Recipes for Art: Robin's Nest Blog Hop

I was challenged by the Robins' Nest to come up with a recipe project.  I love to cook and bake.  The kitchen is covered with cookbooks.  I have at least two cookbook holders.  I pretty much have the food recipe thing covered.

So I made art recipes!  I took some quotes that inspire me and went to town.

I had this awesome, crusty, cracked spindle that I knew would work as a base.  I used a Tim Holtz memo pin and glued it into the top of the spindle.
To make my recipe cards I used an index card for my base and covered them with various papers.

I pretty much threw everything I could at this card.  The base is Saffron Honey Cardstock.  The edges are distressed and inked.  The right side has a smudge of embossing powder.  It's a mixture of black and brown distress powders.  The pen nib has alcohol ink on it to look like it's been used.  A small portion of a card catalog card is on the very bottom.  The tag was stamped with black Archival ink and then sprayed, inked, crumpled, and finally glued to the base.  

This is the back of the first card.  A completely different color scheme.  I used reverse side of the Wedding Cutout cardstock as the base.  I used my Tim Holtz stencil and modeling paste for the bubbles.  Once the paste was dry I smudge on distress paints in many colors.  I took the lid off and made some circles right on the paper.  

I took the paintbrush out of my brush bucket.  I terrible about cleaning my brushes.  Terrible.  I have learned my lesson and just buy cheap ones! I did smudge some extra paint on it to match the card.  

The quote is a sticker that I put an industrious sticker and some straw behind it.  

I stamped this image on watercolor paper and colored it using my kiddie set of watercolors.  The edges are inked with Broken China distress ink.  The background here is Tulip Wheels.  I painted a light layer of gesso on top to mute the color and spritzed it with Black Dylusions.  

This is the Wedding Swirl Glitter cardstock that has been sprayed with Dyslusions.  The glitter resists the spray.  I love how you can take a very dainty cardstock and completely change it with sprays.  This Wendy Vecchi stamp is so pretty.  I love the little fourish on the bottom.  The pattern mimics the pattern on the paper.  

My final card has a piece of dictionary paper as the base.  I used a stencil and distress stains to create the pattern on top.  The wings are a stamp from Finnabair.  I painted them with my distress stains.  I can't resist tiny fairies with giant pointy hats! He is mounted on a journaling ticket that has distressed edges.  The bow is made out of seam binding.  A tiny bit of washi tape finishes this one up.  

Don't forget to stop at the Robin's Nest blog to see the other hop projects.  Leave a comment and I get to pick someone to get a prize too!

Jess

Altered Fairy Clock

Some time ago I made an altered fairy clock(you can see it here).  I was asked to make another for a friend that was getting married.  He wanted to give it to his sister as her best woman gift.  I decided to make this clock a bit more masculine, well as masculine as one can get making a fairy themed item.  I used a darker color palette with the flowers and the fairy wings.  I love making the clocks like this.  The tiny fairies tucked inside look so content in there.  An abandoned clock would make a lovely fairy home.

Artful Times in the Style of Tim Holtz

Simon Says Stamp- Anything goes

Mixed Media Monthly Birds- I know they aren't birds, but they have wings and fly!

Try it on Tuesday Hats

A Vintage Journey HB!

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Go Green

What have you been crafting?
Jess

And the Award goes to...

Hi, My name is Jess and I am addicted to making tiny trophies.  I went to the store to buy a single package of these babies and went back to buy the rest the next day.  They are so fun to alter.  Since they are tiny(just two inches high) they work up quickly too.

I made this one for me.  I will be 37 this year.  I am determined to make it my best year yet.  

After I posted a picture  of my first trophy a friend said it should have been a 57 since that's how old she would be this year.  This will be mailed out to her.  

I am not a big gold crafter.  I tend to stay in the silver family.  I figured I should challenge myself and this was the result.  It is one of my favorites.  

It's time for Easter Bunnies!  He has a tiny pom pom tail.  He's adorable.  

So many of my crafts have birds on them.  This tiny guy is just right on here. 

Ah, everyone has a know it all in their life.  Give them a trophy.  

This gypsy is adorned with a piece of a vintage earring.  

This guy has already been sent off to its forever home.  I can see tons of creepy possibilities for Halloween with these trophies.  

Each trophy is a little different.  I was experimenting with different mixtures of alcohols inks, different levels of roughing up the surface(steel wool worked best), and different ways to fill them up.  

Frilly and Funkie Bring on the Bling!

