Spring Charm Swap

Anyone for Su Doku?

No, not me, I don't like number games,

scrabble and other words games yes, but nothing with numbers!

 

When I saw this set of Su Doku in a charity shop

a few years ago, I had no intention of ever playing a game with them,

but just knew they'd come in handy one day.

 

Cue - The Altered Dominos & Other Altered Game Pieces

group on Flickr.

The current swap on there is to 

" Create up to ten charms and receive ten. They have to be made using a game piece

 and have something on it that makes you think of Spring"

 

I wanted to use wire and the 'gizmo' wire coiling tool

to create some flowers with a gemstone in their centre. 

 

 

Although it's an easy tool to use (in theory!),

I think I need more practice.  However I was reasonably

pleased with how the flowers turned out.

 

 

First though, I painted one side of the Su Doku counters

white (to hide the numbers)

 and then attached book text with Liquitex.

 

   

The flowers (or maybe butterflies!) were then

stuck onto the counters with E6000 adhesive.

 

 

The gemstones I used are Carnelian,

except the blue one in the middle of the photo

which is Blue Chalcedony

 (no, I'd never heard of them before either!)

 

 

  

Flower or butterfly?

You decide!

 

Can't wait to see what charms I get back in return now!

 

Thanks for looking and I promise to try and get

round to see some of my blogging friends' blogs soon!    

Altered Bottle Tops

"I wanna hold 'em like they do in Texas Plays .....P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker
face"  Eat your heart out Lady GaGa - here's my version of 'Poker Face'!!

The first challenge over on the new Flickr group 'Art 'n' Soul' is to alter three bottletops to be made into either wearable art or as a little wall hanging.

I recycled some used bottletops and left them un-squashed (mainly because my last attempt at flattening some wasn't altogether successful!  I Gesso'd and painted them black then collaged inside them with some miniature playing cards, dice and dymo wording.  The face is moulded from air dried clay and painted with acrylics.  Everything is set into the bottle tops with Ranger's Glossy Accents.

The bottle tops are attached (again with Glossy Accents) to a thin chipboard frame which itself is painted with acrylics.  A suede cord and little metal charm (a hand of cards) finishes it off.

Oops, I don't know if it's my eyes or if this last picture is out of focus - well, I think the background is ok anyway - lol.

I see the moon ...

What a sweet, simple nursery rhyme this is which I found to include on this altered domino book with the moon as it's theme.

It is covered with tissue paper coloured with Brusho paints and glimmer mist.  The moons have been coloured with crystal color lacquer to make them shine.  The little card has been made in much the same way.

They are both for a crafting friend who will be celebrating a big birthday later this year.  I don't think she reads my blog - at least I hope she doesn't anyway or the surprise will be spoilt!

Domino Doll - 'Sweet Suzie'

Sweet little Suzie will soon be on her way to Wendy as she's my partner for the altered domino doll swap over on Flickr's Altered Dominos & Other Altered Game Pieces group.

As I didn't have any actual dominos with suitable holes drilled, I used a bamboo domino which has two sets of holes drilled throughout the length.  I hope Wendy won't mind that it isn't an authentic domino - it does look the same but not as heavy.

The body is clothed with scraps of fabric and the limbs are assorted beads.  The head is flat wooden bead which luckily also had two holes drilled into, so I was able to attach it to the body with the same wire the leg beads were threaded onto.

I painted the facial features on and attached a paper flower behind the head.

I inked the back of the domino with some pearlescent crimson Brilliance and attached a piece of tissue paper which I'd pre stamped a harlequin pattern onto.

Halloween Altered Domino Book

I decided to make another of these little 'books' so I could use a lovely image I found here of a gothic lady caught in a spider's web - very haunting indeed!

I highlighted the web with some Ranger's Stickles (unfortunately some found their way across the lady's eyes - oh well, all adds to the mystique I suppose!)

The inside page of the 'book' is handmade paper and because it is so thin, the rubber (polymer) stamped image shows through the back of it.

I bought the stamps last weekend at Ally Pally and they seemed just right for this theme - the back of each domino has a gothic door on and the centre panel the large spider's web - no sign of the spider though thank goodness!  The stamps are from Lavinia who I hadn't heard of before now, but I think they're lovely and I wish I'd bought more!

I finished the book off with some black ribbon and crystally bits and coated with some Krylon Crystal Clear.

Altered Domino Book

This month's theme (set by Viv) over on the GAS (Group for Altered Swaps) group on Flickr is an altered Halloween domino book.

Well, I've never been into the whole Halloween thing much so the subject didn't excite me - however, after seeing some beautiful creations in the photostream of the GAS group I was suitably inspired!

I found some lovely vintage images in another Flickr group (thanks Suzee Que!) which I decorated my dominos with (I used the same dominos - childrens' wooden ones - which I used for the Christmas charms in the post below).  I also had some cute pumpkin buttons which I've had for years and never before used.  I stuck two together and glued them to the ribbon ends.  This is the first domino book I've made and I had a little trouble with sorting out how to attach the ribbon - any tips will be greatly appreciated!

