Altered Sardine Can - Gone Fishing!

So did you catch the show on Create & Craft today? If not then you can catch it here or on Catch Up TV - it was an amazing show with plenty of lush samples from my teamies and a genius demonstration from Nikky Hall involving hot glue!!! Anyway, I thought I'd pop in and show you this fun little piece that I made for the show using the new Winston Collection from Polka Doodles.

There are loads of fun techniques I've used on this project and I have to say that although it was a touch fiddly in places, I had an absolute blast making it! I know this getting to be a habit but there are loads of pictures in this post so apologies if it slow loading!

As many of you know I love upcycling stuff that would otherwise be discarded in the trash. I'm always on the look out for odd tins, bottles and boxes and as a result have a quite a hoard! Anyway as soon as I saw one of the design sheets on the CD I just knew that I had to alter a sardine can from my stash. Now for those of you worried about the smell, don't be, simply wash it out thoroughly with hot soapy water and then soak it in bi-carb and hot water overnight and any smell will be removed.

The first thing I did was to create a "lid" out of card. I simply drew around the tin and then cut it to size.

I then hot glued some beads onto the base to make feet and then coated the whole thing generously with Gesso, along with the card lid. Whilst I waited for it to dry I printed out the design sheet from the CD, cut it out and layered it up with silicone glue.

Once the tin and card lid was dry I dabbed on some course modelling paste (if you don't have this try mixing a bit of sand or salt in with some fine modelling paste or gel medium) and again left it to dry.  I then covered the entire tin and lid in silver acrylic paint. I then added a thinned down coat of black acrylic paint to it and lightly swiped it over with a cloth so that there some areas of silver showing through. Before this dried thoroughly I added some Burnt Umber acrylic paint and some Burnt Sienna. I then left the whole to dry for thirty minutes or so.

I then printed some dotty papers from the CD and cut them to fit the tin to create the water. The bullrushes were freehand cut from scraps of paper and coloured with my Graph'It Markers. I then glued each of the individual elements into the scene.

Finally, I rolled up the lid and cut jagged edges into the sides where it was curled before gluing it into position on the tin. The key was an old corned beef tin key that seem almost impossible to find these days, so I made a mold and cast a few extras. This was then rusted up in the same fashion described above.

If you buy the Winston CD please do stop by and show me what you made - I love looking at other peoples creations. Alternatively, please feel free to share with all the other Polka Doodles fans on Facebook Page

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire xxx

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:
Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes
A Little Bit Crafty - Distress It
Crafts & Me - Time for Anything
Natalie & Amy's Challenge - Things with wings
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Goes
The Mirror Cracked - Anything Goes