What I've Been Up To -- A Round-Up

I've been crafting as much as possible, but it's much, much harder being a single Mom than I expected (and I grew up with a single Mom, so I knew it was tough already!)  Also my supplies are here, there and everywhere, and that's a challenge: I have almost no craft paint--where did it all go??  But this also means I'm using and de-stashing what I do have, and that's excellent.

 

It's hard to take credit for these, because it was mainly arranging jump rings in the right way, but these are three of my jewelry pieces I completed in the last month.  These blue crystals are ones I've had since 2010!!  See what I mean about needing to de-stash?   The picture on the left is a crude attempt at wire-wrapping, which is harder than it looks, people!  The 2nd photo of a jumble using a large dark blue crystal is simply on a large jump ring with several wire-wrapped pieces I bought from other sellers, which I took apart and re-arranged.  The 3 light blue crystals are attached to a wide-link chain using jump rings, and I'm so glad to get all 5 of these crystals onto necklaces!

This is a 16x20 canvas with 2 coats of crimson acrylic paint and hearts cut out from a pad of black, gray and white patterned paper.  The shiny paint worked out well with Mod Podge Gloss, so I'm glad I didn't have to handle the sheen issue with this one.  I'm very into black and white decor right now, with red accents, so this piece became my inspiration for decorating our new place (when we get one.)  And my beloved turquoise fits in well too, which makes me happy.



As far as a sketchbook, I've just started one this past week.  I'm using a Blick 9x12 Mixed Media wirebound journal.  I have been low on inspiration, but decided to let my desire for organization and order lead the way.  When in doubt, make a color chart!  :)

I have 19 Caran D' Ache Neocolor IIs now, {but no craft paint!!  LOL!!} and I bought myself the 12-piece set of Derwent Art Bars for Christmas, and they're extremely similar so far.  I've seen where other artists greatly prefer one over the other, but I haven't done much with either, so I have no strong preference yet.  

This is an attempt at a side-by-side color comparison chart.  I wanted to see color families together, rather than going by their names.  I've written the name of each in its space, so it's a great way to see what color I need.  (The whole violet/purple/magenta thing gets me every time, and my reds go purple or my purples go red.)  

Up next features this graph which was made on one of those insomnia nights, when I just could not go to sleep.  Allowing myself to go a little insane over straight lines and perfect squares keeps my mind off the clock, so I'm more focused on the page in front of me than on "Oh man, I have to get up in ... hours!"

 These are my markers.  These are everything from Crayola markers to Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush Artist Pens, and also some Sharpies and "Power Liner" alcohol markers from the clearance section of Hobby Lobby.  In this case, it's about the color and not the quality.  I was also able to throw many markers away that had dried up over time.

I also have a blending marker, and the alcohol inks react with it and makes a kind of watercolor pencil thing happen, and I'll be exploring that in the future.

This last craft is more fun than craft, but whatever.  My son is totally obsessed with Batman right now, and I think we own every single Imaginext Batman toy there is.  Guess who comes with almost every set?  Batman!  We were drowning in Batmen, so James asked me to paint his extras into new costumes.  The lime green paint is a free sample of Liquitex acrylic spray paint, and the dark gray was made using black acrylic mixed with a tiny bit of white.  The 3rd one got painted red, but you can only see a little of him in this photo.  

James named them Grass, Oil and Fire, but I'm not sure if they are bad guys, good guys, goons or sidekicks. 


The Liquitex spray paint is AWESOME!!  It is seriously fun to use, it's not anything like normal spray paint.  There is a depth of color, it's basically the same as their regular acrylics except in a format that is easy to use, inexpensive and I even used it on some papier-mache shapes from Michael's with a brush and it worked beautifully.  (I had no other green to use!  Ugh, I hate moving!!)  I took pictures of the cute lil' flower, but they mysteriously disappeared and I have nothing to show you, but you should try out the Liquitex Spray Paint.

Thanks for seeing what all I've been up to.  I love this last picture of the newly-painted Batmen, so let it inspire you to do something totally crazy with your art supplies!

