Budget ($1) Projects | An Altered Obsession

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Spring Floral Peekaboo Frame

Posted on May 19, 2009 by alteredobsession

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This was a fun little frame that came together really easily using some papers from an 8×8 pack of Making Memories papers. These $1 frames from Michael’s just happen to be the perfect size to allow you to use an 8×8 in its entirety. This collection from Making Memories happened to have a lot of diecut papers in it and while flipping through them I found that I really liked the way the text looked behind this floral cutout so I Mod Podged them on as is. You’ll notice the overhang on the sides (these frames aren’t perfectly square) – adding a couple of additional layers of Mod Podge to the front and back stabilizes those overhangs nicely. I also added some glittery Scribbles (Duncan) to the flower openings to jazz them up a bit and then layered some Prima flowers for the corner. The beads I used as the flower centers were from Flair from several years ago, but you can find coin-shaped beads like that in most bead departments of your local craft store.

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Filed under: "Home Dec Project", Altered, beads, Budget ($1) Projects, frames, Making Memories, Mod Podge, Prima, published, Scribbles, SNR, wood | 14 Comments »

Primitive Bird Wall Hanging

Posted on May 16, 2009 by alteredobsession

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Plaid recently came out with these packages of mdf cutouts in various shapes. My nearest Michael’s only seems to carry a few of the shapes (which, of course, makes me want the others like crazy – doesn’t it always work that way?) and I picked up a package of these cute little primitive birds to play with. I used Mod Podge to adhere some Prima papers and then some quick button eyes. I made the holes to hang them with using a Crop-a-dile. The bows are simply pieces of old raffia ribbon (I think this particular one was from DMD) scrunched in the middle then wrapped with twine. I hung everything from a branch from my backyard using the same twine.

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Filed under: "Home Dec Project", Altered, Budget ($1) Projects, Mod Podge, Prima, wood | 7 Comments »

Random Pendants

Posted on February 23, 2009 by alteredobsession

Just a couple of quick pendants I made using old Magic Scraps metal tags covered with tiny scraps of paper and covered in Glossy Accents. Added outline stickers to the one and Stickles to the edges of the other. Haven’t figured out what I’m going to do with them yet, was just testing the suitability of the metal tags as a base material.

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Filed under: "Glossy Accents", Bo Bunny, Budget ($1) Projects, Jewelry | 1 Comment »

Adore Candle Holder

Posted on February 19, 2009 by alteredobsession

This was a fun project! Ever made your own “glass glitter”? Great for working out frustrations, lol!

After Christmas I purchased some clearance gold ball ornaments. The super cheap kind that I think ended up costing about $.75 for a package of 24 mini’s (about 1.5″ diameter, I think). To set up for this, I took an old wooden kitchen cutting board (this is going to mangle it, so don’t use your good one!) You could also use just a sheet of scrap wood. Grab some protective eyewear as well!

I put a few baubles at a time (remove the metal hanger part) into a ziploc baggie (you’ll go through several of these as well) and just started pounding on it with a hammer to break them up. Every so often, add more baubles and as the baggie gets too beat up to be sure you’re containing all the tiny shards, switch to a new one. Keep hammering until the shards are a size to your liking (you’ll have a mixture ranging from the shards down to dust all mixed together). I store mine in an old Prima bottle and it’s so pretty!

Now, for the candle holder itself, I grabbed a little votive holder from the dollar store (you can get these cheap ones just about anywhere from your local craft store to dollar stores to department stores). I used Helmar’s Professional Acid Free Glue – which is a white glue that sets clear. Holding the candle holder from the inside, SMOTHER the outside in this glue. You want a thick coating that isn’t running down the glass though. Then just start adding the glitter, pressing it in and working with it to be sure it’s not “melting” down the side. At this point, it honestly looks like crud. The white glue WILL take a few days to completely dry to clear because it’s on so thick and being covered with the glitter doesn’t allow air to get to it quickly. Patience! I set mine on its bottom, then a few hours later smooshed things back into place that had run a bit and flipped it over. Repeat this until it’s no longer sliding around on the glass and then just wait for it to finish drying to clear (you can see this by looking through the inside).

