Whimsical Altered Box for Ephemera's Vintage Garden

Today I'm sharing a really fun box I created for Ephemera's Vintage Garden.  I used images and background papers from a set of digital printable art journal elements called A Happy Place.  I wanted to create something with a mixed media look and feel and with a touch of whimsey.  The papers themselves have paint splatters and blotches and I also added some of my own splatters and drips here and there, and some gesso to give it a real artsy look.  The papers and journal bits are designed to make creating an art journal both fun and easy, but there are so many other fun creations you can make in addition to your art journal.  I will be showing you more fun projects using this set next month.

Everything is very sturdy and coated with plenty of Mod Podge for durability so I can use this box for art supplies.  The flower on top is made of wood that I covered with more of the papers.  There are also more pieces, of both backgrounds and art bits available in this set which I will link to below.

Products:

Ephemera's Vintage Garden

A Happy Place II 

Printable Journal Pages

Other parts of this set that are available:

A Happy Place

A Happy Place II printable art journal pages

Other Products Used:

Unfinished wooden cigar box from JoAnn's

Wooden Flower from Factory Direct Craft available online

Chipboard diamond texture sheet from Gina's Designs

Shabby Book Box - Creative Team Project for Ephemera's Vintage Garden

Today I'm sharing a super shabby altered book box.  I have created some fun inside the box with the intent that it be displayed upright on my nightstand.  I just love how it came out, and I can't stop looking at the inside.  All of the papers as well as the tags and images inside the box, are part of the printable digital paper kit called Paris in My Heart by Ephemera's Vintage Garden.  Additionally, I have added some lace, doilies, flowers and other embellishments.  Inside I have created a flower from the digital papers and using the Tim Holtz Tattered Flower die.  This is my third project created with this collection.  I love that I can print what I want over and over again.  It is so gorgeous, perfect for any lover of shabby roses.  Thanks so much for looking!

Products Used:

Digital Design Paper by Ephemera's Vintage Garden

Paris in My Heart Collection

Check out Debbie's other gorgeous paper collections, and sign up for amazing weekly freebies HERE!

Other:

Chipboard corner piece on cover by Gina's Designs

Flowers by Petaloo

Prima Resins

Doilies and parchment flower cluster inside cover by Craftsupplies1

Butterflies by Renea Bouquets

Book Box and Card Set for Ephemera's Vintage Garden

Hi Crafty Friends!  Today I am sharing my latest Creative Team  project for Ephemera's Vintage Garden. For this rotation, I am fortunate to be working with The Vintage Queen Bee Kit.  The images in this digital kit are amazing!!  If you enjoy making handmade journals and mini albums, then these complete kits are for you. For my first project with this kit, I chose to alter a wooden book box from Michaels and to store some handmade cards, created from the kit, inside the box.  I know I've said it before, but I can't say it enough how I've enjoyed working with digital papers.  Not only are they gorgeous, but you can print them over and over again, and even resize them to suit your needs.  In this case, I can give these cards to special friends, and just make more so I will always have cards to match my book box!

Below is a better view of the book box.  All paper is from the digital kit which comes with the papers and all sorts of extra images you can cut out to create little pockets, belly bands, circles, tags, etc.  The spine of the book box is also paper from the kit, with just a wee bit of extra distressing added by me. The roses are even created from the printed papers and using a rose die.  The knob and bookplate on the front of the box are by Recollections.   The chipboard flourishes on top of the box are by Gina's Designs.

Below is a closeup of the top of the book box.

Below is the inside of the book box.  Isn't the paper GORGEOUS!

Below are the three cards I created to fit inside the box  More info under each card.

Background design paper from the kit,  as are the pop-dotted elements at lower left (circle and ticket).  Honeycomb at upper right is a Tim Holtz die, chipboard bees on top of honeycomb are Gina's Designs.

On the card Above, all paper is part of the kit.  I only added bits of lace, buttons and a flower, and some Tim Holtz distress ink.

On the card above, all paper is from the kit including the circle shapes at mid and upper left.  In the center I have created a cut-out and tucked in a piece of chipboard honeycomb as well as a couple of bees and crowns by Gina's Designs.

