Altered Eiffel Tower

Hi everyone, or should I say Bonjour :-).  Jen here, hope everyone is having a good month so far. Thanks for joining me today for my mid month project. I have loved our theme this month so far, using pretty pastel colours. I decided to do something a bit different for this project and altered an Eiffel Tower that I picked up from a local shop. 

When I bought the Eiffel Tower is was a black metal, I knew I wanted to shabby it up a bit so this theme was perfect.

I gave to Tower a couple of coats of Gesso to prime it. This stage took me a few days. I then used some pastel pink acrylic paint to give it the effect that I wanted. I used a round cake tray as the base, glued on some Kaisercaft paper. I used doily and brick stencils to add some texture to the base. These were both from Crafters Workshop.

I added one of Marivic's stunning tags to the second level of the tower, it fit my Parisian theme perfectly. The pink doily and the metal flower from my DT kit were perfect additions. The flower was originally red, I gave it a coat of Gesso and some pink paint.

The metal locket embellishment was also in my DT kit and available in the Etsy store.

The trees and vintage Parisian ladies were downloaded from the internet and glued on to the base. I used cocktail sticks to give them some extra stability. The beautiful lilac trim is also available in the Etsy store.

Another close up of Marivic's tag. I love these handmade tags. The photo underneath shows the 3D dimension added to it.

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Thanks for joining me this month and taking the time to look at my Eiffel Tower and Parisian street scene.

Until next month.

Jen xxx

Journal Cover...

Here is another project from our New DT member:

Patricia Basson

South Africa

Hello all 

I am Patricia Basson from sunny South Africa! Most of the time any ways...we are having our winter season at the moment resulting in cosy days spend inside crafting! I am a mother of three crown up children, some furry cat and dog 'children' and a very understanding husband, understanding in the sense that he knows best to not complain when Dinner is late because I am caught up in my crafts room! I have been Scrap booking since about 2007 with the past three years really getting into the arty side of it. I haven't got a style per se, but love to layer and distress and getting a little into the mixed media frenzy as well. I also love making cards and have dabbled in the altering side as well. Loving to use flowers and embellishments makes me very excited and privileged to be chosen to be on Zeus and Zoe's Design Team, and I am hoping that something of what I do will be an inspiration to some one else!

I am currently on the Design Teams of Imaginarium Designs, Scrap Africa and will also be designing for Tanya Leigh Designz...

Thank you once again to Marivic for including me in her team and I am looking forwards to work alongside my talented fellow team mates.

Patricia

 Good Morning Zeus and Zoe friends. Yeah! At last the day has come that I can post my first project as a new Design Team member!!! I am feeling very privileged that Marivic has accepted my application and I now get to create with lots of goodness from her Etsy Shop and I hope I will be able to inspire you to try some new ideas and techniques.

I have altered an ordinary black hard cover text book and might be giving it as a present or decide to keep it myself.  After priming it with Gesso, I layered some patterned papers, tissue tape and some lace trim onto it. I gave it another thin coating of Gesso and once it was dry, misted it with Clam Bake Beige mist from Lindy's Stampgang.

I added texture paste that I stamped whilst it was still wet. Also added some micro beads and some stencilling with a Crafters Workshop Template. More misting with Glory of the Seas Gold and Wild Honeysuckle Coral.

The backside of the book was also treated. The brown lace is from my DT stash that Marivic has send me.

The centre piece is this beautiful flower...although this is not what it looked like when I got it...I will post a photo at the end of the post in order for you to see that one can alter anything to suit ones style and personality! It was a purple and blue metal flower, but I Gesso'd it and sprayed several layers of  Cockle bells Coral and Violaceous Violet onto it, drying between layers with my heat gun. The canvas circle behind it, the metal leaves and the buttons are all from my DT stash. The metal leaves were just heated and whilst hot, some Stampendous aged Taupe embossing powder was added and heat set.

As with the flower, the buttons were also Gesso'd and misted and some embroidery thread added. 

I hope you enjoyed my first posting as a new Zeus and Zoe member and I'll be back later in the month with some more goodness. If you have never been there before, please visit Marivic's shop and get one of her hand selected project kits or have her create your own personalised kit for you...

Patricia Basson

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40, It's Just A Number - April Challenge

Hello & Thanks so much for joining me today for an extra special layout!  Why is it extra special you ask, well because it's about me (heheheehe).  This month we have a REALLY fun challenge for you to play along with!!  We are challenging you to create a project with you front and center.  That's right, the theme is "Life As It Is Now" (for you).  So I hope you're up for the challenge because I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you better.  The only requirement you have is to mix some buttons into your design, easy peasy right!  

Ah...but wait, there's more!!!!  

To sweeten the deal, one lucky participant will be chosen by the design team and will win this fabulous prize pack sponsored by the Zeus and Zoe Esty Shop plus full bragging rights!!

Isn't that a sweet prize pack?!  (Sorry Macaroons not included, lol)  This generous kit includes:

a package of flowers, stick pins, buttons, ephemera items, a La Blanche Stamp, Washi tapes and a package of Magicals from Lindy Stamp Gang

AND

A random participant will also be chosen to win these beautiful ribbons from May Arts:

Okay so I know what your thinking, where is this extra special layout right?!  LOL, ready.........here it is!!

Tada!!  As you can tell, I'm having so much fun with this month's challenge (see you should join so you can have fun too, lol).  I rarely scrap about myself or even take pics of myself for that matter.  I always joke that my family is gonna look back and think I was never there.  That's the big problem with being the family paparazzo, right!  Well, for this layout I turned the camera over to my youngest son and had a mini photo shoot.  Luckily I found one that would work out of the gazillon he took, lol.

 I knew I wanted my focus to be on turning 40 because I reached my milestone birthday yesterday.  So that's the inspiration for my title and I wanted the layout to reflect my very favorite design elements and colors.  So with that in mind, I began working on my design.

My background paper is called Cupids Arrow from Kaisercraft's Sweet Nothings Collection and I added texture with molding paste and a Crafters Workshop chicken wire stencil.  Next I added in my very favorite blue soft body acrylic and magenta gouache paints.

To create layers, I added painted chipboard, an ink stained/doodled/stamped banner and some roses fussy cut from the Manor House flower packaging.

When I saw the beautiful Banana Boat paper by The ScrapCake in my kit, I immediately thought the grouping of circles looked like clouds.  So I fussy cut them out and added a couple here and there.  I feel like my head is always lost in the clouds day dreaming so I wanted to add them to symbolize the dreamer in me.

I tucked in some hidden journaling for my family using the ScrapFX tags from my Zeus and Zoe kit.  I colored them with various Dylusions inks and doodled around the edges.

To bring my design to life, I mixed beautiful vibrant flowers by Manor House, Prima, Recollections and my stash.  Since part of the challenge is to incorporate buttons, I added some of the gorgeous buttons from my kit to the big beautiful Manor Hour flower and then tucked in here and there.

I mixed in a couple of crocheted dollies, beautiful charms and stick pins from Zeus and Zoe kit.  I also created flourishes and loops with some jute twine and added a Prima light bulb from the Junkyard Findings line.

Here's a closer look at some of the layering, stenciling and paint.

Well friends, I hope I've inspired you play along with us.  This really is a great opportunity to have a little fun and express yourself through the colors of your soul.  So I encourage you to turn the camera over to someone else, take some pics and start creating!!  If you'd like some of the gorgeous items I used from Zeus and Zoe, just visit the online store.   Marivic can also put together a custom kit just for you, all you have to do is let her know what you're looking for or what your creative style is and she'll work her magic.

Thanks again for stopping by and Have a Beautiful Inspired Day!!