Scrap N Grow

Posts Tagged ‘Altered’

Good afternoon everyone.  I hope your week is off to a good start. Mine has been a bit winter like yet as I awoke to yet another 3 inches of heavy, white snow.  If it were not April, I would say it was incredibly beautiful and picturesque…but being that it was April…arrrrgghhh.  This was our 3rd spring snowstorm here in MN this year…please Mother Nature…I am begging you to let it be spring….

I absolutely love spring as it is a time of rebirth and renewal.  This is also true for our backyard feathered friends, birds.  If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you know that I am a passionate and avid gardener, but you may not have known that I also enjoy bird watching.  My home’s landscape is a certified wildlife habitat through the National Wildlife Foundation and has a 5000 sq ft. professionally maintained native prairie restoration garden.  These two habitats provide birds with food, housing, water, and cover from predators; all of which are critical for birds to reproduce healthy offspring. Pictured below is a picture of my native prairie restoration garden from last year.

Native Prairie Restoration Garden

Birds have their pick of nesting accommodations within my home’s landscape: bird houses, trees, shrubs, potted containers, under the eaves of our deck,etc.. ..I really do not mind.  However, I do have to keep watch and observe closely in order to locate various bird’s nests so that I do not accidentally disturb them.  Today’s featured project was inspired by my study of bird’s nests over the past years.

Egg Study Shadow Box

Pictured above is an egg study shadow box containing an artful interpretation of nine of my favorite backyard visitors eggs. I  applied a coat of Ver Day Iron paint to a recycled a shallow cloth gift box. Afterwards,  I lined the shadow box with tissue paper from 7 Gypsies and applied a top coat of matte Mod Podge. The eggs are paper mache and were painted with various colors of acrylic paints and adhered to the inside of the box with Helmar Scrap Dots. Next, I created a label for the box using a Dymo label maker and inserted the Dymo label into an Ideology label pull.  Lastly, I attached a saw tooth hanger on the back side.

Overall, this was a fun project to make and would be a great project if you have kids.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I will be back soon with another inspiring project to share.  Have a great day!

Michelle

Good evening everyone.  Today’s featured project is a decorated candle that showcases this month’s featured bloom, the aster.

Paperie In Bloom: November 2012 Aster Candle

I paid only one penny for this candle on clearance at Michael’s. The candle features this month’s Paperie In Bloom flower, the aster.  Click here for directions to make the flower.  I adhered the flower to a 2 1/2X12 embossed strip of Ten Seconds Studio metal.  I used Stampin’ up’s Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder to emboss the metal strip and adhered the metal strip to the candle using double sided Scor Pal adhesive tape.  A quick and perfect gift ready to give.

Thank you so much for taking time to stop by. Please stop back again soon as I am busy working on December’s Paperie In Bloom project which will debut on Monday December 3rd. Have a great day!

Michelle

Good morning everyone. I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. My fiance and I spent Thanksgiving with his family and his mom served a delicious feast. Today’s featured Paperie In Bloom picture frame project is a great gift idea for any occasion.

Paperie In Bloom: November 2012 Aster Picture Frame

Paperie In Bloom is an ongoing series here on Scrap N Grow.  Each month, I select a bloom, this month is the aster.  I typically reveal each month’s bloom on or about the first of each month. Then throughout the remainder of the month, I showcase different ideas that highlight the chosen bloom. Today’s idea, a picture frame, makes a great gift for any occasion.

Today’s featured 5X7 picture frame was purchased on sale at Michael’s. I chose this frame for its rustic wood and color.  The asters were created using the Heartfelt Creations Delicate Aster Die Set.  I used two different shades of purple Bazzill card stock for each flower.  Each flower center is accented using a Stampin’ Up clear faceted button.  I colored the faceted buttons using Butterscotch Alcohol Ink by Ranger.

