Gotta Make ... » Altered Art

Book ‘Em, challenge #19

site admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:41:23 +0000

I just made this new journal, which I’m tickled with. I used the cover of a vintage children’s book, which I’ve had in my stash for a while. I glued a fabric strip to reinforce the spine and bound the pages into it with the long stitch method. I glued a few snippets from inside the book to the front cover and I glued some of the pages from the book and some magazine clippings into the inside covers and embellished with my hand-carved stamps. I’ll probably add to the outside and inside covers as I use the journal. This is my entry for challenge #19 at Order of the Opus Gluei where the theme is Book ‘Em!

Art in the Round, altered cheese boxes

site admin — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:22:57 +0000

The Art in the Round challenge over at The Three Muses was perfect for me this week. I’ve been working on these little altered cheese boxes for my etsy shoppe. I just finished “The Guardian of Wishes” this morning. I think they turned out so cute, even if I say so myself. Clicking on them will take you to my etsy shoppe where you can see nice big pictures and read the description of each one, if you’d like. I’ve been trying to pick a favorite, but I can’t decide. I’ve got one more box left to alter, and then I’ll have to eat some more cheese, LOL.

I also finished a little ornie doll but I need to recharge my camera batteries and get some photos before I can show that. I’m feeling very productive this week!

Altered Coaster Book, Gypsies

site admin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:47:51 +0000

This is an altered coaster book I made for a swap at GAS MAMMA.We had to use at least 2 coasters, some kind of texture, and at least one stamp. I used fabric, lace, beads, and a couple of my hand-carved stamps. If you click the image, it will take you to the gallery page that shows all the inside pages and the back cover. I didn’t think I was going to be able to play along this time, because all of our Restaurants are too cheap to give coasters at the bar. You only get a little cocktail napkin! But I went into Tuesday Morning, on a whim, and they had one package of chipboard coasters for sale. YAY! They came in a cute little box that I will probably alter, too.

Charming Junk for Mixed Media Monday

site admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:18:07 +0000

The theme for Mixed Media Monday is Charming Junk, recycling, repurposing, reusing. I made this bowl out of folded magazine pages. I followed this tutorial from A Little Hut except I finished off the top edge by adding strips across the top with half the strip to the inside and half to the outside. It is surprisingly heavy and sturdy. I think I’m going to let my hubby use it to throw his remote controls in. Looks like I have a few hot glue strings to pull off. I like looking down into the center. It’s kind of hypnotic! I just wish I could take a decent photo.

No Sew Doll & Journal Pages

site admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:16:39 +0000

My no sew doll for this month’s MAD MAMMA swap and a couple of new journal pages.

Self-portrait journal page

site admin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:31:57 +0000

I cut a printout of a photo in quarters and used a different medium to paint over each section in this self-portrait. Click to enlarge.
The strip of paper says, “Color is my day long obsession, joy, and torment.” – Claude Monet

Dotee Dolls & a Junk Bird!

site admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:39:22 +0000

Dotee dolls made for a swap at the cloth paper studio yahoo group. The bird was made for a MAD MAMMA swap and also as my entry for the June Junk Bird at http://fiberartsmixedmedia.ning.com/ .

Crusade #31 Make it your own (the pink bird post)

site admin — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:36:16 +0000

This month, Michelle over at GPP Street Team has challenged us to show how we make it our own, in our art. Either take a commercial item and give it your own special touch, or show how you’ve been inspired by something to create something else with your own personal style. I think both aspects of the challenge are very worth doing. In this post, I’ll be showing the latter. (When you’re done here, click the banner above to check out the challenge and see what everyone else has done.)

This project started when I decided I needed a new apron, because I haven’t found my old one since the move (like a lot of things). Now, I don’t like to cook, but I have to do it, and I’m pretty messy about it. Not only does it save my clothes to wear an apron, but when it is one as cute as this it makes it a little less awful. Since I like to support individual artists and craftsmen, I headed over to etsy.com to find just the right one. It wasn’t easy! Tons of beautiful stuff there, but I fell for this one by Boojiboo. Isn’t it darling? I love this retro look fabric, and the craftsmanship on this is excellent. Click the image to visit her shop.

This project started when I decided I needed a new apron, because I haven’t found my old one since the move (like a lot of things). Now, I don’t like to cook, but I have to do it, and I’m pretty messy about it. Not only does it save my clothes to wear an apron, but an apron this cute takes a little of the drudgery away. Since I like to support individual artists and craftsmen, I headed over to etsy.com to find just the right one. It wasn’t easy! Tons of beautiful stuff there, but I fell for this one by Boojiboo. Isn’t it darling? I love this retro look fabric, and the craftsmanship on this is excellent. Click the image to visit her wonderful shop.

This week, I decided to paint my laundry room a pale warm pink, called abalone. It is going to look great with my retro styled black front loading washer and dryer. I’m still working on it, but decided I needed a little something to dress up the walls. Why not pink birds? I had a few 5″x5″ hardboard squares I’d ordered way back that should work perfectly, because the room is small. Using the birds on the apron as inspiration, I drew 4 different simple bird shapes. I started with a base of torn text. I don’t know why, but I just love seeing the words peek through and have to use a page of text or two on practically everything. Then I stamped on tissue and added that, mostly because I am not very good at stamping and didn’t want to stamp directly on the background in case I got a bad impression. I like the little bit of added texture from the tissue, too. Then, I looked through my small collection of scrapbooking papers to find colors that would work in the room, and I built my birds. The background paper is wrapped all the way to the back, and I’ve inked the edges in a soft green. I coated everything in mod podge, because a laundry room can be damp. I think they are going to look great in the laundry room.

Journal Pages, May 1-10

site admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 02:49:04 +0000

I’m finding the large size of the new journal pages to be very challenging!

ATC – Shells

site admin — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:16:59 +0000

I painted this ATC for the Weekly Artist Date’s Shells by the Seashore theme. Gouache on watercolor paper.