Holy Crafts, Batman! Jewelry Edition

My son is on a serious superhero streak.  His favorites are Spider-Man and Batman.  He even loves the Batman tv show from the 60s with Adam West--hence the title of this post....  Although to be fair, I've loved superhero movies for years now.  Hancock, Unbreakable, Hellboy, Van Helsing, Ghost Rider are all favorites, in addition to the more recent Batman movies starring Christian Bale and the completely awesome Despicable Me.  Have you seen Despicable Me?  You should!  It's BOOGIE!!

Oh, wait, this is supposed to be about crafts...  First up is jewelry.  I've been on a real jewelry streak lately.

I have had this sterling silver bead necklace most of my adult life, and it's my version of a good strand of pearls.  The beads are about 7mm in size.  The problem is that it's way too small for me now.  I prefer 24" chains now, and this one is 18" at most.  My solution is the current trend of combining 2 or more necklaces with a bow or brooch as an accent.  I had the perfect "gunmetal" chain and flower brooch, so I don't even have to polish the beads anymore--woot!

I made this multi-chain bracelet using a tutorial from Flamingo Toes for a Chain and Pearl Multi-Row Bracelet.  I love her tutorials, and her taste in jewelry too!
The chain with the red bead in the center is another sterling silver piece I've had since 1999.  It was a choker back then, and I wore it maybe one time before deciding that only pets need collars ;P  The large chain on the bottom row is from Eve's Addiction, and it too used to be a necklace--and it was h-e-a-v-y!  The other 2 chains are nothing special, from the jewelry section of Michael's or Hobby Lobby.

I wanted to wear this bracelet all the time, yet be able to take it off for baths and dishes, etc.  I discovered that I could use a lever-back earring as a clasp, and it is working perfectly!  I've worn the chain every day for more than 3 weeks, and it's never fallen off--I love everything about it!

(pretend you can't see the pile of flowers in the background)

These cuffs are a work-in-progress.  I've used the Anthropologie Inspired Vintage Cuff Tutorial from Pink Lemonade for these, which I've had on my Jewelry Inspiration list for a looooong time now.  But I'm not happy with them.  In fact, I stopped in the middle of making them, hoping inspiration will strike me.  My main problem is with how they close; I may need to add a bead on one side and a loop on the other.  I love the ribbons, but it's impossible to tie a pretty ribbon with one hand.  So these are hanging out with my other supplies for now.

This next necklace is probably the easiest piece I've ever made: a blinged-out rhinestone button attached to the chain using jump rings; the most difficult part was in choosing which kind of chain to use!

I've made some Scrabble tile pendants using scrapbook paper and rhinestones and beads or buttons.  Excuse the messy background of this photo, but since I didn't take a lot of pictures, it's all I have to work with.

I used a Sharpie to color the edges, glued the scrapbook paper onto the tile with Mod Podge, then Jewel-It for the accents.  Last was the Dimensional Magic, which I love!

Did you see the new Mod Podge products that came out this week?  They have Dimensional Magic with silver or gold now--plus some new formulas of Mod Podge and tools too, like a brayer and silicon fingertips that glue doesn't stick to.  Cool!

I've also done a few experiments.  I love the "wax seal" pendants and thought I would try to create my own with tin foil and wood shapes.  It worked...kind of.  The foil looks great, and I put about 3 layers of glue / Mod Podge / Dimensional Magic on them, so I'm fairly confident the foil will stick to the shape.  The problem is that they're so lightweight they don't work as pendants at all.  Maybe a bunch of them on a charm bracelet would work...hmmmm.

I've seen these 3-ring necklaces on Etsy.  The best ones appear to be soldered together, so all 3 look like they've always been together such as this.  My version looks more like the Olympic Rings...which I didn't realize until my husband said "Oh cool, in honor of the Olympics this year!" when he saw it.  The Olympics are this year?  LOL - It looks like Mickey Mouse ears to me, so it was already destined for the "better luck next time" pile.

There's more, but I'm going to wrap it up now.  Look for crafts in my next post!

While Our Son's Away...We Work!

It's Spring Break around here, and our son is spending the entire week on my mother's farm.  This is the longest "alone" time my husband and I have had since...before Parenthood, hmm, maybe since early 2005!  My how time flies.......