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To finish it off, I found this velvet ribbon with slider from EK (an older line – can’t remember if it was that family line or the Rebecca Sower line). It was originally self-adhesive, but of course I used some more of the Helmar to be sure it was going to stick to this bumpy surface. I also pre-bent the curve into the slider before attaching it. That’s it!

This looks awesome with a light in it. I use those little battery operated tealight candles in anything I’m not sure I can wash out if candle wax drips. It looks even better in a little grouping of candles with the light from the other candles flickering off of this one!

Filed under: "Home Dec Project", Altered, Budget ($1) Projects, candle holder, DT Work, Helmar, holiday decor, Valentine's Day | 5 Comments »

New Post Up at the Helmar DT Blog

Posted on February 17, 2009 by alteredobsession

Come check out another version of handmade beads at the Helmar DT blog! Here’s a sneak peak of the bracelet I made.

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Instructions to make these beads are on the Helmar site, but I just wanted to go into a little more detail on the self-adhesive denim I used. This is by a company called Shortcuts who was purchased by DMD a few years back. I’m not positive if they are still producing this particular line, but it included printable, self-adhesive vellums, canvas (no, Ranger did not come up with something brand new), denim, mulberry paper, metals, and more. It’s a fabulous line!

Also, just a quick note – I have also glued down the bead caps to the ends of the beads to avoid that disjointed look. I’ll try to get a pic of it later!

Filed under: beads, Budget ($1) Projects, DT Work, Helmar, Jewelry, Paper Beads, Technique, Tutorials | 2 Comments »

Love is All You Need Magnet

Posted on February 15, 2009 by alteredobsession

This was a quick little project that pretty much just came from the need to play with the Basic Grey Bittersweet line some more. 😉 I used a chipboard heart from Making Memories and covered it with the striped paper. Then the hearts and quote are both stickers I layered and then edged with Distress Stickles (Ranger). The dots around the edges are more Distress Stickles. Added 3 small button magnets to the back using Helmar’s 450 Quick Dry Glue and voila – instant love for my fridge.

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Filed under: Basic Grey, Budget ($1) Projects, chipboard, Helmar, holiday decor, Making Memories, Stickles, Valentine's Day | 3 Comments »

New Helmar Project – Bittersweet Bracelet

Posted on January 30, 2009 by alteredobsession

I have instructions for this bracelet up on the Helmar Adhesives DT blog this morning! 🙂 Come check out the picture of the whole bracelet and find out how to make your own

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And don’t forget the Helmar USA giveaway ends Saturday, January 31, as well, so make sure you’ve entered here!

Just spread the word about Helmar USA’s fabulous adhesives (seriously, they really are!) and you could get this in the mail to keep you busy!

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Here’s the details on how to get your chance at one of TWO prize packages that will be drawn tomorrow:

Here are the guidelines. Post a message, photos, links, information, etc. (be creative) on your blogs/message boards/etc. about your excitement for Helmar Adhesives. Leave a comment attached to this post with a link to your post. Let us know your favorite products! How you heard of us, a link to our website (www.helmarusa.com), which product are you most excited to try. Tell the world we will be at CHA Winter 2009 in Anaheim booth #2260 and have them stop by and see the Helmar Team! Every individual post counts as an entry so the more posts increases your odds of winning (please leave one comment with a link to your post for each individual post).

Filed under: Basic Grey, Budget ($1) Projects, chipboard, DT Work, giveaway, Helmar, Jewelry, Kids crafts, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Catching up – Love Blocks

Posted on January 29, 2009 by alteredobsession

Wow. I keep sitting down to blog and just can’t seem to get it done, lol! Re-discovered Twittering though, lol, so if you REALLY want to know what’s happening in the oh-so-exciting life of Jenna, you’re welcome to follow me! I’m michaelcsmommyj on there, since I can’t for the life of me figure out how to put one of those cute little feeds in my sidebar (WordPress has issues with different kinds of code being put on their blogs – apparently the version I tried wasn’t well liked…). 🙂

Meanwhile, I have all kinds of things I need to get caught up on here! Some projects that I can share (hehe, and some I can’t!), news, several weeks worth of Shout Outs, lol!

So let’s start with a project I made for the Helmar Adhesives DT. Have I mentioned how much I love their adhesives? I’m waiting for our DT coordinator to send out new boxes of everything I’ve already run out of, lol! This started out as just four little unfinished 1.5″ wood blocks (Lara’s Crafts).

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I painted all the edges pink (Making Memories) then trimmed the Basic Grey paper to fit. I used the Helmar Professional Acid Free Glue to adhere the papers to the wood – this really works well for this purpose and dries fast so you can keep moving right along! I used the Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive to attach the letters. The letters are actually old L’il Davis Designs clay letters. They were originally gold and silver but I dabbed on some of the Making Memories paint then added some glitter (Art Institute Glitter) over the top of the wet paint.

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I spritzed some Prima flowers (using flowers to mimic leaves as well) lightly with Glimmer Mists and attached them and the rhinestone centers (Westrim) with the Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive as well.

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The final step was to use Swarovski beads (Cousin Corp) and Helmar Gemstone Glue to build up the final tower. It makes a nice little decor item for a tabletop. 🙂

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Filed under: "Home Dec Project", Altered, Basic Grey, beads, Budget ($1) Projects, DT Work, Glimmer Mists, Helmar, holiday decor, Making Memories, Prima, Uncategorized, Valentine's Day, wood | 7 Comments »

Another Birdhouse

Posted on January 23, 2009 by alteredobsession

It’s been a while since I’ve made one of these! I’ve missed it. But I pre-painted up several of them so plan on seeing some more here soon!

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This one used some K & Co. papers I fell in love with. They match my living room, lol. Or at least two of the colors in my living room. anyways, I took some felt flowers from Creative Impressions and spritz them with Glimmer Mist and then added Making Memories crystal brads to the center. But wait! I used Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive to attach them. Tracy, our DT leader had mentioned that the 450 wasn’t suitable for use with flat-backed crystals because it reacted with the backs of them. Well, enough of the glue went past the prongs and hit the crystal backs. And reacted. And it is actually a really cool look, lol! It’s no longer got that faceted crystal look, but more of a crackled…I don’t know, but I like it.

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I also used the Helmar 450 to attach this metallic ribbon from Michael’s to the rooflines. It’s a slippery ribbon, so the quick grab on the 450 made this soooo much easier.

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And, of course, Mod Podge and acrylic paint from Plaid round out the supply list.

Filed under: Altered, birdhouse, Budget ($1) Projects, DT Work, felt, Glimmer Mists, Helmar, Making Memories, Mod Podge, wood | 6 Comments »

Christmas Tree Frame

Posted on January 9, 2009 by alteredobsession

This was a fun frame to make. I used the $1 wood frame from Michael’s (of course, lol), and really wanted to show off the Basic Grey paper, simply because I like it. Of course, it needed some bling though.

I love, love LOVE the Making Memories glitter glaze. I’ve come across people time and time again who are disappointed in it and every single time, it’s because they are assuming it will work like paint. And it won’t! Same with the pearl (also fabulous), gold and silver glazes. These should be used the same way you would a glaze for your walls in your home. They are meant to highlight your base color in some way, not to BE the main color. Use these with a sponge, bubble wrap, a rag, any of the techniques you would on your walls! Personally, my usual choice is a wet (not dripping, but definitely more than damp – especially with the glitter glaze) makeup sponge. You’ll find these glazes to be very thick, so the water makes them “spread” easier. I put a bit onto a piece of wax paper or some other nonstick disposable surface (product packaging works nicely as well) and tap off my excess before moving to my project. You can keep adding more as needed, but once it’s on there, if you use too much, there’s not much chance of fixing it. Usually I pounce it on, but for this frame, I rubbed it on in a vertical direction so it gave more of a streaked look that isn’t terribly evident in the photo. I also rubbed the glitter glaze on (with a wet finger – my favorite applicator tool!) to some felt flowers and added some glitter brads (Making Memories) to the centers.

