Altered Art Junkies

Free Giveawy....

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting, but I had the Holiday Art Fair to get ready for and with a husband and son to care for life just got really busy. 

The Holiday Art Fair didn't go very well for me, my sales were not what I had hoped. But that is the way it goes when you do craft fairs, it all depends on advertising and getting the people in the door.  I did have lots of fun meeting up with fellow artists and chit chatting with my good friend Stephanie. Plus I did network and pass out information on this blog, which is always good.

For the Art Fair I had made these really adorable Jar Fairies for the young girls that would be with their parents.  I didn't sell any though, but their loss is your gain! If you leave a comment on this post I will pick three winners and send them one of my Jar Fairies.  Plus, Samantha and I will send extra goodies in the packages, but that will be a surprise!

We will pick the winners randomly on December 16th, so get those comments in!

 
Tutorial for Jar Fairies:

1. Photo or picture, I used Photo Shop to create this little fairy
2. Cut a round piece of chip board that will fit through the top of the jar
3. Glue the fairy onto the chipboard. I left extra at the bottom of the photo to bend and glue to the bottom of the chipboard
4. Next glue the chipboard and fairy to the bottom of the jar. I used E6000 glue. Let this dry before moving on. Tip: weight the chipboard down after it is in the jar, better bond
5. Next add moss and sticks to the jar to create a woodland feel. Plus it hides the back of the fairy and chipboard
6. Glue ribbon around the jar lid
7. Finally poke a hole on the top of the jar lid big enough for the flower stems to be partially inserted and then hot glue the flowers into the holes.

Keep in mind you could add anything to the jar, mushrooms, rocks, bark, even dried flowers. The possibilities are endless.

For those of you that would like your daughter, niece or family member photo shopped into a fairy please contact me. My price would be $10.00 dollars each, this is for the photos only not the completed jar fairy. I would email or mail you the completed photo on disk.

Good luck,

Ramona and Samantha

I want to make something!

I’ve been in the shadows for the past few months as I’m back in school. I’m taking accelerated college courses so the classes are intense and like everyone else, I can only juggle 14 items at a time. I have to thank Ramona for doing a great job on the blog.

 

I’m on a break from school taking the month of December off to enjoy the holidays. Now it’s my first day with no school and I want to make something. I’m thinking Christmas cards? Christmas garland?  Both of those items are tempting but I want to make something fresh and new! I was browsing blogs and I love this:

It’s not a Christmas item but it sure is beautiful and it reminds me of my grandmother, she always had Virgin Mary prayer cards on her night stand.  I found it on Everyday Beauty blog at Velvet Strawberries . The only hurdle I have in making this is I don’t have enough prayer cards or other jewels. So, that’s on my wait list. Note to self…Go scavenger hunting for Virgin Mary.

 

Moving on. I could do this:

 

But I would have to go thrift store shopping to find a black/white stripped sweater as I love the way the flowers look against the stripes and then go to Michael’s or Joann’s to pick up a Styrofoam wreath…I’m not anxious to run around town right now. I found this here Red Velvet Art. These girls are very crafty and always recycle!

 

So it looks like Christmas cards and garland it is! Ha, ha, ha! Or should I say HO, HO, HO! I’m going to put on Elf this week and get crafty. I know it’s Thanksgiving in 2 days but if you blink twice it will be over and Christmas is just around the corner.

 

Have a great holiday feast!!!

 

Be creative or just think about it!

Samantha

No-Sew Projects: Super Hero Cape and Apron

"Super Hero Capes"

These “Super Hero Capes” are very simple to make with your children and do not require a sewing machine.  Also you can have a Super Hero Party and the materials are very inexpensive and the kids have a blast putting them together then running around wearing them.

 

Credit for these capes goes to my good friend Stephanie Arbuckle of "Stephanies Hat Box". http://www.etsy.com/shop/stephanieshatbox She makes hats, but came up with these cool Super Hero Capes.

 

Supplies: Old t-shirts, Scissors, fabric glue and misc decorations for the capes. I like to have iron on letters, ribbons, buttons, fabric paints or pens, scrap fabric and or felt to cut out designs on hand and ready for the little ones.

