Timelss Beauty ATC

Time for another challenge at the Gingersnap Creations blog...this time it's a supply challenge and we had to use RIBBON somewhere in our creations. So this Timeless Beauty ATC is my creation for that challenge.

This Altered Art style ATC is a mixed media piece, combining paper, ephemera, ribbon, a vintage photo, and digital graphic elements. It definitely has a sort of timeless feel to it, don't you think?

Vintage Clothespin Magnets

While I was in the studio this weekend I was brainstorming ideas for things to make from some vintage clothespins that I had in the house. I finally decided that they would look neat if I gave them a Shabby Chic look and made magnets out of them. So here are the results of my inspiration.

For the first vintage clothespin, I wrapped it first with a piece of scrap lace trim I had in my collection. Then, at the top and bottom edge of the lace, I added a strip of gathered lace trim, to make it look a little more frilly. Then I added a satin rose to the top of the clothespin, and some satin ribbon to the bottom lace edge. Then I just added a magnet to the back. Very shabby chic-looking, don't you think?

For the second vintage clothespin, I started with a strip of cream-colored burlap to give it some texture. To that, I added a piece of my favorite vintage-looking rose-patterned fabric. And I simply topped that off with a burgundy satin ribbon, and added the magnet to the back.

So basically, these are not only recycled and re-purposed vintage clothespins, but they are Altered Art as well. And so fun and easy to make with things I already had on hand in my studio.

Vintage Queen Hangtag

Crowns are the thing right now at Gingersnap Creations, so I've created a hangtag to enter their Crowns Challenge.  I'm calling it my Vintage Queen Hangtag. It's also going into the Tag Tuesday Postcard Challenge.

I started with a plain white hangtag, which I then used a decorative corner punch on to give it some added detail. Then I used brown ink and a text rubber stamp to create the background, and I distressed the edges with the same brown ink.

I found a vintage photo of a young girl, which I then Mod Podged in place on the tag. Then I added a transparent paper image over the top of the girl photo. This image has the little bird on it and reads Carte Postale at the bottom, which means "postcard" in French. I love the way the photo of the girl looks through this transparent (vellum-type) paper.

For embellishments, I added a crown using a 3D-O to make it appear in relief (raised up from the background) and I added rhinestone gems to the crown. I also added a rhinestone gem above the bird. I added alpha stickers to spell out q-u-e-e-n.  And then I added a pretty flower at the bottom of the tag. I finished it off with some coordinating satin ribbon.

I think the tag itself has a very vintage feel, and a very shabby chic feel as well.

Cherish Altered Heart

Well, seeing that it's Valentines Day, I thought I'd get one more heart-themed project in before the clock strikes midnight. And I'm using it for the Ginersnaps Creations Charms Challenge too.  It's my Cherish Altered Heart project.  My beads will have to serve as charms in this case...I didn't have any actual charms to play with.

I started with a plain wooden heart, which is about 3" high. It's the same wooden heart I used for my Love Altered Hearts project.  I added a piece of teal and cream colored patterned scrapbook paper that I liked. Then I added a vintage photo that I scalloped the edges on.

Next I found a piece of chipboard that had the word Cherish on it, in a metallic teal font. It matched perfectly so I glued that at the bottom of the vintage photo. Then I distressed the edges of the heart a bit with some brown distress ink to give the heart a wee bit of dimension. I also added a teal paper flower, with a rhinestone gem in the center.

To finish this off I added 3 swarovski crystals as my "charms" to the bottom of the heart, one in a teal color, and two in clear. I love the way those look on the heart. They almost give it a shabby chic feel, don't you think? Oh, and at the last minute I decided to turn this into a magnet so I could hang it on the frig. Love it!

Rose Gardens Fabric Collage

As I begin to play around more and more with fabric in my art and crafts, I'm trying to incorporate other types of art and techniques that I love...like Altered Art. This fabric collage, Rose Gardens, was great fun for me. It's a little bit primitive and rustic, and a little bit shabby chic, and still with that altered art flair. This piece is about 4" x 5" in size. I'm using this as entry into the Three Muses Old Fashioned Challenge.

I actually started this with a muslin bag that I grungy'd up with my special grungy sauce mix. I just love the look of grungy muslin, what can I say? So that is what you see on the outer edges of this piece; it serves as the background for the whole collage.

Next I took a plain piece of muslin and did an image transfer onto it using a gel medium. I used a vintage photo of a woman (I've named her "Rose") picking roses outside her window. At first I was irritated that my black and white image came out looking pink in the transfer image, but hey, what's a gal to do? I just decided to go with it. After that dried I distressed the edges of the muslin, then sewed that onto the grungy muslin bag using black thread. I just like the way the black thread contrasts with the muslin.

