Get Well, For A Friend

I have a friend who will be undergoing open heart surgery next month. His lovely wife had the great idea to purchase an old medical journal that she is going to alter for him. Sort of a giant get well card that he can have while he's in the hospital. She's asked several people to do a page and send it to her, so she can tip them into the book. Here's the page I sent.

It's a little smaller sized than the actual book, which is 6 3/4" by 10", so that there will be a little white space around the edges when it's inserted. The tag sticking out of the hospital gown says "happy heart". When you pull it out, there's a little heart with a bandaid on it.

I hope when he receives this special book, he'll realize how many people love him and wish him well.

Wicked Child Altered Tin: Captain Spaulding

I'm hosting another "wicked" swap over on Craftster with my good buddy cackle. The theme this round is "Wicked Children", and the task was to choose a wicked person off your partner's list and depict them as a child. My partner had as her number one choice Captain Spaulding. I had never heard of the esteemed Captain Spalding, but a Google search indicated he is a fictional character from a Rob Zombie movie. Best of all, he is a vicious, serial killing, evil clown. Right up my alley!

 

The back story on this character was that he grew up in a foster home and loved the circus, especially circus freaks. I decided to depict him in his room, with circus posters on the wall. He's wearing pajamas which are exactly like the costume he wears as an adult killer clown. I painted the pj's onto cardstock and glued them on top of a photo of a boy I found online. In his right hand is a knife he stole from the kitchen, and in his left hand he's holding the string to a toy elephant. That little psychopath has fashioned a noose and hung a rubber chicken!

I thought I was done when I took that photo, but later went back and added his name, Johnny, to the bottom of the tin with alphabet beads. Here's a closeup of the inside of the tin with the name added:

The clown on top is a vintage cupcake pick that I repainted to match Captain Spaulding's makeup. The feet are made from paper clay, and are painted to match his clown outfit. 

Here's one of the photos I used for reference, framed on the back of the tin.

I'm sure you'll agree that he is one creepy clown! I had the best time making this tin. The sendout date for the swap is August 28th, and I can't wait to see what everyone else makes to feature the creepy child they choose to depict. If you want to check it out later, the gallery for this swap can be found here.

R.I.P.: Tombstones for Halloween

I love it in August when it's time to start thinking about, and crafting for, Halloween. Alpha Stamps is now carrying wonderful ATC-sized masonite tombstones. They are nice and sturdy, and there are five different tombstones in a package. Here's what I did with some of mine, using images from Alpha Stamps collage sheets:

I started out by covering each of the tombstones with pages from an old book, and then inked around the edges. For the first two I did, I thought it would be fun to picture the deceased, and give a little hint into what caused their untimely demise.

The woman on the left was poisoned by a spider, poor dear. I used a clear stickers of spider webs and a spider along with her image. An old metal ruler makes a nice base along the bottoms of all these tombstones. The unfortunate spider bite victim is so pale, and her all white outfit made her seem ghostly, so that's the way she's now remembered.

The gentleman suffered a vampire attack. He probably won't be in his grave for long; if you look closely, you will see he has been turned, and is already beginning to bear his fangs. I added his tiny fangs with a little dab of white paint. The bats flying around his head are chipboard, so they're nice and sturdy.

And what's Halloween without Edgar Allan Poe? I made a Poe memorial out of one of the tombstones. I used an oval wooden frame painted black and spritzed with copper Glimmer Mist to set off his portrait, and then added some bronze roses to encircle the frame. A couple of ravens have come by to pay their respects.

I have two more tombstones to play with. Whom shall I kill off next?

Altoids Gift Tins

My older daughter has been living and working in Korea for over a year now, and soon my husband and I will travel there to see her. A couple of her Korean co-workers have been so wonderful to her, and I wanted to bring them each a little gift. We like to travel light, so the gifts had to be small and easy to pack. I asked my daughter for hints as to what they might like as far as colors and themes, and decorated an Altoids tin for each of them.

One of her co-workers loves children's literature, and works as an English translator, so the tin with the kids and the alphabet around it is for her. Another really loves teal, so the butterfly tin is hers. The third tin is for the parents of one of her friends, who I hear is going to invite us over for a traditional Korean meal. Mmmm! Since I don't know them, I just went with sort of neutral papers I like.

When I get there, I'm going to put some delicious Dove chocolates in each tin before I give them. Look how perfectly they fit inside!