Christmas Charms

I altered some childrens' wooden dominos into Christmas charms.

1.  Using some kitchen roll paper and Brusho powders I made the backgrounds for the charms and adhered them to the dominos with Liquitex matte medium. First painting the dominos white to cover the colourful animal pictures.

2.  I printed out some images from art-e-zine.  I chose images of two vintage children both of whom are wearing cute costumes with pointy hats to celebrate the season.  I decorated both sides of the dominos so there is one image on each side, again adhered with Liquitex.

3.  Once dry, I coated each side with UTEE using the melting pot, and needed to smooth out some of them, so finished off with the heat gun.  I sprinkled a bit of gold glitter here and there. 

4.  They were finished off with some little bells at the bottom and ribbon at the top.

I'm hoping to send the charms off to Canada, but I haven't yet received back charms for the previous (romance themed) swap I joined - so fingers crossed they will arrive soon.

UK Art Raffle - 'Summer' entry

The UK Art Raffle is back up and running and the current theme is 'Summer'. You just need to sign up, send in an item of art and then you're in the draw. The winner gets all the items sent in!

For my entry, I altered a jigsaw piece (it measures approx 3" x 3"). I used a vintage picture of three young ladies in their bathing costumes and collaged it onto a background of the L S Lowry's painting 'At The Seaside' a strange mixture and the ladies are not of the same era, but I thought the muted tones of the Lowry picture went well with the image. I painted a wash of cream acrylic over the background and edged and highlighted it with some crayons. A string hanger and some shells completed it.

I used the same image to make an ATC. This time on a background of tissue paper coloured with Brusho paints. Again edged with crayon and some Anita's 3-D clear gloss finish at the bottom to look like water - although it hasn't come out too well in the photo.

All the raffle entries need to be in by 23rd August - can't wait to see if I'm the lucky one, and also to see all the other entries, which I believe, will be posted on the above mentioned website after the draw has been made.

An Altered Key

This month's challenge over on Flickr's GAS MAMMA (group for altered art swaps)is to alter a key with romance as a theme.

Not being the most imaginative of people I couldn't think of how to effectively alter a key - a key's a key right! In the end I decided to make a little piece of artwork - with the key as the focal point - and used a mini canvas measuring just 2 1/2" x 3".

I love the shape of the old key I used and it was very rusty to begin with so I just enhanced it a little with some metallic gold rub on and added two silver heart shaped gems at the top. I entwined some gold beading around it and through some lace too which is attached to the canvas by a heart shape brad. The canvas itself I painted with acrylic, coloured the edges with more of the gold metallic rub on - coated the whole thing with beeswax and adhered some music score with more of the wax (it's an extract from 'Get me to the church on time' from My Fair Lady) A bit of lace top and bottom and a couple of flowers to finish.

Seeing as I was at a loss as to what to do for this challenge, I'm really pleased with the end result.

Altered Tin Can Dolls

This month’s theme on MAMMA’s MAD (monthly art doll) group over on Flickr is an altered can doll - that is to say, take one tin (of say soft drink, or lager), squash it and then make it into a doll - and that’s all there is to it! Yeah right!

This was very different from the previous doll swaps - which have been paper dolls or button fairies - nice and pretty ones. We were forced therefore to ‘think outside the box’ - something which is a real challenge for me! However, as I’ve said before I always like a challenge so had a go!

Tempted as I was to pick up squashed tins from the street - I resisted and instead got my hubby to drive over a couple of clean, washed tins for me.

The first one I did was ‘Olga - the Russian Tin Can Doll’ which I based on the Russian dolls (the ones which stack inside of each other) because of the roundish shape. I just painted over the tin with acrylics, added some detailing with pens and sealed it. The only thing that resembles a Russian doll though is her face! I like the way the creases in the tin look a bit look folds of fabric on her red top.

The second one I did was a bit different, well quite a bit different really. He is called ’Max the Groovy Mover’. Max because he is a squashed Pepsi Max tin and groovy mover because his arms and legs (which are metal fish hook thingies) are connected to his body by jump rings so when picked up he moves around and jangles! I’ve left some of the tin un-touched, but the rest is coloured with alcohol inks. His face is a metal bottle top and his hair cut from a CD. Where I cut the tin into a shape it left very sharp edges so I covered them with some red braid which I then painted over with silver acrylic. This has bulked him out quite a bit, but was necessary. (His face looks a little cloudy in the photo because I took it before the Glossy Accents had dried)

He’s looking for love and is holding a little diamante heart - maybe he’ll find a nice girly tin at the disco (disco - are they still called that? - showing my age I think!)

Thanks Margaret, for another great challenge/swap - wonder what next month’s will be!

Meet Goth Moth!

Another button fairy! This one is the sister to 'Yellow Wings' - see below. Her wings are made from card with some stuck on machine knitting (a scrap from my Mum!). Her face has been moulded from air dried clay then painted and inked. She wasn't going to be a 'goth' originally, but I sprayed on the gloss finish a little too early and all her make up smudged - doh! Don't you just hate it when that happens. So a goth she is, still I'm sure until they both fly to their new homes, 'Yellow Wings' will keep her in order - lol.

