Monday 3 October 2016

2016 #19 Upcycling {by Lauren Hatwell}

2016 Topic 19: Die Cuts



Hi everyone Lauren here.Tonight I'd like to share with you this evening with a post about Upcycling with Dies.. 

Love them or hate them, Dies are real multi-taskers and they are invaluable for turning little scraps of this and that into really polished looking projects. I am fairly addicted to them and I have a pretty extensive collection of really useful basic shapes that I go back to again and again.



Step One: If you're anything like me you will have a box or basket at home that looks something like this.


It is filled with bits and bobs you think will come in handy for future projects. Mine is absolutely full of really sturdy bits of card and packaging and my collection of dies is absolutely invaluable for transforming them into something a bit more useful and exciting.

When my husband asked me for a little filing box to keep his travel documents in recently I knew I could make him something stylish with the help of a few gorgeous PaperArtsy stamps, some packaging and some of my favourite dies, old and new.


Step Two:.My starting point was my brand new file page die by Seth Apter for Spellbinders. It's the latest addition to my collection and I absolutely love it. Using the die, I cut four or five equal sized file dividers with some sturdy kraft card left over from some packaging. Then I die cut some tabs, from the same set, for the top of each divider and sewed them on with my sewing machine (I did this first so I would know what size box I needed). I kept the decoration of the file dividers fairly simple using some great Ink and the Dog words and images. I used a selection from Gentlemen 3 and Clocks 3.

 Gentlemen 3
Clocks 3.

I stamped the clock from the Clocks 3 Plate and then die cut some clock hands to add some interest. I've added a little gloss glaze to make them pop a little. 



More die cutting for this one. I used Seth Apter's star dies to cut some random star shapes and then stamped the clock grid from Clocks 3 onto white card with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.



I die cut my own stencil for this one and sponged Walnut Stain Distress Ink through it to decorate one of the file dividers. Then I stamped words from the Gentlemen 3 plate stamped in the same Distress Ink.


Step Three: The next step was to make a box so I cut some pieces of card a centimeter bigger than .my dividers and built a simple box using some old packaging. I painted the box with a layer of Buff Fresco Finish Paint from Seth Apter's Limited Edition release of paints. When the paint was dry I spritzed on some water and sprinkled Golden Sands Infusions on it to get a lovely marbled effect. 


I looks so great I was really tempted to leave it like this.

Step Four:. I die cut another stencil using a lovely decorative flourish die and sponged through it onto the box with Walnut Distress Ink to get a kind of shadow pattern effect.



Step Five:.Lastly I needed a pocket so I stamped the row of very smart Gentlemen from Gentlemen 3 onto a piece of white card before matting it onto a larger piece of card and scoring to form a pocket.


I painted the pocket to match the box and layered the image onto the front before adding legs to the box to add a final flourish.


I think it looks really smart and I certainly won't mind having it on the hall table rather than a pile of bits and pieces balanced precariously on the side waiting for someone to knock them on the floor.

Dies come in so many useful shapes and sizes. They are invaluable for recycling and upcycling. You can use them time and time again in the certain knowledge you can cut precisely to get the exact shape and size every time. That makes them perfect for layering, making moulds, stencilling and batch making items. What's not to love?

Lauren Hatwell


Oh what fabulous storage Lauren. the background looks like marble, the Infusions have done a marvelous job there. the old men add an air of vintage and make for a very smart casing. ~Darcy

We would love to see how you interpret this Die Cuts topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #19: Die Cuts, on this page HERE.
All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas, particularly if you were inspired directly by their post. 
All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Die Cuts link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Oct 16th 2016. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

18 comments:

Kirsten said...

What a great idea! And it looks wonderful, I love the Infusions.

Julia Aston said...

What a wonderful artsy way to store plain old files! love the colors and inking on the sides!

Elena said...

Absolutely LOVE this!

Helen said...

great storage solution

Ruth said...

Absolutely wonderful Lauren!! Love the whole Kraft look and the infusions on paint...stunning, love the details as well like the clock hands! Clever and inspired xxx

Julie Lee said...

Such a stylish storage solution - that sounds like a tongue twister, but I'm sure you'll get what I mean! I love the marbling and the vintage look of this. What an imaginative use of die-cutting! xx

Craftyfield said...

Wonderful box! I love using recycled packaging too...

Kathyk said...

Completely yumscrumptious .. I have die envy too!!!

Kathyk

Lucy Edmondson said...

What a great project, Lauren, love the marble effect, and the stitching works really well,

Lucy x

Words and Pictures said...

What a fabulous project, Lauren - brilliant upcycling and the marbling effect is so cool. Great stamp choices too - I love this!
Alison x

craftimamma said...

This looks great Lauren. Love the background effect on the box and the combination of stamps and dies is great. Fab piece of up cycling!

Hugs
Lesley Xx

craftimamma said...

This looks great Lauren. Love the background effect on the box and the combination of stamps and dies is great. Fab piece of up cycling!

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Inky and Quirky Designs said...

Fantastic creation Lauren, absolutely love the marble effect you've created.....might have to try that one :)
Hugs
Donna xx

Miriam said...

This is gorgeous Lauren - love it!

Etsuko said...

What a wonderful idea Lauren!! Awesome the box's surface processing, it's seems gorgeous marble and great shadow pattern effected. Love the pocket and legs too. xx

Hazel Agnew said...

This is a great project Lauren. Loving the marbling effect and the vintage feel. Xx

Catie Cuddles said...

Wow ... and I want that stencil you made of the arrows... Leandra you need to get Lauren to sign that one over to you! C x

Seth said...

Fantastic, creative and unique idea. Who wouldn't want one of these in their space!