Then it was time to embellish, so I took some decorative ivory-colored trim and used that to frame my transfer image. Then I cut off all the edges of the muslin bag--because it wasn't really a bag anymore once I sewed the image onto it. And the nice part is that the extra layer of fabric from the back of the bag makes the whole collage a bit more firm, which I like. I frayed the edges of the remaining part of the grungy muslin bag. Then I tied 3 paper roses together with a black ribbon and sewed them to the bottom right corner of the collage.

At some point I may use this small fabric collage as part of another bigger project. But I am  happy with it as it is for now. And one fun thing for me on this...there is a flaw in the image transfer, to the right of Rose's dress, near the bottom. It's a little white spot that didn't quite transfer from the photo. But to me, it looks like a little fairy...and I love that!

Butterfly Stitches Hang Tag

This is an altered hangtag I created for the Gingersnap Creations Stitches Challenge. The "stitches" could be real or faux, so we could sew...or not sew for the challenge, as long as some sort of stitches are part of the project. I'm also using it for the Fussy and Fancy Friday Anything But a Card Challenge.

I started by making the hangtag itself out of some cardstock scrapbook paper that I had a scrap of. It has some great browns, tans, turquoises and white colors, and (lucky me) it also includes faux stitching. So I knew it would be perfect for the challenge.

Next I found a 3-D sticker of a rose that I liked, along with a butterfly die-cut shape I wanted to use. So I stuck the rose to the tag, and then I used a 3-D-O  (which is basically a piece of foam that has sticky on both sides) to stick the butterfly cutout to the tag and have it stick up in relief like the rose.

Then I added some lace trim to the bottom of the tag, to give it a bit more of a feminine touch. And I also added some button brads here and there to add some variety and embellishment to the tag. And I finished it off with a coordinating light turquoise satin ribbon. It almost looks a bit shabby chic to me too, don't you think? I love how it turned out.

Moments Shabby Chic Hangtag

I was feeling in a bit of a shabby chic mood the other day, so I decided to create an altered hangtag with a shabby chic flair.

This tag was plain white to begin with, so I first spritzed it with some rose Glimmer Mist to give it some color and texture.  Next I found a vintage photo of a fairy girl that looked perfect for the tag...and her face reminds me of my oldest niece, Nikki, when she was a little girl. So that made it a great choice too. After I adhered that photo I added some baby blue fabric trim along the bottom of the tag, to contrast and complement the pink mist and roses. Then I added a beautiful pink paper flower to the bottom right corner, and it has a hint of glitter on it to give it some sparkle. I also added some dimensional clock element stickers. And I finished it off with some organdy and pink satin ribbon.

Love it!

Passion Pretty Pouch

This is third shabby chic and sort of altered art style Pretty Pouch I made this week, and I'm calling it Passion.

A plain muslin bag was my starting point, as usual. Then I stamped on a pretty image of a woman's face. I got this stamp at Michael's last week and I just love it! I also stamped on, passion. Next I sewed on some tatted-style lace trim, along with some black trim as an accent to tie in with the stamp. Then I added an ivory-colored craft rose and some matching organdy ribbon.  And I topped it off near the top of the bag with a black button and some more ribbon.

I could definitely see this pouch or any of the others being used as gift bags. It's giving me lots of ideas for Christmas too.

Believe Pretty Pouch

This is another Pretty Pouch I've made called, Believe. This one definitely has that Shabby Chic feel to it, but still has that hint of altered art too.

Again I started with a simple muslin bag. I stamped on some script text using some copper ink. On top of that I added a butterfly stamp using black ink, and added the word, believe.  Then I finished it off by sewing on two different types of lace trim, and added a pink silk rose.

This is my favorite Pretty Pouch that I've made this week. One more to show you shortly!

Beauty Pretty Pouch

I've created some new things I'm calling Pretty Pouches. They are part shabby chic and part altered art, the way I see them. I love doing things with muslin bags, so I thought this would be fun for me. And I'll also be selling these in the store once we open.  This is my first one, called Beauty.

I started with a simple muslin bag and stamped on a fun image using blank ink. Then I sewed on some tatted-style lace and some ivory colored trim. Next I sewed on some burgundy colored ribbon flowers that have pearl accents. I just love this. It could be used for so many things...as home decor, as a gift bag, or just a place to put some special items you might want to tuck away somewhere.  I know I'll be making lots of these!