And since we're boring grown-ups, we've spent the week cleaning.  Spring Break and Spring Cleaning are two very different experiences.  But we have to take this opportunity to clean--it's the only way we can honestly says "This room is done!" and expect it to stay that way until the next day.

Jewelry Box and Necklace Organizer
I did get some crafting done over this past weekend--a lot, really.  I've had an unfinished-wood jewelry box for a long time now--bought from Hobby Lobby on a whim with a 40% off coupon back in 2010 I think.  I haven't been able to decide what to do with it.  It has this strange recessed lid, which I now realize is perfect to throw your jewelry on at the end of the day and it doesn't go rolling off.  But I've been thinking it needed a picture or a frame attached to it, and couldn't figure it out.  The strange thing is that this wasn't even in my Top 10 Projects To Complete--but I'm extremely glad it's done now.  My jewelry has been stuffed into a tiny silver box for 2 years now, and necklaces are my favorite jewelry to make.

I have no clue where this inspiration came from, but my favorite colors right now are gray and turquoise, and I have some beautiful fabric in those colors.  I also had some gray-ish mixed paint that was begging to be used or thrown away.  So I painted and painted and painted, then Mod Podged the fabric down into the lid.  I painted the inside of the box turquoise, with more fabric in the bottom of the 2 pull-out trays that sit on the inside.

Then I remembered this sad little project from Christmas, a necklace organizer to hang on the wall, that had not turned out well.  I have no pictures of it all, which surprises me since I take pictures as I work along.  It was originally a long thin mirror in a plastic frame with great details.  I'd painted it silver-ish per the glitter paint instructions, then with silver glitter paint, and clothespins for hooks, but, well, it was hiding actually, cowering in fear of a 15th coat of glitter, lol.  It was Christmas, so the very season itself brings to mind all that glitters and sparkles.  That's my excuse, anyway :p

Some advice: if you know you don't like glitter, don't force it on yourself--you won't like it, and the very sight of the project will make you cringe every time you see it.  (Which might be how it ended up hidden....)  And this goes for metallic finishes, pastels, whatever--stick to what you like!  There's a difference from "being in a rut" and just knowing you don't like a certain paint treatment.

Anyway, I tore the clothespins out of the frame and set about painting it to match my jewelry box.  For hangers, I used small nails pushed into the fabric-wrapped foamcore; they're in the center of each flower, so 7 nails total.  And it is beautiful, if I do say so myself, and they're beautiful together.  Now I just have to figure out where in the world to hang it....

Family Motto Sign
I've had this sign for a loooong time now.  It was one of those generic "H-O-M-E" signs and did not match our personalities at all.  (It was free, so awesome!)  I painted it "Love one another."  Then a different quote.  Then "Be nice or leave," which is rather the opposite of "Love one another," lol.  But it never lasted more than one day up on the wall--I was never happy.  I'm a quote-collector, and I've been going over and over my huge list, thinking that I have the perfect quote, somewhere.  And, I did, sort of....

"Love is being stupid together." – Paul Valery 

This quote I've had for a long time, and while it's appropriate, "stupid" is not a word I want our son to start using, much less to describe his family.  Although, we are rather insane at times, lol.  Goofy a LOT of the time ;P  Inspiration struck again, and I decided to use "silly" instead of "stupid."  Perfect!

The font posed the 2nd major hurtle for this project--then I remembered the handy-dandy glue lid craft paint secret, and my handwriting worked well in the end.  There were a few bad hours there though...but in the end I've got the perfect sign for our entry:

{Inspiration hit a lot this past weekend...wonder why?}

Twilight Book Covers and the Fabric Poster
And finished on Wednesday, between cleaning sessions:

So let's talk Twilight....  Hopefully for the last time for a while...even I'm tired of it!

I got the Breaking Dawn part 1 DVD from Wal-Mart that came with a "fabric poster."  I hung it up when it arrived, but it's been sort waiting around for a more permanent spot.  I have several of those art posters still with their cardboard backing, one was the perfect size!  And so I moved Bella and Edward to the Library.  But then they looked a little lonely, and I've been wanting to try crafting with dust jackets, and I remembered that all 4 dust jackets have been laying in the same spot for years now--yay!  Fabric-covered foamcore, red paper and careful positioning resulted in this awesome Twi-Hard display ;P  Woot!

