Altered to Ornament

The new challenge begins today at Frilly and Funkie and I am hosting it this time and decided to call it An Altered State.

It is time to transform something you have sitting around or can pick up for a song and make it one of your works of art. It could be a frame, a bottle, an old cigar box, a discarded CD - the list is endless. Just make sure your final transformation is vintage or shabby chic.

Since I have started my Christmas preparations, I decided to make some ornaments.  The first one (and my personal favourite) started as a wooden snowflake that my husband designed for me and cut on his laser cutter.

I coated it with a layer of Gesso and then with some Champagne Gold acrylic paint from the Deco Art Metallics line.

Once I got it painted I realized that there was no hole at the top to hang it with or at the bottom to add the bead chain so I asked my handy husband to drill the holes and his drill slipped and one of them was off centre.  He drilled another pair and will change the design file so the laser cutter will do the holes in the future and they will be perfect.

In the meantime I had to come up with a solution for covering the pair that didn't look good.  I tried just filling them with more paint but that didn't work so I coated the whole thing with a mixture of course sand and texture paste.  I expropriated the sand from the bag we keep in the garage for filling in between our interlocking bricks.  Once this layer was dry, I just repainted it with the metallic acrylic paint and I love the effect.  Tip - to keep the holes from getting filled with texture paste, just stick a toothpick in them while you are working.

Next I created and attached two bead chains made from a variety of beads in my stash from Arton Bead Supply and from Michaels. The small chain at the top has a jump ring at the end so it can be attached to the tree. I wire everything to my tree but the jump ring would also be needed if you use a metal ornament hangers.

I found some free Christmas sheet music online, changed the colour to red and printed it on each side of some heavy paper. Then I cut small squares and inked them all over with Antique Linen Distress Ink and the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The squares were then formed into cones and the point was nipped off so they would not overlap in the centre when they were attached to the snowflake.

Next I altered the colour of a filigree flower using a mixture of Cranberry, and Poppyfield Alcohol Ink blended with some Gold Mixative. The filigree flower was attached to the centre. I used some pearl stickers to create a circle on a piece of transparency and added it with a bead in the centre.

My next ornament started life as a used CD.

I printed some more of the music paper, cut two circles slightly larger and attached them back to back after I inked them all over with Antique Linen DI. Tip - In order to find your hole (I only used one this time), just attach one circle, re-punch the hole and then add the second circle and re-punch the hole again.

I made a bead chain to hang the ornament with and attached it next. Then I cut a mat from some gold card stock in my stash using Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Squares die. I fussy cut an image from the Graphic 45 paper pad called Christmas Carol and added that on top of the mat.

Next I used a poinsettia die from Marianne Creatables to cut a poinsettia from some the Graphic 45 papers. Because my poinsettias hang over the edge and the back of the paper was patterned, I just painted it with some Dark Scarlet acrylic paint from Deco Art. I added some shimmer to the petals once they were shaped by mixing some red glitter with crystal glitter paint from Craftsmart and painting it on. A few flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and Excelsior Wholesale were added along with some pearl stickers from Kaisercraft.

The final ornament, which is designed to fill one of those pesky long spaces on my tree started with three wooden circles that were leftovers from when my husband cut beer paddles.

I coated them with Gesso and then glued some crumpled tissue paper to them with Mod Podge. Then I rubbed them with some Red Geranium Archival ink and gave them a spritz with some Cherry Pie Dylusions.

Once they were dry I dabbed them randomly with a mixture of Cranberry, and Poppyfield Alcohol Ink blended with some Gold Mixative and then lightly inked over them with some Black Soot DI. Finally I added some gem strips from Recollections that have been hanging around in my stash for ages. The circles were attached to each other with screw eyes that I also altered with the alcohol ink and some beads from my stash.

I am going to enter the first ornament in the following challenges:

A Snowflake's Promise - Anything Christmas/Winter
Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Music Paper
We Love 2 Create - Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes
Allsorts Challenge - Anything But A Card
Altered Eclectics - Anything Altered/Mixed Media Goes (No cards or ATCs)

The following products used in the creation of these ornaments came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Exciting News

Just wanted to pop in to tell you some exciting news.  I have been selected to be on the Stamps and Stencils Design Team and I couldn't be happier. 

This is a very talented team of ladies led by the wonderful Sue Carrington, who has been my personal inspiration since I first met her four years ago.  I remember spending the day with her and learning all sorts of techniques, which was so much fun since I don't have access to any classes where I live.  I wasn't a very quick learner because it took me a couple more years to get enough supplies assembled and the courage to move into more mixed media but I am here now and love it.

My first inspiration piece for Stamps and Stencils will be for the December challenge but in the meantime there is a great challenge there now called Remember, Remember that you should check out.  You still have time to create something and enter the challenge. 

