Beach Secrets : Guest Designer : Jennie Atkinson

Hello Everyone and thank you for joining me for my second project this month.

As we sail around the west coast and islands of Scotland every summer I am always picking up bits and pieces on the beach and decided I needed a little box to keep them in. I love altering boxes and these small ATC sized kit boxes are just great for a small project or gift.

The kit boxes are very easy to assemble and after giving the outside a couple of coats of gesso I applied DecoArt Crackle Paint to all the outside surfaces.  Once this had dried I then applied DecoArt Cobalt Turquoise Hue Fluid Acrylic using a baby wipe. I like this way of getting the paint onto the crackle - the baby wipe makes it watery and gives you time to keep adding more layers until you find the colour you want.

Before assembling the box I had painted the inside pieces with the same Cobalt Turquoise Hue and used some beach themed stamps to create a little interest.

The sea shells and anchor were dabbed with white acrylic paint. Sometimes one coat is enough so that you can see the wonderful markings, sometimes up to three or four coats is needed to get the effect you want. I dabbed a little Turquoise Hue around the anchor with the coloured baby wipe.

All the elements were layered on the top of the box with some netting, muslin, found shells (on the beach and in a shop!) and some seed beads.

I ran a gold pen around the edges of the box here and there to add to the "old" driftwood feel the crackle had created.

I just love these small letters and thankfully they fitted on the little plaque. Again I just used white paint in various layers to keep the washed out beach feel.

The inside of the lid was decorated as well with this little sea shell poem.

And finally the first inhabitants! Not found on the beach but both given to me by my husband this year. One which represents established love and given to me on our 40th Wedding Anniversary and the other my birthstone which I received on my birthday. Beautiful treasures and most unexpected at the time!

Many thanks again to the team here at Calico Craft Parts for inviting me as Guest Designer and the wonderful opportunity of working with more of their wonderful products.  Thank you too for visiting and for the wonderful comments you left on the blog for my first project.

Happy Crafting!

Jennie x

Live the Dream

Calico Craft Parts used today:

MDF Trinket Box Kit - Style 2

Spiral Seashells (Small)

Scalloped Seashells (Small)

Anchor MDF Wood Shape (Small)

Notched Rectangle Birch Ply Wood Plaque (50mm x 24mm)

Sheet of Mini MDF Alphabet Letters - Copperplate Gothic