Altered Sewing box

Been thinking about this one for a while. I made a similar sewing box some years ago at a class. I used alcohol inks to colour a plain paper mache box before decorating the lid with hand cut embellishments. buttons and a safety pin. The "tape measure" was cut from a designer paper.  I nearly forgot...I used  a textured stamp and a gold ink pad before adding the embellishments.

Another Project with Alcohol Inks.

Made a quick visit to The Papeterie this afternoon.  I didn't get what I wanted (discovered that it's on order) but I did come away with another Letraset Ink.  They are becoming as addictive as Promarkers!

While I was there, I spied Kath Stewart and knew that I had missed one of her classes. It turns out that she was working with  Fresco Finish paints, stamps and dies from Paper Artsy. How gutted am I?

I would like to share with you a notebook that I "altered" using a couple of my alcohol inks and stamps.

back cover

This started off life as a plain kraft covered notebook. I used alcohol inks to create a base for the stamps. To complete this project I threaded some paper string (Ikea) through the spine of the book and attached wooden beads to each end.  This will act as a bookmark.

I used Letraset Inks and stamps from my collection.

Inky Fingers

I recently attended a class with Debbi Glennie ( the Promarker queen) at The Papeterie here in Aberdeen. We decorated a papier mache box using Letraset inks.  I had always intended giving alcohol inks a go but was not sure where to start.  I am now well and truly hooked!  This is the end result of that enjoyable afternoon.

We applied inks to the box and lid as a base before stamping with a background stamp.The diecuts are from the Sizzix Tim Holtz range. (Added to want list!) The ribbon was also coloured with inks. I now use this box as a container for some of my most used sewing materials. 

Apart from inky fingers, I did manage to spill a little on my top. However, the solution (literally) was at hand - Adirondack Blending Solution. I can see that this will become one of my best friends!

Since that day I have bought and decorated more boxes. 

The flower was cut from Kraft paper using a Tim Holtz Alterations die.  The sheen that you can see on the surfaces was achieved by the application of Adirondack Pearl Mixatives. It makes such a difference to the final result.

I have already given a couple of these as presents and they have been received with appreciation.

I have also found Kraft covered notebooks that I have had a play with and I will post an example of a finished product another time.

NB. The Papeterie sells the Letraset inks cheaper than anywhere else that I have seen. 

I was at the SECC Craft Exhibition in March and they were at least £0.50 more expensive.