3.24.2011

what i'm wearing today...

favorite animal=snail. and kitties of course. but i collect snails like crazy, don't know why, i just can't help but take them home! so in homage to my obsession i made a plastic animal necklace of a snail. just a cute and slimy friend to hang out with me all day. :)

and yes, those are the cutest buttons you've ever seen. i put them on myself. ^_^









































3.20.2011

take a word 21: architecture

the theme at Take a Word this week is architecture, which gave me a chance to use a neat feature on my Cricut as well as a bauble i found on the ground. i created a whimsical and bright cityscape in a gingerbread cookies tin. the background and city are both cut from scrapbook paper and the city is cut using a feature on the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge for Cricut.

i poked some holes in the top and bottom for the hanging ribbon and an embellishment at the bottom. i found the cityscape bauble about a year ago in a parking lot at school. i honestly never thought i was going to use it, but here we are! the color scheme is all based off of that.

i outline the city and clouds with a black pen and echoed that with some black thread that gives the piece some foreground. i added some yarn and beads and was done! i like the minimalist and airiness of the piece, i think i'll try to work lighter more often.

3.17.2011

it's not easy being green

happy st. patrick's day! the challenge at Take a Word this week is Green! which made me think of kermit, which led to frogs, which led to this necklace!

i wanted to do an Irish theme, but the inspiration never came. :(
so this is what you get instead.

first, i hammered a spoon into a flat shape, and snapped off the part of the handle i didn't need.
next i used gel medium to glue down some vintage advertisement paper.

i wanted my frog to remain green, but to blend in, so i gave him a light coating of antique gold.
hot glue held it all together, and i added a "G" embellishment for green and hung it on a chain. ta da! cute wearable frog. ^_^

something paper....

i have started following a couple more challenge blogs: Gingersnaps Creations and Take a Word. the theme for Gingersnaps Creations this week is T Y P E W R IT E R S, which gave me the perfect opportunity to use the typewriter stamp i got from Michael's.

i thought about making a tag, then i thought "what the hell does a tag do?" and i can't bring myself to make art that isn't functional or would look nice on display. so i made a bookmark instead. goes with the theme, yes?

i used some cardstock and paper from a Tim Holtz paper stack along with some of his tissue tape along the sides. i gessoed the bookmark at the bottom to make sure my stamp would show up.
then i added some gold highlights and splatters.

of course i had to add some 3D elements, so i gave it a ton of ribbon at the top with an Eiffel tower and heart charm.
i also added a jewelry embellishment to the center.
i never create just paper things, but this was fun! i like it. :)

************************
Whoo! My first Ginger challenge made it!

3.15.2011

three muses challenge: fish

the challenge this week at the Three Muses is Fish! which is perfect, since this week i am really feeling some altered plastic items, and it's an great opportunity to use this it's-so-ugly-it's-cute rubber fish.

technique is pretty basic jewelry making stuff. i put an eye screw into the top of the feesh (that is how i say fish) and put it on a copper chain. i added small beads of a similar color pattern as the fish and chain.

finally, i added some tiny blue bottles i found in a (of all things) Bratz toy set from Goodwill that had a few cute little dishes, like these and plates and cups.

the fish is from an old water toy i played with until it burst. it was filled with glitter and 2 fish (the other fish can be found as a piece of my Field Researcher's Journal assemblage).
there will be more animal pieces to come, but who knows when. stupid school is back in session and i have to do a bunch of stupid things i don't want to. :(
also, not sure why i've taken a shine to displaying my things wrapped around bottles. but i have, i think it's pretty. ^_^

what i love this week....

inspired by Jane Anne Wynn's Altered Curiosities, what i love this week is plastic animals! i have yet to actually create my piece, but i will probably try to make something for the Three Muses challenge this week, which is fish. so i am off to craft, i leave you with my menagerie, pictured above, and this pig on a screwdriver.

3.11.2011

Alter It Monthly: Time

the theme for March over at Alter It Monthly is.......time! so happy for this theme, and it gave me an excuse to use all of these gorgeous tiny gears and cogs i harvested.
so it started with a walnut. i found it in my yard and knew that it was a perfect piece of nature droppings, so i snatched it for art. i liked the idea of something "in a nutshell" and wanted to play on that, but i needed something small. luckily, i found these super tiny parts in an old watch.
so this is what the inside of a nutshell. who knew?
it's made of tiny gears that keep all the nut parts moving. not really. it was empty, the squirrels had cleaned it out for me. but there's not much to say on my technique here. i used hot glue to secure the gears, and copper wire wrapped around for unity....or something. i'm not sure why i keep doing that. i just like it. then i hung it on some jewelry chain.
note to self: walnut has to be the absolute hardest material in the whole world. it took me three days of trying then giving up to get the eye screw through the top. but it's worth it. :)

