Day of the Dead - Mini-Purse

Hi there, today I want to share fun project.  I love, love to paint, seriously I can paint all day if I could.   I purchased this small wood purse at Michaels craft store.  I won this huge prize from Paid and decided to use some of their paints.  I didn't really know what this was going to look like, most of the time I don't have any ideas, I just start painting and let creativity take it's own course. 

I used folk art Pickling Wash coral beauty and haze to paint the outside of the purse and for the handle I used their  brushed metal  in gold.  I like the pickling wash paints because it allows you to see the grain of the wood.  I thought at this point it would be a nice effect.  

Here you can see the two different colors I used.

Well, as I looked around I decided to use another product that was new to me.  I took out  some ink pads from Ann Butler by Color Box it said you could use on wood, so I had to give it a try.   I decided to use ocean breeze, aquamarine and Berry.   I also used some of her stamps, I liked the basket design, I thought it was perfect for my little wood purse. I didn't want a perfect basket pattern, I liked the idea of overlapping the pattern, I knew this was just the beginning of the decorating part.

Below you can see how I used the ink pad and the stamp.  I loved the imperfection of the pattern and the color was bright enough for what I wanted to do.

Here is the side view, now it's time to work on the other side of the purse

For the other side I used  the diamonds stamp and the berry color, as you can see below, I distressed it even more by stamping on some of the aquamarine mixed with the berry,  I was loving the distressed look this piece was taking 

I had purchased some craft supplies from Amazon a while back that included this fun Sugar Skull die and tamp set from Stampendous, I had made some cut outs a while back, to play with later on, I took these out and decided to use them, but first they had to be colored, since they were already cut, I decided to use gel pens to color, it would be easier then painting with a brush. 

Sizzix had a great sale a while back and purchased several items, this was one of them,  these day of the dead stamps from Crafty Chica would be a great addition to the other sugar skulls.   I used  Plaid's Mod Podge to adhere all the cut outs to the purse.

Here you can see the sugar skull and roses all were colored with gel pens, next time I need to color before I cut the images out. Took me long to get the look I wanted on the flowers, but I think they turned out nice.  To finish this up, I added tiny crystals from Swarovski and used Amazing Clear Cast Resin to cover the entire front and back of the purse.  I love the glass like finished this resin gave my purse. 

Here is the other side of the purse, here I used the banner and skull from Crafty Chica's stamp set.

The Amazing Clear Cast Resin really brings out the color of the gel pens and the ink pads.

Here is the top of the purse, I outlined the handle with a black marker, added another cut out from Crafty Chica's stamp set and added some roses to the handles with a red marker.  I brushed some of the clear resin on the sides of the purse.

Here is a view of the entire outside of the wood purse.  I loved the colors, and how the creative design turned out thanks to the products I had on hand.  Now, it's time to work on the inside, we can't just leave it blank.

I used two different tones of gray/silver to paint the inside, the edges were  distressed on purpose.

To decorate the inside I used some of my art, the tree was something I painted using some water color paints from Plaid, I wanted to test the paints, and loved my little tree and thought why not add it inside.  I added some of the stamped words from one of the stamp sets I used.    

On the other side I cut out some roses I painted and used Mod Podge to adhere these pieces, also as a sealer of the inside.   I love when I can use my art in my projects.   Here are a few close-ups of the inside of the finished purse.

This project actually took me a long time to finish, since I didn't have an idea in mind, it all came together slowly, as I added one cut out, the idea developed.  It is now complete, but I think I still want to do a bit more, maybe add some tiny legs on the bottom, maybe? For now this piece is done.  As much as I love to plan ahead my designs, I love when I simply start with paint, and love how ideas just develop slowly, yes it may take me longer to get it done, but that's the fun part for me, not having a deadline, or to be limited as to what products I can use.  

What motivates you to be creative? Do you always plan out your projects?  I'm curious as to how other creatives work best.  I like to have the freedom to do whatever comes to mind.