The next fun thing I used was Fantasy Snow from Delta. This is a very textural product but kind of a pain to work with. It needs to be applied with something like a palette knife (if you do not own one of these, a popsicle stick will work, but seriously – go to the craft store and get a palette knife anyways – you can pick up a plastic one for about a buck and it’s worth it to have on hand for various things!) and while it’s wet, getting it to stick WHERE you want it can be frustrating. Once it’s dry, however, it’s rock solid and shimmers like crazy from the mica inclusions.

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Filed under: Altered, Basic Grey, Budget ($1) Projects, Christmas, felt, frames, holiday decor, Making Memories, Mod Podge, published, Technique, wood | 10 Comments »

Christmas Frame

Posted on January 8, 2009 by alteredobsession

This was another simple frame. I used the basic $1 wooden frame from Michael’s and added paper and a tag from a Hot Off the Press 8×8 Christmas pad. Something to note, 8×8 fits these frames almost perfectly. You still have to trim, but with the exception of the middle cutout, you’ll get almost the entire design onto your frame! I dressed up the design a bit (this page was fairly “complete”) using Glossy Accents (Ranger), Scribbles (Duncan), and some acrylic domes from Tulip (Duncan) to create the tree on the bottom right.

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Filed under: "Glossy Accents", Budget ($1) Projects, Christmas, holiday decor, Mod Podge, Scribbles, wood | 1 Comment »

Joys of the Season Ornament

Posted on January 6, 2009 by alteredobsession

Last of the little sign ornaments – I promise! The patterned paper is from HOTP. The stamp is from Wordsworth (I always loved their stuff!). Ink and Stickles from Ranger. The epoxy buttons are from Making Memories.

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Filed under: Altered, Budget ($1) Projects, Christmas, holiday decor, Making Memories, Stickles, wood | Leave a comment »

Wooden Sign Ornament Trio

Posted on January 2, 2009 by alteredobsession

Here are a few more of the ornaments I’ve been making from my little wooden signs. I really have enjoyed how quickly these come together – I suppose one could make them much more complex, but I think they’re fun as is, just using some quick rubons and baubles. This little trio went into the November/December issue of SNR. Again, I simply painted them a base coat of white. The rubons are from Making Memories, the bows from EK (they were actually part of a sticker set), the rhinestone from Westrim, Stickles from Ranger, and these darling “Changles” charms from Provo. I’m thinking I might do a mini tree just with these sign ornaments for next year! Maybe with some fabric bows?

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Filed under: Altered, Budget ($1) Projects, Christmas, EK Success, holiday decor, Making Memories, ornaments, published, SNR, Stickles, wood | 2 Comments »

No snow day, so the Christmas party is on!

Posted on December 19, 2008 by alteredobsession

I was torn. I really was. On the one hand, the thought of a snow (ice)day made me happy, knowing that if the roads were iffy I’d have to drive into town to Michael’s school for the party and I hate winter driving. BUT, after making 20 of these

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to help fill 20 of these

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for all of Michael’s classmates, I probably would have been disappointed, lol! I’m going in this morning to help with the schoolwide cocoa celebration (they’re even bringing Santa in this year!), then off to the separate classrooms for fun and storytime (they all wore their pajamas this morning) for the rest of the day. It’s a photo op I’ve been looking forward to, lol! So luckily not nearly as much of last night and this morning’s rain turned to ice as they expected. Traffic through my street has been moving at a normal pace and I haven’t seen any slipping. And my own sidewalk is MUCH less slippery due to the rain washing away most of my ice and leftover snow.

For the wooden ornaments, they are more of the Darice wooden signs I’ve been using for ornaments (these are the smallest sizes), painted with pearl white (it has a mica in it) Jo Sonja’s. A word about this paint. A company called Chroma out of Australia makes this and it is FABULOUS. hands down, it is my favorite acrylic paint. It comes in a tube rather than a bottle and is much thicker (very much like the proverbial “butter”) than your standard craft acrylic. It’s a definite step above your Apple Barrel, Ceramcoat, and the like (Making Memories paints fall into this craft category), but a step below your fine art acrylics like Golden. For most applications, one coat is sufficient. The colors are rich and as the tube says, “velvet matte finish”. It’s not cheap. But it’s well worth the price. I don’t use it on paper, but LOVE it on wood, acrylic, and such. I bought an entire CASE (closeout because it had been in a display) back when I was with Herr’s.

