Go Figure...

~ My friend Laura of Katydiddy thankfully informed me of what's been wrecking havoc on my life. Little things acting up, making weird noises, strange things happening, just stuff. It's all blamed on Mercury Retrograde. You can read about it here. And what's worse, it just so happens to be focused on my sign, Aquarius! So if the electronics around your house, in your car , any where...are acting "kookey", read here to find out what you should not be doing till after February 19th!

Vintage Heart Swap Goodies

~Dolly from My Cherry Heart hosted this really fun Valentine swap! We were to fill a heart shaped box with all things heart shaped. My swap partner was Debb from Debb's Gathering Place!
Here's what we did...

This is my box to Debb.

More goodies, plus some not shown.

I made this cute wall art for her...

Plus here is the front of the box I decorated.


A better view.


In honor of my Birthday being the day before Valentines Day, Debb decorated this cute LOve box with glitter on the top spelling "Happy Birthday"! Nestled inside the box was a cute vintage puppy!

She hancrafted the heart container which will hold cards, the glitterized hearts which are in my tree and do you see the puppy?

Isn't he a cutie pie?

She also included garland which I put up right away!

Some sparkely wire trim, candy and vintage shoe stretchers with my initials.

A adorable "granny" angel
and some clips art to grace my Valentine collection!

Yea!

~ Am I the only that did not know "Sally Jean" has a blog?
If you have not fallen in love with her craft, You will.
;0)

Sticker Organizing

~ Ever since I was a little girl, I've "collected" stickers! This book is alittle different, since I'm actually 'using' these for crafts! I got the pages at Michaels on clearence. They are called "Sticker Savers". The holes did not align with a scrapbook album, so I used my trusty crop-a-dile to do the magic. I'm going to need to add more screw post to make the book wider as I add more stickers. This is something I do once in a while while I'm hanging out with Dyllan in the living room at night. I use all these stickers for scrapbooking, card making and altered-art. It's just nice now that they are organized and not crumpled in a drawer.

Feel free to click on any pic for details!

Vintage Romance

~ Just had to share this! This pretty necklace is on sale "now" in Susan's shop! I love how the clasp is a vintage key! And the Crystal heart is so sparkely.

Simple Treasures

~ This bird in cage came from Brian's work Christmas party last year! It was the table decoration. As soon as I saw these, I knew I'd have to have one. I kinda purposely sat Brian and I at a table with guys that worked in recieving and two other couples that were really not into the center piece that much. Every now and then I would reach out and "pet" it, giving it alittle good energy, At the end of the night when we were doing the traditional pass around the spoon for the centerpiece, they all just said I could have it!
~Since it's large and kinda too bulky for my already overflowing studio, I let it grace the living room, adding to my spring/Valentine decorations! I might add some butterflys on it and have a Faerie or two peeking out from some where in there.

~ These were most of the items I got from last Sunday's flea market fun. I had a list.

1. Vintage heart items...I found some neat old Valentines.
2. Trim...Got it.
3. Cake deco's...got a few goodies for Easter, and the large ballerina for me!
4. Wallpaper...could not find any but settled on some pretty gift wrap.
5. Buttons... definately got them!
   

~ Since I'm having the girls over for a crop at my house on sunday, (10 of us!), I''ll wait to post new pic's on Monday.Here's what you can look forward to: Overdue and current. ;0) But finally catching up!

1. Craft Challenge
2. New's Years Rak winners
3. 100th post winners
4. Crown for Kecia
5. A Hallowen layout
6. The Sweet heart box swap
7. The Heart Art Swap
8. Vintage Heart Swap

~After these are all done and posted,

I'll be working on a Mermaid Swap, Art Doll, Charms, demo for my February class at Michaels, and a Fashion Exhibtion!

Of course you can be sure I'll make "extra's" of everything to have on hand for give aways or to sell in my shop!

***You may be asking why I took on so many swap's? Well my Birthday is the day before Valentines Day and the thought of getting handmade gifts in the mail makes me happy!***

Sigh....so cute!

~ A e-mail was sent to me saying that these minature babies were made of Marzipan. This is False as stated in frequently asked question by the artist. Either way they are absolutely adorable! Go here for more babies! The artist's name is Camille Allen and she is only 27!

Simply amazing!

Worth the rainy day!

~ I have this huge grin on my face right now. Dyllan and I are home bound with crazy rainy weather predicted for the next 5 days. I plan on taking him out to Jump'n' jammin on friday but today it's just "lounge" in our jammies day.

So I'm in the studio, working on stuff, Dyllan is playing on the floor with blocks. I decide to put in a movie on the portable dvd player and choose "Chorus Line". Right away in the opening audition scene, Dyllan gets up and starts mimicking the dancers hand and foot work. Once he's watched it a couple of times, I promise to post a video of him dancing! So cute, sure to make you smile! ;0)

Spring Charm Swap 2008

Last year I hosted a charm swap through a Fiskateer group I'm in.

This year I want to extend the invite out to my blog friends as well!

*

~Below you'll find the mini- treasures that people came up with! Some are quite simple, others hold a memory of lost loved one. They are all unique and well worth the swap!

Shrink plastic is fun to work with!

Scrabble anyone?

Great use of a large brad and playing card image.
Vintage images work well too.
Some are easy, some are complex.

In memory of a Mother

Paper bead, using a clasp to make a charm!

Inspiration from Art and the hardware store!

Anything is possible!

For some more "Charming Inspirations" Please visit the following:

Just simply Charming

Richard Salley

Sally Jean

Resin Art

Art and Soul

Charms

Gemini's Angel Art

Now for the details:

Dead line to sign up: Friday Feb.15th or when max amount of (15 participants) has been reached.

1. The charms should be Sturdy! This means using either a key-ring (12mm split ring for example) style connector or a clasp (lobster claw for example) connector. Charms tend to snag so make sure yours won't fall to pieces if that happens! Try to keep them no bigger than a bottle cap...any bigger would be impractical as a charm.


2. You are not required to use yours for jewerly, some have been added to shaddow boxes, a dress form or pinned to a cork board for eye candy!


3. The theme is SPRING! Think birds,nest, feathers, flowers,vintage, anything nature or 'involving' a new birth.


4. International is more than welcome to join!


5. Shipping: All charms will be sent to me Post dated no later than Friday March 7th, this is including a small sum or postage to ship your collection back to you, any unused $ will be shipped along with your charms.


6. When you package your charms,- I cannot stress enough, that your best bet is a small bubble mailer, if you must use an envelope, Please reinforce it with tape. Through the process of mailing, charms tend to break free and get lost.

~Please Copy my side bar bracelet to promote this swap on your blog! This bracelet won 2nd place at the County Fair last year! I used shrink plastic and found beach items to make the mermaid treasure!
You may comment here, but to sign up, please e-mail me @ altered-art@hotmail.com
your Name, Address, Blog and or web site.
~Not required to have a blog.

More Studio "peek's"!

~Feel free to click on photo's for close up detail!~

I decorated a old pretzle container to hold my dry moss.



Plastic craft paint can's hold beads and baubles by color. They look pretty when the sun shines through the window.



Bin's hold the larger stuff by color. Really helps in the crafting process when you don't have to hunt for that something special!


I love my pink and purple stuff! Like my very own treasure box!

Some of my glitter collection and more color sorting.

POM jars with those clever snap on lids make great storage too! And I love my POM tea's!

Thanks for looking, I'll post more another day!
~Michelle