Anything But A Card Challenge #7: From The Seaside OR Picture Inspiration

A new challenge goes live today at Anything But A Card. The theme for this fortnight is the seaside or you can take inspiration from this picture:

For my DT piece, I chose to use the seaside theme but it was a close call because I think the picture is wonderful and it conjures up all kinds of inspiration.

We'd love to see your creative pieces over at Anything But A Card. Why not pop over and see what the other designers have come up with? I can promise you an amazing mix of styles and makes on offer and they are bound to spark those creative ideas.

I'm also going to enter my box at Artful Times. It's a lovely, friendly blog and they have some wonderful themes. Their theme this fortnight is anything goes - a real favourite with me! Von and Neet always leave such wonderfully encouraging comments and many of the other entrants will visit you too. Do go on over and have a look - you won't be disappointed!

So, onto what I made this time. In the summer, I picked up a rather sorry looking wooden cigar box of the cheap and cheerful variety and decided to give it a makeover:

As usual, I forgot to take a 'before' picture and only remembered when I'd moved to the inside with my gesso!

The inside of the lid was covered rapidly!

The completed box with stamped images and two step crackle finish. I tried to clean the catch up but couldn't do so without scratching off the gilt - I'll have to think about that for a little longer!

The images on the lid were stamped onto card coloured with water soluble wax crayons and embossed with aged teal enamel. Once cut out, a coat of glossy accents was applied before gluing the pieces into position. 

The inside was finished with two card panels. Each panel was coloured with water soluble crayons, stamped and embossed and two step crackle applied.
The narrow rim around the lid and base was coloured with gold paste and buffed to a shine.

Acrylic paint was rubbed over all the crackled areas and the excess removed with a baby wipe.

In this close up you can see the gorgeous tones in the teal enamel. Teal powder with gold and silver chunky crystals make this a real favourite of mine.

The stamping on the sides was applied straight to the box and the same embossing enamel was used. The stamp was a freebie from CS which I used to represent waves - hopefully you get the idea I aimed for!

Final photo so well done for getting to this point! This shows the wonderful crackle which I think looks like crazed porcelain. This crackle method really needs the final addition of the acrylic paint to make it work.

Thanks so much for looking at my box. Please leave a comment if you like it or you have any constructive criticism - all comments are gratefully received!

Why not pop over  now to Anything But A Card, have a look at the rest of the DT's pieces and start planning your entry. Remember: you can make anything, as long as it's NOT a card!