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Ok. Commercial over, lol!

Back to the ornaments. I kept it very simple and just kept adding more of the rubons from the same Making Memories rubon booklet (this booklet has given me soooo many projects and there are still a ton left in there!). Some American Crafts ribbon, some Stickle action, and I called it a day. All in all, they took me about 2 and a half hours from starting with the paint to setting them aside for the Stickles to dry. For 20 of them. Not bad. AND, figuring up the cost of materials used (and using percentages of things like the rubons), I think the whole project was probably about $4. Definitely not bad!

Well, off to the school!

Filed under: Altered, American Crafts, Budget ($1) Projects, Christmas, holiday decor, Making Memories, ornaments, Stickles, wood | 5 Comments »

Wintery Frame

Posted on December 18, 2008 by alteredobsession

I made this frame (of course it’s one of the Michael’s $1 frames) last weekend from a sketch challenge at SNR’s Christmas crop. I had skipped some elements (stitching around the outside and the title and journaling section in the top left corner). The papers are all Basic Grey, outlined with my favorite – cinnamon Stickles. The whole thing is also heavily sprayed down with Glimmer ist (especially the sides – the silvery blue over the brown paint ties in really nicely with the papers on the front) The picture of it has been sitting here on my computer waiting to be posted, but the frame itself has been sitting on top of my monitor mocking me. Sitting across the room from it last night I finally figured out I didn’t like it the way it was and finally knew why. Here’s how it originally looked:

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Yup, it needed a snowflake up in that corner! I had known I wanted to use it with a snow day pic of my son (which is also why I “moved” the big roundish element from the bottom right hand corner up a bit – originally it was more of a side of a sunset look and I wanted more of a snowball look so pulled it out of the corner a bit). So how I hadn’t thought of adding a snowflake before eludes me. 🙂 Maybe because I’m rebelling against winter in general, lol – the only good snowflake is a crafted version, IMO! So anyways, here’s the final version. It’s grungeboard (LOVE this holiday themed set – so glad I begged my lss to get it in for me!) I squished it onto my moonlight white Brilliance pad (my go-to inkpad for snowflakes this winter, lol) then hit it with the same Glimmer Mist (Frost) to get the blue tones into it. Adhered it with some Helmar Scrap Dots to pop it up a bit then edged it with the cinammon Stickles. I layered a second grungeboard snowflake covered in Stickles over it with more Helmar Scrap Dots (really loving this stuff!). I almost started fluffing with it some more, digging through my embellishments to see what ELSE I could add to it, but much as I love the whole layered/piled on look, I just can’t make myself do it most of the time. I get to a point and just decide “it’s done”. One of these days though – because I’ll NEVER whittle this stash down if I don’t start getting it USED, lol!

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Filed under: Altered, Basic Grey, Budget ($1) Projects, frames, Glimmer Mists, Helmar, holiday decor, sketch, Stickles, Uncategorized, wood | 2 Comments »

Tis the Season Wooden Gift Bag

Posted on December 10, 2008 by alteredobsession

I love these. They’re only $1 (I usually get mine at Michael’s – they carry them year round but at Christmas they always have extras in multiple areas) and are one of the easiest things to alter. I’m just starting this year’s collection to give to teachers, bus drivers, etc. Usually I fill them with candy, but with the healthy eating thing going on at the school I’m trying to think of other ideas (help!). Sigh. But at least our adorable new bus driver can get chocolate! 🙂

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I’m not sure why, but I’ve had this tendency lately to want to mix styles. Like this casual stripe with my swirlies and elegant look to the embossing. The paper is actually a NON-Christmas one, from an older Bo Bunny line. The stamp is from HOTP and embossed with gold EP from Comotion. The flower is my favorite though. I bought this package of four of them last year at the dollar store. Yup – $1 for for 4 of them, bells included. I took this one apart and used a swirly stamp (HOTP again) on it and glittery red “Tinsel” embossing powder from Ranger. I liked the tone on tone look it gave and added just the right touch of elegance to a cheap dollar store find, lol! The original flower was attached to a slightly longer stem that ended in a big adhesive pop dot, basically. I didn’t want it sticking out that far so I clipped off about 1/4″ of the stem thing and used my new best friend, Helmar’s 450 adhesive. Hehe – that poinsettia is never coming off!

