All Things Altered Winter Blog Hop

Hello everyone.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and welcome back to another edition of the All Things Altered Winter Blog Hop.    Our wonderful hostess, Pam Bray, of Scrapbook Flair, is having a really nice giveaway, so be sure to start there.  If you arrived here from Jess B's blog, then you are on track.  

I am so excited to be able to play along, once again, with such a fabulous bunch of wonderfully-talented designers.  I know you will have a good time visiting each blog and be inspired by their creativity.   

When I think of winter, I think of cooler, grayish-white and mostly colorless days.  So, to take the "blues" away, I made this cute little winter mailbox using papers from Little Yellow Bicycle's (LYB) new collection, Winterings, and My Mind's Eye (MME) Signature Christmas collection.  The MME are specialty papers with bits of glitter scattered throughout.  

I started with this bare paper mache mailbox, and covered it inside and out with the LYB Winterings papers.  I used my Xyron 850 to add the edge-to-edge adhesive to each of my papers, making it quite easy to adhere the papers to the box.  I did not like the grayish-blue color as much as I thought I would, so I inked it up with Bundled Sage and Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks.  This made it match the MME papers more and tie everything together.  I love the vintage feel of this piece.

I used a Tim Holtz Sizzix tattered pinecone die to make the pinecone arrangement on top of the mailbox.  I added beaded embellishments, which I think really added that special bling.  

I edged the box with Stickles Icycles glitter glue, added pre-made flowers from Michaels, a decorative border made with a Martha Stewart punch, and added thin strips of the same paper that I used on the mailbox flag to tie it together. 

Decorative paper strips with punched edging

Michael's flowers, beaded bling

On the side opposite the flag, I fussy cut a reindeer and adhered it over a piece of distressed music sheet paper that I also distressed with Brushed Corduroy. 

I stamped Christmas images onto scraps of the printed papers, distressed the edges, and turned them into postcards for my mailbox.  

Postcards front

Postcards back

I am so pleased with the way this turned out.  I hope you enjoyed my project as much as I enjoyed making it to share with you.  As a special thank you, I have a bit of blog candy to give away.  To enter, please leave a comment and follow my blog, if you don't already.  Simple, right?  It would also be super if you could do the same on each of the other blogs as well.  Here is what you could win. 

I will pick a winner at random and announce my winner right here on Saturday, December 1st.  So you have a week to enter.  Good luck.

Your next stop is Eileen's blog.  

So, please be sure to visit each blog and leave a comment and follow.  A complete list of each participating blog is listed below, in case you get lost.

1.) Pammejo - http://pammejo-scrapbookflair.blogspot.com/
2.) Nicole- http://canadiannickelscrapn.blogspot.com/
3.) Gloria - http://www.gloriascraps.blogspot.com/

4.) Irit - http://iritshalom.blogspot.com/
5.) Debbie - http://studiobeecreations.blogspot.com/
6.) Jennifer - http://hydrangeahippo.com/
7.) Jess B. - http://thatzuneek.blogspot.com/
8.) Barbara - http://blackholeartstudio.blogspot.com/ <--You are here
9,) Eileen - http://eileenhull.blogspot.com/
10.) Candice - http://candicewindhamdesigns.blogspot.com/
11.) True - http://truesgiftsfromtheheart.blogspot.com/
12.) Pinky - http://blueyecicle.blogspot.com/

Enjoy your holiday, and happy hopping!

Barbara