Scraps of Darkness and Scraps of Elegance: 3 fantastic paper-craft projects to inspire

Today, we're sharing 3 very different projects, an altered box, a layout, and a canvas.

I'll start with Lisa's gorgeous altered box, and here's what she says about it:

Inspiration for this piece came in the form of the beautiful Prima Archival Cast Chandelier Pendant II found here. I opted to cut the metal wire and use this piece without it. I started off with a layer of Distress Crackle Paint in Picket Fence. I LOVE this paint. It works fabulous for crackles. I then went over it in Art Alchemy Acrylic Paint in Lime Peel. This color came in a previous kit however we have many more Art Alchemy Paints here. I then went over it in Prima Rust Effect Paste and Lumiere Gold.

altered chandelier pendant box by Lisa Novogrodski for the Scraps of Darkness online store

To dress up my box I used the Courtship Roses from Blue Fern Studios found here and the gorgeous Spring Iris Chipboard. We have a gorgeous selection of Blue Fern Chipboard you can see it all here. To make my chipboard extra special I embossed it with Lindys. I used Cosmic Blue Violet and you can find a great selection of Lindys embossing powders here. I also used my favorite powders Encrusted Jewels found here. I love a very layered effect. When you look at this in person the piece draws you in beckoning you to touch it and peek beneath the floral layers to see what other treasures lay beneath.

You can see I also added Art Ingredients Violet Glass Glitter found here and I used the fabulous Prima Christina Adolph rub ons in Poppy Floral Script found here. I used them randomly along the top of the box and the sides. They rub on beautifully and add extra sparkle to your project.

My base papers were the beautiful BoBunny Secret Garden Vineyard found here. The top of the Archival Cast Chandelier Pendant was enhanced with a BoBunny Secret Garden Brad. As luck would have it you can grab one here.

You can see me putting my Martha Stewart Punch to use here along with a stencil and Distress Ink. This months Scraps of Elegance Kit features a beautiful color add on with Tea Stain ink and some other needful things. You can see it here.

The inside of my box is also finished off with these gorgeous papers, punching and splatters.

I think this would make a fabulous treasure box for your jewels, special trinkets or vintage photos.

Hope you are inspired to create one for yourself.

And next up is a wonderful layout by Monica Lowrance. Here's what Monica says about her layout:

I am so excited I got to use some Blue Fern papers and they are so gorgeous. I used papers from the Serendipity line. The beautiful lady in the photo, Jamie, is a friend of my sister and me. They went to high school together and have maintained that friendship over the years. She had a photo shoot last year and this shot just screamed to be scrapped!!

I used the flip side of "Chronicle" from the Serendipity line from Blue Fern Studios.
I also used Rebecca Baer Marrakech stencil.
Here is a close up of the stencil work on the paper.

Scraps of Darkness and Scraps of Elegance: Monica Lowrance created this fabulous black layout using products from our store: www.scrapsofdarkness.com

The next item you can find in the Scraps of Darkness store is this awesome Prima Art Ingredients Glass Glitter...I used some gel medium and the glitter held really well.

I'm definitely gonna have to find more places to use this glitter. Here you can see a feather I tucked in to match what she is wearing.

Now you're gonna see me alter this cool chipboard. I wanted to make it black to match my layout and anchor the left side of the layout. I used Art C Ultra Chalk Paint in black from the the May Scraps of Elegance Color Add On kit. Here you can see how that turned out. I wanted it a bit deeper rich so I used some Ken Oliver Color Burst Lamp Black to intensify the blackness. It worked like a charm.

I like how it turned out and it looks great in the sunlight.

On the other side of the layout I used a wonderful dress form with roses inside. I've never seen one so detailed. I brushed a bit of black ink just little to have blend a little into the background.

Here you can see I used some more of the color burst to intensify the color of the flowers. The flowers I used here were....

Here you can see another flower that I used the Color Burst and placed on top of a Prima metal embellishment.

Now the final layout. I loved adding a few feathers under the photo ...thanks for stopping by.

List of products used that can be found in the Scraps of Darkness store:

Blue Fern Studios Serendipity - Calling Cards
Blue Fern Studios Chronicle
Magnolia Shabby Chic Roses - Mahogany
Prima Art Ingredients Glass Glitter
Rebecca Baer Stencil - Marrakech
Ken Oliver Color Burst Liquid Metal
Feathers, flourish, bling, lace from previous Scraps of Darkness & Elegance Kits.

And our final project for today is this fabulous canvas by Patricia Basson:

Here's what Patricia says about her canvas:

I used the 5'x7' canvas from Winsor & Newton. As you will see in the next photo, I ripped the canvas and peeled the canvas back to expose the wooden frame. This way I got some lovely texture without having to go to the trouble of adding cloth to a frame...

I simply cut an x in the middle of the canvas and tore the pieces apart. I then plied the canvas and glued it with Heavy Body Gel.

Scraps of Darkness and Scraps of Elegance: Patricia Basson created this fabulous mixed media canvas using products from our store: www.scrapsofdarkness.com

This was my initial look and idea I had for the project...After this was done I wanted to add some Rust effect...But once I started I just could not stop adding the Rust Paste! Up to here I had Gesso'd all of it. In the background one can see the pink Fancy Pants Corrugated Sheet that was also Gesso'd. I have used windows from the Prima Shabby Chic Treasures Window III. They are layered with the smaller one in the crevice and the taller one on top of the frame. I used US Artquest Prills: Minni Pearls for texture as well Art Stones. All was painted with Prima Opal Magic Paints: Aqua Rose and Pink Blue.

As said before....this is were you can stop if you like a more Shabby Chic look...or you can go wild and add Ruste Paste or even different colour Acrylic Paints.

I have used Distress Stains: Evergreen Bough and Peeled Paint on the corrugated Sheet, but the same effect can be achieved using any mist or paints or even Brusho Crystal Colors. The rust effect in the corner is watered down Rust Paste.