Monday Make with Creative Expressions - Lighthouse Box

Hello from Sunny St Dogmaels! Hope you don't mind me showing you a shot of me relaxing on the beach? Even us devoted crafters need some time away from our ink pads you know and I am lucky to have a beach as my venue for some 'time out'.  I am getting back into the swing of things now, my diary is filling up with things to do and my blog habit is returning! This seaside living is really suiting me. Maybe that is why my projects are all a little bit nautical at the moment. They might feature the same images but they are quite different in look and design. 

Hasn't it been hot these last few days? I do hope the thunder storms didn't affect you too much? Down here in Pembrokeshire we barely had any rain and unless I was unconscious, we didn't get any thunder storms either. Pity, as I was looking forward to a trip to the beach to watch the storm!

I wanted to do something 3 dimensional this week for my Monday Make with Creative Expressions products. You already know I have a penchant for boxes. I made sure before I moved that I stocked up on boxes to decorate; new ones, charity shop finds, car boot treasure etc, just in case I couldn't source enough boxes to work with. 

I decided to use a new wooden box for this project and started by removing the hinges and 'lock' to make decorating it easier. I then gave it a coat of white Gesso to prime it. The finished look I wanted wasn't smooth and sanded so I wasn't too careful about how I applied the Gesso. To be honest the rougher the better especially for the sides and a rough brush helped to give extra texture. I allowed this to dry completely.

Next I added some fibrous ribbon. Now I have had this 'ribbon' for years, I have no idea where I got it from but as an alternative you could use any textured ribbon, narrow strips of hessian, twine, or even strips of textured paper you have put through an embossing folder. It doesn't matter what colour of 'ribbon' you use as it is going to get painted anyway. I also put a row around the sides on the bottom half of the box. Then paint the ribbon. This covers any glue that may have oozed out.

I then went on to colour the box in various places with a selection of colours using dry brushes. I picked up the colour from the Tim Holtz Distress ink pads and lightly brushed colour on until I was happy with the result. Any areas that you are unhappy with can simply be painted again and re-coloured. I used Faded Jeans, Weathered Wood and a touch of Vintage Photo.

I then created the top panel using a piece of denim blue coloured card and Gesso. Using a very dry brush I swiped Gesso across the card to give the effect of white wash. Once this was dried I cut it to fit the top panel on the lid of the box.

I stamped the lighthouse image with black Archival ink directly onto the whitewashed card, followed with a couple of the seagulls. Using some more Gesso I added some areas of highlight to the lighthouse, rocks and seagulls. A bit more distress ink, this time some Black Soot,  around the panel and then it was glued onto the top of the box using Cosmic Shimmer glue. I then replaced the hinges and 'lock'.

This photo looks more grey than the real thing.
Hope it isn't a camera issue!!

I hope you like the project? If you have any questions please feel free to ask me by going to the comment form. I would also love it if you could leave a comment or simply say 'Hi!'

I shall be back next week with another project. Hope to see you again then? Kim xx