Key to my Dreams (posted by Claire)

Good morning everyone, Claire here with my second DT project for our theme of Texture. I've altered a little gift box and used Key to my Dreams A5 Stamp Sheet.

I began with a coat of black gesso and once that dried I added lots of different die cuts from my stash. I wasn't fussy about the colours as once they were stuck down I gave them a coat of black gesso too. I created the lock and key for the front of the box by rolling out some paper clay and pressing the stamps into the clay. When you remove the stamp, the image is pressed into the clay creating lots of texture. I left this overnight to dry and then cut them out, painting them with black gesso..  Paperclay is great for this kind of project as it's very lightweight. The little frame is from the pound shop, again painted with black gesso

To create a kind of old metal effect with a little rust and patina I dabbed on various shades of paint. I used brown, orange, gold and copper, blending a little with a baby wipe. While the paint was wet I sprinkled in various embossing powders (copper, turquoise, gold and brown) and left it all to dry. Once it was dry I heated the embossing powder, I wasn't sure if this would work with the paint and it did bubble quite a bit but that just added to the effect. 

I stamped the sentiment onto a scrap of card that I'd used to mop up some of the paint and then assembled the box, adding a few highlights with gilding wax and using a little black gesso to define the keyhole.

Thanks for visiting today, 

Claire xx