Pages 02/23/08

This is a piece I've just finished for the Altered Art Obsession Yahoo Group. It's one of 10 pieces I made for the swap. The theme is 'Shipwreck'. The swap hostess is going to make tiny little treasure chests, alter them and inside will have all the artwork from the participants. It sounded like a very unique swap, so I couldn't wait to join in and work on mine. The size is a little odd, 2" X 4".
I started with a large sheet of heavyweight watercolor paper and did multiple layers of lumiere metallic paints. On the other side, I found a nice big piece of vintage wallpaper with a crackle/peeled look and adhered it to the back. After I let everything dry, I cut the cards to the size I needed and was ready to start collaging.
I wanted to do an underwater theme, so I found a couple photos at istock photo and downloaded them. I sized them to the size I wanted and printed them on cardstock to my inkjet printer. I attached the girl's image, painted her hair in several layers of acrylics and then added the boat, tossing on the top wave of her hair. I had some pretty nice bindis, so I added that to her face. Lastly, I did a coating of shimmering sparkle paint on her hair (which the photo does not show well.)
For the back, I used a purple stamp pad and weathered the edges. I found a really cool poem and sized properly in photoshop, and printed to a transparency. I adhered it to the card with sparkle paint and then added some simple metallic stars in the corners. Once I get my treasure chest back, I'll post my return. ;-)

Pages 02/16/08

Just working on restocking my etsy store while my hubby does some upgrade work at my office today. I did these pendants awhile ago, and not sure why I haven't listed them yet. (Most likely because it's work to list and I procrastinate.) Anyway, the moon pendant on the right was made the same way you solder a microscope slide, but I messed around with different glass shapes than the norm. These are about 1" square. Back side (see below) is a pretty pearlescent dichroic surface that is a little texturized. I soldered on sold wire swirlies and added some funky little charms and a wire spiral bead I made. I found an old vintage chain, cleaned it up and recycled it. It's actually VERY lightweight.

Pages 02/10/08

Milagros Charm Swap - ArtErratica. These are charms I made for a swap over on the ArtErratica Yahoo Group. I got alot of practice with making my own wire eye pins and am getting pretty good at it. (After making 15 and then another 14 more for ANOTHER swap!) So, it goes to show practice makes 'somewhat' perfect. By the time I finished I had it down pat. I got these milagros when we were in Tijuana several years ago and it was hard to part with them. But hey, I know my swap partners will enjoy them. I used heavyweight brass beads and made danglies and embellished with random mixed beads of shell, glass and metal. When I get the final swap items back I'll try to post them. I love the ArtErratica Group - it's such a great group of talented artists who take pride in their work and come up with some awesome ideas.

Pages 01/30/08

'LOVE' ATC's. I made these for a swap I am in with the Altered Art Obsession Yahoo Group. We were to interpret, love. Not a great photo, but I did this in several layers. First, I printed out a transparency sheet of the hearts (which I drew and scanned into photoshop) on my inkjet printer. On the other side of the transparency, I painted the flames with glitter glue and the heart with metallic pink Lumiere paint. The background is 140lb. watercolor paper which was painted with acrylics, and aquarelle watercolor crayons. Once dry, I stamped on a background of french script in white acrylic. I did this on a huge sheet so I could cut each card and save time.
The word LOVE was stamped. Once dry I attached the transparency with brads and colored staples. The back is pretty simple with pretty Joss paper. I also attached some retro danglie bead to the gold wire.
There are 14 artists participating in the swap. The hostess will be binding these as a small book. I can't wait to see what the other artists come up with. I'll take some pics and post when I get it back in March.

Pages 01/28/08

I recently made an ATC envelope template for a swap I am in and thought I'd post it for others to use. The sixe is 8.5X14" (legal paper size). I printed directly onto cut pieces of scrapbooking paper and ran it through my inkjet and then trimmed and glued. Enjoy!

Pages 01/26/08

Sketchbook collage. Got some new pink paint (so NOT a fave color of mine, but I wanted to expand my range of colors a bit) and a cool new Frida Kahlo stamp which I bought from stampcamp.com.

Pages 01/19/08

More handmade altered bamboo beads. Day of the Dead mix.

Pages 01/10/08

I've become obsessed with matchbox swaps. Over at swap-bot.com, there are always various themed swaps going which I can't help but signs up for almost every one. I'm addicted. I've done all kinds of themes - holidays, color, sun and moon, sticker - almost anything you can think of has been done or is available. The idea is to decorate the box to the theme and fill the box with teeny tiny treasures that follow the theme. It's so much fun to try and find small items to fit in the box. You'd be surprised as to how many items actually FIT in one of these boxes!
Above is a mini book matchbox swap item. Participants made bound books which fit within the matchbox. I also included some 'extras', magnets, a bookmark and beads for my swap partner.

I've also been in several matchbox shrine, or matchbox ornament swaps. To the left are some small shrines I made with a Latin theme for a swap. I poured in epoxy and added tiny beads to the epoxy as well as a glass vial filled with seashells. The entire shrine sits on a domino as a base.

For most of the swaps I've done I've purchased a bunch of the standard safety matches, sanded off the printing, and painted or collaged over the top. But if you want to make and build your own and avoid the work of sanding and repainting - print out and fold your own. I load my ink jet with a nice card stock, or scrap booking paper and print directly from my template on to the paper. Trim, fold and glue as indicated, and voila - my own custom matchbox.

I'm sharing my template with you to try making your own. Feel free to print and use it, or share it with a friend, or class. If you come up with something cool, I'd love to see.

TEMPLATE: