New Release/End of Term Hop

Welcome back! As promised, I have a project to share with you today. Not only does today mark my return to creating (it's about time, I know!), but today the Smeared Ink Design Team is bringing you a hop to honor the end of our Design Team term. Booooo I say! I will dearly miss those not returning for another term. But, as one last hoopla, we have all gotten together to create stunning projects for you to peruse, and we've used NEW digi images that are available in the Smeared Ink shop today! Woo hoo!!

As if that weren't enough, we've challenged our DT to make a project that features not one, but three different Smeared Ink images. Some may think we're crazy, but we know these girls can rock it out!!!! So, grab your cup of coffee or herbal tea and get ready for some serious inspiration from these fabulous ladies! On to the projects!

For my project I made a trinket box, and I started with a tin can. Yes, you heard right. Just a regular old empty soup can. Just like this one...

I chose to work with the Mad Eyes from our new Anatomy 101 digi set, the Inky Heart from our Heartwings digi set, and the Forever saying from our new Death Cab digi set. When I finished, my trinket box looked like this. The colors in the photos are a little off because these were taken indoors, but you get the idea.

*click for larger views

**UPDATE- Here are some better pics so you can see the true colors**

I started by adding my hardware to the can with industrial strength glue. The feet are screws with a nut, and the top is a broken piece of wood with another screw and casing attached. When those were dry, I started with a paint treatment on the can. It was a very long process, I won't go into too much detail, but it included gesso, lots of color washes, and a heat gun.

I printed my eyes and heart onto a piece of old telephone book paper, then colored them slightly and aged them to match my can. I also tore strips of sheet music that I received from Madness Paper and aged it as well. I attached them to the can with modge podge, and then added more paint washes to get them to blend.

The hanging tag got the same treatment, as well as the Forever saying. The final touch was to color up my butcher's string and attach it to the tag to hang from the top. I also added to the string a paint treated key and some hardware.

So, what do you think? I love to hear opinions, so please feel free to leave a comment. I think it's a neat little trinket box to hold whatever. I hope it gives you some ideas for things you can do with all those old tin cans. Don't throw them away! And now that you've seen my project, it's time for you to hop through all of the other blogs and get even more inspiration. Then be sure to go check out the new digi sets at Smeared Ink. Have fun and thanks for stopping by!

Our Rockin' Smeared Ink Design Team

Tori

Alison

Kelli

Black Dragon

Lady Brayton

Meredith

Kapree

Lisa

And our Awesome Guest Designers

Alex

Jane

Sugar

I'm Baaack!!! Almost...

Hi all my much appreciated followers! You may have noticed that there have not been very many posts here lately. Well, I've had a rough couple of months, and I haven't been around on my blog since the beginning of Feb. I haven't really had the time or energy to make many projects, I won't go into details, but I am starting to find my mojo again and can't wait to share some new stuff with you! This week the kids are off of school for spring break. There will be no (or at least not much) hustle and bustle for me to deal with; so the plan is to relax, drink lots of coffee and herbal tea, listen to really loud music, and make some art!! Can't wait to share with you again :)