Purple Stuff

For the first time for ages, I felt well enough to spend a little while in my ARTHaven doing something creative! This morning I actually managed to tidy up in there, and it really needed it, as it had become a dumping ground again. After that I was too tired to do any more, and had a visitor this afternoon, but this evening I decided to make a start on a project I’d had in mind for a while.

Our neighbour had an accident a few weeks ago and when she first came home, I wasn’t well enough to make her a get-well card but decided better late than never! I wanted to make her one of my lavender sachets in a little box, as I did for my fellow chemo-ites when I first started my treatment. This is what I have made.

As well as making her a get-well card, I also have a couple of other cards to make, and decided to do it all as one project. Ages ago I was given some stash by somebody, which included this rather uninteresting pink and purple paper with flowers and butterflies on it – it’s fairly heavy paper but not quite thick enough to be called card, and in my opinion extremely dull, which is why I haven’t yet used it! I thought now was the time to get it out of my stash and on the move, so with a bit of alteration I was sure it could be improved.

I sprayed the first sheet with Crushed Grape and Bubblegum Pink Dylusions spray inks.

Blotting off with the second sheet.

Both sheets blotted and dried.

Preparing to spray the third sheet, this time with Crushed Grape and London Blue Dylusions spray inks.

The sheet sprayed.

After spritzing and blotting off, it joined the first two sheets, dried and completed. The pale pink one (which had had flowers punched out of it) was also spattered with water droplets and blotted off.

I took the darker sheet with butterflies on it (which had been so covered up with ink that they were now extremely subtle! – i.e. virtually invisible!) and stuck it down onto a sheet of plain white card with spray adhesive to thicken it up a bit and make it substantial enough to make a box. I used my box template to draw around, and cut out the shape.

Here is the reverse side ready for inking with distress inks.

I used the two paler colours (Shaded Lilac and Salty Ocean) to go all over it first, using Inkylicious Ink Dusters. I wasn’t too bothered about getting a very smoothly blended finish because it would be covered up later.

Preparing to stamp with Versamark and heat emboss with clear embossing powder to act as a resist.

After the butterflies were stamped, and preparing for the second inking.

After the second inking with the darker shades, and buffed to clean the ink off the embossed butterflies, which now revealed the lighter shades of the first inking.

Preparing to gold-emboss the outside of the box. This stamp set is Tim Holtz’s Bitty Grunge set of background stamps – unfortunately the corner of the box is across the name of the set!

After gold embossing. I wanted a nice random, mottled effect.

The final step was to go around the outline with my gold Uniball Signo pen.

The completed box, closed.

Partially open.

Unfortunately with all the heating involved during the embossing process front and back, the layers started to come apart a bit, which wasn’t helped by the flexing of the flaps to close up the box, and you can see a slight crease on the flap that is open in the above photograph. Before finally assembling the box I ran over it vigorously with my brayer again, and I hope it’s going to stay stuck together!

Here is the box fully opened.

I shall use the rest of the paper to make some cards, which will be part of this ongoing “Purple Stuff” project. Watch this space!