Altering It...

... Aha! How come I am here and not laying, supine on the sofa, groaning for sympathy after my ordeal yesterday??? Well... truth is, it is actually Thursday and I am scheduling this post to coincide with my latest Tutorial for Gingersnap Creations.. which is all about my favest subject... noooo, not that... Altered ART!!!

I did a couple of pieces for my Tutorial, showing how to make something ancient and a bit shabby into something pretty - this spoon infact:




And then I made a Trinket Box which started life as a plain box from QD stores. Now, answering Q's from several of you lovely peeps... QD is a shop that sells just about everything from crockery to garden supplies, sweeties to home furnishing... and it is really cheap too.. which is fab for me cos I love their wooden stuff to alter... This box is for the latest lot of Idea-ology that has come out, my old Idea-ology box hasn't got enough compartments!




All the details on how to make these pieces can be found on the GINGERSNAPS blog... please pop by and tell me what you think... in the meantime.. have a fab day... I am hoping that I will be ok for making the Sunday Stamper tomorrow! TTFN

Hels x

WOYWW - Erm...

BOXES!

And lots of them! :O{

And... a whole heap of crud that I need to sort out into keep and throw away piles. Blimey, I spent 15 hours yesterday (I kid you not) trying to sort out my stash. A word of advice to any crafters out there. DO NOT MOVE HOUSE! Or, if you are planning to - have a clear out about three months before you are due to pack...cos leaving it right down to the last minute is so not a good idea! I still have 1/3 of the room to do - seriously, I never realised just how much rubbish I collected... I found several carrier bags with little off cuts of paper and cardstock...never been one for throwing stuff away .. but when will I ever use them eh? Cos I cannot resist slicing into a new sheet of paper the little bits get forgotten! Anyways...today is Wednesday, which can only mean one thing...Mrs Dunnit and her trusty followers are showing their crafting spaces...and here am I - a shy and retiring type normally (snort) showing off the sad state of my room!

This pic is Desk #2 where the boxes are sitting




This is the corner where the stash from my big unit is stacked...





And this pic is Desk #1 where all the crud is there sitting...waiting patiently to be sorted...and there was me thinking that the "Feel Sorry for Hels Fairy" would have done something with it during the night...ha! Not a chance LOL





And... cos it is Wednesday, it also means that there is a brand new challenge over on the Gingersnap Creations Blog...




The theme this week is FOUND OBJECTS... oh, how could I not join in with this one...actually...being part of their DT really was useful cos I made this a few weeks ago...what I could have said is that I made it yesterday while packing with the other hand and holding a duster in my teeth...but nay, I altered this spoon with Alcohol Inks and beads ... the ickle spidery thing that has only got 6 legs, so techernically speaking, it isn't a spider, was revamped...the body is a pearl, coloured with Alc Inks and I added in little gems for the eyes.





The hangy offy thing is an acorn I think...it is yonks old and was in an old trash box I found on my rummagey travels.




Anyways..back to the grindstone again now...best foot forward and all that ...actually, do I have a best foot? Come to think of it, both of my feet are more or less the same and I couldn't possibly favour one cos the other would feel left out and then sulk and give me jip...see, this is what packing does to you...makes you ramble on like a mad old bag....*who said that I did that before????* ROFL TTFN peeps...apologies if I don't get around to you all today...I wish I could just sit and play in Blogland but that packing won't do itself...am sure you will understand though..oh, and this will be my very last WOYWW from the Room of Stash @ 62 - next time, it will be from Room One 4 - I know, I am poncing about giving my craft room a name when I should be packing...see, aversion tactics again....I gotta go.....byeeeeeeee
Hels x

No Art Today....

...We went to London yesterday afternoon and visited our usual haunts...Covent Garden being one of them...I love the little stalls there and got my bartering hat on and managed to bag myself some fab booty just ripe for altering and adding to art work.




