Altering items and using up stash!

Today I decided to alter the nine drawer mini chest that I bought in Plymouth. I wanted to use some of the craft stuff I bought as well. Before I do that, a little confession. After buying Invisible Bilbo for a treat I was a little naughty and bought an extra treat. I've wanted the Tim Holtz pen nibs for ages but thought they were too expensive but I managed to get a set, as well as some gem clips, stencils and epoxy charms, all for £13.30. I know I shouldn't have bought them so I've deliberately delayed completing an extra task this week, as I've treated myself enough lately. I've also assigned specific treats to a few tasks. As well as this I've spent £18.44 getting eggs, walnut whips, kit kats, green beans, tic tacs, antacid, fanta, oj mango and passionfruit juice, cereal bars, tuna and cat food. With that I got £10 cash back and bought a portion of fish and chips to share for £5.90

Anyway, back to the chest. For those who didn't know what it looked like, here it is again

I decided to set myself a little challenge with this one; to only use one set of papers. I settled on Madame Payraud as it's a beautiful set of papers and good for inking. To begin with, I painted the whole chest in black gesso. Then I painted the doors of the chest with blackboard paint, so that I could label them with whatever I had in them at the time. Once dry, I cut the sizes of paper I needed and inked them with Gathered Twigs, before adhering them to the chest.

I didn't want to leave it like this, so I did each side a different theme, each just using the papers (and a little chipboard) For side one, I used my scattered flowers and butterfly frenzy dies, inking the flowers with Victorian Velvet and putting a pearl in the middle. I inked the edge of the leaves with peeled paint. For the butterflies, I inked them with faded jeans and blue china. I also used one of the wooden words I got from the works, painting it with brushed pewter

For the second side, I cut a cage out of chipboard and painted it with brushed pewter. I cut a bird out of the Madame Payraud paper and inked it with fired brick. I then got five of the epoxy charms, put the letters W R I T E in them and the domed epoxy stickers over them, before tying to the cage with twine (don't have jump rings big enough unfortunately) I put the bird on the side using foam pads, glued the cage over the top and then added a wing over the cage with foam pads. Finally I added a pen nib along the bottom. I also put a lace style edge (another die) on the top and bottom of both sides.

Finally, an update on the tasks.

1. Starry night cross stitch (DONE)

2. Complete project book (DONE)

3. Complete book plans (no progress)

4. Read and review 100 books (57/100) *treat assigned*

5. Make 14 christmas presents (no progress)

6. Make 11 birthday presents (1 left to make)

7. Make calendar, box and tags (no progress)

8. Hit minimum savings target (34%) *treat assigned*

9. Kili cross stitch (1/3 done) *treat assigned*

10. 50,000 words (no progress)

Happy crafting everyone!

Ems