Although it does feel strange to have wedding pictures on display larger than our own.....

I've also printed a ton of quotes, signs, phrases, plans and coloring pages, so that's my next project: getting my printables organized, framed or sorted out.

I hope your week has been as productive!  The good thing about knocking old craft projects is being able to photograph them and share them.  I can't bring myself to take a picture of the sparkling clean bathroom, lol, so this round-up is done!

Mod Podge, Please Forgive Me

(I searched Pinterest for "Homemade Mod Podge" and chose this image from a random person's board.)

So, several months ago I defamed Mod Podge. I regret it now, though, in some cases. At the time, my personal preference ended up being 2 parts "school glue" to one part water, a little different from the blog standard of 50/50. And while I learned the hard way that it made my markers "run" and turned expensive special papers to slushy messes, I was ok with it. It's super-cheap, gets the job done and so it's became habit to be test-cautious then but overly-generous with it. And I'm not giving it up!

But I'm also going back to my dependable friend.

Mod Podge has been a friendly face at craft stores since before I was born (thank God at least something is!) Mod Podge Rocks! is one of my favorite blogs to read on a daily basis. Amy is awesome, and in November, after it was posted and re-posted 9 billion times on Pinterest, she wrote this article, in time for holiday crafting (very thoughtful, sincerely.) She let us know the reasons that school glue and water would not protect our treasures well, and in some cases (like me and the markers) the "make-your-own" would ruin your craft.

I've said before that I'm preparing for Spring already. This process includes going through art, schoolwork, sketchbooks and other random things to flesh out the special things, the little memories I'll want to look back on when my son is driving me insane in his teens (who am I kidding, he does it now!) and remember "the good old days."

You could not pay me enough money to coat these irreplaceable items with my homemade Mod Podge. It's startling how much my son's hands have grown since last Christmas (2010 I mean,) so no way am I entrusting 2011's best and brightest to 25 cent glue!

So I'm going back to the Mod Podge aisle for my refill...and I'm also going to try some of their other formulas while I'm at it; their Shimmer formula seems to fit my current "metallic/pearl" fixation.

I love you, Mod Podge!

OH!!!
An added thank-you to the makers of Mod Podge:
Last summer I made a pendant from a bezel using scrapbook paper and Dimensional Magic. Directions are very clear, and I'm emphasizing the importance of this to you now:
You must protect the paper by using a layer or two of Mod Podge--if not, the DM seeps through and ruins the project. This is what happened to me: I used one skimpy layer, and by the next morning, I could tell my bezel was not going to be worn...ever. But life got busy and time passed, and then I found the darn thing last night.
Did you know that another really awesome thing about Dimensional Magic is that you can correct your mistakes...sort of. The paper is ruined, of course, but the bezel itself can be salvaged by letting it steep in hot water--it loosens the bond and you begin again.
But months had passed, so I wasn't hopeful. But I thought it was worth trying. In just four hours using extremely hot water, I have a my bezel back! It is a little more "gunmetal" than the shiny silver it was, but that's cool with me.

So, I hope Plaid is feeling my love!!

The Life of a Crafter

My mom thinks I'm weird.  Well, "creative," she calls it, but I know what she means, lol.  I managed to be gifted with these babies while at her farm last weekend:

That's about 6 or 7 extremely high-quality leather belts, which I'm going to use to make bracelets out of, inspired by:

source

source

source

Between giving me broken jewelry for my birthday and leather belts no one wears, I believe she has just decided to give in to my eccentricities.  Christmas will be sparkly and fashionable this year!

Let's Play Ketchup!

Well, we'll play catch-up, not ketchup, but ketchup sounds more fun. 

Up first: "upcycling."  I looove that word.  It's taking something old and making something else entirely with it.  I can honestly admit that I've never been careful about recycling.  Now, though, everywhere I look I see things I can use.  Those soup cans?  Cover them with fabric and let them hold craft tools.  Those soda cans can be turned into these beauties.  Even my brother-in-law's beer bottles can become something beautiful!