I have been after some letterpress blocks for ages...my Grandfather apparently used to have a little printing press in the shed...how fab that would have been to be able to get my inky mits on some of those things! Anyway... I bought six blocks...my initials... and the word ART...and a fab little drawer which is just telling me I have to add little pieces of art to each compartment...it is so lovely that I couldn't do too much to it...and it even has Fleet St, London debossed into the top of it. The stall had a whole array of amazing pieces but some of them were just out of my price range!







I then went and did some more haggling and got myself some old spoons...I love old cutlery and altering it to make stuff...and some little bits and bobs..including a little pen nib holder...and inside I found four little gold nibs...all of them gold plated too :O))




The little mousey and bigger mousey are just so cute...they will appear somewhere on my artwork soon I am sure. So...I was out for a few hours yesterday...overdid it a bit and now can hardly move...so no playing for me today...but I will leave you with a piccie of a few spoons I altered about a year ago...they were my first attempts so aren't as good as I would like..but now I have more spoons to play I can only improve LOL **btw, we filled our faces with the most delish Chinese buffet - another reason why I can't move LOL**




Thanks for looking...don't forget that the Sunday Stamper challenge is still open and all entries are in with a chance of winning my entry artwork.

Hels x

Altered Cutlery......A Spoonful of Sprinkles

Morning!

I joined in with a monthly swap over on UKStampers and the theme this month is to alter a piece of cutlery.

How could I resist a swap like this? I love altering things and especially seem to have a bit of a thing about altering spoons....to the point that I have raided eBay and bagged myself a big bumper lot of old spoons and forks!

Here is the spoon that I altered:




The spoon is an old fashioned dessert spoon so it is a nice size to play with. I used Purple Twilight and Juniper Alcohol Inks from Ranger to colour the spoon as it was originally a very dirty looking silver. Once the alcohol ink layer was on, I sat and threaded lots of beads and metal charms onto a piece of wire....this took aaaages but I love the finished look - wrapping it around the spoon handle and then securing it underneath a piece of an old earring which I coloured with silver Krylon.




I sat a big fat pink pearl in the middle of the old earring part and then using silicone glue, I added lots of Microbeads to the end of the spoon and also to the pearl so cover up the thread holes in it.




I am well chuffed with the finished look and just hope that it is ok for the swap !!! I have to admit that again, my photography is letting me down...no matter how many pics I have tried to take of this spoon, none of them make it look as pretty as it is in the "flesh".

Thanks for looking and have a great day....I am feeling more like my old self again so am off for a day in the room of stash....am looking forward to getting inky and messy again!

Oh, and don't forget to pop by tomorrow as there will be a new Sunday Stamper theme set first thing in the morning.....thanks!

Hels x

Objet D'Art Challenge #1

Evening all,

A brand new Challenge blog has started this evening and I am really excited about it because it is all about my favest thing....Altered Art :O))

The Blog is called Objet D'Art and can be found here.

Here is what needs to be done - I have copied the words straight from the Blog - saves me typing them out!!

"If you haven't already guessed this is a participation theatre and you are required to make something, anything, you like from ANY Kitchen utensil! Tonight the sieve, the saucepan, the wooden spoon or chopping block is centre stage! Let your imagination run riot, use those long forgotten beads or papers, or stamps you bought long ago , and make something sensational from any kitchen utensil."

I used to collect old spoons so I raided the box they are stored in and altered three of them as my entry to the challenge.

The first is an old fashioned baby feeding spoon so it has a curly handle:

Here is the before piccie


And here are the pics of the "after" - once I had sploshed Alcohol inks all over it, covering my fingers, hands, desk and t shirt in the process LOL. I also added some wire, micro beads and a couple of pearls. It is the first time I have ever used wire on a project and I have to say, I really enjoyed using it!







I got really carried away once I had finished this spoon and ended up altering another two!! I used the same method of alcohol inking the spoons and then adding the micro beads and wires...but the last one had a little extra added....by way of a little plastic Gecko that I coated with Zig Zag glue and then dipped into gold metal flakes...and then wired his body and tail.







I can feel a new addiction coming on here you know...and, I have even managed to root out a few more spoons to alter, so watch this space!

This is a great new Challenge Blog and I highly recommend you pop over and have a look and have a play too.

Thanks for looking

Hels x