Into the forest....

Good Morning everyone

The first Friday in June so time for a new challenge at Creative Artiste where the theme is always anything goes 

MIXED MEDIA

Using at least 3 different mediums

I have another one of my shadow boxes made from a cat food box....of which i have a never ending supply!  This time we are in the woods at dusk surrounded by trees watching the hedgehogs come out to play😁

Box size approx 20x16cm /6x8" and 3" deep

See below for step by step.

Once all the trees were in place I added reindeer moss to the floor, added a couple of trees to either side with a little chipboard birdie, 3 small printed toadstools and my 2 hedgehogs.  Ive had these chipboard hedgehogs for at least 10 years so about time i used them.  I first covered them in brown paint in 2 tones, darker at the bottom and lighter at the top, to the top where the spikes are i very lightly dry brushed on diamond cadence dora paint - when the light hits it it really dances. 

I stamped the quote onto a sage green cardstock die cut into an oval, covered with mod podge and adhered into place with glue gel covering the join in the trees.  I added  more die cut foliage around and behind the oval to frame it and added another little wooden bird.

The foliage was die cut from cardstock i had painted with green cadence dora paint so it really shimmers when the light hits it.  Ive had these tiny wooden birds for years and still using them - it was a big pack. I left them natural as they match the tones of the reindeer moss

The trees ive added half way at the sides were 5 layers of die cuts so nice and sturdy and stand up well.

I love how the light emanates from deep in the woods...who knows what magic is going on in there.  My nan always called this time of night 'The gloaming' which always conjured up a more magical feel than 'dusk', a bit like twilight that always sounds more mystical than dusk! lol  For those who don't know gloaming is Scottish...My nan had long lost her Scottish accent accept when she used her many Scottish words and they always came out in a Scottish accent

and a close up of the hedgehogs, this is as detailed as i dared to get with them, i think if i had attempted putting in eyes & ears it would have ruined them

and onto the box base

After the box was coated in black gesso i then coated in a layer of dark blue and teal paint as i wanted a more dusk/nighttime look.  Then i added lime green and yellow to the back of the box as i wanted the feel of a luminous light coming from deep within the forest - i brought this slightly onto the sides of the box too.  Once dry i dry brushed on midnight blue and black to help build depth, you can see from the right hand photo that the yellow is still visible even through this dark paint but it makes it part of the scene rather than just yellow on top.

(colour is correct on the left one - right one was photographed at night before i moved onto next step)

I covered a sheet of scrap card in green cadence dora paints using light and dark greens, ones dry i die cut into foliage and adhered to the back of the box, this really shimmers in the light and also then has the effect of the light in the forest catching the leaves.

I die cut lots of birch trees from brown 300gsm cardstock and adhered 3 layers together to give me more of a chipboard.  I then dry brushed on brown acrylics to give more realistic bark then just the plain brown cardstock.  I have 2 very old memory box birch dies - 1 is one truck and the 2nd is several trunks joined together, this joint one i used for the background, i used one and a half across and then as its not tall enough, cut up another one for the top, knowing that i would be hiding the joins....if you click on the photo it will bring it up bigger for you to see closer if you wish

The outside of the box, i added texture paste through stencils and in other areas just dabbed on with my pallet knife.  Over dry i covered in the same midnight blue, teal & liquorice black paint used on the inside and once dry, dry brushed on the same lime green and yellow paints.  I finished the corners with metal corner protectors.

The start of my shadow boxes.  I cut up cat food boxes and covered in brown paper saved from packaging.  I cut to 3" deep but you could have a really deep shadow box and leave the full depth of the original box

You can see other cat food box make overs here

                      

                                  autumn shadow box                                       snowy cabin

Items Used:

Inkylicious 'forest quote' stamp

Toadstool digitals 'Mixed Media Toadstools' from Double Helix Digitals on Etsy

Memory box dies - 'Tall birch' & 'Massa leaf' 

Impression Obsession birch tree die 

Kiasercraft wood birds

Texture stencils

Texture paste

Cadence dora paints

Folk art acrylic paints

Hop over to Creative Artiste to join in with your mixed media makes and see what the rest of the DT has come up with this month.  Any project welcome as long as you use 3 or more mediums.

