Cigar Box Folk Art Purse
Cigar box purses were once very popular and a great way to reuse these great boxes made out of wood or chipboard that could be used for a multitude of craft projects from jewelery boxes to purses. We used some of these for a lot of our folk art projects where we painted city and farm scenes on the boxes. The box featured here is an abstract rendition of our city of Chicago’s famous landmarks. And although this purse was used as folk art, some of our other pieces were functional purses lined inside with velour fabric and a small mirror.
The blue water, and blue and yellow background on this purse were painted with acrylic latex craft paints. Once the paint dried, we used fabric craft paints to paint the abstract Chicago scene. About an hour after everything dried, we used clear latex acrylic sealer to seal it. The purse handle was a pre-made handle reclaimed from a previously scrapped project. Cigar boxes make a great craft project to make at home with children and friends. These boxes could also be found at any big box craft store alongside other shaped boxes and paper mache boxes. So just have fun and create your own piece of art.
Scrap Wood Flower Box
This wood flower box started out as pieces of scrap wood that we had left over after one of our rehab projects. I originally wanted save the scrap wood pieces to paint folk art farm scenes. I painted on the smaller scrap wood pieces, which at the time I was selling at our local craft shows. My husband reused some of the drywall screws that were left over to put the box together. He also used some pieces of scrap moldings and an old wood applique we had reclaimed. We then spread drywall compound on the outside of the box with an old dried out paint brush to give it a rustic look we were looking for and once the drywall compound thoroughly dried, we painted the box with a cream colored latex paint. I added some silk vines I had lying around in my basement, and the final project turned out exceptionally well. Although I decided to use silk vines in mine, if one wanted to use a real plant, you could use any plastic bag or liner in the box and drill two holes at the bottom for drainage. So don’t hesitate to play around with scrap wood pieces. See what you can create and just have fun.
Manila Folder Abstract Collage
This clothes line abstract collage started out as trashed manilla folders that were being thrown away. I really liked the thickness of these expandable folders and their chipboard-like quality gave me the idea to cut them into sections and store them in my scrap folder for future craft projects. The wood frame was one of several frames bought on sale a while back, which were also saved for future craft projects.
I was inspired with the idea for this art collage when I saw a movie which featured a little house in the countryside. In one yard scene, there was a line full of very colorful clothes billowing in the breeze and it was interesting that you could surmise there was a baby and children of different ages living in the house just by the variety of clothes hanging on the line. I thought, what a beautiful picture this would make, and then thought of this idea to have different types of clothes hanging from a line. The frame (on the outside edges) measures 6-1/2 inches in length by 11-1/2 inches in width.
I measured the back inset of the frame, drew these measurements onto a large piece of the reclaimed cardboard and then cut out the rectangular cardboard which served as a background to support the art pieces. One side of this reclaimed cardboard was a cream color, which was perfect for me to paint the country scene. I used regular acrylic craft paints for the sky and the clouds. Much later, I decided to paint some daisies throughout the scene.
To make the scale of the clothing seem as realistic as possible, I looked through my old fabric remnants for the smallest prints I could find. I then placed the little cardboard shapes onto their respective fabrics and by eye traced each shape onto the fabric (leaving about a 1/4 inch margin all the way around the shape), and then cut out the traced shapes. Next, I used a toothpick to dot a little bit of hot glue (from my hot glue gun) onto each tiny cardboard edge, glued the fabric edge onto the dot of hot glue. Once the cut out fabrics were hot glued to the cardboard cutouts, I let them dry thoroughly. In the meantime, the tiny white striped shirt, white socks, and polka-dot towel were made from plain white cotton, but I used different colored fabric markers to paint on the little stripes and polka-dots. I also used the reclaimed cardboard to make the laundry basket and a brown fabric marker to draw a weave-like pattern on the basket. I used round toothpicks and wire cutters to make the tiny wooden clothes pins, which were carefully hot glued on the string and clothing item by using a toothpick and tiny dot of hot glue.