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Filed under: Altered, Bo Bunny, Budget ($1) Projects, Christmas, DT Work, holiday decor, Mod Podge, WGB, wood | Tagged: Helmar | Leave a comment »

Super Quick Candle Holder

Posted on December 9, 2008 by alteredobsession

Need inexpensive gifts you can whip up in absolutely NO time? Last minute dinner party and want to dress up your table? Check this out! I picked up some of these little brandy-snifter looking glass candle holders a while back (ok, so maybe they’ve been hanging around for a year, lol) I think at Hobby Lobby and I know they were cheap (maybe $2?) or I wouldn’t have picked up as many as I did. This will work with any inexpensive candle holder, but I love the shape of these because they lend themselves so nicely to adding ribbon around the bottom.

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Shhhh – I am in dire need of a class on how to tie bows. I just can’t do it! So I cheated here and chose a ruffly ribbon and simply wrapped it around a few times and glued it.

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I had some holiday rubons from Heidi Grace that had designs and borders and honestly, I don’t do borders. Remember back when all stickers came like that – a 6×12″ sheet with some “stuff” and some matching borders? Yea, I think I still have piles of those borders left, lol! BUT, they were magnificent for the rim of this candle holder! The center design is actually several other pieces of other designs I just kept adding bits of until I liked the way it looked. Add some ribbon (from Making Memories Noteworthy line), and voila! Instant pretty little gift for a neighbor who stops by unexpectedly, your child’s teacher, your aerobics instructor…anyone! It will hold either tealight candles (it would be so pretty with a holiday scented one in a clear cup but this was what I had handy when I wanted to take a pic, lol) or votives. You can use any shape or size of glass holder as well.

Yes, getting rubons onto curved glass is a little tricky. So here’s my trick. I center my design, but don’t stick it down in the middle – move off to one side or the other and press that side down firmly. Hold it down for dear life with one hand and begin rubbing with the other. Gently move your fingers as needed, but do it so that there is always one finger holding it firmly in place at all times. Do this a section at a time from one side to the other by simply moving one finger a bit further (leaving one finger in place so it doesn’t move) each time you’re ready to move to another section. Wow. I think I’m making it sound more complicated than it really is, lol!

There are so many lovely holiday rubons out right now and a little goes a long way. Keeping it simple saves time (and money!) but looks elegant and timeless. You could literally put together a dozen of these in an hour or so and just have them tucked away for whenever you need them. This is also a great way to use up extra rubons on sheets you’ve used for other purposes. Try putting in some non-holiday ones as well and you’ll always have a last minute gift for any occasion. After all, who doesn’t love a great smelling candle in a lovely holder?

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Filed under: Altered, Budget ($1) Projects, candle holder, Christmas, holiday decor | 8 Comments »

Christmas Mini Birdhouse

Posted on December 7, 2008 by alteredobsession

Still loving these mini birdhouses! I had really hoped to do up a little village of them, but that’s probably going to have to wait until next year, lol! But at least this one is done, and I have one more almost done. All the papers on this one are from American Crafts (from last year’s collection, or maybe the year before?). I pulled out one of my ancient deco-edged scissors for the roofline. All the little felt embellishments are also from American Crafts. Scribbles made quick work of adding little “ornaments” to the trees and wreath. I also added fake snow from DecoArt. This comes in a little tub and has “flakes”, for lack of a better term. It’s a little awkward to work with – you need to apply it with a palette knife or something similar. But it’s much sparklier than the photograph shows – really a fun product. I was thinking it would make a cute ornament as well if someone wanted to add a hanger to it. I actually ended up donating this to the little girls next door’s school holiday fundraiser sale. I have no idea what price they put on it, but their mom came home at lunchtime and said it had sold almost immediately so that made me happy! I hope whoever bought it enjoys it!

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Filed under: Altered, American Crafts, birdhouse, Budget ($1) Projects, Christmas, felt, holiday decor, Mod Podge, ornaments, Scribbles, wood | 2 Comments »

My Christmas tree is full…

Posted on December 3, 2008 by alteredobsession

I still have an entire box of ornaments that didn’t make it onto the tree, and I still keep making more! Have I mentioned how much I love Christmas and creating for Christmas? Well I do. I keep all my Christmas themed supplies separate and love to paw through them and make stuff pretty much year round (I just don’t subject you to them year round, lol). I usually add a bunch of new each year, however I’m a traditional kinda gal. To me, it’s just not Christmas if it’s not red and green. Now this includes almost every variation of red and green including burgundy and evergreen, holly and ivy, and all that. I draw the line at pink though. And lime. This is the second (or is it third?) year where these colors have popped up in sooooo many collections. I’m waving my white flag at the manufacturers – I’m done! I have tried to create using those colors and it’s just not Christmas to me!

Ok. Off my soap box, lol! Just had to get that out of my system. On to today’s little ornament. I found this bag of little wooden signs at either Michael’s or Hobby Lobby (sorry, can’t remember which – it’s been a while). They weren’t meant to be seasonal or anything, just in the unfinished wood section in a bag. A big, lovely 1 lb. bag. And that bag was only about $6 (it’s been months, lol, sorry for my indeciseveness)…or $5? Anyways, it was cheap. With lots and lots of a variety of little wooden signs.

I think I originally saw this and thought of making little magnets, but hadn’t gotten around to it and just came across the bag a couple of weeks ago and the ornament lightbulb went off in my head. There will be plenty left for magnets later, lol!

I put several of these wooden ornaments into the upcoming Nov/Dec double issue of Scrapbook News + Review (look for it to drop on the 6th!), but am still playing. Wood is such a great base to play with – it takes paints, inks, sprays, papers, heat embossing…love it’s versatility. I base coated a bunch of them in white and have just grabbed one whenever the mood strikes (so I have a little graveyard of unfinished ones drying here and there, lol). This particular ornament I stamped on. The stamp is from Wordsworth (now there’s a company I really miss!), heat embossed in black and then colored in using Sakura glaze pens with tiny dabs of Stickles for the ornament tops. A couple of ribbon scraps and some tiny jingle bells I’ve managed to keep hidden from Michael (who absconds with them then leaves them here and there so the cat absconds with them and I hear them rolling across the floor in the middle of the night…) and a Making Memories rubon. So about 10 minutes if you don’t include the drying time. Not bad. I love little projects like this that can give you a creative “quickie”. 😉

Filed under: Altered, Budget ($1) Projects, Christmas, holiday decor, ornaments, Sakura, Stickles, wood | 5 Comments »

Bluebell Bracelet

Posted on November 25, 2008 by alteredobsession

Another piece from the Wearables section of the October issue of Scrapbook News + Review. Just a simple, fun little bracelet using Bo Bunny paper Mod Podged to small wood tiles. Each tile got edged with Stickles then I used a Crop-A-Dile to get the holes for the jumprings. I added some coordinating beads to the jumprings because I had to use such large jumprings it just looked empty until those little beads made everything come together! The magnetic clasp made this much easier to put on/take off.

In answer to the question about where to find the tiles, I buy lots and lots of similar items. Check in any craft store in the unfinished wood section. They are usually bagged and hanging and come in various shapes, sizes, and mixes – all very inexpensive. Please note that there will generally be some warped pieces in each bag so just check each piece before you use it and if you need a certain number, grab an extra bag just to be sure you have enough.

As for using Scrabble tiles, yes, you can make a bracelet with them, however I would probably change how you do it. Since a Crop-A-Dile isn’t going to go through it, you’ll need to use a drill. Because the tiles are smaller than these (but much thicker), I’d recommend going through from the side rather than the top and stringing them rather than having to use really huge jumprings.

Filed under: Bo Bunny, Budget ($1) Projects, Jewelry, Mod Podge, published, SNR, Stickles, wood | 6 Comments »

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