Well it certainly took some hammering!

As the main focus of the penultimate Altered Element DT Project, Lynne sent me an Eco Green Crafts Board Book to play with. A simple project I thought, but this has undergone several changes and has withstood the battering very well!

First of all I painted it with my favourite Eco paints and sponged on some Brusho mists, Lynne also sent and stamped it with the Artemio stamps I received as part of a pack a month or two ago. It looked ok I thought, but then I went away on holiday but when I returned and found a few minutes in between washing sleeping bags I realised I didn't like it at all.

As it had had a coating of acrylic paint it would readily take some alcohol inks, they went on very well and the result was pleasing but it didn't please me enough, so I used some alcohol to remove them.

This did no harm at all to the book, just harmed my mojo a bit as I was at a bit of a loss as what to do with it, so left it for another couple of days.

Now this is an interesting subject, I wonder what your views are? The finished article is to be a small token present for a special friend of mine, just to say thank you and that I luvs her. Now here's the question, when you make something for someone do you think you should make it to suit their taste and style or do you make something in your own style but is straight from your heart? This is so far removed from what this person would choose to have in their house but I am hoping they will love the fact that it is part of their friend Nicks. I'll tell you when they have received it.. but they will say they love it anyway so that's no test is it!!?? tell you what I will pay a surprise visit and check which drawer they have shoved it in LOL

Anyway back to the plot, as you can see it has now been painted, inked and sprayed for a 3rd time. It has been blasted with a heat gun on several occasion's and suffered no ill effects at all. That just goes to prove recycled stuff can be of the highest quality!

I painted the book with shades of gourde, orange and sunflower eco paints and then blended some Barn Door distress ink around the edges.

I edged it with some torn double sided tape which I gilded with Crafty Notions Gilding flakes I also gilded the edges of the pages inside.

Regulars to my blog will know I love my chooks (and the recipient is a bit fond of my girls as well - damm too much info I bet she will guess now) so I just had to buy this paperartsy stamp and use as the main focus of the cover, I love the way her legs dangle off the end and her wing goes the edge, I don't 'do' straight edges very well! Her body is made from some metal I embossed and her legs are made using Lin and Leandra's clever tape sandwich technique, but in this case its a more of a triple decker sandwich as it has metal on both sides. The same gold metal was used to cover the top and flap of the book, but has been coloured slightly with acrylic paint and sprayed with cosmic shimmer. I have bought some really cute chicken stamps from T.A.E and will use these inside

Lynne also sent three shades of the new Brusho Mist Spray's  these are a joy to use and I used them to colour some watercolour paper which will act as the backing papers fo the pages inside (which i cant show you until the recipient has received it!)
I also sprayed these onto a small piece of card onto which I did a touch of journaling and put behind a microscope slide.


I think thats about it apart from a few other bits and pieces I added from my stash including the cutest chicken button I received in the post today from my fellow fowl lover Kathy -thanks Kathy - very oppurtune, you are a brave person if you read this far..... sorry bit of an epic post!

Remember to treasure your friends because

and

Now off to tidy up, if you saw the state of my desk you would faint with horror!

PS................
The Altered Element will soon be calling for a new Design Team, if you are interested keep an eye on their blog. I have really enjoyed my time with them, why dont you give it a go?
http://alteredelement.blogspot.com/

WOYWW..... I'm a solderin' and a sewin'

Now then People, you have got to admit that (for me) this looks almost organised... I did have to clear some space to actually get the machine on my desk (and I have to admit, I did have to clear some floor space to get to the desk) but I didn't do the - push it all back method - I put it away!

My textile mentor Katherine made me two beautiful canvases for my Birthday (which she has now blogged) and she also gave me a free stitching foot (is that what you call them?) for my machine, a very opportune gift because I had a piece of Tyvek from last months DT pack,, which I had already, painted and ironed to distort it, and had the idea of trying to stitch around the 'bubbles'  - I can still hear the Dragon of a woman, my Needlework Teacher at school, voice ringing in my ear 'Nicola try it on a piece of scrap fabric first'  well I didn't pay any attention to the woman then, and I am not paying any attention to her now, I just went in head first and stitched straight onto my precious piece of Tyvek, luckily I am really pleased with the result.

Swinging to the right, you will see I have my box of soldering supplies out, that's because I burnt the edges of the Tyvek to roughen them up a bit, I thought it was a much safer bet than using a heat gun on it, and I was right, it worked really well, so I added a couple of extra holes as well. You can also see the Morsbags I have been making and are ready to be sent off on Friday after I have drawn the blog candy draw... take a look at the post a few down and add you name if you would like to be in with a chance of winning one.

Now onto the exciting part...