I die cut three layers of flower petals and five leaves using the Delicate Asters Die Set.  I used an Ranger Inkessentials Ink Applicator to highlight flower petals with Dusty Concord Distress Ink and Forest Moss Distress Ink for the leaves.  Afterwards, I molded each petal layer and leaf using an 8mm McGill Ball stylus tool on an McGill molding mat to give each flower added dimension.  I then assembled each flower.  I used a thin set of pop dots in between each flower petal layer and fluffed each layer after I adhered flower onto frame using Inkessentials Glossy Accents adhesive. Lastly, I adhered an Stampin’ Up faceted button that was altered using Butterscotch Alcohol Ink by Ranger.  Pictured below is a closeup of the faceted button.

Paperie In Bloom: November 2012 Aster Picture Frame Close Up

I love the simplicity of the frame and the punch of color the Asters provide.  I have a gift ready to give.  Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I will be back on Wednesday with one last Paperie In Bloom project idea.  Have a great day!

Michelle

Good Evening and Happy Halloween to you.  Today’s post is a two in one.  First, I have a featured project to share with you today, a chrysanthemum canvas.  Today’s canvas is part of an ongoing monthly Scrap N Grow blog feature called Paperie In Bloom. For those of you who are first time visitors, each month I select a different bloom to feature. Then throughout the month, I feature additional projects and ideas that highlight that month’s particular bloom. This month’s featured bloom is the chrysanthemum. Below is a picture of a recently completed 16X20 canvas.

Paperie In Bloom: October 2012 Chrysanthemum Canvas

I tried real hard to photograph the varying depths of colors in this bloom.  It is so beautiful in person.  The canvas measures 16×20.  To begin, I applied a base coat of Mocha Kaisercraft acrylic paint to the canvas.  Once dry, I adhered several layers of Tim Holtz’s Defitinitions tissue paper from Ideaology using Mod Podge matte adhesive. Afterwards, I stenciled a chrysanthemum (Source: Cutting Edge Stencils) to the canvas using  Golden’s Light Modeling Paste.  I applied a pretty thick layer and let the canvas dry overnight. The next day, I applied a thin, watery coat of Yellow Ochre Golden acrylic paint over the entire stenciled flower including the negative space.  I then applied several more layers of paints, each additional coat of paint was darker than the last. I tried to emulate a light shadow. Additional colors used in order of light to dark: Indian Yellow Hue, Quinacridone/Nickel Azo Gold, and Quinacridone Gold.  I love this color palette from Golden Acrylics.  After the acrylics were dry, I used various orange and yellow Faber Castell Big Brush India ink markers to add fine detail and additional shading to the flower.  It took me an entire week, a little bit everyday, to apply the multiple layers of paint.  The result is incredible in person and am sad that I had such difficulty photographing this.

I free handed the stem and used Liquitex Vivid Lime Green heavy body acrylic paint and Chromium Oxide Green Dick Blick acrylic paint. I applied additional highlight and shading using various green shades of Faber Castell Big Brush India ink markers.

Lastly, I finished the canvas’s edges with the same colors as used in the bloom, and die cut the word chrysanthemum using my Provocraft Electronic Die Cutting Machine. Letters were adhered with Inkessentials Glossy Accents adhesive.

If you enjoyed today’s canvas, I included a of recap of links below to other Paperie In Bloom projects I featured earlier this month.

Paperie In Bloom Chrysanthemum Memo Boards

Paperie In Bloom Pinterest Inpspired Chrysanthemum Mirror

Paperie In Bloom Chrysanthemum Note Cards

Paperie In Bloom Chrysanthemum Bouquet

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I invite to come back tomorrow as I unveil November’s featured bloom as well as a few other announcements.  Have a great night.

Michelle

Good evening everyone.  How was your week?  Today, I have another Paperie In Bloom inspired project to share, a set of chrysanthemum memo boards.  For those of you who are first time visitor’s to Scrap N Grow, Paperie In Bloom is an ongoing monthly feature where I showcase a different bloom on or about the first of each month.  Then throughout the month, I sprinkle in additional projects that highlight the bloom of the particular month.  October’s Paperie In Bloom is the chrysanthemum.

Paperie In Bloom: October 2012 Chrysanthemum Memo Board #1

Paperie In Bloom: October 2012 Chrysanthemum Memo Board #2

Today’s memo boards were inspired by the leftover spoons from making my chrysanthemum mirror. Click here to view that post.

