yay!

i won my first challenge! The Time challenge at Alter It Monthly! Sooo excited about my prize, and hopefully you will all understand. Most people don't get very excited when you tell them you won an art challenge, and are less impressed when they hear that the prize is a box of broken watch parts. but i couldn't be more happy! the prize above was provided by Vintage Supply Co. (check out their cute etsy shop).
^_^

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. :)

Alter-It Monthly: Dominoes

i was super excited about this month's theme! and i took it as an opportunity to finish a piece i started about a year ago. i also finally used some of the itty bitty clock pieces i found in an old watch. i started by going over the piece with a semi-transparent gold. then i used an amazing $1 stamp from Michael's for the clock on the front. i inserted some tiny screws into the button holes and added the little clock gears. finally, i sprinkled some gold glitter (nothing's complete without glitter) and wrapped the cover with copper wire.
i stamped the inside pages with some more $1 stamps to finish. i am very happy with it and glad that it is finally finished. :)

music themed art

this is my piece for this month's Alter-It Monthly challenge: music.

it is a simple domino piece. i spray painted it gold and trimmed the edges with some music scrapbook paper and the bottom with a beaded ribbon. then i added some swirly stamps to the back ground and a little glitter glaze.
next, i added a treble clef sticker. i wanted to use wrapping in this piece, but with a different material. i used black thread to wrap the piece and kind of simulate the feel of a music staff. (i had tried to image transfer a music staff to the background, but it wouldn't take. :/)
next, i made a small flower from some sheet music and used a blue bead for the center. i was going to use a gold and sepia color theme only, but when i painted onto the sheet music, the ink bled and gave a blueish tint to places. so i accented it with a blue bead.
last, i added some gold paint for dots in the corners and some text, "sing". and it is seen here propped against some lovely vintage singing lesson books.

and of course, there is never a project that my little kitty Zoot doesn't try to sabotage. this time i was lucky enough to get a picture of him in the act, destroying my meticulously stacked pile of sheet music.

i also made another piece for this challenge, an altered can. i made it before the domino, but decided that it had been a while since i had done a domino project that i changed my mind!

for this can, i painted it gold and added the same ribbon and beads to the top. i made some larger flowers from sheet music and used buttons as the center.
then i added some music note stickers (i have a ton of music things, my fiance is a music student). finally, i added some black thread running around the top and bottom.

because my fiance is a music student, i have made plenty of music themed art for him and i feel like sharing!
so for his birthday a couple years ago, i made him this wall hanging of a saxophone (his instrument). it is made of MDF plywood, painted black with gold accents made from bristol board.

over the summer, i made this little piece, about 4"x6". it is an encaustic piece. the background is orange encaustic paint and all of the images are transfers.

Alter-It Monthly Challenge: Home Sweet Home

july's challenge on Alter-It Monthly is "home sweet home"; make an altered art piece with the theme of homes or houses. so my entry is this piece. it is made from a house shaped canvas i got from the NAEA conference a couple of years ago along with flower and heart shaped canvases. my method for this was simple. i picked a black white and blue color palette with silver as an accent. the background was done with watered down acrylic paints to give it a washed feeling. then i dripped water from the top to make the paint run and give it some interesting subtle lines. i used black sharpie to add dots, lines and swirls to keep the eye busy. i also had this great silver crayon that i used for swirls and dots to give it some extra shine. the embellishments i used were silver hearts and stars and bits of mirror. the text "home is where the art is" was taken from magazine pages. i outlined those with sharpie to make them stand out and added some pearl beads in the bottom corner to anchor the composition. and there it is! my finished piece that can be hung on a wall or propped like a picture frame.

***last minute changes***
i added a door! made from the same black illustration board i used for the back and prop. i cut it out skewed and added some window panes and a mail slot. i really love this piece now, very happy!