Water

This week over at The Three Muses the theme is water.  As soon as I saw that this was the challenge, the first thing that came to mind was of course summer and the beach--one of our favorite places to go to when our kids were small.  So last week I was thinking Spring--now I'm thinking Summer--can you tell that I'm getting cabin fever!  Here's what I came up with this week--

I started out with this craft box

I love taking these plain wood craft boxes, or any old box like cigar, jewelry, recipe ,and so on, and altering them. One of my favorite boxes that I made last year was this one--

For the top of this one, I started out with plain glass 1" tiles, and then I collaged papers onto them, and then I  applied Crystal Laquer to them.  Crystal Laquer is like resin--when it dries, it gives a 3D effect, and it's very glossy--so the tiles on the box ended up looking like glass tiles. The photo doesn't show it very well, but in person, it was very cool looking.  Crystal Laquer is like Diamond Glaze, but I like it a little better, because you don't get the tiny bubbles like you do when you use the Diamond Glaze.

 Usually when I'm faced with a blank canvas or any blank surface, I myself turn blank, and I struggle with it.  But not with the boxes--for some reason, I like these "blank canvases".  I'll never know how they will turn out, but they always seem to come together very easily for me.  On the beach box, I used digital images from Luna Girl.  Don't you just love modern technology--with a couple clicks of your mouse, the images are right there at your fingertips.  The  mouse I knew about 20 years ago was the kind that made me scream.

After I collaged the images, I just added the knobs for feet, and then the shells and beads on top. I had fun making this box, and I'm thinking I'm going to have to make some more now : )