My journey through the gold rush...

As you know, I have been enamoured with gold for a while....Let's take a journey through my gold rush obsession shall we?

Finger-painting is my currently my fave way to paint...

The project that sparked the gold rush.

This was a canvas I did for my bloggy friend Ujjwal back in January. I had just gotten some metallic Daler-Rowney paints and inherited some vintage trims from my mother's friend.

For the love of gold

The gold monogram that used to be silver.

I had this tissue-papered silver spray-painted monogram sitting in the half-finished projects drawer. After taking and putting back the container of Golden gold mica flakes many times at the art supply store [it's $42!!!] over a few months, I finally added it to my arsenal of mediums. And this was the first project I did with it.   

Miniature bottle - mixed media style...

The mini bottle from a flight.

After the "investment", Golden gold mica flakes make their appearance on my mini altered bottle. Mostly to cover up the obvious line that separated the washi tape from the crepe paper...what a sparkling distraction, right? 

For the love of lace and cameo

The chipboard gets the gold treatment.

I just got my box of Blue Fern Studios chipboard plus pretty lace and cameo from Craftpon. The chipboard treatment took a long time, used many different layers of gold mediums and paint before the words were legible...*LOL*

A cool use for a sock hanger

The sparkly gold dress form.

I wanted to try a bold colour combination. The Golden gold mica flakes on the dress form really stood out against background with black embroidered blooms. This tag now lives in Woy Woy, Australia. :)

The gold obsession continues..

The mixed media card that was inspired by new gold mediums.

Visiting a scrapbook store in Hornsby with my bloggy friend Lizzy Hill led me to more gold mediums - Viva Inka Gold and Silks! I threw all my gold mediums on this card...can you tell? *LOL*

There you have it, a short journey through my gold rush obsession which I reckon will not end that soon..*winks*. Have you tried gold on your projects? It does photograph a lot better than silver...so get the gold out! :)

The story about the day we went to watch Monsters University...

 

So this was a story that needed to be recorded for several significant reasons...

1. My brother actually did something nice.. [Eh...it doesn't happen very often...]

Usually when he calls on Sunday morning, it means that child-sitting is involved and my day of mixed media fantasy gets thrown out of the window [this happens rather frequently...]. But today, he actually called to ask if my mother and I wanted to go watch Monsters University with him and littlest nephew J. He would even come over to pick us up. Wow. Even though I had a red-eye flight to catch that night, I couldn't really pass up on this right? *winks*

2. We almost didn't get to go.

He came early and parked right outside the main gate. But when it was time to go, the engine wouldn't start at all..[dramatic music plays in the background]. He called the Volkswagon Service Centre and a tow truck was expected to come by in an hour. Now, the movie was in 30 minutes and since he parked his car right outside the main gate, we couldn't get the family car out either....[sad music plays in the background...]

3. It was littlest nephew J's first movie.

He was pretty excited since his brothers had already seen the movie... [okay the pictures were of him pretending to be sad for documentation purposes...*LOL*]...

4. The tow truck came by in 10 minutes.

Fortunately, the tow truck driver was just 10 minutes away and successfully towed my brother's car to the workshop...and we could drive the other car to the cinema! :)

5. We made it in time to watch the trailer!

So given the speed demon that my brother was, we made it in time to watch the movie in its entirety! [Okay...the cinema was like 15 minutes away..]

Playing along with the final challenge at Challenge Me Happy.

How to make pretty blooms...a blog hop featuring handmade bloom tutorials!

Hello there friends! The team at Zeus and Zoe have put together a fun little blog hop featuring pretty handmade bloom tutorials. :)  Mine is the topping on a tin box. :)

If you love the look of pretty blooms, why not hop along with us and learn along the way? There are RAKs to be won at every stop [mine is at the very end of this post *winks*]. :)

My bloom is super simple to make. Here are the supplies you require...some trims, pearls, button, fabric scissors, sewing kit and a hot glue gun.

1. Start by pleating your trim and stitching...pulling to create a round shape.

2. When you are happy with the size, stitch the ends together. No worries if your thread can be seen, it would be covered up later.

3. Cut an embroidered bloom from your trim. There are many other alternatives for this layer...you could add a punch out paper bloom or even a layer of tulle.

4. Affix with a hot glue gun.

5. Add pearls with a hot glue gun.

6. Finish with a lovely gold button...mine is from the Zeus and Zoe store of course!

Add it to a tin box and it makes a fabulous handmade gift! :)

Go check out the other pretty bloom tutorials....Dana Tatar, Denise van Deventer, Marivic Clifton, Norma Gomez, Riikka Kovasin, Zeus and Zoe blog and leave some love on each of the blogs by 11.59pm EST on Wednesday 31st July for your chance at each of the RAKs.

Here is my RAK. Just leave a comment on this post. The winner will be announced on Friday August 2. :)

6 ways to use residual mists on your cards

My watercolour papers are 12 x 16 inches...once I cut them down to 12 x 12 in inches, I am left with 12 x 4 strips which I use to absorb the residual mists left on masks and create cards. :) Here are 6 ideas for how to utilize them. 

1. Add some torn washi tape to create a funky pattern.

2. Use your die-cutting machine to create a frame/mat.

3. Add a fun patterned paper banner.

4. Add grid tape, apply fiber paste with a mask and drip liquid acrylics for an abstract design.

5. Run it through your die-cutting machine for a cool sentiment.

6. Create a "scene" with the residual mists on the background.

There you have it. 6 ways to create cards using residual mists. Which one is your fave?

The one where our day started at 3.45am...

You didn't think a week would actually go by without me throwing in a little gold, did you? *winks* 

Back in March, I went to Taiwan with my parents and sisters. This documents the day we woke up at 3.45am [one bathroom + 4 people = crazy] to catch a car ride to the train station, take the train up to Alishan to join hundreds of tourists to watch the sunrise. 

This layout took a looooooooooooooooooong time because I glued down all the elements [to prevent myself from fiddling]...then decided it needed more mediums...*LOL* 

At least there was little waste...no paint/mediums under the fussy-cut papers and the photo collage....[self-consolation]...*winks*

A lot of shiny glittery textures....

Playing along with the challenge at Scrap Around The World.

Vintage lace tag

I love the look of lace. :) On this tag, I layered some embroidered blooms over the sheer lace. :)

The base of the tag was coloured with a Faber Castell Gelato in metallic gold for a subtle sheen through the lace....

 I added text paper to the pretty charm and applied glossy accents to the surface.

P/s: Come play along with my guest Savannah's challenge and LESSology Challenge #27: Packaging Central.

Special delivery mailbox

So my friend Maggi sent me this adorable pink mailbox from the US...[it's ridiculously pricey here in Singapore...so you know what to send me eh? *winks*] and I played with my border stickers from SRM stickers! :)

I thought it would be great for storing sweet treats or little notes for the nephews [now that they can read!]

Do you know that glassine bags are available from SRM stickers too? And no, the Kit Kat didn't "live" very long in the glassine bags....the little monsters [aka nephews and niece] ate them all up! *LOL*