Modern Decor mixes with Vintage Altered Art

Here is G45 paper on the back of a wooden block. Embellished with black ribbon.

It warms up my game table in the hallway that connects to Doug's office.

I love these scenes in G45 papers. These are masculine and it is hard to find nice masculine papers. I put them on wood, ribbon wrapped them, inked them up a bit for a more vintage look and added them to my modern decor.

G 45 paper turned to wood blocks for decor.

My vintage tin basket of eggs inspired by G45 papers.

I started by using alcohol ink to add more definition and aged color to a green tin.

I also inked the eggs. Others I tore and paper pieced G45 papers. Added ribbon, lace, flowers, and buttons---some were finished in a crackle glaze and others in glossy glaze.

I am finally downloading some of my latest creations. I was using some of my favorite Graphic 45 papers again to cover and alter easter eggs. I also covered large blocks of wood with G45, crackled, and edged with black ribbon. These make a great statement anywhere in the home. I love the vintage designs mixed with my modern decor.

My husband is an architect and loves cutting edge design. I do too, but sometimes find it stark and steril. So when we decorated our home I used warm colors so it wasn't so cold. It has been a challenge and it is still a work in process. I have recently started to add warmth into the environment using my altered projects.

The Biggest Looser Inspires

I haven't always watched the biggest looser. In fact, at the beginning of the season I only caught a few of the episodes. But as soon as I figured out what was blocking my TiVo from recording the episodes I started catching up to speed. My daughter likes to watch it with me and my oldest son, who is 19, has been sucked in as his girlfriend is a huge fan. It was while watching this weeks episode that I thought, "wow, these people are amazing". I love the camera shots in the beginning that showed them when they first came on the show to now at week 17.

I have been fighting my weight on and off since my fourth child almost 13 years ago. When I got pregnant with number five I was at the largest I had been in my life and during pregnancy adding 30 pounds to that was almost defeating. Last year I lost 40 pounds by cutting back my food intake and trying the be careful with what I put in my mouth. It was a slow road but put me down four sizes. I feel better--but I still have a good 60 pounds to shed to feel terrific. Since the holidays I started eating again. I promised myself "just through the holidays". After the New Year I came up with a new plan--I would give myself until February to begin. And so you see what was supposed to stop in January crept into February, straight into March, onto April and it didn't stop there because it is now May. UGH! I feel like I want to scream! Actually I am screaming as I write this down. Admitting it is the hardest thing for me. You see, I dug out the scale and decided to weigh myself today. I have now gained back 10 of those pounds.

But instead of feeling defeated I am feeling inspired. The main reason is this weeks episode of "The Biggest Looser". Wow, they ran a marathon. That is something I have always thought I would love to do but knew that I could never make it. Seeing them made me feel that I can do anything I put my mind to. I am hoping with this new perspective and the positive motivtion that the Biggest Looser has given me that I can once again begin my weight loss journey. Through this I hope to become, once again, the person I know I am. The person who is currently hiding deep down behind those emotional layers of FAT. Cheers to The Biggest Looser, and here's to the beginning of a new journey.

THANKS American Idol

Those that know me also know that I am not a huge television fan. This may stem from being a mother of five and worrying about what my children will be exposed to on prime time television. For instance when "The Office" first premered my husband immediately became a fan. To our delight we felt that our teenage children would be fine watching. But by the next season things changed....as they always do...and what was once clean and fun humor became tainted. Same with "Chuck" and so forth. I feel that American Idol is still SAFE to watch with my kids. This season in particular we have been huge AI fans. Every Tuesday and Wednesday nights we take the remote control away from Doug (Dad) and tell him it is our night. The funny thing is that he has started to enjoy it too! ha ha ha! American Idol to me is amazing because during those two hours or more per week my teenage kids and I have something in common, can laugh together, enjoy time together, and bond together. So here's my big THANKS to American Idol!!

Keep Your Face

(sorry the images are not that great, I need to retake many of my photos using my husbands "nice" camera!)

I made this altered art wall hanging from an old photo of one of my grandmother's sisters. I loved how she was sitting on a bench just looking down. As I paper pieced the background using graphics 45 papers I loved how the ladies looked, so sophisticated...and my dear great Aunt was begging to say, "After forty a woman has to choose between losing her figure or her face. My idea is to keep your face, and stay sitting down." (quote from Barbara Cartland). I used a 5X7 canvas board to begin with and my favorite glue medium is modge podge.

