...by the Layers on my Tinny-Tin-Tin

Over at Scrap, Laugh, Love there is a challenge going on to alter a tin.

I got my tin from the flea market around the corner a few weeks ago, but I had to make sure I didn't like it too much as I was going to have to alter it. It's the little round one at the front:

Here's what I did:

 And here's how I did it:

After covering the tin with a dark layer of acrylic paint, I used masking tape to section off stripes and decopatched bits of a magazine on in two colours.

I cut a wine cork (actually, a beer cork) into 3 to use as feet. And then got to decorating. The challenge required that we use at least one butterfly on the project... I used lots, in an upward spiral pattern around the tin:

And used a big journalling shape and lots of embies to round it all off.

Striking a Balance Between Hoarding and Rejecting

When I was a lot younger, I had a far-off vision of myself living in a foreign land, and at the weekend enjoying a morning coffee on a cafe terrace, or haggling at a flea market. I am very lucky to be able to say that these visions have since come true.

Sunday morning was gorgeously sunny, warm enough for short sleeves, and full of promise. There was a big flea market/car boot sale (without the cars) in the park around the corner from us, and for once I had a definite idea of what I was looking for. There was a gypsy swing band playing music, the smell of delicious pastries wafting through the air... but nothing would distract me from my quarry.

I didn't actually expect to find the thing. When I clocked it I fairly pounced on it, and when the lady at the stall said to me "Two euros" I nearly dropped it.

I finally get to start my own letterpress tray-like project! It'll be a long time coming, but watch this space...

 

(The mug is for scale, and the chipped piece of wood to the left of the mug is due to me. And our dog. While we were queuing for said pastries, Django dog decided to make a dart for a pigeon. I was holding the house frame in the same hand as the leash. The house frame went flying, but possibly worse, Django dog caught the pigeon, much to the distress of onlookers. A few minutes later a passerby saw the feathers on the floor and joked to me that our dog had been eating pigeons... he stopped smiling when I told him that it was the truth. I can't report that the pigeon is OK, but I can say that Django dog had his teeth around it for less than ten seconds, after which it went into hiding.)

All in all I spent ten euros, and I got the house frame, three tins (one of which is for altering) and an old letterpress hand-printing set, which was too fascinating to put down, even if it's incomplete and doesn't work so well anymore.

So my tip for today is not to underestimate the value of things, and in particular the things in which others no longer place value. Go to the car boot sales, the jumble sales, the flea markets, the house clearance warehouses. Be prepared for a lot of junk, but hold out for that gem you know will make your day. This one made my week.