A Documented Life -- Recycled Art

This week's prompt in The Documented Life Project is to collage something you've recycled. I decided what better to do than recycle bits and pieces and leftovers from old art projects, including those I've done and some I've received.

I used a piece of an old magazine cover as my base. As I arranged the elements I tacked them down with Elmer's Extra Strength glue stick (it doesn't muck up the sewing machine needle). 

Some of the circles are fabric, others are paper. 

There are bits of old tags, circles punched from postage stamps and some cut from envelopes. See the piece on the top left with the ribbon? It is the top of a tag that had otherwise gotten damaged. Over on the top right, those animal heads were on postage stamps, I believe from Australia.

The brightly striped circles were cut from paper that was originally an envelope, handmade by a friend who sent me some "stuff." And I do believe that is Queen Elizabeth in the center of one of the circles. (Also from a postage stamp).

I'm sure I've said this before, but I love using things made/sent by my friends in my own art. Even just a scrap of paper or fabric, or a bit of ephemera handed to me at a workshop will make me think of that friend every time I look at the finished piece.

A New Tradition

Most folks I know keep their calendars electronically.  Me, I like to see things in writing.  So, I have a pocket calendar I always have in my bag, and 12x12" wall calendars in my kitchen and studio.  The other day I was transferring dates from the 2012 versions to my 2013 calendars, and decided to start a new tradition for the end of the year.....recycling the old pages into colorful envelopes.  Certainly not an original idea, but I've never done it before, so new to me.  I dismantled the wall calendars (keeping only December for now), and got to it.

If you have a score board (there are several brands; here I used the Martha Stewart version) and a paper trimmer it couldn't be easier, but you can certainly use a stylus, ruler, and cutting mat to score your lines, and trim the papers by hand.



For envelopes that work with standard A2 cards (folded size 5 1/2 x 4 1/4") first cut your calendar pages to 8 3/8" squares.

 

 

Place your trimmed page, picture side down, on the scoring board like this:

 

 

 

You just have to make sure the points touch the center marks (6") before you start scoring.  This is what I mean:

 

 

 

You now score at the 3" mark on your board.  Then rotate the page so you can score the opposite side also at 3".  Next, score the two remaining sides at 3 5/8".  Your scoring will look like this (I darkened the score lines with a marker so you can see them):

 

 

 

Fold over the sides you scored at 3" first, and use a bone folder to get a good crisp fold.

 

 

 

Apply a line of adhesive on the lower edge of each flap and fold the bottom flap up.  I used my ATG, but a good quality glue stick will also work.

Your envelope is ready to receive whatever you're mailing.

 

 

All you need to do is apply two address labels so the P.O. isn't distracted by all the colors, LOL.

 

 

 

The first batch I made were from the 2012 Cloth Paper Scissors calendar, so they are especially beautiful, though my crappy photos don't do them justice.

 

 

 

But you can use any paper that is sturdy enough.  And if you can't get an 8 3/8" square out of your paper, you can always make a smaller envelope.  This one is just the right size for sending out an ATC, and it was made from the cover of a Dick Blick catalog.  (Note:  if you're making a smaller one, you will have to adjust where to line up your points on the scoring board.  For this envelope, they lined up at the 5 7/8" mark instead of 6").

 

 

 

I had lots of colorful strips left over after trimming my calendar pages, so I decided not to let them go to waste.  I wove them to create a substrate for some journal pages.  This is what the back looks like (because I forgot to take a photo of the front before I started throwing paint around):

 

 

 

And after applying collage elements, paint, stencils, inks, more paint, more stencils, more inks, some sprays, and even rub-ons, it is pretty much unrecognizable.  And still a work in progress.  But I plan to cut it in half and make it part of my 2013 Sketchbook Project....but that is a post for another day.

 























More Journal Pages

In addition to the many collaborative art journals I've worked in and continue to be a part of (and some new ones that haven't started yet), I recently began a smaller project....two art friends and I are trading journals back and forth.....no rigid time lines or rules or themes.  When we get a journal, either our own or one of the others', we do one page, two, whatever comes to mind.  I'm enjoying this a lot; in my previous round robins there could be 15 or more participants, and everyone works in each journal once.  It has taken as long as 18 months for a journal to return home.  Very exciting, but a long wait.  In this one, with only three of us, we see our own journals regularly, work in them too, and I love that.

