I Just Have to Share!

Ok, I just have to share this link. Not only because there's a giveaway involved, but because I've fallen in love with Lynn Steven's work. You have to check out her original pieces over at Trash to Treasure Art.

So to the point. Lynn's having a Blogaversary giveaway and wants to get the word out. The drawing is for a couple of beautiful pieces of her own design and one "bonus" item. These pieces truly are treasures, (don't just take my word for it, go check it out). 

Click to enter

Thanks for stopping by today. I've got to run. I want to Pin some of Lynn's pieces to my Pinterest boards.

Happy Creating.

Susan

Wow! What a Transformation

Ok, dare I toot my own horn? I think I will. I absolutely love the transformation of this $2.75 thrift store spice rack purchase. I love it so much that I'm going to show you the "After" picture first. 

Isn't that really cute, (ok, the tops on the bottles aren't particularly attractive but I'm still looking/thinking about an alternative stopper)?

This is how it started out. Really nothing to look at. Even if I wanted to use it for it's original purpose it would have required work.

I dabbed some white acrylic craft paint tinted with a little Golden's Fluid Acrylic in Primary Magenta all over the display and then went back with a baby wipe and dabbed some of it away. 

After drying, I used Helmar's Crackle Medium to give it some thin cracks. The Crackle Medium is a 2 step process that takes about 30 minutes, (give or take) from beginning to CRACK! The cracks were filled in with Ranger's Distress Ink in barn door. (Using a cosmetic sponge I rubbed the ink over the entire project and let it sit for a few minutes, then I used a rag to wipe it off. The color stays in the cracks. how AWESOME is that!).

The rest are just rub-ons and some pearl bling. The flowers I made with lace from my wedding gown, (Don't swoon. My dress was almost entirely destroyed in a flood and I've made use of the lace in all kinds of projects for the past several years. Reusing the lace is my way of passing on my dress). After bunching the lace into a flower, I dyed it with some Range Distress Ink in worn lipstick, and added some Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam in Chandelier. The Glam makes the sparkle and also stiffens the lace.

 

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Thanks for stopping by.

BTW, my plans for this weekend include making a light box. Hopefully using a light box will improve on at least one aspect of my photography.

Happy Creating.

Susan

To Much Education is Never a Bad Thing, Is It?

I wonder, as we age, is it normal to hunger for knowledge? A time when learning is more a matter of function instead of form. Lately, I just can't seem to take enough classes, read and listen to enough tutorials, and lift enough techniques to get me through the day. Last month alone I took two online classes and another two at A Scrapbook Store and More, my favorite LSS. Maybe for others this is nothing, but for me it's a big deal. I'm pretty thrifty, (aka, cHEap!) and rarely take any class that I have to pay for. 

That said, I've signed up for two classes for this month. At this rate I am going to be a highly educated crafter by year's end. I sure hope the time spent in learning shows up in the quality of the items I create. 

One class that I am super excited about is Creating Vintage-Like Tins by Cathy Bluteau. Cathy creates unique and beautiful tins with just a little of this and a little of that. I can't wait to learn her secrets. 

You can check out Cathy's tins and some of her other beautiful designs at her website  http://cathyb.typepad.com/.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Creating.

Susan

Collage Monday

Every week starts off with Collage Monday over at Donna Downey's studio. Collage is one of my favorite art forms and watching other artist's process and ideas inspires me to work in different materials and formats. Today Donna posted a collage she made from magazine photos. The colors on her page, (especially the yellow), really got me fired up today. 

While Donna's project may have inspired me to work on a new collage, my process didn't go down a road even close to Donna's. Funny how someone else's design just gets you up and gets you moving.

To create my Monday collage I used some leftover Graphic 45 scraps from a Tattered Angels class I took with Stayce DeWid last weekend at a Scrapbook Store and More, (my favorite LSS). Using the Graphic 45 makes my creation all the more special to me because I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their papers. As with several of my other projects, these papers came from a 6X6 pad so the print is smaller and suits my tastes to a "t".

This was an easy and fun, (also messy), project. I'm thinking about using leftover project scraps for more of these creations in the future. My page can be cut and used for cards, tags, mini album covers, page embellishments, and probably a dozen other things. Can't wait to make new projects from it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Creating.

Susan

Scrap-A-Go-Round

My homemade Clip It Up or as my friend Cheryl calls it, a "Scrap-A-Go-Round" has been driving me nuts. I didn't want to get rid of it since it serves a very useful purpose and it cost next to nothing to make, but something had to be done. It just wasn't working in its current location. 

A little background on this items. I used an old lamp shade, sans the shade part, to create a place to clip my stickers and various other small embellishments that come in a clear plastic sleeve. I purchased curtain clips from Ikea and did a little twisting job on them to make them suitable for hanging on my lamp shade frame. 

Purchased from Ikea in a package of about 25. The hanger part had to be twisted so that the clips hung to the inside instead of from front to back. Does that make any sense at all?

My Scrap-A-Go-Round really works great provided it has three things; location, location, location. My problems came with the location, (couldn't you have guessed that?). My crafting area is a small section of my living room that is walled off by use of bookcases. The area is very functional as long as I find creative ways to store my supplies. The Scrap-A-Go-Round hung from the underneath of a shelf that is over my craft table. Very clever place to hang it, but because I like to keep my laptop in front of it, I never could get to the contraption and I was always knocking things off. I had to move it or loose it. 

What a mess! I had to close my laptop just to take this picture.

It was my oldest daughter who actually came up with an idea on how and where to move it. K.C. my DD decided we should look for a lamp to hold the shade, (totally makes sense). She came up with the idea of a floor lamp so that it would be off my craft table all together. We searched thrift stores for the perfect shape, size, and price and hit pay dirt last Friday at the Salvation Army. This real prize of a lamp was only $8. What a deal. And it looks great, don't you think?

This floor lamp is absolutely perfect for this project. 

Can you believe those legs? The design adds stability so it won't tip over with the top heavy weight of  the shade. It's like someone custom made it for me.

Thank goodness for young minds and bright ideas.

Here's my finished creation. I LOVE IT!!! It's practical, functional, and in a much much better location.

So much neater than under the shelf.

Hope you enjoyed my little upcycling project.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Creating.

Susan