I used ink to antique, used stamps to add more texture, cut out her wings and crown, used crystals for detail work, a vintage button, velvet flower, and watered down acrylic paint in "candy bar". I finished her off by adding a black velvet ribbon for hanging.

Twitter House

My Twitter House...it reads, "He's Twittering"....."She's Twitter-Patted"....the bird is singing "Twitter Tweet Tweet"

I found these wooden house blocks, pretty basic, at a store and bought them after Christmas for real cheap. They went into my large pile of "I can do something with that someday" pile. Well, it was time and since I have been inspired to work with one of my favorite paper lines this past week, Graphics 45, I decided it was begging to be covered. I had this great idea to make doors really open and used a European vintage post card photo inside the door. I used two vintage ladies up in the windows and a bird. Now for words...what to put? Well, I was watching Oprah on Friday while doing this project and was inspired....She was talking about "twittering" and I just laughed, loving the name, twitter...which is the language that birds use to talk to each other. It also reminded me of when I was younger and someone had a crush on somebody my mom would always say, "they are twitter-patted". And so here is the house that was Twitter Inspired... To read it you start at the bottom, open the doors and it reads, "He's Twittering"; look up and you see a lovely lady and it reads, "She's twitter-patted" and then in the top window the bird sings, "twitter tweet tweet". Thanks Oprah, for the inspiration, it came at the right time and solved my creative dilema!

Stork with a Vintage Bundle of Babies

Here is a look at my Vintage G45 Baby Display.....do I need to set up a nursery or what??

Here are more vintage spoolies I made in the baby themed colors, with the g 45 papers. I love the one with the smokey green/blue ribbon. It has just a crystal adorned straight pin in it with two pink beads and a bird charm.

Bundle of Vintage Babies...ready for Delivery!!

I had a white bird on a post, aged it a bit with ink, and tied a beautiful smokey green/blue ribbon around it. I dug through some of my fabrics and found a great hand made doiley that my Aunt gave to me. She said that my grandmother had made it. I then took some multi colored soft yarn and stuffed it. Taking the Graphics 45 baby paper I cut out all the babies and placed them carfully in the folds of the little package. I then glued it on the storks beak---and there you have it, a bundle of babies ready for delivery!

Baby Keepsake Box

A little over a month ago I went to a friends baby shower and was given a little round box as a party favor. I added it to my collection of, "I can do something with this someday", and it's day came to be transformed. Using the same techniques as with the shelf (modge podge and water) I covered the box. Sealed it with modge podge, painted the rim and underneath the lid, added vintage lace with pearl embellishments, glitter, and here is the finished project.

Baby Card

Here is a baby card, I actually made this several months ago...and thought it would make a great addition to my baby display. It is very simple, but elegant. I hand antiqued the letters with ink. As shown here in this card, sometimes less is more.

More Blocks---Baby Themed

So the vintage blocks inspired another idea. Graphics 45 has a line of baby paper I love. Problem is I don't have any babies...at least any more (my five kids are all older now). But in that crate of old blocks were some perfectly square newer blocks. I had fun covering these using the same techniques as I did on my shelf. And this was just the first an entire baby line I designed. I hope this doesn't mean I will be getting pregnant....again...or worse yet, becoming a grandmother yet!

Vintage Blocks

I had these old blocks in my garage. I made many towers with my little brother, Michael Todd, using these very blocks. I reinvented them to match my shelf, using Graphics 45 papers. I used a fun techinique with these. I sealed the image with crackle medium. When it was dry I took brown acrylic paint and watered it way down....and then gently brushed that watered paint over the top and it colored in between the cracks nicely for a more vintage look.

A Shelf for My Liddle Kiddles...

You know those boxes of cards that you buy over at Costco? They are a nice thick card board, nice and sturdy, and you don't want to throw them away (if you are like me) because it would be a waste of a darn good nice box. So, I have several of those little boxes laying around in the garage. Earlier this week I was inspired. I have been wanting to clear out my laundryroom which is a mess and simplify. Maybe some paint but definately remake the space. The problem is that my laundryroom has become a dumping ground for several items. One thing I wanted to do was have a shelf to display my Liddle Kiddle collection. I have thought of making mini doll house shelving but never have gotten far. So when I saw the box I decided to cover this and make it into a cute little shelf. First I got out one of my favorite paper lines, Graphic 45, they have a great paper line of vintage scrap booking papers. I used several techniques to make the shelf. I found that using my favorite glue (modge podge) is hard on larger projects because the paper tends to bubble if you don't get equal coverage and that can ruin an entire project. The paper is double sided which means it is as thick as card stock. I found that by taking a large pan and filling it with a bit of water and then laying the paper I was using in the pan for just a few seconds did the trick. I then could use a boning tool and almost like wall papering a wall was able to put that paper on effortlessly. Be careful not to tear the paper, if you leave it in the water too long that will surely happen. You just want to barley dampen the paper. I then paper pieced the scenes inside the little shelves. After it was all dry I then sealed it up with matte modge podge so it can be cleaned through the years and will be water resistant. I then finished it off with facing the shelf with black velvet rick rack.