Each chrysanthemum memo board is actually an altered rat trap.  Yes, a rat trap. This is not my original idea.  I have seen several altered mouse trap projects on several people’s blogs as well as on Pinterest. While, I did purchase a few mouse traps, I used rat traps in today’s featured projects.

To begin, I used a pliers to remove the artificial cheese and the pin used to set the trap. Afterwards, I applied a base coat of Kaisercraft Mocha acrylic paint to the base.  This covered up the trap’s rat graphics.  Next, I stenciled and applied a few textures to each of the traps. I then perused my stash for potential trinkets. In the end, I decided to make two different memo board styles: one functional, and the other, artful.

Both flowers were made from cheap, white plastic spoons. Petals (spoons) were painted on both sides with Windsor & Newton Acrylic paint, Yellow Ochre, and Burnt Sienna. I purposely did not prime the spoons so that the paint color would be translucent.  Next, I die cut and painted 2- 2.5 inch circles from Tim Holtz’s Ideaology’s Grunge Paper. I used this circle for the flower’s base. Once my spoon petals were dry, I adhered petals to base using a hot glue gun. Note: I offset each row until it appeared that there was no more room to add additional spoons as the space had become to small.  Though there was no room to add another row of spoons, there was still a significant space remaining in the flower’s center.  After a bit of brainstorming, I decided to make a center bud for each flower out of card stock.

The flower centers are made from Bazzill card stock.  I punched out several McGill’s large pear Paper Blossoms shapes. Afterwards, I painted both sides of each flower’s petal’s a coordinating color to match spoon petals. Once dry, I used McGill’s 8mm ball stylus to mold each petal.  Once molded, I used Inkessentials Glossy Accents to adhere petals. Again, I offset each layer of petals. I think I used 20 petals for each bud. Once dry, I glued the bud to the center of the flower using E6000 adhesive.

While waiting for the E6000 to dry, I stamped the front piece of 3M Post It paper pad with a sentiment from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous.  The sentiment was stamped with Jet Black Ranger Archival ink. Next, I applied Vintage Photo around the perimeter of the note pad and then adhered the Post It note pad to the bottom half of one of the traps. As I mentioned earlier, I decided to make the other trap an artful collection of garden themed trinkets.  I listed the items I used below. All trinkets were adhered with Inkessentials Glossy Accents.

Butterfly- Memory Box Die

Garden Note Card- Crafty Secrets

Heart Bingo Piece- Maya Road

Hinge Clip, Memo Pins, and Pen Nib- Ideaology

Flower Pot- Michael’s. Pot ‘s patina- Vintaj Patina Paint by Ranger

Floral Foam- Michael’s

GROW letters- Cosmo Cricket

Watering Can- Create For Less online store

I had fun making these altered rat traps and have other inspiring ideas for future projects. Thank you so much for stopping by.  Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know if you have altered a rat or mouse trap.  Have a great night and see you again soon.

Michelle

Good morning everyone. How was your weekend? The weather was unseasonably mild here in MN. We received some (not nearly enough) desperately needed rain on Saturday and reveled in the unseasonably warm 70 degree sunshine on Sunday.  My weekend was productive as I had time to finally wrap up a few projects that have been on my work table.  Today is one of those projects.  Today’s project, a chrysanthemum mirror was inspired by Pinterest. For those unfamiliar with Pinterest, it is an online idea gallery for nearly anything you can think of.  I find and pin (note) great ideas for projects like today’s, recipes, fashion, DIY home projects, travel, etc. The great thing is that the “pin” saves the source of the idea to reference back to later.  For those of you already on Pinterest, I have a link on my sidebar, if you are interested in browsing or following my interests/boards.

Like I stated above, today’s featured project, a chrysanthemum mirror, is another inspiring project for October’s Paperie In Bloom monthly blog feature. If this is your first time visiting, Paperie In Bloom is an ongoing monthly feature where I showcase a different bloom on or about the first of each month.  Then throughout the month, I sprinkle in additional projects that highlight the bloom of the particular month.  This month’s Paperie In Bloom is the chrysanthemum.

Paperie In Bloom: October 2012 Chrysanthemum Mirror

Paperie In Bloom: October 2012 Close Up of Chrysanthemum Mirror

The mirror above is made from 650 cheap, plastic spoons purchased from Walmart. I used a combination of tutorials in order to make mine.  I have provided each of the links below.

http://www.addicted2decorating.com/how-to-make-a-decorative-chrysanthemum-mirror.html

http://totallygreencrafts.com/2012/08/chrysanthemum-decor-with-plastic-spoons/

http://www.littlethingsbringsmiles.com/2012/08/plastic-spoon-mirror-tutorial.html

http://suzyssitcom.com/2012/04/feature-friday-more-chrysanthemum-mirrors.html

Many of the above links include detailed, step by step picture tutorials. For this reason, I did not take pictures of my process.  It took me a few days to make my mirror. One of the tutorials above suggested to break up the steps, and I whole heartedly agree.

I have shared below a list of my variations as well as a few learned tips I encountered while making mine.

** I used my Provocraft Electronic Die Cutting Machine to cut a template.  I used George and Basic Shapes to cut a half circle at 22 inches wide and 11 inches tall.  I cut 2 and taped them together for my template.

**I used foam board to make my mirror only because my fiancé was out of town. If I were to make another, I would use MDF and have had my fiancé cut it with a saw. If you elect to use foam board, apply a width of masking tape around the center ring. This will help provide a clean round finished edge.

** If you use anything other than wood for the base, attach a saw tooth hanger to the backside before you get started.  I did not do this and had to try several ideas before finding one to work.  I ended up having to fish a thin wire between the glued spoons after the fact and it was not an easy task.

**Take time to practice appropriate spacing of outer row of spoons.  I eyeballed it and ended up using double the amount of spoons listed in any of the linked tutorials above. Most tutorials used 300 spoons, I used 650.  This resulted in an extra trip to the store.

** Ensure that you have an ample supply of hot glue sticks ready to go as you will use quite a few.  I think I used 5.  I forgot to rub a bit of Vaseline on the glue gun tip (tip from Pinterest).  It is suppose to prevent glue strings. Because of this, it took some time afterwards to remove them.

** I concur with the tutorial that suggested to break up the process to make a mirror.  My ideal would be: Day One- Purchase and cut spoons. Sand if necessary. Day Two- Adhere spoons, take a break and later, remove any stray glue strings. Day Three- Purchase Plastic Primer and desired color of spray or acrylic paint.  The gentleman working in the paint department at Home Depot recommended to use a white primer for light colors and a gray primer for dark colors.  I used Rustoloeum Gray Plastic Paint Primer and Rustoleum Glossy Cranberry Plastic Spray paint for mine.  I used 1 can primer and 2 cans of color.

** If you elect to spray paint, do yourself a favor, and elevate the mirror to about waist height.  This will prevent you from having to bend over to see if you have amply coated the interior spaces between the spoons.  This also makes it easier to spray the underside outer row of spoons.  Prior to spray painting, I gave the backside a coat of acrylic paint that closely matched my spray paint for a more finished appearance.

**I concur with the tutorials to apply a coat of adhesive to the mirror front and then place surround on top of mirror. I used E6000 adhesive and let mirror adhesive sit overnight to cure.

It cost me about $45 to make my mirror. $12 for spray primer and spray paint, $8 for foam board, $20 for spoons, and $5 for 12 inch mirror.  Would have been cheaper if I had purchased supplies on sale or with a coupon, and if I had shopped a dollar store for foam board and spoons.

Thank you so much for stopping by and for taking time to read this lengthy post.  I would love for you to comment below if you have seen or made a similar project, or perhaps if you would like to make one for yourself or for a gift as the holidays are fast approaching.  Have a great day. I will be back tomorrow with part 2 of my Halloween Blueprint Cards.  Hope you decide to stop back again soon.

Michelle

Good Morning everyone.  As promised, I am back today to show you a gift I made for my girlfriend who lives and breathes Halloween year round.  She coordinates and manages the Halloween parade  in Anoka, MN, also known as the Halloween capitol of the world.  Recently, I took an online class called Pumkins & Cider with Christy Tomlinson.  She is a great instructor and a wealth of information. Her classes are geared for both budding and seasoned artists.  One of the projects taught in her class, Pumpkin Santos Cage Doll was taught by guest artist teacher, Chrissy Gardner.  I fell in love with her primitive cage doll Pumpkin Santos and knew it would be a perfect gift for my girlfriend.  I watched the instructional videos, printed out my supply lists, and went to work on creating my own cage dolls. I made two, one for my girlfriend and one for me.

Pumpkin Santos Cage Dolls

Pumpkin Santos Cage Doll Close Up #1

Pumpkin Santos Cage Doll Close Up #2

Out of respect for Chrissy and Christy, I am not going to post instructions or supplies as the class is available for purchase. See Link above. For my girlfriend’s birthday card, I altered my card slightly from yesterday.  Her birthday is the 14th, hence the plaquette and the interior sentiment is Happy Birthday.

Pumpkin Birthday Card

Pumpkin Birthday Card Interior

I am going to deliver her gift today, I am sure she is going to love it.  I have displayed my cage doll on my dining room table.  Have a great day everyone.  I will be back tomorrow with another inspiring project.

Michelle

Good morning everyone.  As promised yesterday, I have another Paperie In Bloom project to share with you today, a sunflower picture frame.

Paperie In Bloom: September 2012 Sunflower Picture Frame

The frame is 12X12 and was purchased unfinished from Michael’s.  I first applied a light brown base coat of Kaisercraft Mocha acrylic paint. Once dry, I used a wood grain stencil from The Crafter’s Workshop for my frame’s background design.  For added texture, I mixed nearly equal parts of Golden Light Modeling Paste together with Windsor & Newton’s Van Dyke Brown artist paint.  I then applied paint mixture using an art spatula to stencil the wood grain pattern onto the frame and afterwards set frame aside to dry for a few hours.

While the frame was drying, I cut out the sunflower parts using my Provocraft electronic die cutting machine.  I manipulated a leaf cut from the Freshly Picked Cricut Art cartridge.  After cuts were complete, petals were inked using Mustard Seed Distress Ink from Tim Holtz.  I then used a ball stylus and a Blossoms Molding mat from McGill to shape and mold each petal. Afterwards, I assembled each flower using Inkessential’s Glossy Accents as my choice of adhesive.  Full detailed instructions to assemble these flowers can be found here.

The flower stems are wooden dowel rods also purchased from Michael’s.  I painted them with green acrylic paint.  The leaves were die cut using Spellbinders Sunflower#2 die set.  Once die cut and embossed, I applied Peeled Paint Distress Ink to both sides of each  leaf and then molded and shaped leaves similar to the petals mentioned earlier.  I adhered leaves and stems using Inkessentials Glossy Accents.

Next, I adhered the sunflower heads to their stems.  I added 3-4 pop dots behind each flower head along with a dab of Inkessentials Glossy Accents and adhered each flower head to a corresponding flower stem.  To complete each flower, I coated 5 Prima wooden buttons with a product called Elements: Mud Pie.  Elements has several available textures in their product line.  I love this product even though it can be a bit messy to work with.  I applied a liberal coat of Inkessentials Glossy Accents to each button and poured on the Mud Pie texture.  Please allow this product ample time to dry.  I was a bit ancy and handled the buttons a bit too early and found that some of the texture fell off and actually slightly discolored a few inner petals of the flowers.  Not a big deal, but it is a lesson learned.

Lastly, I cleaned the frame’s glass insert and cut a coordinating  5X7 piece of card stock for presentation.  I hope you enjoyed today’s featured picture frame.  I love making frames as everyone has family photos they like to display.  Unfinished frames are inexpensive and are so easy to personalize and make great “expensive” looking gifts.  Thank you so much for stopping by. Please stay tuned as Monday, I plan to debut October’s Paperie In Bloom flower. Have a fabulous Saturday.

Michelle

Good afternoon everyone.  It certainly feels like fall here in Minnesota.  It is 65 and sunny. I finished this week’s Compendium of Curiosities II challenge this week late last night.  This week’s technique is riveted patchwork.  For those unfamiliar with this challenge…Linda Ledbetter over at Studio L3 hosts a new technique challenge each week from Tim Holtz’s latest book, Compendium of Curiosities II. This week’s challenge is being sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique who is offering a $25 gift certificate to a lucky challenge participant.  This week’s technique is called riveted patchwork. Directions are on page 57 inside Tim’s Compendium of Curiosities II, Volume 2 book.  Below is my entry for this week’s challenge, a riveted patchwork bluebird.

Compendium of Curiosities II Challenge Entry Week 22: Riveted Patchwork Art Bird

Close Up of Close up of Riveted Patchwork Art Bird

This bird was so much fun to make.  I used a studio 490 Art Part as my base.  To start, I applied a base coat of Mars Black Windsor & Newton acrylic paint to the art part bird, wings, and dowel.  Next, I followed along using Tim’s instructions for riveted patchwork technique on page 57 with one variation.  In lieu of the technique’s recommended colors to use, I instead chose to use an assortment of blue’s for the body and orange for the belly.  I am pleased with how the colors turned out and really like how the alcohol ink color puddled in the texture created from the riveted patchwork technique. For the base, I used three scrap 3″ hickory coasters for the base and adhered the word fly. The letters are left over from a package of Ideology Grunge Blocks.  Lastly, I completed final assembly by using a drill to make a hole in the base and then inserted my art bird.

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I am in the midst of completing a few remaining Paperie in Bloom projects for September.  Have a great afternoon.

Michelle

Good morning everyone. Today is the first day of Autumn.  The beginning of a new season.  I absolutely embrace and love fall. I love Mother Nature’s vibrant color palette of rich reds, yellows, oranges, and brown. I also enjoy the cooler temperatures, and as a gardener, fall signals the end of the growing season here in Minnesota.  For after the gardens are tended for their winter slumber, I am rewarded with a few months of rest from garden chores. In addition, I love fall bonfires, as well as the culinary delights that coincide with the season: chili, soups, pot roast, casseroles, etc.

So to celebrate the first day of Autumn, I made a set of candles for my coffee table.  I absolutely love how they turned out.

Autumn Candle Display

The candle’s images are from Tim Holtz’s summer 2012 release with Stampers Anonymous, Autumn Blueprint.  This is one of my favorite sets as I love anything that is “sketched”.  With the exception of the brown acorn candle, the candles are flame less and were purchased from my local home improvement store which sells them cheaper than Michael’s or Joann’s. The surrounding scatter contains acorns, mini pumpkins, pine cones, as well as other dried natural elements.

There are many You Tube videos that demonstrate how to stamp onto a candle, but every video I found only showed the transfer of an image onto a white or cream colored candle.  Instead, I wanted to see the results of someone who stamped an image onto a dark colored candle as I presumed that the tissue paper would be visible.  I Googled and searched You Tube and could not find any pictures or an answer to my question. So, I decided to experiment myself and discovered a remedy that I will share with you.

Below are close ups of each of the four candles.

Stamped Birch Candle

Stamped Maple Candle

Stamped Oak Candle

Stamped Acorn Candle

If you closely above in the pictures, you only see  only a slight color discrepancy between the candle and the color of the tissue paper, primarily on the oak and maple candles. The color of these candles were difficult to match exactly.  I experimented and applied various shades of Staz On and Ranger’s Archival Ink pads directly to white tissue paper to try and match the colors of each candle.  For the candle’s above, I found that Ranger’s Archival Ink line provided the best color match for my candles.

I applied my desired color of Archival ink directly to a piece of white tissue paper and literally smeared the ink pad directly onto the tissue paper. This results in a heavy saturation of color.  I then heat set the color and let the tissue paper air dry. Next, I stamped my desired image using Ranger’s Jet Black Archival Ink onto the custom colored tissue paper, and used my paper trimmer afterwards to trim as close as I could to the image’s edges.  Lastly, I transferred image onto each candle.

I am excited that I experimented and discovered a way to transfer images onto dark colored candles.  No longer am I limited to white or cream candles only anymore.

Thank you for stopping by today.   I would love for you to comment and tell me if you have stamped onto dark colored candles.  If you have, do you have any tips to share?  Thank you again, have a great weekend everyone.  I will be back on Monday with another inspiring project.

Michelle