for jobs with agencies and potential employers. I have a phone interview at 11 this morning but if I can get the photos taken and edited, I may even have a second post later today. Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope I have inspired you in some way.
Happy crafting!
Anniebee
