tiny treasures by sue smyth

Tiny Treasures

By Sue Smyth 

Hi bloggers

This time on the blog I am sharing a few small things.

My workshop is overflowing with lots of projects

so this year I am looking  at small projects, very small, as I

simply dont have the room for bigger projects.

So my first treasure is a tin, decorated with an eggshell

heart..I have called it " Be still my beating heart"!

The Styrofoam heart is covered with texture paste and 

then cleaned egg shell is set into it. I have 

added micro beads around the base and 

once dry I have then painted it with 

red paint and rubbed over with gold.

I have then altered an arrow, and I loved this effect so much I have done

more of them, that I will share with you below.

The trinket crown is adorned with tiny 

3mm or 2mm rhinestones and pearls.

When you are working small 

the thing to remember is the details matter.

Inside I have made a simple mini album, which

I have not filled with photos yet but will in time.

Under the heart is an ID Wendy 

frame that is embossed with Aged Gold 

embossing powder and spritzed with 

black dylusions while hot, for 

an even more aged look.

This is what the heart looked like raw.

You can see the eggshell is broken into

pieces to press into the texture paste.

It is a bit fiddly but worth the effort.

Then add the micro beads around the 

bottom to hide any rough edges.

More Arrow fun, I loved doing the wrapped arrow above

so much, I made more.

this one has a trinket butterfly on the flight.

and I have wrapped the shaft with red wire.

The head of the arrow is wrapped in gold metal shim

and then hammered to look aged. Rub 

a little black gesso over it to 

stick in the crevices. 

A large red jewel finishes the tip, along 

with a tiny crown and of course lots of 

2mm rhinestones.

The butterfly has more 2mm rhinestones and 

gold micro beads to add interest and texture.

He is another arrow, I have added a small 

metal arrow to the shaft, after

I have wrapped it with red 

cotton.

I have wrapped the head of the arrow the same as 

above, but this time added small details

and a large trinket corner underneath.

The flight has a metal skeleton leaf, which

I have cut up to resemble metal spikes.

These arrows can be a feature on another project (like the 

tin above) or even a pin or brooch. They are 

just a bit of fun to do and yes they dont

take up much room.

Here you can see what I have done with the 

arrow, first paint black.

then cover as much as you can with

metal shim, wire and rhinestones, 

with the goal being that you can no 

longer tell it is just chipboard.

The next little treasures are tags. Again this is 

a small project. I was cleaning out

my beading boxes and came

across lots of lovely small beads in the shape

of flowers, leaves and butterflies. 

I thought what a shame I do not use them more.

So I shifted them over to the scrapbooking section 

and now use them on all sorts of projects.

This tag uses the tiny ID bird cage,

it is simply embossed in aged gold 

so it looks just like a gold trinket itself.

I have added a tiny bracket frame and 

words too.

Here I have enameled the butterfly wings, I will 

have to share this in more detail in another post.

as I forgot to take photos for you all.(I get involved and forget lol)

I use a thick metallic paint and pearl drops to 

make a swirly pattern and then let dry.

The bead leaves look like green glass 

and  give a great detail and

shine to the tag.

Here I have added another small detail

the resin rose, which  I have made myself

with 2 part resin.

The tag base is simply painted black 

and then covered with old book pages, 

which have been trimmed with deckle scissors

and inked to add an aged look.

This is a great base to start layering 

tiny elements onto.

Happy Crafting !

flash back friday 4

Flash back Friday 

Here is another project from 2013, for Imaginarium Designs

I have used purple here as my theme to 

match the dress on my daughter.

You either love or hate purple, me I love it, used 

properly Purple really pops!

The chipboard here is painted with a metallic 

crackle medium over top of white gesso.

The Butterfly is painted with white gesso, and then 

inked gently around the edges. Then 

I have covered the surface with Dimensional magic

and a light sprinkle of white glitter to enhance 

the colour.

I have also added rhinestone flourishes to the background

and painted them white along with all of 

the other textures. I just love this 

technique and it uses up old rhinestone elements

that are horrible colours.

The background has texture paste applied over it and then

painted with white gesso before spraying with 

purple and green spray inks.

I have added touches of crackle medium to the background too.

This is highlighted when you add the sprays.

Again this layout has stood the test of time 

and I still use it in displays, it shows 

what a great textured background can do 

to set up the rest of the page.

By adding gesso to other elements on the page

it has a seamless look 

Happy Crafting 

From Sue Smyth 

flash back friday 3

Flash Back Friday  

This is another of my favourite projects from 2013

I had learnt a lot from the previous shoe 

project and of course I had the other shoe left from the pair!

So I wanted to create a kind of Wizard of Oz 

theme for Imaginarium Designs. So I have 

started with a ruby slipper, painting the whole shoe

with dimensional magic and sprinkling over with fine

red glitter. It still looks glittery today.

I have painted a lot of the chipboard 

with Matt black spray paint

a technique I still use today.

