First things first, please pardon how I keep switching fonts. I’m trying different ways of updating my blog and as luck would have it, not each way supports each font and ONLY the blogger version supports the one that I chose when setting up my blog. I like the way this other does the photos though so…. yeah. I’ll figure something out, that I both like and that can be read easily by people whose eyesight is a bit compromised.
Also, I would like to let friends and family who read my blog know that Valentines went out earlier this week. Some of the notes inside might seem a little outdated for a few people, as I finished them at the end of January and sealed them all up. (I know right? No last minute rush! Go me!) So yeah, it’s not a lapse of memory, or me being a little off my rocker, it’s just previously written.
And now for the today’s special. My entry for February’s Artful Bag Challenge hosted by Anna of Frosted Petunia. Click the link to be taken to many links of other entries. I haven’t took a peekaboo yet, but I’m told they’re fabulous. Simply fabulous! So for February, we were supposed to take something and alter it into a purse. For some reason, I was thinking “something other than a purse” but it reads “other than a bag” so my eyeglass case might not count. If it doesn’t, that’s ok because I had lots of fun making it. So check mine out and then go take a looksee at everyone else’s. Maybe join in on the fun!
Let the fun begin!
“If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” ~Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790
I wish I had thought to take a photo before beginning. I found this little balsa wood eyeglass case at Michaels after the New Year a couple of years ago when they had so many of the holiday items marked down to a nickel or a dime. I’m sorta wishing I had gotten more than one now. l knew once I read about the challenges Anna was doing, that I wanted to use that, but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to go about it. Then, while sorting through papers, I saw the Steampunk Debutante line that a friend gifted me with and knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was a perfect way to use the paper to create a little something special.
So I did the usual when approaching this kind of project, laid down some paint so raw wood wouldn’t show through the edges, decided how I wanted the paper to layout, cut it, adhered it with gel medium and used waxed paper to smooth and get out any air bubbles, sanded the edges clean and smooth and inked away. I then went around the edges of the entire purse with an aged brass crackle medium. Next came adding some more paper details (which I’ll share with each photo.), applying a gloss coat atop everything (as I didn’t like the way it looked with a matte one), and then I added the various metal elements, which as you can see there’s quite a few.
So for this front look there’s the floral base on top and the turquoise scroll on bottom. Atop that I used one of the tags provided in the set, and faux attached it to the surface with some washers and brads. Carrying on that beautiful butterfly theme (cause I love me some flutterbies), I cut out and inked up two of the larger ones on the papers and adhered them at the bottom corners. The words “Forgotten memories” from a different paper scrap I had seemed perfect, so I roughly cut them and inked it before applying. A set of eyelets holds the brown fabric covered elastic ribbon/string thing that works as a latch. A paper clock face sits atop the crackled brass painted knob, with an amber colored rhinestone centering it, and of course I couldn’t resist added a pair of metal book corners. (I love book corners. I wish Tim Holtz would create a die to make some fabulous book corners. I’d be in heaven.) These are made from brads. I just clipped the brad part off as usual. There’s the double chain for a strap of course. I’ll describe the clips on the side when I get to the side photos. Isn’t she just a delightful little purse?!? I LOVE tiny purses. The smaller, and more unusual the better. My husband’s trying to talk me into turning this one into a sculpture with some spectacles and whatnot on a base. I’m still considering it, cause really… I so want to use it. Can you just imagine?!?
The back. Gotta look just as good walking away, right? So as you can see, that floral paper from the front flap wraps around the back to the base. It’s edged, like the rest of the purse with the crackle paint. I cut out one of the elegant prints-strong winged woman, wielding a sword, and two more large butterflies. As you can see, matching book corners from the front. And then, my favorite part of the outside, the two brass filigree butterflies that I hot glued atop the paper ones with their wings bent as if in flight. More rhinestones, amber and turquoise, sparkle for just a hint of glitz.
I carried the turquoise from the front over to the bottom and again there’s the crackled brass edging. A smaller strip of butterflies stretches across the center of the base. Very simple. I wanted to add some small nubs/feet to the corners so as to raise the bottom off of the surface when sitting, but nothing I tried looked right. So if I might still do that in the future. It all depends on whether this becomes a sculpture or my teeniest little “identification, money, and lipstain” bag.
So this is one of the sides. They both look the same paper wise, a tag trimmed to fit and adhered. With a washer and brad on bottom and a washer and eyelet on top. You can see the double chain used as a strap in this photo as well. What you can’t see is exactly how I attached it through the eyelet. I used a base pin and a flat amber glass bead just a tiny bit too large to slip through the hole on the inside, formed an eye on the opposite end and attached the eye to the chain. Voila! A strap. Any debutante has her adornments, so I took inspiration from the beautiful winged dressforms and added some beads to one of the fancy Tim Holtz clips along with a jumpring and a little “winged female” charm made of two beads and a gold wing finding dangling all pretty like.
On the other side, we have the same design on the paper. I used a different antique clip to add a dainty key, a brass heart that reads “made with love”, and a small amber teardrop, each attached to the clip from their own jumpring. My purse’s very own ear baubles! How divine!
About now, you might be wondering if I did anything to the inside. Paint it? Paper it? A little more? Well, those of you who know me well know I couldn’t resist the opportunity to create a little special hidden treasure. I have lots of little watch parts. While watch parts are used in Steampunk design, they’re certainly not a must, but they do appear on the papers so….opportunity knocking! First things first, the background. I used the smaller paper of butterflies and covered the entire inside with it. I’ll admit that I almost went with a tiny framed mirror, but it just look cheap and cheesy with everything else. So instead…. (warning, if you think the previous photos of the purse are bad, which they are, this next one is just…..I couldn’t get it to capture the colors right to save my life.)
The paper should be that beautiful yellow you see in the other photo. I took a antique brass filigree frame and pressed it on top of a piece of scripted paper. Once I could see the impression, I cut it, inked it, and adhered it to the frame. Then I had FUN!!!! (Actually, I made this piece close to the beginning and set it aside to dry while I worked on the rest of the purse. It was still FUN!) I cut out a tiny paper pocket watch, as you can see at the bottom. Inked it up, and added a real fancy watch hand to it. To the left, I layered a larger gear, with a smaller one above it, and then the actual knob of a watch with an “emerald” jewel set in it. Just to the right of that is an antique brass heart shaped brad, with the brad parts cut off of course. To the left of that is a brass butterfly charm. I cut away the charm loop, bent the wings up, and attached it to the inner rim. Just beneath the butterfly’s wing is another gear that I have some weird hooky hand thing coming off of that disappears back under the rose. Speaking of the rose. It’s a white paper mulberry rose that I sprayed with two different shades of shimmering spritzes I’ve made in the past until I got it the right color. At 12 and 4:30 are two of the TH “tiny attachment” brads (brads cut off again) that look like screw heads. Once everything was set, I used glossy accents to create a “glass” dome over the interior of the circle. The thinner pieces are beneath it and some of the “taller” pieces like the rose emerge through the top of it. I really wish I had been able to get a better photo because I really like this part of the purse.
That’s it. My February Artful Bag Challenge entry. If it inspires you even a fraction of what it inspires me, I know you’re smiling right now! Happy Creating!!! And thank you for all the lovely comments you guys have been leaving!