I hope I can find some great ephemera in Korea to use in future projects!

Alpha Stamps Gypsy Fever Blog Hop!

(If you're coming across this post for the first time, please note that the deadline for this contest has passed and a winner has already been chosen. Stay tuned for more fun Alpha Stamps contests in the future!)

Welcome to the Alpha Stamps Design Team Blog Hop, and the Gypsy Fortune game! You will need to visit each of the four design team blogs (link listed below), find the four secret words, and create a Gypsy Fortune by unscrambling them.  Be sure to read through all the blog posts to find the italicized secret word in each one. Then unscramble the words, and leave the secret saying as a comment on the Alpha Stamps blog. If you enter the correct phrase, you will be entered to win $100 worth of supplies chosen for the Gypsy Fortune Teller Swap!

In honor of Alpha Stamps' Gypsy swap going on now, I've posted the little matchbox shrine above, made using an image from the Gypsy Beauty Collage sheet. I made this using the little inside drawer of a matchbox. I covered it with Kaisercraft's "Gypsy Sisters" paper, and added some Wine Beaded Fringe to the bottom of the box.

 For the inside of the shrine, I used foam tape to adhere a vintage postage stamp to the back of the box. I then used more foam tape to adhere my gypsy image. This gives the interior some nice depth. I inked around the edges of the type and glued them down, and then embellished the background with some sequin stars. Here's a little hint: when adding small elements like the stars, it's always best to add an odd number, like three, five, seven, or nine. Odd numbers of things are always more pleasing to the eye.

The beads on the top of the box came from that same beaded fringe along the bottom of the box. They are attached with E6000. The acrylic domino I used is pre-drilled with holes, so I fed the ball chain through the holes, put tape around the ends to make them fit tightly, and then pulled them up through the holes to catch. I then dribbled a little E6000 into the holes to help hold the ends of the chain in place.

I love the brass wings on the side of this shrine. To attach them, I used an exacto knife to cut a little slit, being careful to not cut through to the inside of the box. I dabbed a bit of E6000 onto the edge of the wing and stuck it into the slit. To make them sturdier, I glued a small gold bead to both the back of the wing and to the box. Because the bead is the same color as the wing, it's almost invisible, but it makes the wing so much more secure. 

Here's the gypsy shrine hanging on the wall in my studio. I hope my silent friend and adviser serves me well in the coming years.

I hope you enjoy this Alpha Stamps Blog hop. Did you find the secret word? Make sure you visit the other blogs, starting July 19th. Find the rest of the secret message, and then enter at Alpha Stamps to win the $100 Halloween gift prize. Good luck! Don’t leave your guess here as you don’t want someone else to receive your good fortune.

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Artfully Musing - Laura Carson | Visit blog

Junk&Stuff - Kristin Batsel | Visit blog

Rhonda Mum - Rhonda Secrist-Thomas | Visit blog

Starrgazer Creates - Rhea Freitag | Visit blog

Note: this is a private list. Only the list owner can enter links.

What is a blog hop?
Get the code here...

Alpha Stamps Gypsy Swap!

I see a fantastic swap in your future. Are you ready?

Alpha Stamps is hosting a fun new Gypsy Swap using Concertina Chipboard Pennants!

You could make your Gypsy Fortune Teller a palm reader, tarot card reader, tea-leaf reader, part of a traveling show, or whatever sort of gypsy theme you like!

This swap will be 3 for 3: create 3 different "pages" and receive 3 in return, all by different artists!

I'll be playing. Will you? For more information, and/or to sign up (by August 5, 2012), visit the Yahoo Group. Artwork will be due September 4, 2012, so there's plenty of time to create something fun.

Fabric Bowls, Take II

I'm still enjoying making fabric bowls, so this week I made a couple more. I decided to try to mix things up a bit. The first one I did has little handles on the top. The handles are a tad too small, though. Next time, I'll be sure to make them bigger. I love the way the colors came out in this one. It was a pretty ugly fabric, but makes a nice bowl!

I really like this next one. It was done with black, white, and grey fabrics with small floral prints:

It was too tall and floppy, so I turned the top down to form a cuff, which makes it much more pleasing to the eye, and also sturdier. So far, this is my favorite. I'll be putting cuffs on other bowls, I'm sure.

I'm just about out of clothesline. Time to buy more.