This months DT pack has arrived.......

lots of scrummy stuff to play with, Watch this space!

Hen Art??

OK OK so I may be getting a bit obsessed by my Chickens - so much so that I have made a canvas to mark their new found freedom, it didn't quite start out that way though!

Lynn from The Altered Element sent me some Crafty Notion Spraypaques this month along with some Puff Paint, I have already used some of the paint on the Cup/Saucer below, but this time used them along with the Puff paint on this canvas

The Puff Paint is great fun to use, you smear it on - well I do - sure the more refined amongst you may use a spatula or something, but whilst I have fingers I can think of no better tool to use (at least I dont lose them!) - and then dry it with your heatgun and it expands into.... - well a puffy shape - cool eh?

I then sprayed/painted mine with the Spraypaque and cosmic shimmers along with acrylic paint. You can also stitch into it, I haven't tried that yet but intend to on a future project.

Hels Sunday Stamper Challenge this week was 'Wings' and as I haven't played along with Hels for a few weeks I thought it was a good starting point for my project - you see I like Angels (hold that thought) and I am reading 'Who's your Dada' by Linda and Opie O'Brien - which is the book for my personal monthly challenge for June (for future reference hold the thought that I don't like dolls ) but I do like Gargoyles and Angels - so this was supposed to be a Gargoyle Angel.

I had this wooden Gothic Arch - which goes well with Gargoyles -

I didn't have any Grungeboard wings left so I cut my own Angel Wings out freehand

Assembled Head/Arch/Keys for legs (I like that bit LOL) and then wings............... ummmmm the wings looked more Birdie than Angelie.. so The Chicken Theme came about and I made a metal chicken's head, in true Upcycling I used an empty tomato puree tube purely because it is such a lovely colour!

OK OK so my thought processes do take a few twist and turns along the way but that's OK, projects may not turn out as I initially imagined them, but that means they don't turn out 'wrong' !

So that's my project for this weekend!

Hope it made you smile just a little bit, my chooks make me smile and I hope they are enjoying their new found freedom, but whilst we are on the subject just take a look at the picture below and see the conditions they were living in, I hope it makes people think twice before buying eggs from Battery Hens!

Just Experimenting and Playing with Paverpol

Lynne of The Altered Element sent me some transparent Paverpol for my first Design Team Challenge. I have used Paverpol before when I made 'Tilly' for my best friends birthday last year, but I haven't used it before for it's transparent properties. I have a Work In Progress (sneak peak on post below) but I wanted to see just how transparent it is and what effect it would have on coloured/patterned materials. Mostly Paverpol seems to be used to make figurines but I wanted to try something a bit different, so I made a bowl.
I played around dyeing some ordinary dishcloths with some colourwash sprays, and although I liked the result, the colours aren't right for the WIP so I cut some into thin strips and dipped into the Paverpol and wound very randomly around a metal bowl which I had prepared by covering with clingfilm - PP will stick to metal but not plastic.

I also used some strips of organza to add some 'form' to the shape - this worked OK but did lose its 'shimmer' and some Angelina fibres to add some sparkle  - left it all to try overnight and i am really pleased with the result. It is really very firm and therefore quite usable. When it was dry and I was able to remove it from the bowl and remove the clingfilm, I gave it a very brief blast with my heatgun to tamper the Angelina fibres down a bit

So here is the final result with a light spray of Cosmic Shimmers - I really like it

Upcycling seems to be the 'buzz word' ATM and I have been contacted by Betty Jones asking whether I would be willing to mention her site and her 100 amazing upcycling ideas - take a look, some brilliant ideas, I have already started knitting with carrier bags! also whilst blog hopping I came across this lovely site
Going Green Crafters and Artists - worth a look!

Right I'm off to play some more with the Paverpol - if you want more info about it check out http://www.paverpol-uk.co.uk/

Chuffed and Excited! The 'Altered Element' of my Life

Regular readers of my Blog will know that I always like to mention online shops that offer great value and great service, and one that I have always received fantastic service from is The Altered Element. Lynne not only sells the most luscious 'stuff' that is right up my street but  has always been most helpful in sourcing and ordering products for me and delivering super quick - all you crafters out there will know that if you want something you want it NOW! Well 'now' is a bit of a tall order for any company, but I am happy with ASAP and ASAP is just what Lynne does!

Well because of the passion Lynne has for Mixed media/Altered Art/Textiles I am so excited at being chosen to be on her new Design Team as a Designer and am really looking forward to working with her and the team in the next few months.

I hope you will keep an eye on her Shop Website and Altered Element Blog to see what we are getting up to!

Thank you Lynne for sharing this oppourtunity with me!