Here are some pages I've just completed.  In the first two I altered photocopied images with one of my favorite supplies, Portfolio Water Soluble Oil Pastels, and then used several stencils and paint over sections.

Close ups of each page:

In the next journal I raided my favorite scrap box and used bits and pieces left over from previous work, and some phrases from magazines I've been collecting.

The background, which is mostly covered was done with metallic paint (the very cheapest kind you can sometimes find at Michael's for way under a dollar a bottle) and stencils.  Close ups:

Although the pages in each journal are very different they all do reflect where I was at the time.  Though I have enjoyed working in themed books, there is something very liberating about just doing whatever comes to mind at the moment.











A Little Trash, A Little Stash

So, this is the challenge:  make something with unusual elements, recycled items, or repurposed ones.  Hmmm.  Well, this is the trash I started with:

• brown paper bag
• tabs from Diet Pepsi cans
• catalog
• plastic packaging material
• cork from bottle of wine

And abracadabra, this is what I wound up with:

First of all, I took that cork and carved a little design into it to create my backgrounds.  I stamped it repeatedly onto tags with black acrylic paint.

I recently had a nice meal with my friend Pat and we finished a bottle of wine. (No big surprise there.)  I took the cork home, knowing I'd use it in something, but didn't have stamp making in mind at the time.  But doesn't it create a cool graphic?  And on some tags I angled the stamp differently, resulting in new patterns. 
When the paint was completely dry, I swiped each tag with a different color of distress stain.  Instant and vibrant coverage.  Here's a closer view of one of the tags:

The soda can tab was glued to the top as the ribbon holder.

The rosette (Tim's new mini) was cut from a page in the catalog.  After assembly, it was pounced with some gesso, and when that dried, it got a spritz of color wash.  Now it's a flower.
The flower center is a pom-pom kind of thingy made from a strip of the brown paper bag.  I rolled it tightly around a thin paint brush, glued it together, then made several cuts from the top to just above the base to create that fringe, and glued it down with matte multi medium.

The leaf was cut with Tim's new mini leaf/branch die from the plastic packaging material, colored with markers, and heated for a moment so it could be bent a little.  I could have also used alcohol inks, but the markers were closer and didn't require moving three boxes to get to.  Sometimes I think this blog should be called Memoirs of a Lazy Crafter.

Some ball chain from my stash created the stem.

The lovely sentiment is a Wendy Vecchi stamp, cut apart so the words would fill the empty space on the side.







Resident Artist

There are so many new stamps, embellishments, dies, etc. I've seen previewed for the upcoming CHA, and the problem is (besides the economic problem, that is) that I already have SO MUCH STUFF.  So, I've decided to try to at least use some of the four boxes of "leftovers" I have on and around my work table.  You know, the odd bits of paper, the solo brad, the unused piece of background made for another project.

I recently received this paper, though I don't remember if it was a RAK or an order that was wrapped inside it.  But it went into my "too good to throw out, but not sure what I'll do with it" pile.

So, I used it to cover a cardboard die cut (Stampin' Up's Bigz Top Note die).
Also in my stash are random lengths of ribbon.  All the fabric flowers you'll see were made with them....just pleating them around a circle of super sticky double sided adhesive.
Well, let me show you the finished pieces and then I'll explain some more.

Most of the ribbons were colors I didn't love, so all were sprayed with various colorwashes and perfect pearls mists.  In the center of each is either a brad or (in the one right above) a plastic rose from SU.

The sentiment on top is a Wendy Vecchi stamp, and I love to include it in anything I make for an artist friend (hint at where these are going).  It is stamped on the banner from Tim's Regal Crest die, as are the small leafed vines.  The large satin leaves are by 7 Gypsies.

The background paper has been inked and bits of it were highlighted with glaze pens and sepia accents.  The curly vine in the last one was leftover from an old project.  It was made by wrapping florist wire with Tim's tissue tape, then twisting it into whatever shape you like.

I think these would look great hanging on a wall in a studio.  What do you think?





The Evolution of an Idea, or.......