The back also has to be tidy and interesting.

Here you can see my red bottle top on the 

heel. The reason for this 

was that the elements inside the shoe seemed to 

be on a lean, so I straightened them by 

popping the bottle cap on the heel...problem solved !!

Even the tall heel is a place to pop 

chipboard

The Chipboard children are painted black and 

covered with Dimensional magic to give 

a gloss look.

They have not faded over the years and still look fabulous 

To finish the look I have added a paper 

yellow brick road.

When you do a project well and 

use good products and techniques 

it will last the test of time.

Happy Crafting 

From Sue 

Couture Creations Guest post

Happiness Sampler 

or Golden Garden

By Sue Smyth 

Hi Bloggers

Here I am sharing a layout I did recently with the gorgeous

La Aquarelle range.

I really loved the subtle natural colours,

old world text and script.

But I wanted to contrast them with

shiny sparkling glitter.

The lacy open butterfly die is so versatile, here

I have embossed it twice with an aged gold emboss powder

it gives it an almost metal filigree look.

This panel is a sweet bird that I have fussy cut,

first I roughly cut out the bird 

and adhered it to white cardstock, so that 

I could flip it over on a mouse pad and 

cup the image. Then when you adhere

the bird with 3 d foam tape it has a great curved surface.

I loved the butterfly with fern panel, it did not need much

to decorate it, so I kept it simple, see how I did the fern fronds 

below. I covered the butterfly with dimensional magic

so the colour popped out more and it had shine and gloss.

I just love how the dies fit the images in the paper pad

perfectly, it will make, making cards and layouts

seamless and polished.

This butterfly could just as easily be placed on a 

card as a layout. I have added seed beads for detail 

to the centre.

To add more gold to the layout, I have flicked

a rich gold spray over the surface, along with 

a little watered down white and black gesso

for more of that shabby aged look of the text and script.

Each panel is edged with Anna Griffin gold glitter, 

just add a bead of glue or dimensional magic to the edge

smooth out with your fingertip and dip into a line of glitter.

I have then double matted each panel and adhered to 

the background paper with scraps of chipboard to

give them great dimension.

I have cut out fern fronds with the

beautiful fern die, then painted them with a 

green metallic paint. I have randomly

marked the edges with embossing medium and

covered with emboss powder, so just the tips of the 

ferns appear to be gilded.

The butterflies have been die cut from 

light weight chipoboard and then 

double embossed to give a metallic finish.

Each panel has glitter added to the edges, to contrast with 

the natural tones of the paper.

The end result is a lovely sampler that would 

make a great home decor piece in a frame. 

Or a wonderful gift to anyone who loves nature.

Artdeco Products Used 

Ulti15761 Ultimate Crafts La Aquarelle paper pad 12 x 12

ULT157779 Ultimate Crafts L'Aquarelle, Decorative die, Watercolour Bloom

ULT157782 Ultimate Crafts L'Aquarelle, Decorative Die, Drifting Frond
ULT157793 Ultimate Crafts L'Aquarelle, Decorative Die, Butterfly Flourishes Edge Die
ULTI157786 Ulitmate Crafts Widespread butterfly die 

ULTI157784 Ultimate Crafts Watercolour Butterfly die

CO724864 Couture Creations Anna Griffin Glitter collection

Happy Crafting 

Sue Smyth 

Bonus Post 

I recently made some pretty gesso brushes 

for a class and everybody loved 

them so much and they 

wanted to find out how I made them.

So I will share my secret shhhhh.

Let's face it we are girls and we like pretty things!

I love pretty things, and sometimes get

frustrated that we cannot find tools and storage

that looks nice too. 

So today I will share with you

a little thing I do to fix that !

I  basically decoupage my own mixed media tools

Here are some palette knives and big 

brushes, but you can basically do anything 

 I thought 

you all would like to know how to do this too.

Step 1

Trim out a piece of ordinary patterned wrapping paper

to fit the handle of your tool, and spritz with water.

Step 2

Apply gel medium to the handle and layer

over top the paper.

Step 3

Snip the edges of the paper around the 

handle 

Step 4

Apply more gel medium as 

needed so you can fold up the 

tabs on the side with a good firm bond.

Step 5

Fold over tabs,wrapping around the handle.

Dont worry if they over lap, just

apply gel medium to make the paper stick to each other

Step 6

When you come to the end, do your best, overlapping the 

awkward tabs and applying gel medium.

  

Step 7

Snip off excess for a smooth end.

Step 8

If you have a hole in the handle you can either

leave it covered if you like. Or 

you can insert a skewer into the hole

to remove the paper,and pop over

a large eyelet.

Step 9

Cover the entire handle with Dimensional magic, 

covering the eyelet too. Prop up on 

the edge of a jar to dry.

And as long as you dont immerse the handle in water 

for long periods of time they will last 

as long as you like

Happy Crafting 

Sue Smyth