Upcycled Book Box and Multi-media

Hello Peeps!

Welcome to my blog - especially if you are a new follower - and I hope you are having a crafty good time! Before I begin, an inspirational photo to get the juices flowing!

Twilight, just before sunset, at Binalong Bay thanks to Francesco Pecora Lauria who says:
Known for its white sandy beaches, crystal waters and red granite boulders, Binalong Bay is the southern part of this characteristic coast on eastern Tasmania called Bay of Fires.
Shot at twilight before sunset on a cloudless day.
www.instagram.com/francesco_pecora_lauria

How's that?

I have redecorated a Book Box I purchased a few weeks ago for half price - clue, it cost me under $10! I bought it at one of those hippy shops where there is a smell of incense and the sign on the window says "Everything half price today" but the sign has been there for weeks!

It was a Harry Potter book apparently.......looks more Lord of the Rings to me

I purchased it because it had a linen-like look to the cover and it wasn't too thick

I started by painting it white - two coats

Then I glued with Modge Podge some scrap bits and pieces I had, added some texture paste through a stencil and a wooden bit - the bird.....

I did the box redecoration for my DT item at Ecelctic Ellapu, where the challenge for March is "Anything Spring"! With all the snow in Europe and the UK from "The Beast" I can only imagine that crocuses will be popping up all over soon! Not. However, we are going into Autumn and the autumnal days are beginning to cool down at night. We had a super sunrise this morning - red skies in the morning leading to ........still overcast day at the moment but quite warm, about 20 degrees.

After it had dried a bit I started with the sprays and added lots of different types - some with mica and some just paints. I then let it dry but of course I got too impatient and added the flowers and lock with glue and a clear Gesso - so you can see the paintbrush strokes and the sprays moved a bit.

I tried to paint the bird yellow but it just ran into a greeny-yellow

The word under the leaves says 'explore'

I sprayed the flowers and then added some Starlight Paints to make them stand out and be sparkly

The whole thing is meant to be 'Spring' like but it seems a bit dark in the photo's - although irl it is not so dark. I did rub TH black Soot over it as well. Tried to create shadows.

Taken outside in the sunlight

Anyway, it is done. I will use it to keep my collage/multi-media bits in perhaps......

Hop off over to Ecelctic Ellapu, and visit the challenge and the DT inspiration there.