3.07.2011

what i love this week....

this week, i love shrines! the one above can be found at Milliande.com along with tutorials. it's a common theme amongst modern altered artists, and i have taught it as a lesson to some of my students before. but i never get tired of it. there's something nice about taking the mundane and turning it into something special just by giving it a home.

so i started with an old box i got at a consignment shop, which happened to be originally from dollar tree ( i knew there was a reason i loved it). actually, it was originally pretty hideous. it was a weird bluey purple color with a cliche snowman on the front. but it was 49 cents, so i figured i would make something out of it. and after housing miscellaneous materials for a while, then becoming 2 different incomplete and bad projects, it finally turned into this!

inspired by Lindsey Heath's hollow books, i added text to the back first. then i punch a hole through the front, almost literally, i didn't exactly have the right tools for the job, so it was a lot of cutting and punching. next i added some fake moss, the first time i've used it! and i love it. after that, i had to find a subject to be a jumping point for the rest of the project, so i chose the ceramic egg with the hole and glued it to the back of the inside. for the outside, i spray painted it copper and then used another first time material for me, spray glitter glue. i like the effect it had in some places where it bubbled up from not letting the copper dry first.

next i added the feathers to the top with hot glue, set in beads. to make it more unified, i added some glitter around the base of the feathers that matched the paint. for the inside, i added more feathers and a rubber frog to create a little more scenery, and a flower on the opposite side.
i also stamped a small birdcage in the corner and added a gear and some wire mesh.

for the rest of the outside, i used some more text to connect it all, a chipboard frame around that, and a key that i painted copper and embellished with gold glitter. the little feet on the bottom are made from painted bottle caps, but maybe i'll go back and fashion some bird feet for it instead. i also think that i would want to have a way for it to hang on the wall as well.

the piece is finished with some copper watch wire wrapped around the outside to give it more of a caged feeling and the egg has feathers and moss stuffed into it.

overall i am very happy with this piece, and i don't feel that the pictures do it justice. there's a wonderful "secret garden" feeling you get when you look through the outside window into the nook where the egg lies.

3.06.2011

yay presents...

so for our anniversary this year, my fiance and i took to the internet. he got a bunch of new music books and supplies that "i" bought for him and "he" got me some new art books and supplies! (pictured above) i got some tissue tape, paper stacks and configuration boxes from idea-ology, The Secrets of Rusty Things, and Altered Curiosities. soooo happy to expand my book collection and i've wanted these forever!

also, Tim Holtz's compendium of curiosities just came today, and apparently it comes with a bonus freebie, some trinket pins! yay!

and this picture of my kitty, Zoot, was literally taken 2 minutes after i removed the items from the box. he does not hesitate to claim his boxes. what a cutie.

3.05.2011

what i love this week....

so i know its not tuesday, but i am a bit over due for this...so what i love this week is...Carnivale Art! my inspiration comes from Lisa Kettel's Altered Art Circus, pictured above, that i received as a gift from one of my friends. i mostly loved how she altered her animals, using bright colors and glitter.



so, inspired by this, i started on my own circus themed assemblage. i made my own box from cardboard, with a simple layout, no small boxes on the inside. the idea of this one was to be a traveling advertisment, like the ones from old carnivales that displayed sideshows etc. so i had only 1 compartment.


then i added the background, a diamond pattern from one of my old sketchbooks, that was once going to be an alice in wonderland page, but never happened.


then i needed a subject, so i found this sad little girl picture in one of my art books.



next i added the tickets, and my color scheme
was born. black, white and red. to go with this, i added the wiggly ribbon border, then the button and feather and small stars.

to bring out the girl, i gave her a border of pearls.

small objects, like a drum, die, blocks and small bowling pin were added a the bottom.

i finished it with some thread to act as bars and the caps from some fancy grape juice to be the wheels.

honesty, i was never a fan of this while i worked on it. but now, looking back through the pictures of it as i post this, i do have a much better fondness for it. i think i do like it. :)
*************************************************
and side note, today i got to over 1000 page views! yay!!!! ^_^

3.03.2011

new look

i completely redid my page, with a lighter, happier scene. seems like the only thing i've been able to update in forever. but spring break is next week. and that means time to art. especially with all the amazing new stuff my fiance got me for our anniversary, pics to come!




Browse Works by Theme