Wishing you all a happy month of June. Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://diytozts.blogspot.com/2026/06/wyzwanie-96-recykling-upcykling.html#more

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https://craftingacutabove.blogspot.com/2026/06/june-challenge-and-july-anniversary-news.html - tree and leaf dies used

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https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/06/challenge-202606-june-2026-anything.html - anything but a card

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https://tolanythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-outlawz-anything-but-card-june.html

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https://pinspirationalchallenges.blogspot.com/2026/06/pinspirational-challenge-338-june-blue.html - blues and greens

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https://do-allkreatives.blogspot.com/2026/06/114-verpackung-box.html - Ive created my project from a packaging box 

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Natural beauty - butterflies

Good Morning

Its the first Friday of the month so time for a new challenge over at Creative Artiste Mixed Media where the theme is anything mixed media goes, using at least 3 different mediums.

 I made this mdf plaque home decor piece for a friends birthday.  Her favourite colour is purple so I started with that.  We've had some sun this week so Ive seen a few early butterflies out, a couple of brimstones & painted ladies so spring must be here😀

This is another one I forgot to measure before posting but I think it was approx 6x10" 

See below for how I did the background.  I took the chipboard butterflies and on 2 base layers and 1 top layer 1 painted with pale and dark purple paints and then on the other 2 top layers and 1 base layer I used an interference paint which is purple until the light hits it when it turns gold.  Once dry I layered the butterflies together. 

 Inspired by my fellow DT at Creative Artiste Tracey at hotchpotchcreations who uses alot of seed beads in her creations I decided to use some of the million seed beads I have for the bodies of the butterflies - I chose beads in a mix of purples and golds, when the light hits them they really sparkle and shimmer.

I raided my stash of alphas and decided on 'natural beauty' the smaller ones are plastic ones by tim holtz which I covered with very dark green acrylic to take the plastic look away and the larger ones are chipboard which I painted with the purples used on the butterflies.  I then worked out the placement for the alphas and the butterflies and adhered all into place.

You can see the dimension on the butterflies better here and the beads give a lovely 3d effect to the bodies.  To stick the seed beads I added a good layer of tacky pva glue and waited for it to start going sticky and then added plenty of beads and pushed into the glue, once completely dry i brushed off any that hadn't stuck. 

***

onto how I did the background

I first coated the background in pink and purple acrylic paints and once dry added texture paste through a large floral stencil, this is a nice big stencil so i could easily pick out the flowers i wanted.  I edged around the flowers with green paints and then dry brushed on a yellowy orange paint to just catch the texture paste flowers 

I added gold glitter paste through a foliage stencil but it wasn't very effective, i think the glitter too chunky for the stencil so switched to gold paint instead, you can just make out both here.  Once the background was finished i coated in mod podge to seal and protect.

This is how it started off - a charity shop find for £1 - I bought it with the sole intention of upcycling it.... First i gave it a light sanding with fine sandpaper and then a coat of gesso and no one would know Tenerife was there!    I also found the pack of greyboard butterflies in the charity shop for £1 so a bargain and the starting point for this project was born.  Now that im doing more mixed media projects  I do pop in charity shops more just to see what they have that I can use as a substrate and to upcycle. Its win win as it supports the charity shop and gives me affordable bases to work on..........mind you I do also have plenty of 'proper' substrates in the cupboard but it is fun to see how something preloved can be turned into something new. 

Items Used:

MDF plaque

Maya Road Chipboard butterflies 

Cosmic shimmer glitter paste 'sahara gold'

Marabu Crea texture paste

Decoart Metallic 'splendid gold'

Pebeo & Folk art acrylic paints

Folk art 'color shift' 'blue violet flash'

Thats crafty 7x7" stencil

13@rts stencil 'tiny leaves'

Tim Holtz adhesive alphas

Chipboard alphas

Gold & Purple seed beads

So hop over to Creative Artiste to join in and see what the rest of the DT created while mixing their mediums

Thank you all for popping by once again. I am still having issues with my eyes especially close up but determined to keep crafting and now using a magnifying glass that hangs around my neck so that is helping a bit but can only do small sessions but better than no crafting! Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://craftingfromtheartchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/02/february-challenge-2026.html

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https://dd-tripleb.blogspot.com/2026/03/march-2026-tb-challenge.html

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https://stencilfun.blogspot.com/2026/03/stencil-fun-march-2026-challenge.html  I used a large floral stencil and a small foliage stencil

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https://dragonflydreamschallenges.blogspot.com/2026/03/march-challenge-butterflies.html

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https://tolanythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-outlawz-anything-but-card-march.html

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https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2026/02/garden-party-no-12-anything-in-or-from.html

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Snowy cabin in the woods - (Creative Artiste Feb)

Good Morning all

Its the first friday in February so time for the first challenge of the year over at Creative Artiste where the theme is anything goes mixed media- we need at least 3 different mediums please.

When I made my Autumn Shadow box last year from a cat food box I thought I might try and do one for each season.  So here is my Winter scene -  a very snowy cabin in the woods.  

