The Altered Mousetraps I've made so far.

Recently completed projects.

 

The above photos are from recent projects I've participated in on numorous Yahoo Groups.  The Casablanca one is the remake mentioned in a previous photo post. The ATC sea themed sets show the top set I made first then realizing I didn't include any Tim Holtz elements that should have been included.  So the second set reflects the remakes for that swap.  I'm sure causing myself a lot of extra work with having to do remakes.  Next would be my first altered mouse trap.  This is the latest altered item that is currently making the rounds in the paper and mixed media art world.   The second row are a set of Titanic themed ATCs and altered tickets.  Then at the bottom is a Patriotic Tag set.    All were fun projects to participate in.



 

           




Cute tag for RetroArt Cafe's
contest using one of their digital
images.  The woman is their
image and I thought the caption
worked really well for it.



The other day I sat down to start
a project for another swap I might
participate in.  When I went to sign
up for the swap I realized I didn't
even use the theme of the swap
which was Casablanca. Doing a remake.


                 

This is a small project inspired by my favorite local craft store Artco in Tacoma, WA at their April craft night.  You pay a small fee and they do 3 make & and takes, have all their tools available for you to use. And participants bring snacks.  The design they provided for covering this 4x6 note pad was spring like and sweet in yellows and orange, but not really my style.  A couple days ago going through some of my projects I brought home unfinished I was inspired to follow through on this one using left over scraps from Graphic 45's Tropical Travelogue paper line.

VLVS May Challenge - Flowers

Okay.. So my "planning ahead" idea for the May challenge didn't quite fit the actual theme posted of "flowers".  So I had to stretch the idea.  They're just steampunk flowers using some adorable images from VLVS.  The Mama and the 2 little chickagears were from plate #1390.  The little gear baby was an image I purchased seperately and don't have the image number at hand.  My gear flower heads were made using the Spellbinders Sprocket die set (borrowed from my friend Deana). The background paper is from Bo Bunny's "Timepiece" 6x6 paper pad.

My sweet grandsons!

I just have to share some photos of my 6 grandsons.  Our family just "aquired" our 6th (technically 7th since we lost one at his birth 5 years ago) through our youngest daughter's marriage to his Dad last month. They live in Alaska.  



In these photos our newest grandson Easton is in the left photo and he is 12.  In the right hand photo is Corbin 13, Conner 3, Isaac 14 and Jason 15.  Corbin & Jason are brothers, Conner & Isaac are brothers (from 2 of our sons) and Luke is our oldest daughter's son.  All but Easton live near us so I get to see them often.  I daycare for Conner full time and I have Luke about 3 days a week.


Myself with Conner & Luke, Luke & Conner and Luke.



Altered Cigar Box Project

Another project for my Art For the Creative Mind yahoo group. Inside I attached some
black beads around the inner edge.  I also made a set of note cards to match.

 

More Mint Tin creations.

The fish one I made for my oldest son's birthday this month. He

loves to fish and can use the tin for odds & ends.  It was gifted

with a gift card for his favorite store and a matching hand made card.

The woman with wings is for an art exchange on a Yahoo

group, "Spread Your Wings".  

And the Vintage era actress is one I made using an image and

embellishment given to me by my friend Renee whom I gave the tin too. 

 



Recipe Book

This past Christmas I made my daughters, daughter-in-laws and like-a-daughter family cookbooks. I had them all give me favorite family recipes that they make.  I created 4x6 pages in a scrapbook program.  Once I created a background design I then typed in the recipes. I e-mailed and had them printed as photographs at Costco then inserted the recipes into a pre-made mini photo-album I purchased at JoAnn's.  I left the plastic covering the book comes with to keep the cover picture clean.  There is a section for each person's recipes starting with mine. The beginning of each section has a photo of them. I left blank pages between the sections to add more recipes. If the recipes took up more than one page I created 2 pages and put them in facing pages. Everyone including spouses love them. As a gift.. in the last pocket of the book I put a note "In case you don't feel like cooking..." And attached a gift card to their favorite restaurant.

Mini Books made from dominos.

On my Mini-Books yahoo group we're doing a partner swap making a mini book using dominos for the covers. I whipped up these little gems using standard sized dominoes as possible ones for the exchange.  I will be sending to two people.  Now that I know how quick they are to put together I'll probably make a few more. The "fairy" art is part of a digital download sheet of 1"x3" fairies for all occasions from http://www.lisasalteredart.com/   Each image has a front and a back saying.  Click on link, then find your way to "charms & such", then 1"x3". You will see them on that page.  The French themed art is a similar digital art download from Umzansi Creations. I purchased them through Etsy but the link doesn't work anymore.

I also have some 2 inch square dominoes that I

thought would be cute for using up some of my

favorite Graphic 45 paper scraps.  I love how it

turned out.  Holding it in my hand has that feeling

of substance due to the weight of the dominoes.

It feels good in my hands.