Memories at Sea

Hello there my fellow bloggers, I am delighted to have you stop by today and to be able to share my Nautical project with you on my blog and also on Countryview Challenges Blog after being chosen in their Top 3 Stencil It challenge. This is my second time as GD at Countryview and to say I was excited to be back is an understatement. Click on any of the pictures and they can be viewed larger.

For my Nautical project I decided to make a memory frame book that

held memories and keepsakes of a Victorian couple as they embarked on

their World Cruise and as they travelled the world picking up souvenirs. You may want to grab yourself a cuppa before you start reading my post as it goes into many details.

My book was made out of a couple of cereal boxes. I cut my card to

size, scored and glued down the spine. The finished outside measures 7x9 Closed by 2 inches in the spine.

Next I added a whole layer of tissue paper with multi medium crinkling it as I applied it. Once dry I placed a swirl stencil on top and added Grunge Paste for more texture and interest.

  

The spine I covered another piece of cereal box in tissue paper and added some string for dimension and then glued onto book.

Once this was all dry I applied a coat of gesso and a mix of Deco Art and Paperartsy paints with a brush and baby wipes, gradually building layers. I also spritz on some distress stains drying my layers in between as I built them up too. The stains pooled in the textured areas, giving depth. I finally highlighted with a little gilding wax, I now had my Olde Worlde look. My metal embellishments on the front and the corners were all given an aged rusty look, by adding some paint and distress powders, finally highlighting with a little gilding wax on them too.

Click to Enlarge

Now let's go inside. You will notice I carried my tissue paper and painting around the edges of the inside of my book. The pages glued onto the cover of my book, were yes, you guessed it cereal box again. This time I wrapped my patterned paper around the cardboard. I then distressed the edges and added some more random stamping to the pages and some of Tim's remnant rubs. I built up the arrangements onto these pages until totally happy with my layouts before finally gluing in.

  
My Eiffel Tower and anchor, I used distress powder on to give an aged rust look.

My ticket was stamped using Archival ink onto kraft card, I also stamped on little damp marks. I then tore around the edges, crumpled the paper and swiped through distress stain and distress the edges with ink. I made a mould from an old navy button my dad had. I then poured platinum utee into it and rubbed with gilding wax.

My ship I stamped firstly onto kraft paper and another on white card. This one I pressed into Versamark and embossed with powders twice heating from underneath to give a lovely glossy feel to the ship, of it being well polished . I then fussy cut it out and placed onto the kraft paper.

My Victorian couple - a free stamp, were coloured by Copics and fussy cut , I arranged a collage for interest. My little ships knots placed on the pages and in the frame my dad kindly made for me. After years in the Merchant Navy he has never forgotten this art.

The reason behind my jewellery embellishments hanging on the inside spine were to highlight a possible safe in their cabin to keep treasured keepsakes and the jewels worn. You will see a padlock, key, glasses and jewels on the chain.

Now for my picture frame. I decided on the size of frame I wanted and scored at half inch intervals, folding back and forward to mimic book pages, I glued into a box shape and added distress to age my pages. My Cheery Lynn anchor and ships wheel were both cut out of cereal packet and several layers glued together. My anchor was painted, distress powder and gilding wax added. My wheel was coloured with Copics.

  

My little bottles I placed Remnant Rubs onto, filled with sand, shells, glass beads and tied a little twine around them. My image from Tim's lost relatives pack, I coated with distress rock candy paint and once dry I added distress into the cracks. I decorated the edges with pearls and mounted onto my die cut. You will see in the mix some shells more pearls and another ships knot made by my dad.

My chandelier was to mimic some of the opulence in the ship. It started off as a wooden shape. I added ferro paste and pressed some bling onto it whilst still wet. My candles I used a distress pen on the wick and added glossy accents. The actual candle had beeswax dripped onto it.

Well I do hope you managed to get to the end of my post and have enjoyed reading my journey with this project. It was an absolute pleasure to make and the icing on the cake is it being showcased on CountryviewChallenges - thanks.

If you need to know anything about a product please just ask me. However, the majority of my products used will be found at CountryviewCrafts, fantastic service and 99% of the time next day delivery. Also CheeryLynn designs.

Would love if you have time to leave me a comment. 

Happy Crafting,

Julie x 

I would like to enter this in to :

• Lessology Challenge 40# Travelogue ( Rice Krispies Box )
• Vintage Udfordring - At Least 3 Layers Challenge
• Try it on Tuesday - Recycle it Challenge (  Rice Krispies Box )
• Divas by Design - Anything but a card Challenge
• Sugar Creek Hollow - Word Play Challenge
• Rhedds Creative Spirit - September Challenge
• Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge # Rock the Technique
• Altered Electics - September Challenge Time - Anything Goes
• The Mirror Crack'd - Anything Goes Challenge