Keep Calm and Dance On

Altering a mobile case is probably one of the most practical projects. And it can be easily accomplished by using various elements. ScrapFX has a huge range of chippes which I find them interestingly very easy to use. Over here, I altered a plain plastic mobile case into a dance theme mobile case using the various mixed media goodies by Shimmerz Paints and the various dance and music theme chippies from ScrapFX...

I started by giving the surface a good prime with generous amount of Gesso prior to misting. Love contrasting colours! I created a gradual blue background filled with musical notes and contemporary dancers, and placed the message right at the centre. This makes it stand out. As it meant for a daily necessity for a mobile phone, I decided not to build up the design too much and sealed it with 3 layers of PU varnish so that the colours won't run that fast...

This makes a great gift for any dancers and this mobile case is available HERE for sale in my Etsy store...

List of Supplies:

• Gesso
• PU Varnish
• ScrapFX Chippes (Contemporary Dancers, Keep Calm and Dance On, Record; Life is a Song)
• Shimmerz Paints (Coloringz - Heidi Ho Blue, Well Blue Me Down, Spritz - Rock-a-fella Blue, Dazzelerz - Sea U in the Mornin', Creameez - Ride the Tide, Inklingz - Sheer Bliss)

Dr. Drake's Lab Oratory

During my entire collage years, while struggling hard to complete my Bachelor of Science, I was once very fascinated on the various colourful chemical reactions in the Chemistry Lab. One ultra boring subject - Inorganic Chemistry was one of my most hated modules. Yet making crystals and forming beautiful chemical reactions were one of my most look-forward Lab sessions. That was the only "colourful" hands-ons I could ever get throughout my entire Biomedical course. Haha! I just couldn't get enough of such hands-ons, just for the sake of viewing colourful chemical reactions. I think I can literally burn the whole Lab down if I wanna go crazy. My Prof would probably bar me from the Lab and fail me!

After I graduated and started to work in R&D, I never became a Chemist and was working on boring colourless, tasteless biological stuffs. Proteins, Bacteria and Viruses became my most best friends and they stinks! You bet on the kind of food e.coli eat, they smell and vomit proteins. Mind you, some of the drugs you are probably taking are spilled by these creatures. Oops! Not meant to freak you out, but some of them are just too good in making such stuffs and Scientists love them deeply. And could you imagine, I was making them vomiting proteins almost every week! 

This piece is available for sale HERE...

Alright I digress... So out of inspiration with my little Chemistry knowledge, I decided to build an interesting Lab Oratory owned by this freakish Professor, Dr. Drake for Graphic 45, Alpha Stamps and ScrapFX. It's a little Lab Chapel where he concocted all of his finest herbal and insects poisons. Beware as you enter his Lab and don’t get too freaked out by the huge Exhibit A entrance! He has most of the deadliest delights, charms, potions, herbs and notions you could ever think of. 

As you tour around his Lab, you will be amazed by this gigantic Sands of Time in his movable herb garden. Flip to see how those minute orange sand falls to time; a therapeutic way to keep your mind off. Beware! Evil hypnosis will take place when you stare of it too much. Before you could realize it, your brain will be hijacked!

Indeed a little freakish Lab Chapel! The Exhibit A speaks it all! Who would place such a display to freak people out? You bet, that's Dr. Drake...

