Steampunk Tissue Boxes

My studio met with a certain demise over a year ago, and since that time I have been focusing on my digital designs, until I could acquire a new building that won't fall prey to every little water disaster that comes my way. My husband and I went down to a cedar shed dealer where we ordered a custom building that will be delivered in a couple of weeks. It is 14x40 with 16ft of loft space, and I will have room to stretch out and be all kinds of messy, and still have enough space for workshops.  

In the meantime, this is a favorite project that I left in my drafts folder, and thought it would be a great time to add something new (And knock that Christmas Tree off the front page!). 

I used almost all Tim Holtz die cuts, and painted them with iron paint and then rusted them. My favorite detail is the picture wheel. I scanned a black cut and made a digital template, then printed pictures on acetate. It is a time consuming project, but it is full of wonder and inspiration. 

Vintage Trunk

 I was especially proud of this project. It is a rather large trunk that I bought at the Craft Warehouse in Vancouver, WA. It was on sale, but still a pretty penny. I thought this wooden box would take a lot longer to complete, but I actually finished it in a day.

I painted the box frame with Modern Masters, to create this great rust effect. I used paper from a steampunk theme cardstock pack from the Hobby Lobby, and used the Cricut to cut out his monogram for the top, which I wanted to fit into the white space. 

The front is a stencil that I made with my Cricut (Indie Art, I believe) and stencil sheets from the Hobby Lobby. I rubber stamped his birthday in the crest just to make it personal. 

The inside is from the same paper stack, and really not that hard to cut it to size. This is another one of those stack-able projects. Some things need to be simple, so they are not just clutter and dust collectors. Keep it simple and it will last forever.

Butterfly Canvas

 "just living is not enough said the butterfly. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."

This is a 12x12 canvas, 2in thick. I stamped the poem on acetate packaging with Stayzon ink. Pearl strand and poem are applied with glass beads medium.

Chandelier is cut with plastic packaging and colored with alcohol ink and Stayzon ink, Sizzix bigz die, and pearl pens for the candles.

Chipboard cogs cut with Spellbinders Paper Artscog dies, painted and rusted with a discontinued product.

Layers of glass beads (gel) and fiber paste, mica powder and Green die ink refill (drops), misc beads and charms glue into the beads gel medium. 

12x12 thick canvas

Bloom