Mini sea tin by Chris

Hello, well its been a very wet day here, just drying off now and enjoying Chris's post. 

Hi everyone, Chris here again with my second project for the August Goodie box: At The Sea! I had such fun making this little tin collage. I love making mini art and the contents of this month's Goodie box is full to the brim of products that are a dream to work with at this scale! 

This started life as a Caran D'Ache Neocolours crayon tin. I have lots of these crayons so I've moved them into a jar on my craft table. 

For this project I sorted, cut and assembled all the bits and pieces I wanted to use before committing to anything. This involved 'fussy cutting' into some of the gorgeous Graphic 45 papers (12 generous 6" X 6" sheets) included this month, to create a focal image and accompanying text. There are lots of words and delicious phrases all about the sea on quite a few of the papers. Wonderful. I also created some paper bunting and a wavy 'fringe' to represent the sea with the handy piece of denim in the free pack!! The only item I've added is some pretty vintage lace which I had in my stash. 

Don't you just love that cute lighthouse? I definitely didn't want to paint it but I did need to create some light emanating from it. So where did I start? 

I cut into a couple of the Graphic 45 sheets to fit each side of the tin (these papers are so beautiful) darkening the edges with Archival ink first. I made sure that all the edges of each collage piece was carefully inked before sticking down. It is definitely worth doing albeit time consuming and fiddly! It was then a case of gluing down all the collage items in various layers. 

I do love the little picture cards included this month. I have no idea where Julie finds all of these products but they all complement the theme so well. How great to have everything sorted for you. I love it! Now for further additions...

I cut a strip from the piece of denim, then shaped the top in a wave-like pattern. I made little folds to correlate with the top of each wave and stapled along the bottom to hold each little fold. I was so pleased with the result. A couple of little triangles cut from some of the off-cuts created the illusion of light. Now for the focal image. I do love this: a typical, quirky, Graphic 45 image. Takes a bit of time cutting it out but worth it, I think. 

As you can see, I've added a couple more of the sentiments, a bit of ephemera and coloured in the light on the lighthouse with archival ink in 'Dandelion'. I also inked the edges of the lighthouse before adhering it to the page. Now I just needed to add some shells, gems, sequins and ephemera to bling it all up and complete the 'beach' theme. Great fun.

I do love the string of little blue beads, and the cute sailing ship. I absolutely adore that sun! The photo doesn't do it justice. It has a beautiful Amber gemstone in the middle which catches the light! Too gorgeous to use really! As you can see, you also get a very generous amount of shells in various sizes. I do hope you like my little collage. It is sitting proudly on a bureau in my dining room catching the sun all afternoon! I have a few more step by steps on my blog if you're interested, but I think you get the idea of just what you can make with this month's fabulous selection. 
Until next time, enjoy your crafting!

Chris's blog - http://loopsandlines.blogspot.co.uk/

Wow, this is stunning Chris, I love the light coming from the lighthouse, such inspiration :)

www.artfuldays.co.uk

Thanks for visiting and hope you can leave a nice comment. 

Thanks 

Jules xx