Supplies List

• Secret Spell Book Part One Collage Sheet 
• Tiny Magic Books & Potions Labels Collage Sheet
• More Witchy Potion Labels Collage Sheet
• Tiny Little Books Collage Sheet
• ATC Book Box
• Graphic 45 Rare Oddities 8” x 8”Paper Pad
• Graphic 45 Rare Oddities  6” x 6” Patterns & Solids
• Metal Door Pull – Antique Brass 
• Antique 3D Gold Crown
• Halloween 3D Skull Cameo
• Small Hinged Tin
• Blank Altoids Tin
• Amber Resin Potions Bottles 
• Ghoulish Green Mini Resin Jars 
• Green Resin Perfume Bottle 
• Mini Clear Resin Whisky Bottle 
• 1½” Glass Bottles 
• Tiny Round Bottles
• Amber Even Tinier Bottles
• Wooden Doll Stand
• Pumpkin Pods 
• Large White Turquoise Skull Beads
• Tiny White Turquoise Skill Beads
• Round Antique Broze Filigree
• Funky Bronze Scissors Charm 
• Hourglass Charm 
• Acrylic Die – Pre-Drilled in Black  
• Clock Face Buttons
• 12mm Glass Cat Eyes 
• Small Ceramic Horned Owl
• Tiny Green Leaf Garland
• 10mm Clear Glass Marbles 
• 5/8” Bronze Skull & Bones Charms 
• DIY Tine Bottle Stoppers Mix
• Bronze Pentagram Charms 
• DIY Potion Bottles Bead Mix 
• Set of Miniature Books 
• Word Bands – Observations  
• Tim Holtz Gothic Stencil
• ScrapFX Chippies (Clockface, Steampunk Frame, Mini Feathered Wings, Mini Alphabets, Baroque Frame, Flourish Diamond Mini)
• Gina’s Design Steampunk Dollies (black) 
• Mixed Media (Shimmerz Paints, Clearsnap Smooch Pearlized Ink Accents) 
• Own Stash – hourglass, twigs, miniature wood pieces

Home Sweet Home Kitchen Rack Hanger

As my crate obsession continues, I just couldn't help getting addicted. How I wish I'm living in a rural country side owning a farm so that I can build more crate houses for my chickens. LOL! I can't get any crazier than this. So in order to fulfill my crate obsession, I'm building this kitchen rack hanger using Graphic 45 Home Sweet Home paper collection together with those wooden utensils from Ikea, as featured on Sunday's Graphic 45 blog post... 

Absolutely love rustic farm feel and I can't help falling in love with Elmer's white glue that creates those lovely crackle effects... Now I can use this Home Sweet Home rack hanger for my kitchen stuffs...

Melancholic Lamentations - A Salvaged Love Bride

Not very long time ago in a far away City, there was once upon a Bride whom had a heavy heart filled with enormous amount of salvaged love; yearning for her Man's love and desire. For her Man had promised to love her till eternity at their wedding night, she patiently awaited for his return...

As she sat by near the window each night, glaring out towards the deep dark sky, the moon was her only everlasting light. Each night passed by, she felt solemn and sorrowed. Yet her love for her Man was so great that she could only salvage in despair. Her Man, had yet to return... 

The glaze of her eyes filled with hope and desires. Her heart, felt burdened and heavy; as if it weighed a few tonnes worth of Silver. Though she felt warm at heart as she waited for the love she had for her Man was so generous, her heart was tearing. Drop by drop, she salvaged...  

She lamented in despair on each drop of love she salvaged. She felt pain; a pain so immensely deep that she could feel pricks of sharps piercing through her heart. Her Man never returns...

"Oh! How long more I would have to wait? For my love has left no more to salvage yet I yearn and desire for your everlasting love..." She withered as nights went past. And goodbye... My love...

As such is life, the Bride died with a grieved heart filled with pain and sorrows in her wedding dress, unable to wait for her Man to return... 

About the Project

The inspiration behind this project is based on an actual real life account - about a wife endlessly trust and await for her husband to return home every night. There's a little social context behind, mainly on the constant vicious cycle in an emotional abuse family. While physical violence in domestic abuse is more evident, the psychological impact and damage for emotional abuse is often more severe and harder to be seen by the outside world. The whole essence of this entire project gears towards an overview inner emotions of a lamenting Bride; a confusional contrary mixed feelings of love, pain and sorrow.

The Scene

A Salvaged Love Bride in this scene was set in a more melancholic setting, denoting the constant love-pain relationship the victim faced living with an emotional abuser. It's more towards a way to "recycle" her love, trapped within a small cubicle unable to leave. Yet on the contrary, her love for her Man was so salvaged that she always trusted and truly believed he would return one day to fulfill the love and desires she yearns for.

