WOYWW #387: Altered boxes

Brrr, isn't it chilly out there this Wednesday morning? Luckily, no frost yet in my neck of the woods and the sun is shining in the cloudless sky. But I know you're not here for a weather report, so let's get down to business showing you my desk for this week's WOYWW.  It is very much staged, as you can no doubt tell - I'll just quickly show you what I've been working on, along with a few new purchases.

I've been altering some boxes: painting them to make them look weathered and distressed. The best way to do this is to give them a base paint of a bright(ish) colour - I really like a middle shade of blue or orange - and when that layer is completely dry, paint over it with raw umber, letting it dry a little before removing most of it with a wet baby wipe. The secret is to let it dry long enough but not too long. This technique also works with cardboard mailers for mail art. You can then stamp, collage or stencil images on these later if you want. For now, I'll just enjoy them as they are.

You can also see a bunch of MDF stuff on my desk. I ordered these from Calico Craft Parts. It went missing in the post for two weeks because it was delivered to the wrong address miles away! How annoying, but all's well that ends well. I received it on Monday and immediately started with the ATB, now fully assembled and gessoed. I chose Gorilla glue to stick it together, which perhaps wasn't the best choice. I'm not one to read instructions and I ended up with VERY sticky hands. Things got even worse when I tried to wash them with water!  Next time, I'll try something else.

Another one of my new purchases is this wonderful book - very much an impulse buy, but I'm so glad I have it. I was so impressed with it, I even wrote a review about it on Amazon. It has a lot of interesting ideas and step-by-step techniques to explore, and it's printed as if it's on old paper. Just full of loveliness!

I won't keep you up much longer, promise! Here's a shot of Oreo in the garden yesterday - if anything he seems to enjoy the garden now in the autumn more than he did back in the summer. 

And finally, a photo of a leaf that I found lying around. I just love these warm, autumn colours, don't you? 

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Enjoy the colours all around you!