Time has NOT Dragged On

I thought I'd post a couple of photos of  projects with a dragon theme today.  When I looked through my photos, I realized that it is already nearly nine years since I painted the key and box for my eldest son's 21st birthday - in fact he and his wife are planning his "Big 3Oh" already for Feb 2011, so as I said in the title of this post time has NOT dragged on (drag-on get it?) Oh stop groaning, you love the corny puns really ;)

The card was also for my eldest son's birthday, but this year.  I figured he used to like dragons, so......  I cut his name using my Silhouette and welded the letters together before cutting them as one word.  The paper I used is that sort of rice paper that you get, which is lovely to look at but not that easy to work with, especially in this sort of application; once you added the glue to the back it was like working with fairy floss! I learned from it though, and will use attractive sturdy paper next time!  I used the same principle for his name on the envelope, but as I had used a chunkier font didn't have the same level of difficulty working with it.  The image is a sticker, as is the sentiment.

This box is called "Dragon Ladies" and was painted from a pattern by fellow Australian Donna Gilbertson.  I have painted quite a few projects using this very talented ladies' patterns, go and have a look at her site and you'll see the appeal! I painted this box for my sister as a Christmas gift a few years ago, she loves it as it ticks all the boxes as it were: it is purple, it is cute, it has dragons on it and is whimsy!

 The last project for today is that mentioned in the intro!  I designed both these pieces myself, even cut the key out using my trusty jig saw.  I used a (tiny) picture of a blue dragon I saw years ago on the web somewhere, I think it was on a site called "Dragons Be There" or something similar, on the box and an equally tiny black and white drawing of the yin/yang dragon for the key. The back of the key was painted flat white so all the party guests could sign it as a memento, then sealed. I used the black because Matt had always wanted a black room (don't they all) and black curtains and accessories was the closest he got; I thought the red and gold gave the pieces a touch of class!

All the paints for these projects are from Jo Sonja, the sealer on Matt's gifts was Automotive Sealer, which gave a level of gloss that I liked but proves impossible to photograph without reflections causing problems. 

Thanks for looking, hope your day doesn't drag-on and that you'll be back to see some more of my scorching stuff  (Sorry, couldn't help myself)