Altered Cigar Box by Paula Tidman

I've had an old cigar box lurking in my crafting stash for a while now and I decided to give it a make over. I gave it a base coat of black gesso, then as I couldn't find quite the right shade I wanted for my box, I mixed a few different colours of my matt emulsion together to create a custom shade. I gave it a couple of coats, then sanded it down to reveal some of the black gesso. Next I used vintage photo distress ink and a crafters workshop template to create the harlequin pattern. I distressed some old book pages and used this fabulous vintage bird plate by blockhead stamps (as they are really thick rubber, you don't get any ink transfer on the edges of the stamp, which seems to happen on a lot of unmounted stamps) to decorate the lid of the box, using distress inks and coloured pencils to colour the images. I glued in place with matte medium then I sealed the box by rubbing in a small amount of Judikins microglaze, which is perfect for protecting your inky creations, then I buffed a small amount of inka gold around the deges of the box.

That's all from me I hope you enjoy the last day of the Jubilee celebrations. xx