Trash to Treasure No 2

I was really excited to get going with this Trash to Treasure project once I had decided what to use as trash.  I have to say that this trash is not my own but belongs to someone in my class who kindly gave me a rather large bag full of this trash.  I am not going to mention any names on the grounds that it will definitely incriminate!!!!!  It was a bag full of empty Spellbinders acetate containers..... you can see why my lips are sealed ;-)

 As you can see the Spellbinder dies have been very carefully removed from the tops of their packaging.  I normally use these as paint pallets in my classes but today I am going to try to turn them into treasure.  I used 2 packages for this project.

I also used my carefully stored G45 scraps in fact I used the back of one of the paper pads for the harlequin card below.  I am feeling very virtuous right now!

I cut the hanger from the packaging and cut a piece of the harlequin card to the same size.  I then used one of the very first tools I bought to put holes in things and punched holes all the way around the sealed edge of the packing.  I am going to stitch my card to my acetate with the holes.  I used brads to keep things in place as I bashed away with my hammer.

Next I removed the lip from the second Spellbinder packaging (be careful as it is a bit sharp).  That gave me two lovely thick pieces of acetate which I put through my cuttlebug and embossed.

I have always wanted to try this and was so pleased with the results I had a play with some different textures.  The heavier the pattern the more white the acetate becomes.  It is very pleasing and I am definitely going to be doing this more often!

I then use my Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die to cut the embossed acetate into flower shapes.  I also cut some flowers from coordinating G45 papers.

After mixing and matching for a while I decided on the daisies and shaped the card and the acetate petals before hot glueing the layers together.  I had the perfect flower centres in my stash.  I love these Creative Expressions Dazzlers as they look like liquorice all sort sweets!!  I have to add here I don't like to eat liquorice all sorts but I have always liked the look of the pink and blue ones!!!

 Next I cut a panel for the centre of my plaque and mounted it on a blue patterned paper leaving a fine border showing.  I fussy cut out two coordinating butterflies from one of the G45 papers too.  Not too fussy with the cutting as I snipped off their antenna - poor butterflies :-(

 I blinged my butterflies with tiny gems and stickles and then let them dry before I coated them with glossy accents.  I cut out the first two words of my quote using the Opposites Attract Cricut Cartridge and layered them up ready to glue to the centre panel once I decide on positioning.

I adhered the centre panel in the middle of the harlequin paper and glued on the words TRUE BEAUTY.  I made some fine wire antenna for my butterflies and glued one under the word TRUE.

Then I was ready to take a fine ribbon and stitch the harlequin card to the acetate packaging.  I think I might try to make a giant shaker panel with this packaging - that would be fun.  I used a blanket stitch (at least that is what I think it is called).

I made a further small plaque with the rest of the wording of the quote which I hand wrote and attached in position with strong tape.  Then I hot glued my acetate and paper flowers in place and added my second butterfly.

I was really pleased with these acetate flowers and would like to try them without the paper layer in the future.  Sorry about the differences in the colour of the photographs - the final result was pictured in daylight!  I think using flower and butterfly embellishments for this quote is perfect as both flowers and butterflies spend their time as buds and caterpillars before revealing their inner beauty.

Thank you so much to everyone that commented on my first ever Trash to Treasure post last week.  As promised I put all the names into a hat and Elizabeth is the winner of my card made from cracker debris!

I had another idea when I was working on this Trash to Treasure post and I used the same kind of shaped acetate packaging - this time from some Basic Grey magnets and I came up with this alternative shaker card.

I will share the photo tutorial for this one tomorrow.  This is my give-away for this week's Trash to Treasure so please leave a comment on this post and I will put everyones' name in a hat again next week.  I'd love to know what your favourite trash to treasure projects are.

I am pretty sure I can do more with this acetate packaging so watch this space!!!