I used more scrap pieces of cardboard and cut two long strips to make the wood posts. I hot glued some white string near the top of each post to use as the clothes line. I cut out many more small pieces of the thick reclaimed cardboard scraps and hot glued many tiny sets of three little squares together to glue behind each item and make them stand out from the background and give each piece more depth.
I had so much fun making these pieces from reclaimed cardboard and since I cut up many more expandable folders that were thrown away, I will definitely be making another similar project in the near future — stay tuned.
Reclaimed Holiday Cards
Greetings and happy new year. With all the holiday cards we received throughout this holiday season, we ended up with quite a few holiday cards that were too beautiful to throw away. One of my favorite things to do with my old holiday cards is to cut out name tags and smaller cards for many other occasions throughout the year. Those little gift cards at the card section in many big box stores can get a bit pricey. In the past I’ve either free handed my own drawings onto small cards or I’ve made them out of reclaimed holiday cards.
After the holidays, I start out by eying the cards to see where would be the best areas to start cutting out my new cards. Great tools to have are a pair of scalloped edge scissors and a one-hole punch that you may already have or that can be picked up at any craft store. In the past, I have even used a small knitting needle to make the hole. Scalloped edged scissors make great designs on your borders and the one-hole punch is to pierce a small hole in the top center or corner of a gift tag. If you don’t want to tape the gift tag or note card to a gift and you can also pierce a spot on the gift tag or card and run any kind of string, ribbon, or even yarn through the pierced hole. I use a toothpick to push the string, ribbon or yarn through the pierced hole.
Using the scalloped edge scissors to cut around objects and even shaping your own plain circles and tree shapes in the blank areas of most cards can make very beautiful little gift tags. You can even create small note cards by cutting simple square shapes from the folded edge of a card, which looks even more decorative when cut with the scalloped scissors. These tags and cards are not only colorful and whimsical, but also very original. I just hated to throw away such beautifully designed and artistic cards. Some tags have turned out so beautiful that I’ve used them as an ornament to hang on our tree and our wreath.
I hope this gives everyone fun and useful ideas on how to reclaim your holiday cards.
Forest Maiden Paper Mache Mask
In the past, when working on paper mache projects, I’ve always made small paper mache items, but I’ve always wanted to try making a large paper mache mask. I thought about the many different style masks I’ve seen on television, in books and at museums. I drew several rough sketches on paper and finally decided to try and make an abstract mask that looked like a forest maiden with leaves for hair.
I found a large piece of masonite board in the garage that I thought would be a perfect size base for my mask. I dusted off the board and wiped it clean. I then gathered a stack of old newspapers and started tearing up sheets into medium size pieces (about 3 to 6 inch pieces). I continued until I had a large pile of torn newspaper pieces. I then made the paper mache paste using flour and water – with a dash of salt as a preservative.
I took some of the larger newspaper pieces and started soaking them into the paste mixture. I first started the mask with the face by placing some of the bigger soaked chunks down on the board. Once I started forming the face, I started to place smaller soaked pieces on top of the base pieces by laying them on as smoothly as possible.
Once I formed a shape resembling a pleasing face, I worked on building up the forehead, the eyebrow areas and then the cheek bones. I rolled and soaked several torn pieces together and placed those large soaked pieces in the area where the nose would go and then did the same with the mouth, which I decided to make slightly open. I then worked on the hair, which I tried as closely as possible to resemble leaves. It is an abstract piece that measures 16 inches in length and 14-1/2 inches wide (the board measures 24 inches by 24 inches). Once I felt it was done, I was very pleased with the entire piece.
Although I started this project on a weekend, I let it dry thoroughly for a week before I primed it with a coat of gesso. The piece is primed and ready to be painted or even embellished with pieces of fabric, beads, small found objects or leftover jewelry pieces, but that will be the next project. I really enjoyed making this mask, and although I used old newspapers, you can always use magazines or any kind of scrap paper to make this project. You can use craft paint, a color wash or patina to paint your piece or any technique you’d prefer.
Forest Maiden Paper Mache Mask Before Primer
Forest Maiden Paper Mache Mask Primered with Gesso.