Rhedd's Creative Spirit March Challenge

SSS Monday Challenge Blog-Animals

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Shabby Chic Fashion Chunky ATC

I think I might have found a new best thing!  Have you made a chunky ATC? They are so much fun to make.  I signed up to do a swap on Instagram( sidenote- are you on IG? Come find me @twomaddahlias).  I have never made one of these chunky guys, but it sounded like fun.  I love to make ATCs and have been making them quite a bit lately.  It's fun to whip out a creation in a short amount of time.
My swap partner said she liked retro, fashion, shabby chic, and pink.  I only had to choose one of these themes.  I managed to squeeze all four onto my chunky ATC.

I love this tiny dress form.  I covered it with the smallest buttons I could find and filled in the gaps with a chunky glitter.  The vintage head pins I found at an estate sale.  

An old Artchix studio graphic I colored in with colored pencils adorns this side.  

This tag came from a piece of clothing that has long since left my wardrobe.  I couldn't even tell you what it was, but I held on to the fabric tag for years.  How's that for craft hoarding?! It was hard for me to use the tag, but it fit the theme perfectly.  

A Melissa Frances sticker, remnant rubs, and Prima flowers on this side.  

The top got a handmade flower and some vintage leaf buttons.  You can't tell, but I did decorate the bottom and used some pearls from a vintage necklace to make the ATC stand up. 

I know they sell wooden blocks just the right size for chunky ATC's but since I was mailing this I wanted it to be light.  I ended up upcycling the box my business cards arrived in.  I stuffed it full of old tissue paper to give it more stability.  

These are the photos the recipient posted.  She loved it.  Whew!

I can't wait to see what I get in return.

I am entering this in the Frilly and Funkie's Bring on the Bling Challenge and Our Creative Corner's Junk in the Trunk Challenge.  Fussy and Fancy Ribbon Challenge.  Rhedd's Creative Spirit March Challenge

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Shoes!

I love shoes. I own far too many pairs.  Even if I don't wear all the gorgeous shoes I have I still like to admire them from time to time.  And who says you can't do housework in your Dolce and Gabbana heels with suede fringe and feathers?
Stop by the Robin's Nest to read more about my love affair with shoes and check out this sassy lady.

What have you been crafting?
Jess

Tim tag for March

I adore this Dina Wakley stamp.  She looks so strong.  

I followed Tim's recipe pretty closely.  I didn't have regular Ranger texture paste so I used the Wendy Vecchi crackle texture paste and then heat embossed.  It made the tag look extra grungy.  

I hope you enjoy my take on Tim's tag!

I am also entering this into Craft Stamper Magazine's March Stamp challenge and A Vintage Journey's Anything Tim Challenge.

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Bibliophile take 2

Ok confession time.  I had this blog post ready to go for a long time.  I worked on this project forever and just had it stashed in my file for a far off future date.  Guess what? That date came and I totally forgot to move it forward so it posted.  Boo.  So now I am reposting it and entering it into the  CC#3 challenge 23.  I was so bummed it posted before this challenge came around.  I knew it would be since it is in the book.  If you don't have a copy of Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities you need to order it ASAP.  And if you haven't been participating in Linda's challenge you need to jump on the bandwagon now.  It is so much fun.  There are fabulous prizes to be won from Tim and from The Inspiration Emporium.Without further ado here is my take on the folio.


I am a huge reader.  I have worked in a bookstore for almost 15 years.  When I bought this Tim Holtz folio I knew I had to make it all about books and reading.  This was a huge project.  It took me way longer than I thought it would.  I wanted to be sure each page was just right. 
Here come the photos!

This is the front cover.  A while back I bought a card catalog.  It is chock full of cards and I knew I had to use some on here.  

This is what happens when you remove the elastic band.  Books!

Pardon my hand.  I couldn't get the tab to stay open without it.  

That glasses sticker kills me! I would wear those glasses if I could find a pair.  

Tiny handmade books.

This image is from Graphic 45.  I painted it using watercolors. 

Another catalog card.  

The library card is a German flashcard.  

Here are some close ups of the flaps.  Both of the small top and bottom flaps have a card catalog paper as the background and a bookshelf as the foreground.  I cut out a few extra books and popped them up to add dimension.  

The back cover. 

I love how this tuned out.  

Parisian Beauty ATC swap

Kim over at Art Joy Stuff hosts the most amazing ATC swaps.   The girls that participate in here swaps pull out all the stops.  This last time around she hosted a Parisian Beauty swap.  You send three and get three in return.

Here are the three I sent.  

And here are the three I received in return.

 

This is from Michelle.

This is from Kelly.

This final card is from Amy.  Amy has a Flickr account AmyBauer1.

Thank you so much  for your amazing ATCs.

I can't wait until Kim hosts another swap.

I am also entering these into theFrilly and Funkie's Time for a Vacation Challenge

What have you been crafting?

Jess