(Quick side note: the last site I just linked is called "Choose To Thrive," and she's all about using the craft supplies you have along with whatever nature and human consumption can give us to make a house unique and amazing.  Go check her out, I promise you'll find at least one craft you're passionate about among her archives!)


My mother is in the process of moving right now, and I've taken just about every item she was going to toss or donate, lol.  Some are real treasures (lots of broken and mismatched jewelry and several flower pictures that go along with my flower obsession) and others...need love.  Or covering, lol:

Delightfully Noted's Wine Bag w/ Fabric Flowers

Let's discuss Mod Podge for a second.  Does anyone else do this?

The school glue's bottle is just the perfect size for my crafts.  I hate lugging unnecessary supplies around, and since I craft all over the house, this makes my life easier.  It's cost-effective to buy the largest bottle of MP and then fill my little bottle up as necessary.  OK, on to juice box canvases:


One of the most memorable posts I read on Mod Podge Rocks was Soap Box Canvases.  Alma Stoller actually made them, and she can be found here.  (You should go check her out--she has a great tutorial from early August for making paper pendants!)  ANYWAY, while the idea is brilliant, I love Bath and Body Works, so we don't buy much soap in this house.  We do, however, buy juice boxes.  Lots and lots and lots of juice boxes.  And I noticed one day a few weeks ago that they have a very soap box-like shape....  Combine this idea with my "fall fever" demanding that Halloween decorations make their appearance, and a new craft is born!

L-R, juice box, covered with masking tape, then covered w/ paper

Goodbye Mater, hello blank canvas!

I covered the box with masking tape, then just Mod Podged green cardstock on top.  On my first attempt I thought I needed another layer between the tape and the paper, but I skipped that step on the rest of them.  It is literally as simple as wrapping a present!


Why green?  Well, my plan is to write B-O-O on one side and J-O-Y on the other, so these lil' boxes will be pulling triple duty (holding juice, Halloween craft and Christmas craft.)  This was not, however, my original plan.  The boxes are very light, so they'd be perfect glued onto a wreath or even strung on a garland if holes are cut.  Being so light though, they will not stand up on their own.  I will have to at least tape these together to keep them upright.


If you too are covered up in juice boxes and want to make these, I'd advise you to add a little sand or something else to weigh them down.  Actually, as I sit here and think about them, I may make a rectangle version of this great wreath made out of circles..... Hmmmmmmmmm............


On to the next one: (cue song lyrics repeatedly running through my head)
When we moved into our house, my son was young and we'd planned on making one large room a playroom with a camping theme.  A few items made it in here and up on the walls, but not all.  Then LIFE happened, and now the pictures of wolves and bears from Yellowstone just don't match anymore.  

My son is VERY into anything "Lego" related, such as Lego Harry Potter or Lego Star Wars.  Like all children, he's also growing like a weed, so I managed to snag one of his shirts that was still in excellent condition to make some new art for the wall:

I made a point to NOT glue the shirt to the back of the frame or the glass so that it will be easy to replace this at some point in the future.  James vacillates between his toddler favorites like Thomas and his new interest in superheros, so I'm saving myself money this way :) 


My last crafty item was inspired by this post at Busily Spinning Momma.  I literally had the silverware in a box of craft items I didn't think I'd ever use, ready for hubby to take to the garage to get it out of the way when I found this awesome project.


Long story short: hammer a spoon flat, bend the handle to make a bail, and MP pretty stuff on it.  I must add, however, that it is best to do this project on the cheap type silverware you can buy 4/$1 at Dollar Tree as opposed to old sterling silver, which was what I had.  I'm happy with my pendant, and the other spoon I successfully flattened (mostly) is going to be a Christmas ornament.  The third one, well, it simply refused to do anything except mock me with its scooped shape.  I used Gorilla Glue to fill the space between the handle and the back of the pendant, and the directions warn you that it will expand.  They're not kidding!  Live and learn....

The "&" was a rub-on, and I'm very in love with this paper.  I think it's Christmas without being obvious.  I didn't plan on this being a Christmas pendant though, and it looks great with my lime shirts.


So, tons of crafts and pictures today.  I hope you enjoy it, and that you are as inspired by other crafters as I am.