While you are there take a look at the fantastic frame that my friend Pamellia of My Little Craft Things created as their Guest Designer for this month.

It's Ornamental

It is time for a new challenge at Anything But Cute and this time I am the hostess and am calling the theme It's Ornamental.

Since the holiday will be coming up pretty quickly, we want you to create a mixed media ornament for your Christmas tree or a Christmas decor item for your house or table.

About 4 years ago I decided it was time to hand over the tree with all the kid-friendly and kid-created ornaments to my Grandchildren and get a new tree that I could decorate in a more adult fashion - besides I was tired of stringing all the lights on it and wanted a pre-lit tree.  I really want it to be chock full of ornaments so I decided this was a perfect time to make more.  My tree is red and gold with touches of white.  For this challenge, I stuck with the red and gold.

This ornament started as a wooden tree cut by my husband on his laser cutter - I am loving his new toy.  I coated it with gesso and then covered everything with some Golden Light Molding Paste that I dabbed on so it would be bumpy.

Once the this was dry I added some other wooden shapes cut for me by my husband and some lace strips.  I have discovered that Liquitex Matte Super Heavy Gel makes a terrific adhesive for this sort of application.

Everything was then given a good coat of Deco Art Champagne Gold Metallic Acrylic paint and then dabbed lightly using a sea sponge and some Dark Scarlet Acrylic Paint from Deco Art and some Antique Gold Acrylic Paint from Folk Art.

Then I added lots of beads and gems from my stash.

I made a second ornament and this time after the Molding Paste was dry I added some chain, nut covers stolen from my husband's work shop, buttons, bead caps and wood shapes.  Then I painted everything with Dark Scarlet Acrylic Paint from Deco Art.  The next step was to add a bunch of gold beads from my stash.

To make the base of this tree since it didn't have a base in the raw form, I covered a Styrofoam ball with gold sequins and then used Xmas Red Stickles in the centre of each one.

I thought this one was a bit flat looking so I gave it a spritz of Tattered Angels Pearl Glimmer Mist.  I think I like the gold tree better but both will look good on my tree and fill more spaces so I am happy.

I hope all of you will create something for your holiday tree or home decor and share it with us.  You have until December 4th and that will be just in time for decorating.

I am going to enter the gold ornament in the following challenges:

City Crafter - Getting Ready for Christmas
Altered Eclectics - Anything Mixed Media or Altered (no cards or ATCs)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Mixed Media or Altered (no cards. scrap pages, ATCs)
Sparkles Forum Christmas Challenge - Christmas Decorations
Mixed Media World - Anything Goes on Wood
We Love to Create - Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes
Allsorts Challenge  - Christmas
Winter Wonderland - Anything Christmas Goes

Walking Through the Snow

It is time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie and this time Sue is our hostess and is calling the challenge Let There Be Light.  Here is what she has to say about it:

One of the things I don't like at this time of year is the lack of light to craft by in the evenings. So, for this challenge include something in your project that makes reference to light, this could be a street lamp, rays of light or even gradients of colour that get lighter! 

I decided to incorporate my light element in a Christmas card.  I started with some white card stock from Staples for the blank and then took another scrap piece to create the background.  I inked it with Stormy Sky and Weathered Wood Distress Inks and then flicked some water on it.

The lamp post was cut by my husband on his laser cutter and I coated it with black Gesso, silver acrylic paint and Black Soot DI in that order.  Then I covered a small piece of a transparency with a mixture of Sunset Orange and Lemonade Alcohol Ink and adhered it to the back of the lamp.

The trees were cut with the Tim Holtz Woodlands die and inked with Iced Spruce and Forest Moss DI.  I used some texture paste to create the snow but it sucked up the colour from the DI so I painted over it with White Pearl Metallic paint from Deco Art.  I could not get the shimmer to show in my photos but trust me, it is there.

The snow banks were cut by hand from card stock, covered with texture paste and painted with some of the White Pearl Metallic paint.

The image is from The Graphics Fairy and was printed twice, fussy cut and inked with some Vintage Photo DI before one image was added over the other with some pop dots.

The tiny snowflakes are leftovers from a Martha Stewart border punch and I painted them with some of the White Pearl Metallic paint.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

A Snowflake's Promise - Anything Goes with a Christmas or Winter Theme
City Crafter  - Getting Ready for Christmas
The Crazy Challenge - Vintage
Card and Scrap - Christmas
Christmas Cards All Year Round - Oh Christmas Tree
Natalie and Amy's Challenge - Winter Scenes
Crazy 4 Challenges - C4310 - Christmas
Allsorts Challenge - Christmas
Moving Along With The Times - Leaves and/or Trees

The following products used in the creation of this card came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique: