My ASBA ATC Swap

So the nicks is hosting a swap where we can not use the standard

materials for our ATC background and also we have to have an 'altered item' as the main focus. So seeings as i am into the soldering anything that doesnt move at the moment

I just so happened to have some metal and solder, and by chance a can of Red bull, some watch parts, clay and some glass and managed to come up with these three cards. One the hostess WILL have to keep as host 'gift' - but some how i think she may palm it off onto some other unsuspecting soul. And the other two she will find some poor soul to send them to and they will have to pretend to like them, hey ho i like them and i've done my bit for recycling I suppose LOL

The top card is honestly the correct size, the 'Red Bull' crown flips down, the face has been stamped onto a clear acrylic sheet and then soldered onto embossed and aged metal.

soldering

I dug out some solder - had a new soldering iron brought for me for Easter (and a chocolate egg of course!!) and had a lesson from someone who's been soldering for over 20yrs. He gave me some awesome hints and tips and I had great fun, and can see all sorts of directions this is going to take me.

The two little girls in the photo are my OH great nieces who are totally adorable and sweet, and I have made this for their mum for her birthday. The charm is double sided and has a photo on the back as well and is about 2" by 2".

All of them have silver 'jump rings' to hang them by.
Also had a play around with a Domino, and was pleasently surprized when it didnt melt under such heat. i can see all sorts of things that really do need some soldering on now!!!!

MatchBox Swap

Ok so I got to swap with Mobunny for which i was very pleased as she makes some great stuff and she really did not dissapoint this time either as Ireally liked the one she made for me. And heres the effort that I came up with - and in fact Iwas keen for

her not to like it, as I really would have been keen to have kept it for myself, sadly she said she liked it and walked off into the sunset with it ;0). So thanks mobunny for the swap.

I used some copper sheet and my new ten second studio 'numbers' texture plate to create this, aged the metal using acrylic paints. Made a clay head for the inside of the box.

Made for Ally Pally show tomorrow - "Wizards Room"

Ok so a day early sneak preview of the card i have made to enter the competition at Ally Pally tomorrow, have great fun making this, took ages as made mainly one armed!!! The image to the left shows the card closed with its copper handle to open to reveal whats inside

I used my new ten second studio texture template to emboss some copper for the outside, then aged it with acrylic paints - it is a great texture plate but serious hard work doing it left handed!! when i am right handed, but well worth it i thought. I added a 'slider card' to the back to make a bit of interest to open as well as opening the card itself. The inside is made of two layers of foam board stuck together, then niches cut out, all covered in aluminium and then aged again with acrylic paints. Clay leg in glass vial added along with owls head, clock, lizard and thermometer. Added a bit more copper to the inside.

***Update... they cancelled the competition as apparantly they had a 'ringer' going to enter ROFL ***

Wall Hanging

Heres something maybe slightly different. I made this a couple of weeks ago, but firstly I couldn't decide if in fact I liked it enough to hang this on the wall, but more importantly how to hang it and lastly where to hang it!!!. So looks like I finally decided that I did like it enough not to bin it, and have hung it under a picture in our bedroom, and in fact it looks pretty good if I don't say so myself.
I have made them all from 3mm grey mountboard. Each one is a different style in the images that i have used and also different in sizes.
It was mentioned to me that it looks like the houses of Amsterdam. Heres a few close up shots.
I have used some crackle glaze on some of the houses, also some fibres for texture. Some of the roofs were plain card but I sanded them up to give the effect of a roof tile. Inks and acrylic painst were used also. The whole item was then covered in craft PVA to allow me to wipe it down if I ever by chance ever do any sort of dusting - which is a highly unlikely event ever to take place, but who knows maybe my cleaner may want to give it a clean !!!!!!!!!

I am thinking along the lines that this would make an unusual swap, where by each participant would make maybe 4 houses, they keep one but send three in for a swap back, possibly one tall and thin one, one small and one medium house, I think it may be very interesting and something different to do.

I will have to have a think about sorting this as a swap, and may have to make some templates for the houses so each person makes the correct size. But firstly need to find out if anyone else has any interest in making these as I may find that I am the only one that in fact likes these!!!!!!!!!!!!

and another one....

- made a brooch as a wee thankyou

for someone and its now winging its

way there - messing around with some

clear resin, used some watch parts,
key and padlock and other bits

added some metal wings and

brooch pin to the back. Just hope they

like it, if they don't they can always try

and flogg it on ebay LOL.

gift for the nephew

I had wanted to make my Skiing mad nephew something different for his birthday so decided on a clock. I started of with a cardboard square thingie!!! i got from the Range - its a bit like a picture frame.

Next I totally covered it in some wonderful striped fabric I purchased the other week from the Excel show (which I must add was a total waste of time really - except for the fabric), anyways - I covered the whole thing back included with the cloth, and then gave the whole thing a final good coating of the well tried and trusted craft PVA. This was to give it a good base to stick my items to it, but also make it sort of waterproof, 13yr old boys and most items need to be made waterproof. The next job was to decide which way i wanted to hang the clock and also to find the centre for the clock movement.

As you can see I decided to hang it not square but at 45 degree angle, which i think works well??. Well anyways i found all sorts of odds and ends to add to the clock to make it a one off one of a kind, made the '12 O'clock' and '6 O'clock' items from fimo clay, and again gave a good coating of PVA , I don't know where I brought the boot from??? but i think it works well.

And yes the '3 O'clock' and the '9 O'clock' are meant to be back to front and spelt incorrectly and it just adds to the clock I think. I made his name in wooden letters and decorated, and added the lizard - which had to be moved three times as the clock arms kept catching it DOH!!!. After I added the collage items I again gave it a good coating of PVA. I think it works quiet well in the end, but i suppose the most important things is 'does the nephew like it', well I will find out next week. - click on the image to see a close up

The Tailors Dummie cont....

ok so just in case anyones interested in how far i have got - very very slowly at the mo...............





i have covered the entire thing in images - just adore the zetti thing so have used lots of those images - and given it a good coating of PVA glue - and yes before you ask Mrs Naughty Nicks of Norfolk the craft PVA glue and not my industrial one!!!! From the start I had this idea of it having a metal dress type thingie over - well to give it a rustic look but to be able to see the body but also to see metal... havent a scooby doo why or where I got that idea from. So anyway i have some metal mesh that I have now covered her with and secured around the neck and bottom, as i want to hang 'made' items to. The bottom of the metal mesh i have pulled about to make it look rough as it should look better in the end, rather than a smooth finish, will roughen the top as well. Have already started to make items to hang, but slow going with one arm at the mo.

Needed to make some gifts so.............

I thought I would make some broochs, all different - made a total of 16 - the other 8 were totally different - they were sqaure based, but muppet me didnt take a photo before i packed and sent them DOH!!!!! - but i thought they looked alright

Take 6 swap

so I joined Nicks Take 6 swap - and i managed to come up with the following three cards, two for her to swap out and 1 for her to keep for being the host and she can pretend to like it!!!!!!!!!! - the first one here on the right is shown as made closed and then open

I am very pleased with what I finally produced, I made about 10 that I ended up throwing away as I really was not happy with what I had produced. The far left card is zetti inspired and the one on the right I have no idea where the idea came from or what its meant to be, it just is!!!!!!!

Finally getting somewhere I think!!!!

well I seem to have found a little inspiration now whether that relates to anything decent being produced is another thing. I am in an altered art charm swap in the States so wanted to make the remaining charms, which I have to say I really do like the end results, bit of lateral thinking involved in the making, nothing was harmed in the making of these items ROFL.

The first on the left is a belt buckle with bits and bobs attached, the next one along is watch parts with bits and bobs, the third is believe it or not a picture hook with again bits and bobs ?artistically hung ;0), the last in the row is the one I am most pleased with the result, I brought a batch of tiny padlocks, so decided to hang various useless bits and bobs from the hasp then lock it, and then with the key still in I squeezed a lot of superglue in the top lock to keep it from unlocking. You can use the key to hang it from. Phewie now need to pack them up and post of, now off to create some atcs' that I am behind on (yes Mrs Perfect they are for your swap!!! UKNOW WHO)

Inpsiration has gone

HELP I have crafters total block, have a room crammed full of 'arty crap' as I call it but can I make anything can I scooby!!!! I have a number of outstanding ATC's for swaps to make, birthday cards, and that old chestnut Valentines card but can I think of anything, NOPE and everything I look at just looks well useless sooo I’m going to give it all away


OK so I lied....... you have got to be joking that would be like cutting my legs off phew mad moment, so lets hope I get some inspiration soon as otherwise I will miss some deadlines. One thing I can do is share a great tip - if working with alcohol inks or clay give your hands a good rub with Badger Balm(can purchase from any good chemist) and that way your hands are sooo much easier to clean.

PS random photo of my windscreen this morning great ice pattern!!

Charms for a swap - Zettiology legs captuted

these are some charms that i have made for an altered art charm swap I have joined in America, they all have silver hangers/rings on so they can be hung from a chain or attached to something else. I need to make some more but I seem to be a bit stuck on zettiology at the moment hahaha, so need to think a bit harder and do something else, the second and third one in fact are the same bottle just showing the front and back of whats captured in the bottle. I seem to be drawn to glass at the moment, not sure what that says about me - answers on a postcard please......mmmmm wonder if you could make a glass jar postcard ROFL

'Captured Beauty'

OK so here's my jar so far. Made a female clay body on a pedestal a couple of weeks back covered in some paper I made with txt on, and thought I would put her in a jar - this was where the idea grew from really. Made some clay dangles and added other silver dangles to the outside. Next step is to make more 'dangles' and hang on the inside so they float around the body. Also to fill the bottom of the jar with some more tat from here and there

So Whats The Next Dust Collector

Ok so I seem to make things and they then go to nice new homes so I want to do something for me to keep. So here are my next two projects which I plan on keeping and they will become dust collectors as someone in this house calls them ;0). So here they are in their raw state. I think the tailors dummie will take me a couple of months to finish, as I have some rather crazy ideas as to what I want to do with it, so I need something small to also work on - hence the glass jar, that should only take a couple of weeks. So maybe you will come back and see if firstly I manage to finish them both and of course if they are any good!!!! And if anyone else decides that they want to do the same type of thing well maybe we will have to have a vote!!!

Masquerade Ball

Ok so a girl doesent have an invite to a masquerade ball but her Oh does so what's she to do - make his own mask. I took a papermache mask, covered it in black acrylic paint, then attacked it with my trusty heat gun until it bubbled and became distressed/dry. Then rubbed over with first bronze metallic run on, then gold over that. added black feathers and some threads. i like the effect

sad ole week

We have had a difficult week, sadly we lost our beloved dog this week, he was the grand old age of 17yrs and 1 month he had a truly great life, he gave much love and entertainment and we will miss him profoundly he was the best friend you could ever want

Birthday pressie

I had huge fun but a lot of pain!!!! making my latest creation as a birthday gift for a truly talented friend, who by the way under estimates her own work - Happy Birthday KT

Some of my past efforts

The Shape of things to come

A couple of shaped ATC's that I made for a group swap on http://www.atcards.com/ have to say i was really pleased with them and didnt want to let them go. Made with utee, acrylic paints and some stamps. They started off the correct atc size, but the one on the right I cut shapes into the card and in fact stuck the 'cut out' sections onto the card