Elements within the Scene
A mixture of heart gears and metal embellishments were used for the flaming heart to create some form of salvaging mechanics, just for the sole function of "recycling" the love drops. The Bride's bunch of flowers consists of 9 roses; a meaning of Eternal Love denoting her Man's promise to love her for eternity. Those 2 suitcases represent the separate livelihoods of the Bride and her Man. Though stacked together as "one" union life in a marriage, the actual life between the Bride and her Man is often distinct and one-sided. In order to create a more contrary melancholic mood, various small details such as a solemn black umbrella, a Jane Austin's Pride & Prejudice novel and a stack of newspapers with the perish of the Titanic are added.

List of Supplies:

• Vintage French Ad Collage Sheet 
• Haunted Ship Travel Collage Sheet   
• Little Library Collage Sheet  
• Plastic Skeleton  
• Relic & Artifacts – Flaming Hearts Ex Votos II  
• Gold Mini Rosette Dresden Borders  
• Fuzzy Black Fibers 
• Mixed Silver Filigrees
• Set of Miniature Books  
• Miniature Umbrella Set 
• Word Bands – Observations
• Flower Stamen – Ivory  
• Gilder’s Paste – White 
• Gilder’s Paste – Silver
• Gilder’s Paste – Patina
• Tim Holtz Gothic Stencil
• Bride of Frankenstein Stencil
• Molding Paste
• White Gesso
• Black Gesso
• E6000
• Glue N Seal
• Prima Finnabair’s Vintage Mechanicals (Leaves 2, Small Flowers, Roses) 
• Prima Ingvild Bolme’s Junkyard Findings (Heart Gears) 
• Prima Mulberry Flowers (Rose Buds, Mini Petals) 
• ScrapFX Mini Alphabets
• Shimmerz Paints (Vibez – Egg Noggin’ & Snow Storm, Shimmeringz – Baby’s Breathe, Inklingz – Sheer Bliss, Tarnished Treasure, Freshly Minted, Blingz – Pixie Dust, Texturez – Patina) 
• Own Stash (white tulle, rhinestone crystals, dollies, wooden window box)

Artisan Style ATC Card Tags

In as far as I'm concern, seriously I do not know what the hell am I making at times... When I received my previous Graphic 45 DT pack and saw the Artisan Style collection, there're so many ideas spinning around my head that I loose hold my grip in catching them... This is where it seriously frustrates me 'cos I know there's something at the back of my mind but I couldn't pull it out... And soon I develop this "temporary creative incapacitated syndrome" which hinders me to put my ideas into practice... Seriously hate this moment of dis-coordination between my mind and hands... When this really happens and I tried to create, I'll usually ended up in a series of creative chaos and madness...

Sometimes, I wish I could just cling wrap them to "preserve" these ideas and store them in my fridge... 

It all started with an intention to create some ATCs out of the Artisan 8" x 8" paper pad... As I tried working on it, I realized Hey these are not in the correct sizes!! Then I decided I should probably make them into cards instead... As the more I tried to add stuffs onto it, I noticed they are way too small as cards... I was like "What the Heck?! This is neither here nor there!" This was where it seriously got me irritated and decided to hunt some more stuffs out in hope I can turn them into proper cards... I grabbed some wine cork, split one into half and glue them onto the bottom... And I found that something is missing somewhere and added on some satin ribbons, lace, brass chain, flowers and buttons...

After adding on so much stuffs and when I’m all done, I’ve totally no idea what I had created - it’s not ATC, not even cards, and not really tags… But whatever it is, these are the final outputs from my creative madness and randomness. I decided to just call them ATC card tags… Still don’t think it sounds right, I’m just being random… Feel kind of a cliché? Yes I know… Imagine Style or Style Imagine? But whatever… Oops!