Polish the Dull Side....

I've been BUSY, BUSY, busy....What a week full of creativity. It has been fun sitting down each night (and sneeking a few hours in each afternoon) to work on my multi-media art projects. The down side is that I woke up this morning with a huge sinus infection. So, as I lay most of the day on the couch I decided to update my blog in between spurts of being able to hold my head up!! This happens to me every April (for the past three years) so I know that I am in for quite the week. At any rate I found a great quote recently that I love, "if you can't find the bright side of life, polish the dull side". I have felt lately that I am in a rutt and polishing that dull side for me is to create. Creating little chatzki's (as I like to call them) seems to be therapy to my soul. You should see my art room--it is a nightmare--but I find I am happiest when I am using my creative mind. I also like this quote, "When I die, please get to my craft room before my husband does, and bring a truck!" Not that I am going to die any time soon, but if he knew how much stuff I really do have the you know what might hit the fan!!

Altered Domino Accordion Books

My daughter and I had a great time during Spring Break making these Domonio Accordion Books and Domino Magnets. We brought two tables upstairs in front of the television and settled in for two days straight having fun creating while watching movies together. WE used alcohol inks on the dominoes themselves which proved to be addicting so turned some into magnets instead of books. We glazed some with glossy glaze and others with crackle glaze after we hand stamped images on with staz on ink. The butterfly is scrapbook paper from Graphics 45. We used Ranger distress inks for the accordion paper. The paper is plain white textured water color paper. We inked it up with the distress pad, sprayed it with water, and hung the paper to dry. After it was completely dry we were finally able to stamp our images in the book. The last step was to use a strong glue (Gorilla Glue was used here) to adhere the book to the domino covers. I finished my books off with closures, one ribbon as shown just wraps around and closes with a funky safety pin I had in my collection, I stranded a few pears on it along with a heart locket. The other (not shown) is a sheer ribbon that I made a "belt" closure with using a metal belt buckle type embellishment. I will be teaching a class using these fun techniques on May 2 at 10:00. I will also be teaching vintage spoolies. Thanks to Shannon for the pics posted....she has my work for sign ups. Hope to see you all in a few weeks at the class!

Beach Drive House

Doug has the day off, which is a rare because he is a work-a-holic, so we decided to load all five kids up and drive over to see his parents. Their dream house is finally DONE! It passed inspection this morning and they have occupancy. This is fun for Doug because he designed the house (with input of his parents) but he was able to create a modern interpretation of the traditional post and beam home. It turned out absolutely beautiful. I love the large windows, the railing, the see through fireplace, and especially the view! Other than that spring break has turned out to be a bummer as mother nature pulled an April Fools joke on us yesterday and snowed. Today it is raining buckets...I am now left to wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Altered Paper Dolls

I've seen many paper dolls around and they are amazing...I am just dying to make some. I have this idea to turn some photos of my children that I took this past summer into paper dolls to hang from our Family Home Evening chart. In my minds eye this is going to turn out pretty neat but since I haven't made an altered paper doll before it will be interesting to see how they turn out. I will post pictures when I am finished. Thanks to all those bloggers who have amazing paper dolls posted! I also found plenty of vintage era costume ideas on line to help with different themes. My idea is to represent each of my children's personalities themed in a certain time period that compliments what they enjoy doing. For instance, my midde son Jacob could either become a midevil Jester (because of his wit and humor) or I may make him into a vintage golfer since he loves the game of golf and is on the HS team. This is going to be FUN!! Here are two free paper dolls I found on line to share. Right click and save the image to your computer for printing.

I am FINALLY BLOGGING

Okay, I have said I was going to do this for a long time---even attempted it before---but I am finally an official BLOGGER. I love looking at other people's creative blogs and hope that I can inspire and share some of my creations with the web art world too! Check out my new web site where you can purchase some of my unique creations. Please bear with me, I am s-l-o-w-l-y getting things up and running. Enjoy your day : )