Look What I Got!!!

Yesterday I received, all the way from Canada a packet of 10 assorted charms for the 'Lucky Charm' swap organised by Kim on her group Paper Digital Art and Imagesbykim.

Within our packets Kim included some extra goodies including some old sheet music, book text and beautiful vintage images.

All the charms are different - and so lovely! If you look closely at the picture or click on it you may be able to spot them all.

Kim maybe organising some more swaps in the future - I do hope so as I enjoyed making my charms (altered mah jongg tiles) but more to the point receiving all the returns!

Playing Scrabble Again!

I've been altering some more scrabble tiles. I made two into a pair of earrings for my sister. They were covered with scrapbook paper, edged with some stickles and UTEE'd all over. There is a different image on the back. I hope she'll like them!

Then I made some more into charms - this time for a Flickr group called 'Altered Dominos & Other Altered Game Pieces' . This is a fantastic group run by JoAnne AKA 'takeabreak' and there is just about everything you need to know about altering game pieces on there as well as loads of tips and free images to use.

The three charms I made were for a 'Spring' themed swap. They didn't turn out quite how I expected as the scrapbook paper I used for two of them was double sided and once covered with UTEE it became transparent so the underside showed through! The colours were also darkened in the process. My initial thought was to scrap them but with the addition of the beads I think they look ok. I painted around the edges with acrylic paint and added some small gems before UTEEing all over. They look retro to me and a bit like little sweets! I only hope they will fit the 'Spring' theme. The photos show the front and the back.

Scrabble Charms

I've been busy making charms from old scrabble tiles this week as that's this month's project over on GAS MAMMA on Flickr (GAS meaning group for altered art swaps).

Last month I was lucky enough to get drawn with Pattie and received her beautiful altered CD which you can see here.

As I said above, this month's project (which co-incidentially was chosen by Pattie) was to alter some scrabble tiles into charms and the theme was flowers. Although we have a set of scrabble I didn't want to attack that as we do play it sometimes (although I can't remember when the last time was!) so I bought a very old 'scrabble for juniors' set at a car boot sale last Saturday. I didn't realise until I got it home though that all the tiles were made from cardboard and not plastic as I was expecting - doh! However, by glueing two together they become quite sturdy and good for altering.

I used K & Co scrapbook papers for the flower images and sealed them with UTEE, apart from the middle set which I edged with UTEE from the melting pot, then sealed with Anita's 3D Clear Gloss Finish. To some I added tiny seed beads and gems. The best bit is finishing them off with some dangling beads. I'm pleased with how they've turned out and hope the receipients will like them also.

I'm going to make some more - and two will become earrings for my sister, Kelly who when she saw the charms today said they looked just like earrings and asked me to make her some! That really was a great compliment and it will be a pleasure to make them for her.

(The photos show the front side (top) and the back - closer up pictures are on my Flickr photostream - see link at the side).

Jigsaw Charm Swap

Trudy is hosting a 'Jigsaw Charm' swap over on DoCrafts which ends on 31st March.

Here are my offerings. The jigsaw pieces are all from old puzzles and measure approximately 2" x 1 1/2". They have all been collaged and had a glaze applied. The Paris one was UTEEd.

There are two photos of each, one showing the front and the other showing the back. I ran out of space to show the back of the African one, but it is painted with metallic brown and glazed with some beads added.

I think I'll be making some more of these!

More Jigsaw Charms

Here are a couple more jigsaw charms for Trudy's swap. These are thicker jigsaw pieces being made of wood. I applied to them pigment ink, UTEE, a bit of glitter and rubber stamped into them.

I've enjoyed making all of these charms and am looking forward to getting some back from the other participants of the swap. Nice one Trudy!!

An Altered CD

There is a new altered art group over on Flickr called GAS MAMMA, MAMMA being Margaret and GAS meaning Group Altered Swaps - or something like that! The idea is each month a new project will be chosen (from ideas of members of the group) and at the end of the month partners will be drawn (randomly) so the altered items can be swapped.

For the first month Viv has chosen as the project - 'ALTERED CD with an ORIENTAL theme'. Well, I've never altered a CD before so this was the perfect opportunity to try! Some time ago I bought a tube (the type a rolled up poster might go in) which was decorated with oriental gold foil and had a decorative tassel on the end - there, I knew it would come in useful one day! I peeled off the foil and detached the tassel and attached them to a CD. Before doing so I removed the centre from the CD and edged it with some beads (an old necklace from a Barbie doll - sshhh, don't tell my niece!). For the back of the CD I painted it gold (using metallic acrylics from Ranger) and attached some oriental images. I also edged the centre with plain gold beads. Around the outer edge of the CD I attached some red braid. As there is a hole in the middle of the CD the 'jade' disc attached to the tassel can be seen from both sides. That's it, finished, maybe if I do another one sometime I can be a bit more adventurous!

I'm calling this 'Good Luck, Wealth and Happiness' as the colours red and gold represent these things in Chinese culture.