 

Gather some old t-shirts with a crew neck. The neck is important, v-neck shirts will not work. The children will put the capes on by putting their heads through the crew neck just like putting on a t-shirt.

 

Lay the shirt flat, front side up. Cut under the ribbing or crew neck, cutting from shoulder to shoulder.

 

Turn shirt over and lay flat. Now starting at the bottom left corner cut up at an angle towards the cut crew neck at the top. Repeat on the right side.

  

Here is how your cape should look, a triangle, with the largest part at the bottom. The neck is still connected.

Now you are ready to decorate with your little super hero! I used a stamp for the star, along with puffy paint and ironed on letters.   This shirt will need to dry since I used puffy paint.  If you use fabric pens, there is no waiting.

Here are photos of some kids having fun in their creations:

 

**Side note if you want the neck to break away in case it gets caught, you can cut it and use Velcro to attach the cape. This will allow the neck to un-snap if it gets caught.**

 

"No-Sew Apron"

 

Again this project is very simple and requires minimal supplies.  An old t-shirt and a pair of scissors is all you need, any embelishment is extra.

 

First you are going to lay your t-shirt face up, you want to keep the neck intacked, so cut around the back of the neck and down to the bottom of the arm holes. Do not cut the front of the neck.

Repeat on other side and your apron should look like this. Neck cut around the back  and down both sides of the front of the shirt to the bottom of the arm holes.

Now you are ready to flip the neck up and away from the arms. Leave the arm holes flat on the table and cut the back side of the shirt from arm hole to arm hole.

Take the arm hole part of the t-shirt and throw it away. You are now going to take your t-shirt and flip it over face down. The front of the t-shirt is now lying flat on the table top.

You are going to cut up each side of the t-shirt, leaving 1-2" at the top. DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY UP, YOU MUST STOP 1-2" FROM THE TOP.

 
Now cut across the back from side to side, . You will be left with a band across the back of the shirt. So if you left a 1-2" peice from the top you will cut straight across meeting the other side.

In this photo I show you the band that is left behind after cutting. This is the back side of the apron. Now you can cut the band in half, these become your ties.
 

Here is the final apron. You are using the front of the t-shirt, it goes over the childs head and the band you cut above gets tied behind the back just like a regular apron!

 What I love about this project is that it is inexpensive and easy to wash plus you are recycling!!!!!  Any t-shirt will work and any color. How many of us have t-shirts that are stained, shrunk or faded that could be used for this project? I know I do.

Hope you enjoyed our No-Sew project,

Ramona

Martha Stewart "Circle Cutter"

Last week I bought the Martha Stewart "Circle Cutter" for $15.00 dollars at Walmart. I have to say I really like it.

The cutter allows you to cut circles from 1" to 5 1/2", and all the sizes in-between in 1/16" increments. This is a really nice feature.

The cutter also is easy to hold and cuts clockwise and counter clockwise, great for lefty's as well as righty's.

The only problem arises when you have to cut circles from small papers. If your like me you don't always have removable adhesive on hand to hold the small papers to your cutting mat. This can be a problem if you are using scraps of paper, but this would be with any cutter.

My only other complaint is the durability of the clear plastic. The one I purchased is showing signs of small cracks, right out of the box.I don't know if this is from shipping or if something weighty was placed on top of it. It could be nothing, but only time will tell.

I really like how this cutter is like a ruler and is very easy to use.  I would definitely recommend buying this cutter. The price makes it affordable.

Be creative,

Ramona

Contest for "Purple Cows"

One of our friends Vicki of the blog Texas Scrap Addict is having a very cool giveaway!

 

Stop by her blog and check it out. I have thrown my hat into the ring for a chance to win the above prize! I would love it if someone that follows both of our blogs would win, that would be exciting.  http://texasscrapaddict.blogspot.com/

Have a great weekend, next week I will post about the Martha Stewart circle cutter...is it worth buying or not....check back in to see.

Be creative,

Ramona

Holiday Art Fair

This year I am participating in the following Art Fair:

This time of year I enjoy visiting art or craft fairs, you can find one near you with some searching.  Take the time to visit one, you will be surprised at all the nice gifts that are out there now.  Crafts have come a long way baby.

