Monday, February 28, 2011

My Vintage Shoebox

Good morning and welcome to my marvelous Monday post for Simon Says Stamp and Show.  This week, we are asking you to show us some ephemera.  Vintage ephemera is close to my heart and I use it constantly in my art.  For this project, I wanted to do something over and above my norm.  I finally settled on the idea of altering a cigar box that I have had sitting around for ages.  One of my favorite forms of ephemera is vintage advertisements and I love shoes so this project became a personal expresison.  I was able to find several great vintage shoe ads through my free on-line sources (see my sidebar for my favorite vintage clip art sites).  
I've never done a project like this so I had to feel my way through it.  I don't even know if I have broken any cardinal rules of mixed media art, but here is what I did.  I first painted the entire cigar box, inside and out with gesso.  When dry, I gave it another coat, this time with Adirondack acrylic paint.   I used Snow Cap and mixed in several drops of reinkers to get a shade of blue that I liked.  When the paint was dry, I lightly sanded all the edges and ink distressed them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  Next I distressed some designer paper with scissors and Vintage Photo Distress Ink and adhered them with Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium Matte, then did the same with the clip art. "My Love Affair With Shoes" plus the Hero Arts French Post stamp were then stamped on the cover.  
On the inside lid, I stamped a corner flourish from Tim Holtz's Mini Classics in Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink, adhered a vintage shoe advertising poster and did a little distress painting with the Snow Cap paint dabber.  A flourish was cut from Grungeboard, embossed with the Collage texture fade and inked with Pine Needles Distress Ink.  The flower was made from canvas cut with the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die (of course). 
For the inside bottom, I took four heart doilies (2 large and 2 small) and misted them with my homemade glimmer mist.  When dry, I stamped words describing shoes along the scalloped tops so the words ring the entire inside.  The collage alphabet stamp set is hard to read, especially when stamped on the doilies so here are the words that were stamped:  beautiful, ugly, fun, staid, flashy, playful, painful, old friends.  
And what would a shoebox be without a shoe?  I found a shoe template on line and made a sweet paper shoe. It has a silver "buckle" on the front made from a Spellbinders die and a little cream rose made with the smallest flower in the Tim Holtz Tattered Floral Die.  NOTE:  I just realized in looking at the one I copied, that I made a small mistake which you can see in top photo - the connecting flap inside should have been flipped DOWN not up before glueing - oh well, live and learn. 
So there you have it.  This project took up my entire Saturday from the time I got up until late evening.  My DH was away for the weekend and I had no other calls on my time so I just poured it on continuously energized by the artistic drive to see this project realized and by a generous supply of coffee.  It was really a fun experience to be so captivated by creating that I barely noticed the time going by.  
Now it's time to hurry on over to Simon Says Stamp and Show to check out the rest of the ephemera projects created by my talented colleagues.   Again this week, our ever generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 to a lucky randomly selected winner.  You can't win if you don't play so get in gear and make an ephemera project to share with us this week.  

25 comments:

Sharon said...

Gosh Linda, this is absolutely AMAZING. A lot of hard work, but so worth it when you view the finished product. Well done, this is a masterpiece.

Penni said...

Wow this is stunning, it's so pretty. I love the flower cut from canvas - I might have to give this a try is looks great.

Hugs
Penni
X

Daniele said...

wow thats one lovely piece of art....I love those flowers out of canvas, very shabby chic
hugs

Terry said...

Ohhh my goodness Linda I totally LOVE your Vintagy Shoebox, wowzersss your detaills are soo delli and love the shoe too..my goodness you absolutely overdid yourself I completely love everything about it sweetie...wowww Really STUNNING and AMAZING at the same time sweetie....you completely ROCK.
Hugs Terry xxxx

Suzi Mac said...

Oh for goodness sake Linda, lol. what a beautiful cretion, well 2 actually, love love love the box and all the elements and that shoe is just stunning. Do you make them in size 6. lol.
Hugs
Suzi x

Deirdre said...

Linda, your creations are AMAZING. Absolutely inspirational.

There's a little something on my blog for you! Thank you for the inspiration.

Kate Yetter said...

So Beautiful! I love it!

Stasia said...

Oh, Linda, I absolutely love what you've done with my box. lol The outside, inside, and sides are just lovely. The part you said should have gone down instead of up; I thought it made a beautiful curve to the shoe.
inky hugs,
Stasia

Irene said...

Hello Linda

Thank you so much for your comment on my blog. Linda, your shoe and card are just amazing and gorgeous,
I just love every single detail.

luv
irene
xxxx

Unknown said...

WOW!!! I am speechless.. This is a beautiful work of ART.. Amazing..

Hugs, Linda

Joy said...

Amazing! That's all I can say!

Anonymous said...

Speechless ! I saw your gorgeous shoe and thought that was stunning and then I scrolled down and saw the box and I am now totally blown away ! Your talent definitely knows no bounds. Sue C x

Sylvia/LittleTreasures said...

You win the "PRIZE" for making my morning. I save unusual boxes amongest other things!! This project about covers it all. WOW.
A few birthday projects settled by using a few of your inspirations here. Just a really fun coffee spot each day. Thanks so much.

Beverly G said...

This is absolutely stunning. The feathers inside the box are the cherry on top!

Netty said...

Oh wow Linda this is gorgeous and that fabulous shoe on the top is awesome. A lot of work but oh so worth the effot. Brilliant project. Annette x

Rebecca said...

Super fantastic. Your hard work paid off. Took my breath away

Scrumplescrunch said...

Wow Linda what a masterpiece!!!!
Wonderful work, I am always amazed with what you produce. You need not worry about breaking rules re mixed media as there aren't any. Only the Purist would be critical and they are not worth worrying about.
I put your daffodil card up on my blog, as it is St Davids day today.
I hope that was okay and I have not broken any cardinal blogging rules! Check it out.
Smiles:)

Lori said...

AMAZING..doesn't even begin to describe this... I can see you poured your heart and soul into it.. it's GORGEOUS! Well done on a project that is outside your "box"!

marsha said...

Wow Linda, this is just STUNNING! I am just about speechless, this is such an intricate and beautiful work of art you have created and I cannot even image how long ti took with all this detail! You have topped the charts with this one!
Hugs,
Marsha

Cindy Adkins said...

Hi Linda,
Your work is beyond spectacular!!!! WOW!!! I came over from Sue's blog and oh how I love the card you made her...it is amazing!!!
XO

Chris Olsen, Glowbug said...

Wow Linda!! This is gorgeous and so creative!! I just love the shoe and the flowers from the canvas!! What a work of art!!

Anonymous said...

wow linda! its stunning! i love it. now you make me wannna go shopping for some beautiful shoes,lol. hugs!

email: Steph@SimonSaysStamp.com said...

Wow!! Gorgeous work, Linda! I love all the vintage shoes, they are way cool, the layering looks great too :)
*mwah*
Steph
Simon Says Stamp

Hege-Annie Simonsen said...

Wow!! You've outdone yourself on this one! Amazing project! Never seen that shape on a shoe creation made of paper before! Many great details on your box. Wish I had one like that! :)

Hugs, Hege

Jen said...

This is an amazing project!!! That shoe is awesome!! It was well worth all the hard work!!

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