Altered Sewing box

Been thinking about this one for a while. I made a similar sewing box some years ago at a class. I used alcohol inks to colour a plain paper mache box before decorating the lid with hand cut embellishments. buttons and a safety pin. The "tape measure" was cut from a designer paper.  I nearly forgot...I used  a textured stamp and a gold ink pad before adding the embellishments.

Altered Coaster

I was searching around for something  small to alter and found a coaster that had been sent through the post at Christmas by a charity. So I used my favourite Tim Holtz Papillion stamps and some designer paper to give it another look. 

I used  a couple of coats of IndigoBlu's Slap It On to seal it.  I really should make some more to complete a set.

A Farewell Gift

Volunteering at a local school has brought me into contact with a great team of staff and amazing children. Having worked in education for all of my adult life, I feel privileged to still be able to be involved in some way, even though I have been retired for some time.

One of the young teachers is moving on to pastures new and I decided to give her a notebook as a small gift.

I removed the covers from a shop bought notebook and covered them with K & Company papers. Out came my favourite Tim Holtz Papillion stamps to decorate. I finished the edge with Distress Inks then reassembled.

A New Look

I must say that often the most difficult aspect of writing post is thinking up an original title.  It took me ages to  find something that was vaguely appropriate and I apologise for the end result.

This is another altered wooden box. Same method as described before but with different patterned paper and stamps.

I have another of these to work on so I hope that I find inspiration for a title when posting the result!

Another Altered Project.

I bought some plain mdf pencil pots from MDF Man when I attended the Hobbycrafts show in Glasgow in March.   As the  materials that I used in the previous post were still to hand I decided to make a matching item.

The inside has been painted with chalk paint. 

I'm on a roll!!!  What else can I alter?

A New Look

I can't resist popping into the local The Works shop when I am in town. More than often there is something that catches my eye that I can make crafty use of.  I bought a plain wooden box that I immediately thought that I could use as a base for an altered art project.

This is the end result.

I covered it with  K & Co patterned paper before using stamps from the Tim Holtz Papillion set.  I am besotted with these stamps at the moment.  I had to look and hard to lay my hands on these as they had been out of production for a while.
It has been varnished with decoupage gloss medium.

Beavering Away

I've had my head down tonight making things for my stall at a couple of local school fairs that are coming up next month. I am not very comfortable with this method of selling -  I'm obviously not a shopkeeper at heart!

There is always an expectation that items will be very cheap and no realisation of the time that it has taken to make them.  I suppose that we are spoilt as a society because we have cheap items available in the shops that have probably been made by children in a far off country for a pittance. The thought of children not being able to experience the childhood that they deserve really upsets me. I cannot understand the mentality of those that think otherwise.

Okay, I have stepped down from the soapbox.

Here is what I have made:

I had originally intended stamping on the cork drinks mats for an altered art project but decided that they would be perfect as the base for these mini Post it Note holders. I have spent some time on the packaging in the hope that this will make the items more attractive to buyers.

I covered the mats before sanding the edges. The bulldog clips can be detached and used separately and I have included a mini gel pen.

Altered Art Evening

I thought that I would upload pictures of the 3 projects that I made at an Altered Art Evening at The Papeterie in Aberdeen last night.  The evening was hosted by Kath Stewart, Debbi Glennie and Charlotte Mitchell - each one demonstrating a different project.  A thoroughly enjoyable evening and I know that I will use the techniques that I learned in my own altered art projects in the future  - there's one formulating in my head as we speak!

I attended with my good friend Susy who I have not, as yet, converted to the "Altered" faith.  I also arranged to meet up, for the first time, with lovely Suze Bain, a fellow Aberdonian crafter and blogger.  We discovered that we only lived a couple of miles apart! (Another coincidence was that Susy and Suze grew up in the same part of the city and were at school at roughly the same time.)  It was great to have a chat and I hope that we will continue to meet up in the future to share ideas.  She's much younger than me but I have long though that craft creates a connection that transcends years. Apart from that (in my head) I'm only 30!!

Debbi - Box altered with Alcohol Inks, ribbon and flower die.

Charlotte -Altered notebook (Is that Tim Holtz I see?)

Kath - Ceramic Tile wall hanging.

A gift for a friend

I am rather hooked on making (decorating really) notebooks at the moment. I am enjoying my diversion from cardmaking although I could apply the same techniques that I have used here to cards.   This is my latest ....a present for a friend.

I used Letraset Inks and Adirondack Pearl Mixative to act as a base.  The stamps are all from Crafty Individuals.   I introduced a little bit of dimension with diecut flowers and a paper string bookmark as described on a previous post.

Back of notebook

Another Project with Alcohol Inks.

Made a quick visit to The Papeterie this afternoon.  I didn't get what I wanted (discovered that it's on order) but I did come away with another Letraset Ink.  They are becoming as addictive as Promarkers!

While I was there, I spied Kath Stewart and knew that I had missed one of her classes. It turns out that she was working with  Fresco Finish paints, stamps and dies from Paper Artsy. How gutted am I?

I would like to share with you a notebook that I "altered" using a couple of my alcohol inks and stamps.

back cover

This started off life as a plain kraft covered notebook. I used alcohol inks to create a base for the stamps. To complete this project I threaded some paper string (Ikea) through the spine of the book and attached wooden beads to each end.  This will act as a bookmark.

I used Letraset Inks and stamps from my collection.

A gift to celebrate a new job

Again using patterned papers from the K & Co paper pad detailed in yesterday's post, I put together a co-ordinated gift set for a friend's daughter to celebrate her first teaching job. I thought that the apple graphic made it an appropriate choice of paper.

I learned how to make the Post It note pad cover at a workshop held by Elaine Brainwood, one of our talented local Stampin' Up demonstrators, and have made many more since.

I used a handcream jar, plastic clipboard from Tesco and Post-It note pad to create what you see here. Must do it again.