My favorite part of buying from these fairs is the unique items you can pick up. My mom loves hand made items and they just have more meaning than a store bought trinket. I know a couple people that actually collect ornaments from these fairs each year. Isnt that a great idea, especially if you do a "Ornament Swap Party". You are gauranteed not to have the same ornament as someone else.

Many artists that are participating in my Holiday Art Fair will have $1-$5 dollar items for children to buy for their families.  This will give children a chance to buy a nice gift without spending alot of money. I know the schools also offer a gift sale for kids, but how many mugs or plastic do dads can one mom own!

Be creative,

Ramona

All good things come to an end...

Sadly Halloween is over, another 364 days till we can do it all again.  I will only allow myself one day to mourn...

Only one day because now we must get ready for Christmas! All the wonderful treats and lovely smells of the season...I can already feel the pounds coming.  I got to start walking on my treadmill.  This year I am going to participate in a couple of Artisian Faires, I will give you more details as I get them.

No rest for us here at AAJ, onto the next project! We will have details soon of our next swap, we are thinking a card or tag swap. A simple swap that produces many ideas and techniques.

Be creative,

Ramona

Pumpkin Festival Parade

 
My final Halloween project was major, I told you I had lots of projects going on and one was a secret!  I can tell you about it now, the competition is over and we got second place.  We missed first by one point!!!! But don't get me started on that.

A group of my friends and I participate in our local parades all year long. The pumpkin festival parade is the one parade with tough competition so we bring our A game for this parade.

My son come up with the idea of doing Sponge Bob for our annual Halloween Parade and Contest.  So of course this crafty mama got her brain thinking and came up with this:

Squidwards house, keep in mind all these were done in cardboard and paper mache.

Patrick's rock with a christmas tree popping out. If you watch the show you will know that this is very typical of Patrick and you will laugh.

 

My son was Patrick:

 Our friends son was Gary and you can see mister krabs sitting next to him. I used a large punching balloon, covered it with paper mache. We stuck a backpack inside but I think we could have done elastic arm holes too.

The one I was most please with was Sandy, it took me days of thinking to figure out how to make her glass helmet. Finally I made it from shrink wrap, you know the plastic bags for baskets that shrink when you heat them.  I used a huge beach ball and a wire rim. The helmet was easily dented, but popped out just as quickly.

 

The entire float was done with fabric, paper mache and lots of paint! The kids had a blast and we threw so much candy on the parade route. But we will be back again next year!!!!

The whole gang: Sponge Bob, Mr. Krabs, Patrick, Gary, Patchy the Pirate. Front row is the surfer, sandy, and Plankton. Great job kids!

Ramona

Halloween Treat

I'm one of three employees in charge of raising money for our department's Christmas luncheon. Our goal is to raise enough money throughout the year so our lunch is paid in full and there is no contribution on behalf of the employee. One thing we try to do is raffle items or host a silent auction. I stole Ramona's idea and made this as our October silent auction item. I hope it goes for big bucks!

 

Be creative today!

Samantha

Wicked Halloween Swap Photos...

Our Wicked Halloween Swap is coming to an end.  This was so much fun for us and we sincerely hope it was for all those that participated as well. 

We are going to share with you some of the photos from a couple of the swappers. We didnt want you to wait a second longer to see all the Halloween inspiration!

Olivia from Corona. Altered wooden box. Very cool! 

Opens up to wonderful treats!

Debbie from Corona. Sweet treasures!

Items created by Nancy Van Hoose. This was a digital item for her partnes blog.

These were the swap items sent through the mail to her swap partner:

  

 Our next swapper was Jennifer Wells, here is what she created for her partner:

Our next Wicked Swapper is Valerie Powery and she created this for her partner: a crocheted troll eye ornament for her tree, a bottle of 'beetle juice' and some 'dehagification' pills for her witches cupboard  and a little plaque that I altered to make it spooky

Next is Vickie Flinchum with this adorable altered window book. I love the feet and handle. Edgar Allan Poe was a favorite this year for many artists.

   

Our next artist is Kristen Thomas and she made a coffin and filled it with sprecial gifts! I lov this coffin, I may have to try this for a Halloween Party we have coming up.

As we get more we will post them so check back!

"Get yours scare on!"

Ramona