Approx size 8x6" and 3.5" deep

After covering it all in snow I made my little cabin (see details further down this post) and glued it into place.  I then die cut lots and lots and lots more pine trees from dark green cardstock, these I adhered together to make my own chipboard and make them nice and study - the trees adhered to a wall are 4 layers but those freestanding are 8 layers of die cuts, all covered in mod podge to again help strengthen them and then I added my snow with thick white gesso, dabbing it on the branches with my pallet knife, while still wet I sprinkled on the lightest dusting of super fine glitter.

I adhered the trees into place and covered the bottoms with more snow to hide any glue and make them part of the landscape.  I painted 5 wooden birds in brown and red like Robins and added around the scene, these just a little colour with the splash of red

I painted wooden snowflakes with white cadence dora paint which really shimmers in the light, these I adhered to the back and side walls of the box and added a clear gem to the centres for a bit more frosty bling.

I had to have a little Robin on the roof of the cabin.  Funnily while painting these Robins like our British ones the red is actually higher up on their breasts but it just looked weird so my Robins are more red bellies😀 which is more like the American Robin....but then that is more suiting this scene as snow like this in England would be very very very unusual and even more so coming across an old cabin in the woods...and if we ever get snow like this in Cornwall then we are in trouble! lol  As it a very rare occurrence to see snow and even rarer if it settles and hangs around for more than a day or two. 2" of snow is deep here and a rare sight.

Here you can see the outside of the box also, which I covered in texture paste and white acrylic for snow and added more wooden snowflakes.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to hang this on the wall or sitting on a side to display so I added both options.  I found some big clear acrylic heart beads in my stash which made great feet adhered flat, being clear they give a frosty like effect.  I also added a hanging hook to the back.

***

How I made it 

I made a small slim box out of kraft card, gluing all the edges closed.  I added yellow acrylic paint where i wanted the window and then added matchsticks for my window.  I then added lolly sticks as the wood planks, making sure they weren't cut perfectly to give a more rustic feel like an older cabin would have.  I added more lolly sticks for the roof, this time keeping the rounded edge as the scalloped edge to the roof.   Then covered in black gesso.

I dried brushed on various layers of 3 shades of brown.  I added a touch of yellow around the outside of the window onto the planks to give the effect of the light shining out.  2nd pic shows back of box, the angled roof I attached with pinflair glue gel as its sticky enough to hold up the sticks while they were drying to get the right angle - once the back of the roof was attached to the back of the box it was solid and no chance of moving. 

I covered the box inside and out in texture paste - well cheap polyfiller actually which is ideal when doing larger areas like this.  I gave it a snowy effect with the spatula - this took me back to my bakery days and when we had to decorate 100's of Christmas cakes each year😀   Once dry I covered it in white gesso and then white acrylic paint, sprinkling just a little super fine glitter on the inside onto the paint while it was still wet, this gives a subtle glistening effect.....I don't really 'do' loose glitter as it gets everywhere but won some in a mixed media box so it did work well here.

Items Used:

Memory box tree die

Dark green 350gsm cardstock

Cadence white gesso

Cadence white dora paint

Folk art acrylic paints

Polyfiller

Wood match sticks and lolly pop sticks

Fine glitter

Mod podge matt & glossy

Papermania wood snowflakes

kaisercraft wood birds

Papermania clear gems

Cardboard box

Hop over to Creative Artiste Mixed Media to see what the rest of the DT have created and join in.  Maybe its a new year to try a new craft and have a go at some mixed media - we accept cards and papercraft projects as well as 3d ones like mine so you can start off small like an ATC but just mix your mediums - at least 3 different ones

Thank you for stopping by once again. I hope that February is a good month for you all.  Here the snowdrops are well in flower, early daffodils in full flower and crocus too and the days are slowly drawing out. Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://tolanythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-outlawz-anything-but-card-february.html

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https://thefourseasonschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/02/winter-season-february-2026.html

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Autumn Shadow box

Good Morning everyone

First week into November - how scary is that! So with the 1st Friday in this month we have a new challenge over at Creative Artiste Mixed Media where the theme is always anything goes as long as you mix your medias - at least 3 different types please.

Ive made an autumnal shadow box for this month which actually started out life as a pet food box - its amazing what can be done with different mediums to transform something...

Approx size 6x8" See below for how I made & decorated the box.  Once that was done I got creating my little woodland scene.  I die cut a tree die multiple times from brown cardstock and adhered together to make my own chipboard - this making it more study.  I dabbed acrylic paint to the leaves in yellow, orange and red and dry brushed brown onto the trunks to break up the solid brown of the card & sealed with mod podge.  I then adhered these to the back of the box, one flat and 2 with glue gel to give a bit of depth.

I took wooden leaves and painted with acrylic paints and adhered to the back and sides of the box.  I then arranged some toadstools which I had printed and cut out way back in the spring just waiting to be used, they were printed onto 300gsm card but to give them extra stability I added card strips to the back of the stalks which also gave me more area to add glue to, to adhere them into place.

I add the same acrylic paints used for the background to scraps of cardstock and once dry die cut into lots of leaves which I then arranged around the box to make it look like they are falling from the trees onto the forest floor.

I die cut the word Autumn from gold glitter card and brown card, adhering the brown letters as a drop shadow and then added to the top back of the box.  I also die cut the gold glitter into a few leaves and scattered around to help tie it altogether. 

Everything was coated in mod podge to seal and protect.....the best way of dusting these projects is with a very soft large make up brush which is delicate enough to brush off any dust but not damage the rest...I was once asked that😁....Ive found the best way to avoid dusting in general is having craft projects lying around everywhere otherwise the cats are well trained in dusting with their tails😂😂😂

This shows the true colours better.  For the background tree I cut 1 up so that I could make it seem taller and a slightly different shape so that not all 3 trees were uniform, same with the one on the left I trimmed some off the left hand side so it tucked up in the corner more - the offcuts i glued into place behind other branches to help give the effect of different trees.

Technically these toadstools are too big for real life but this is craft land and I wanted them to be seen, not hidden under leaves

The toadstools - to give them more stability and area for me to add glue to, I glued strips of card together and added to the back of the stalks, adding a couple of coats of mod podge also helped give them some extra strength.

***

and onto the box

I first cut the cat food box to size - this is a 40 pouch box so I got 2 out of it by cutting down the middle - this then left a side without a wall so I used the lid of the box for that, cut to size and held in place with paper tape before I covered the whole box in brown paper which helps strengthen the box, hold the side panel in place and cover all joins.  I actually used brown paper often used in parcel packaging now - its ideal for this.  Tear it into small pieces and decoupage into place using watered down pva - so my whole shadow box is made from rubbish basically😁   

Once dry cover with gesso which covers the brown paper nicely and gives a good base to work on.  You can easily use tissue paper to cover it but as i save all the brown paper from packaging its ideal for this and good recycling. 

Here in the UK Sheba & Whiskers boxes are the best as they are much studier than Gourmet & Felix - yes my feline bunch are spoilt & old so fussy and all eat something different so I get to try all the boxes out😺 The other boxes I cut up into panels which make great bases for the childrens art creations - more study than normal card but alot cheaper than canvas board etc... 

I then added a layer of teal, brown & navy acrylic paint.  Then once dry stippled on a layer of yellow, orange, maroon and brown paints - the same colours I used for my leaves. I then knocked the colour back with a layer of vintage white dry brushed over.  This helped my images to stand out but also meant the colours in the background give the effect of the autumnal forest behind my scene.  It does seem weird to add colour to then cover over it but its only a light top layer and the original colours do all still show through in the finished result and is more effective than a solid colour.

On the outside of the box I added texture paste through a bamboo stencil and freestyle using my spatula.  Once dry I covered with the same paints used on the inside.  Teal and Navy first and then the browns, yellows catching the raised areas and once completely dry I dry brushed on gold paint to highlight.

You can make out the gold a bit more here, just on the raised areas.  All coated in glossy mod podge and metals corners added on all the corners to help protect and neaten up.  To think this was just a humble cardboard box.....I amaze myself sometimes😀 

I of course have the 2nd box to decorate too.

Items Used:

Toadstool digitals 'Mixed Media Toadstools' from Double Helix Digitals on Etsy

Papermania wooden leaves

Memory box tree die (very old)

Spellbinders leaf dies (very old)

Memory box alpha dies 'Parker'

Bamboo stencil

Texture paste - white

Plaid folkart matt acrylic paints

Pebeo acrylic paints

Decoart Gold acrylic 'splendid gold'

Brass effect metal corners

Crafters companion gold glitter card

Hop over to Creative Artiste to see what the rest of the DT & Guest DT have created and to join in.  The more you mix your mediums and get creative the better.

I hope you all have a good month. Hugs Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

  

The four seasons

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https://thesisterhoodofcrafters.blogspot.com/2025/10/10825-anything-fall.html

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https://theoutlawzchallenges-saturday.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-outlawz-anything-goes-in-card-free_02053675983.html

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https://craftingacutabove.blogspot.com/2025/11/november-challenge-2025.html - dies used 3 different leaf die sets, tree die, alphabet dies