Products Links:

Ephemera's Vintage Garden

Vintage Queen Bee 5 x 7 Printable Journal Kit

If you would like to see a tutorial on how this paper kit can be made into a completed journal, all ready for your personal touch, you can watch a video by Debbie-Anne the creator of this lovely kit HERE.

Check out Debbie's other gorgeous papers, and sign up for some amazing freebies HERE! 

Vintage Seamstress - Sewing Themed Altered Cigar Box

Hi everyone! Today I am sharing an altered cigar box using papers from digital files that I have printed myself.  This coming August,  the Gina's Designs team will be participating in a cross promotional using digital designs by Kitty's Scrap Post.  We were excited to find out that in addition to each of us picking our choice of a digital  kit to work with for our August projects, all of us received the French Seamstress Kit as an extra bonus.   When I saw this gorgeous French Seamstress kit,  I just knew I had to combine the papers with Gina's sewing themed chipboard shapes.  A match made in Crafty Heaven!

 I'd been wanting a box to store my vintage Czech glass button collection and other sewing related collectibles I have accumulated, so I dug out this cigar box from my stash, and went to work.  I'm so happy with the way it turned out.  The box measures 7" x 7.5" x 4" deep.

I began by covering the box both inside and out, even the bottom got papered.  The best thing about digital papers is that you can print them as many times as you want to.  Just look how pretty the images are in this collection!

After the box was papered, everything got two coats of matte Mod Podge so the box can be wiped clean with a wet cloth.  Several techniques (as described below each photo) were used to decorate the chipboard shapes.

The dressform on the top of the box was embossed with Stampendous Shabby Pink Embossing Powder.  Closeup view of the top below:

Aren't the papers gorgeous!  In addition to the dressform, I simply added a few Recollections flowers and fabric leaves.

On the front of the box I added more chipboard shapes and a few buttons to blend in with the button print on the paper.  Here the chippies were painted with Folk art acrylics.  Metal bookplate by Recollections and metal feet by Tim Holtz were painted with gesso and green acrylic paint.

On this side of the box I added the button border from Gina's Designs, and embossed it with Stampendous Shabby White, Pink, and Blue alternately.

On this side, I added a skeleton clock and clock hands embossed with Stampendous Shabby White embossing powder.  The chipboard clock mimics the clock and clock hands design on the paper.

On this side, I added scissors and another dressform.  The dressform is embossed with Shabby Blue, and the scissors with Shabby Marine (handles) and with a brass color embossing powder for the blades.

Here's a view of the inside! I'm all ready to add my collection of buttons and things!

Closeup of the inside lid.  On these shapes,  I have painted first with Gesso, stamped with a script stamp and then inked with pale pink and pale blue inks from Recollections new Vintage Romance collection of products.

Inside of the box at the bottom is another gorgeous design from the kit.  It was so hard to decide which paper to use on the top!

I hope you like my project, and be sure to visit us at Gina's Designs, and also check out all the gorgeous digital paper collections at Kitty's Scrap Post.

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Vintage Seamstress Shape Set

Button Border

Dressforms 1 Shape Set

Dressforms 2 Miniature Shape set

Skeleton Clocks

Clock Hands Shape Set

Other:

Digital Design Papers by Kitty's Scrap Post

French Seamstress Kit

Hi everyone!  Today I'm sharing this trinket box you can purchase at Gina's Designs.  At a generous 7 inches square, this is a good sized box with lots of room for decorating and embellishing.  I decorated the box as a pet memorial for my beloved Willie.  It contains a cast of his paw print, a disk of photos, and a little kitty angel book signed by all of the doctors and staff at the veterinary cancer care center after his passing.  I treasure this box, and every memory it holds.  The embellishments are mainly flowers and some pearl sprigs from CraftSupplies1.

I crackle painted the box and added Tim Holtz feet.  The corners and the frame around the photo are from Gina's Designs.  The resin bridge is by Prima.

