Blue art-nouveau box

This is the time for a proper painted tea-box for my own kitchen. The top - like my previous ones - is conpletely painted with acrylics. Sides of this box are made with decoupage technique. I was inspired by one of Alphonse Mucha's litograph and by bouqiniste's self-portrait she painted using ink pastel and color pencil. I sketched it on the box and painted it by myself changing color pallete to blue. I used more vivid acrylics for the head and jewelry-piece...

Retro business-card boxes

The last creation of 2011 I wished to publish earlier but I went for vacation to the Netherlands. Now I'm back with mind full of new ideas and I already announce a new kind of jewelry which will be presented very soon! Meanwhile - as I mentioned in my previous post - I start with Hipstamatic photography and decided to use it with my handicraft creations...

For the very first attempt I present the-end-of-the-year retro business-card boxes made using decoupage technique, shabby-chic and crackle. For those I used two famous classic portraits: the blue one is the portrait of Princess Marie Adelaide of France by (probably) Perronneau. The red one is the portrait of Lucretia Panciatichi by Agnolo di Cosimo (Bronzino):

Autumn Art Nouveau painted box

For the turn of seasons I've painted the reproduction of another art nouveau litograph. Of course it's Alphonse Mucha again, and a very famous picture. This time I took a pinewood box and covered it with a rosewood stain. It doesn't only look nice, it also smells like forest! Incredible specimen! I'm in love with it and it's also good to be used as a background for acrylic paint in shabby chic technique because it gives the aging effect. Probably I'll use it for making a nice white box with aged edges next time. Anyway my art nouveau reproduction is acrylic as always and looks like this:

Victorian purples

Another gift for my friend who wanted me to combine her own purple tissue (with swirly pattern) with some of victorian ladies motives. I had a proper decoupage paper full of nice reproductions of victorian fashion drawings. I chose three of them and cut them out. I like this connection of colors: purple + white + gold - that's why I based my design on it.

Chocolate-lover box

To express my gratitude to my friend, I've made something to remember for her. We're chocolate-freaks, my choice is dark chocolate with a huge ammount of cocoa and minimal ammount of sugar, usually filled with orange-peel or liqueur. Her choice is milk chocolate and white chocolate, pralines and bonbons - those with which my teeth suffer extremely ;) Anyway - to pay tribute to our taste - I've made a special chocolate box:

Vintage capsules

There was the time I didn't have access to wooden easter-eggs for decoupage because they were very rare in internet shops and became quickly out of stock. Now they can be found almost everywhere where handicraft supplies are being sold. But if you don't have your material to work with - you simply create it out of other things and do what you can. It was also the time when my father was very sick so we were visiting him in hospital often. From that days I've gotten many of those disposable shoe-pads you use in the hospital to walk around without dirtying anything. They all were made of wrapping film and put into colorful capsules you could have obtained from vending machines. I counted 23 of those capsules stored in my place and decided to do something of them. I still had some tissue scraps and other remnants, so I've created my own ball-shaped eggs ;)

Pastel roses

A quick view of decoupage'd pastel project I've made as an addition to romantic bedroom however it's been already taken away from me ;) Fortunately I still have some more of those tissues and I can produce more boxes...

Glamour black and white

I didn't post for some time due to lack of time, however I'm coming back with new ideas. As the very first project I've made a glamour black and white set for which I used one of popular motives - lace-looking tissue print. It's available in many colors but high black and white contrast seems to be the best:

I chose the middle one to create something eclectic and elegant and that something appeared to be: two big and two small jewelry boxes, perfect for glamour or victorian monochrome sets:

Art nouveau Ivy - reproduction on wood

Inspired by work of Alphonse Mucha from 1901, I've sketched and then painted it on a wooden box. It was previously another cigar box made of cherry wood, about 21 x 15 cm. I've painted the Ivy on the lid, and I covered sides of the box with acrylic paint texture using small sponge...

Of course there's an original engraving visible under layers of my paint - it was so deeply engraved that abrading it or filling it with more paint didn't cover it completely (I also didn't have silicon mastic in my stock yet). Anyway luckly it's not so visible in reality :)

Art nouveau Dance - reproduction on wood

I have a precious box which was accompanying me for years. When I left home and went to study at University, it was always with me. I kept my collection of incenses inside of it along with other useful things. When I moved through the entire Europe, it went with me and now it's still on my shelf...

Just a dark brown ordinary wooden box: 38 cm long, 14,5 cm wide, 9,5 cm tall. It was always plain without any pattern. But I decided to give it a bit of character, which could be my simple thank you for the item that has never abandoned me.

I was inspired by the original painting of Alphonse Mucha's Dance (from the Arts serries, 1898). I loved the idea of it, the movement, dynamism and colors refered to flames. It was breathtaking, so I came with an idea of re-painting it, of making reproduction of it on wood using my own chosen colors...

I was painting it for seven days, next two days were meant for covering details with golden paint and another two days - for coating. In sum: eleven long days, begining with a simple pencil sketch. But I'm really proud of the ready-made product ;)

Hamsa for my friend

My friend needed protection, so she gave me a piece of wood and asked me to paint Hamsa for her to hang above the doorstep...

For all people that don't know what Hamsa is yet - a short introduction:

Hamsa (also known as Khamsa or Fatima Hand) - is a hand-shape amulet with Middle-East origin which protects a person or house against the evil eye. Known as Hand of Fatima commemorates Prophet Muhammad's beloved daughter - Fatima Zahra. The symbol and its properties are spreaded accross the entire southern Mediterranean and Middle-East Region, they are also popularized in many parts of Europe. Of course - it's a matter of choice if you believe in a power of it or not ;) My friend beliefs, so it was important for her to acquire one.

Fortunately she allowed me to use colors I wanted to and didn't interfere with the process ;) I used some nice cobalt-blue acrylic paints for the shape and few spots I filled with golden and red paint. I must admit it was an awful block of wood full of splinters, so I had to polish and clean it a bit, still I lacked poper tools but I really did what I could...

Finally... My very first humble presentation

It's been a long time since I'd got an idea of making this blog. I've actually abandoned it for a long time being occupied by my job (graphic design), family life (my husband and my alaskan malamute ;)) and also another passion I'm infected with: computer games (currently: Lord of the Rings Online). Suddenly I remembered about my blog and made a huge facepalm ;) - this is me, a completely chaotic, absent-minded person! Finally I attempt to publish something of my creations and I start modestly, with a romantic vintage decoupaged jewellery box: