Blog Candy Giveaway

 I am a follower of this blog, and Jo has some lovely blog candy she is kindly giving away - why not pop over and see.

What a present I received today..............

A very dear and talented friend of mine made this gorgeous box for my birthday present. 

This is the slide on lid.  Look at all the work that has gone into this.

Each piece is collaged onto the wood its beautiful

The many techniques used - took my breath away.

Metal embossing, coloured with alcohol inks

Dyed string edging it, and the crackle paint.

The gorgeous vintage lady is printed onto material,

her cuffs are lace, she has a silk belt and seed bead buttons.

This lady is printed on material too, and she feels wonderful.

More collaged vintage paper - stamps, postcards etc

This is the top.

I am so very thrilled to bits with this box and all the techniques used in making it.  It has really inspired me to get out the metal and have a go myself - watch this space

This is one I made earlier - and it got messed up!

I made this 'roaring twenties' pendant - then had an accident and messed it up! I had glued the UTEE'd image in with Superglue yesterday, but when I went to look at it today one side of it hadn't stuck properly, so I tried to carefully prise it out to re-do it and it snapped. Argh!

It was such a shame - I have messed up quite a few - but at least I managed to salvage the glass dangley flower for the pendant below

A piece of Victoriana

 I was looking through an old book I had bought from a charity shop, all about the Victorian era and came across a photo of a painting which I really liked - and thought that part of it would look good in a pendant - and here it is! 

As before, I have used a book plate that has been distressed to age it.  Added a little glass 'dangley' and a soft suede thong to hang it on.  I am working on one more - it's proving to be quite difficult - but I like a challenge.  UTEE is such an unpredictable material to use.  Just when you think you have mastered it - it plays up again and you mess up more than a few images.

 

Great Grandad's pendant

I was rummaging around in the attic in grandma's old trunk, and was suprtised to find this vintage pendant.

It was wrapped up in a sheet of old brown music score.

(Which is a lot darker than in the photo)

I do believe that he had the same hair colour as me too.

and I have definitely inherited his nose!

 

I have had to enlarge this photo so that you can see the little metal disc

It is mottled, and when I turned it over it was shiny yellow brass.

The clock has stopped of course - but it looks pleasing.

I must find something to hang on the tiny hole it is so small its hard to see.

Most of you know that I am rather short of 'blood' relatives - so it will come as no surprise to learn that the only rummaging I have done has all been in my daydreaming mind - and I created Great Grandfather's pendant from bits and pieces

So who is the man in the photo in the pendant?

King Edward VII

Well if you are going to dream - why not dream BIG huh?

The blue pendant

I managed to complete a pendant today - lots of trial and error trying to improvise - like the metal 'roof' which was on the pendant I made on the course.  But for some reason the metal improvised roof would not stick with superglue.

Anyway here it is

I made this with an inch square memory frame with glass.  In 'real life' the frame shiney, almost black with touches of blue.  The insert is a piece of card which I coloured with blue ink, then 'splashed' with dark ink blue, and added tiny little pansies.  For some some reason I just can't get a decent photo - it might be something to do with the glass reflecting the light.  I don't want to make it darker, as when I did that to the TH style tags I made - in the other post - the tags looked fine on my laptop where I edited them, but when I looked at the post on my old computer the pictures looked really dark - so I am in a quandry! The pendant can be worn either way - but the pansy side is what I consider to be the back. 

And this is the front

The tiny photo behind the glass in this frame is a lot clearer and darker as a photo would be. 

The ribbon in her hair is blue, the dress a deep rose pink.  The silver charm I added has been coloured with slate alcohol ink,all the 'grooves' are black, and the raised pattern is tinted blue  with alcohol inks.  I love this - and it will be hard to part with it - but I will - after I have had a week or two to look at it.

Copper Pendant

 

I have been trying very hard over the past couple of days to make some pendants.

I think it must have been a case of 'beginners luck' at the workshop I attended, or else it was because I had everything I needed to hand which made it easier.  But at home it has been a lot more difficult.

The above is a copper pendant.  It is hard to get a decent photo of it.  It's a stylised butterfly and leaves, debossed into copper.  The background has been blackened with paint, and the raised copper has been rubbed with sandpaper to make it shiny.

This is the other side, with a black painted 'photo picture frame' around it.

The loop I made with copper wire, and it is hung on a length of soft leather.