Gina's Design's Products used:

Trinket Box

Fantasy Frames and Flourishes

Decorative Corners (available soon)

Other Products:

Flowers and pearl sprigs from CraftSupplies1

Tim Holtz Feet

Resin Bridge by Prima

Folk Art paints

White School Glue (used as a crackle medium)

Altered Wooden Purse for Ephemera's Vintage Garden

This altered purse is a Design Team project for Ephemera's Vintage Garden.  I bought the purse at Michaels in the unfinished wood section.  I'd always though they were adorable, but had never tried altering one.  I had so much fun creating it, and it's a very quick project.  I love the collage style of the digital papers I had to work with.  It really makes the decorating so easy.  The papers I used are from the Shabby Chic Mashup paper add-on.  It's a set of 8 printable double-sided pages designed for 4 x 6 mini journals.  They are a "mashup" of several other designs in Debbie's current digital minis line, and were designed to coordinate.  

The photo below is the front of the purse:

 I adhered the papers to the wood with matte Mod Podge and gave it a good heavy topcoat so the purse can be wiped with a damp cloth.  I used some chipboard shapes from Gina's Designs including the tiny dressform, the lacy trim at the bottom, and the key plate.  I mostly embossed the chipboard.  I replaced the wooden handle that came with the purse with an inexpensive one from Ace hardware and I distressed it with Gilder's Paste.  Flowers, feathers, and  metal pieces were all stash items.

Photo below is the back of the purse:

Below is the side where you can see how I used washi tape and hand stamping to decorate.  I used Tim Holtz metal feet to display the purse so it's standing up on my dresser.  I had planned on gifting it, but I can't part with it :)

This purse is my second Design Team project for Ephemera's Vintage Garden using the Shabby Chic Mashup add-on set.  There are more gorgeous papers in this set that I still haven't show you.  I will reveal more of them next month in an amazing wall decor piece that I am currently working on.  It's gorgeous and I can't wait to show it off!  Working with digital papers is amazing because you can print them out as many times as you'd like.  It's a great opportunity to have matching projects to decorate your space with.  Head over to Ephemera's Vintage Garden, to check out the gorgeous papers, and sign up for some amazing freebies HERE! 

Altered Cigar Box for my Swap Partner

This year some of the members on the Gina's Designs Team decided to participate in a gift and goodie swap.  It was a lot of fun decorating this unfinished cigar box from Michael's for my swap partner Angela.  I began with paper in soft muted tones.  I applied the paper with gel medium and put another coat of gel medium over the top.  I decoupaged doilies and a dragonfly image on top of the base paper.  I added a die cut frame and a chipboard frame on top of that and also coated with the gel medium.  The embellishments are mainly crocheted appliques, a fabric flower, a cameo from the dollar store, and paper butterflies.  I also applied a beautiful multi-colored lace trim on the sides and coated it with gel medium.  On the outside of the top lid I applied some beaded trim and secured it with more gel medium.

On the inside I decoupaged more design paper and some die cut birds

Closeup of the inside lid.

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Filigree Frames Shapes Set

Cardstock Doilies Set 1

Flourishes 2

Other Products:

Papers by DCWV

Bird Die Cuts by DCWV

Golden self-leveling gel medium

Flower Appliques by Delightful Designer and Raviolee Dream on Etsy

Tim Holtz feet

Butterflies by Renea Bouquets on Etsy

Altered Cigar Box

I created this cigar box for my friend Natalie.  She currently lives with girl kitties, and has two girl kitties at the Rainbow Bridge.  I made this for her to keep mementos or photos in.  Hope you like it.

Gina's Designs Products used:
Leafy Tree 2
Butterflies and Dragonflies
Fern Fronds
Cardstock Doilies
Ornamental Birdcages Shape Set
Fence

This project also on youtube  HERE.

Twilight Altered Cigar Box for swap at MAS

This Twilight Cigar Box was made for my partner Lisa at Mini Album Scraps as part of our swapping vampire group. You can also view it in video on my You Tube channel.

Pinup Themed Altered Cigar Box

A Design Team Project for Mini Album Scraps. This altered Cigar box features the gorgeous shoe and doilies available at our shop. The box is decorated in a pinup theme and is is protected with gel medium in gloss to protect the finish. The paper line is DCWV Femme Fatale.