......how my mind works (hmmm...you've been warned), or.....how I get inspiration from jumping around from blog to blog.   Here's how it all started.  Wendy was blogging about the newest wonderful additions to her product line....art parts.  Chipboard frames, shapes, other goodies, perfect to use with her stamps.  One in particular caught my eye....a kind of pedestal thingie....looks a bit like a mini cake plate.  You can see it here.  Things started spinning in my head.....

A few days later, I'm visiting Linda Cain's blog and she's busy making spools.  I love old wooden spools; thread these days comes wrapped on plastic mostly.  But I digress.  Linda is whipping out these fantastic spools.  Made me think back to Wendy's pedestal.  After all what is a spool but a cylinder and two circles.  Different sizes and proportions, but the same elements.  See Linda's beautiful spools here.

As if that wasn't enough, Linda supplied a link to the blog that had inspired her to make the spools, so of course I visited there, watched a video tutorial, and hatched a plan.  If you really want to follow my journey, click here to see it too.  (even if you aren't interested in following along, you should click there because it will take you to a really interesting and creative blog)
 
Now, let me make it clear that I am NOT trying to tell anyone that they shouldn't get Wendy's art parts.  Hell no!  I'll be first on line to buy some.  It's just that I had this notion and I have no patience, so how could I wait for the weeks, maybe months before these beauties hit the stores?  So, I had to make a version of my own, just to try out my idea.
Following me?  (remember, I did warn you!).  I bet about now you're wondering if I'll ever show you a photo.  LOL!  Yep, here goes.  I found the components to make my squat pedestal (or I suppose it could be a giant sized spool, now that I think about it).  (the proportions of Wendy's art parts pedestal are waaaaaaay better and more elegant, trust me!)

Very high tech....a paper towel roll and two chipboard circles.  I cut the roll down and covered all three parts with some Graphic 45 paper and glued them together.  Of course I did some artsy stuff to them...sanded the edges, distressed them with some ink.....

This is the idea I had when I first saw Wendy's blog post.  I wanted to make a little display stand, but one where I could change out what was being displayed very easily.

I have some of these plastic thingies:

I'm sorry I don't remember where I got them, but they're meant to display an ATC.  (there's a little slit in the middle for the card to slide in).  Not too gorgeous, but when covered with some of the same G45.....

Much better.  Now, a long time ago, back in March in fact, I was visiting Hels' blog and saw her tutorial on faux porcelain flowers.  I made some then, but never used them.  They're the right color, so I thought they'd make a nice decoration for my display pedestal.  (I also added some lace and fiber to the bottom of the cylinder).  The plastic thingie and the flowers were all adhered with glossy accents, by the way.

And although at first I thought this would just be a good place to pop an ATC, I discovered that it can hold a greeting card, a postcard, an altered coaster.....just about anything.  It could also be a place to put a work in progress as you contemplate the next step.  And I just think it is so much nicer than those little easels that are always falling over on my work table.

I'm having another thought for a future project....what if I pierced the rim of the top circle with a bunch of little holes, all the way around....wouldn't that be a fab way to store/display a collection of danglie earrings?

Altered Tins, Oh My!

So, the Gotham City Stampers had an altered tin swap.  I already shared the tin I made for my friend Heidi, but it was not until we met Friday night that I got to see the FABULOUS tin(s) that Pat, my good friend and future cruise cabin-mate made for me.  Pat is extremely talented and creative (and very funny), and for this project she outdid herself in all three categories.
Here is what I saw when I first unwrapped the package:

A great mix of grunge and vintage.....would love it if there wasn't any more to it, but there is.  Lift up the lid and what did I see, attached to the inside of the lid?

Yep, it's another tin, attached with velcro for easy removal, and inside, a little vignette that tickled me so......

 In case you were wondering why there are some little holes in one

side of the tin.....

Pat says they're air holes so Tim and I can breathe. 

Need I say more?

Well, if that wasn't enough, at the bottom was yet another altered tin, this one an altoids, and quite beautiful.

I guess by now you realize that Pat loves surprises, so it should come as none to find something inside.....I lifted off the cover and attached to ribbon, letters that spell out my name.

And on the other side of the letters, the makings of a party.

Pat is crazy, and I mean that in only the very best way.  We are going to have so much fun on the cruise this fall!