22 Steampunk Pumpkin and Giveaway Wednesday

A big thank you to our guest designer Virginia for her fabulous post yesterday, there are so many things to do, so little time.....

I found these little babies and fell in love!!  

Take a cheap plastic pumpkin bucket and Steampunkify it!

Material Used

Cheap Plastic Pumpkin Bucket.

Black Plastikote Spray

Treasure Gold Wax

Garden Mesh (mouth)

Sink Cover and Crystal Door Handle (left eye as you face him)

Black Buckle, washer, plaster mesh and a brad (right eye as you face him)

Old Screw (nose)

2 bendy metal bits from an old folder

2 rusty washers

Hot Glue Gun

This feels like a really lazy post, cos after I made my Steampunk Pumpkin 

I found these INSTRUCTIONS  and I don't think I can top it.  

I did have a few problems....

1. I tried to alter mini pumpkins, way too fiddly and they couldn't take the weight of the additions on the face and kept toppling over.  Mini steampunk pumpkins abandoned.

2. I tried covering the pumpkin in a layer of black gesso, it just kept flaking off, so back to the drawing board.

3. Next I tried my homemade black chalk paint, it looked amazing, the texture was fab, but it just peeled away like a face mask!!

4. Final attempt, black spray paint, its still not perfect as every knock and scratch shows up but it works well with the Treasure Gold Wax.

A couple of other points

1. Its a bit fiddly adding mesh over the mouth, much patience needed but well worth it!!

2. I used a hot glue gun, a few burnt fingers, so handle with care.

I have entered this into the PDE Linky Party for Halloween decorations and the Altered Eclectics blog..

All in all a challenging project but I think it was well worth it and as its giveaway Wednesday, I hope the happy recipient adores him as much as I do.  To win leave a comment here or on our facebook page by midnight Sat 25th Oct.  A winner will be announced on Sunday 26th.

TFL Lou x

15. Junk key...surprise!

Thanks for joining me on this Wicked Wednesday! Now every good, bad or ugly witch, warlock or wizard, needs to keep their things locked away, and if they're anything like I am it needs to be a bulky keyring so they aren't lost down the back of the sofa.

It's a pretty simple concept lovingly 'borrowed' from an art blog pal of ours called DonnaLouiseRogers, as can be seen in more detail here: grab an old looking key - make sure its not one you're going to need at some point, and start adding to it.

Alternatively if you don't have a big enough key, or want more use out of the finished piece try a kilt pin brooch instead.

*NON HALLOWEEN STORY SKIP IF PREFERRED:

Recently for a friends wedding I had a padlock engraved with their details, and gave them a shadow box frame, the idea was to either put their padlock in a collection, or somewhere special that has meaning to them both and use the frame as normal.

OR

Frame their lock, adding things to to it as they went, their baggage clips, festival bands, keyrings from day trips, ticket stubs, babies hospital bands etc as life moves on.  I was thrilled when I went around to find it hung on their wall as living art of their life together 
without having to get out an album or three

The padlock idea sprung from the original Junk key and either or both can be used for a variety of projects like weddings or moving home, but Halloween themed is definitely much more fun and is finished quicker - in theory :)

Anyway once you've found a starting point, just keep adding to it, whether it be charms, beads, chain, ribbon, little potion bottles, papertags, stamped bits, shrink plastic, scraps of leather, etc until its nearly lost, then either frame it or put in a little matchbox as lost and found. 

If you've made a brooch attach to your coat or bag and wear for the rest of the season

These are my starters for 10: 

*To be truthful I'm not as happy with these as I want to be at the moment, (wrong key, not enough papery things, etc) however I am going to carry on adding to them and by the weekend they should be how I want them, at which point I'll add a new pic.

and...

Surprise! I'm going to give these away including a brand new pair of earrings just about the same as in the photo (but never worn).. Me being busy carrying on with these gives you some time to comment on our pages, and fb group. Any new comment (preferably a nice one and 'likes' don't count it has to be a comment) that has been made between last weeks draw and the same time this weekend qualifies. So go on have a poke around and see what you've missed.

I'll pick out 3 random winners to send to, no specifying which you'd prefer as that would take organisation. It's not a pretty picture. I don't like doing it!

I am entering this in the Left of Centre Altered Art Challenge.

Jas x

This weeks wicked Wednesday Winners for the Junk key, kilt pin or earings are in no particular order:

Susibee

Carmen

Pauline

If your name matches the above and you posted on our blog or FBpage between Saturday 1201 and Friday Midnight, email your address to Minerva27.jg@googlemail.com and I'll post one of the items to you

Thanks for joining us, and keep an eye out for our next give away.

8. Mini Matchbox Journals - and a GIVEAWAY!

Details of the giveaway are at the end of this post.

A fun mini project - little matchbox Halloween journals. Perfect for using up those scraps of paper. A big thanks you to Gill who made some mini journals for a swap that I ran recently, and who inspired me to make spookier versions.

Remember those little matchbox monsters I made HERE. Well, I wanted something to fill the matchboxes with. Of course, I could have filled them with sweeties, but then I’d have just eaten them! 

Instead, I cut 31 rectangles of watercolur paper and leftover scrapbook paper a little smaller than the inside of the matchboxes.  I then punched holes in the top left corner of each one with my cropodile and inked around the edges. 

For the covers, I used greyboard from the back of old paper packs, and decorated them in a variety of ways. Ready made embellishments, inked embossed images, stamps, googly eyes, and my version of the journal covers that Lou made HERE (thanks Lou). Having punched the holes the same as for the pages, I set eyelets into the covers for a bit of extra sturdiness.

To make the closure,  you need something elastic - a narrow hair tie is ideal and was just the right size. I love it when a plan comes together! Punch an additional hole in the lower middle of the back cover and push your hair tie/elastic through that hole and then set with an eyelet which should hold it in place. Trim any stray elastic at the back.

I added a small book ring through all the holes and some little charms and 'tis done!

And they fit perfectly in the matchboxes.

I have entered this into the Corrosive Challenges blog.

I am giving away six of these matchbox monsters, complete with mini journals inside. All you have to do is leave a comment on ANY post by midnight (GMT) Friday 10 October and six lucky winners will be announced on my next post on Saturday 11 October, so check back than to see if you have won.  I will happily post to anywhere in the world. If you have already left a comment, then I thank you for taking the time and you are already included. Good luck.

Bex