Traveling Cigar Box

This is a cigar box that traveled from the East Coast to the West Coast last year. It faired very well although I have purposely distressed it up even more after it came home and added the Nancy comics to the top and inside. Everything that is collaged on this is from an original Nancy Comic Book. The inside of the lid are signatures from the participants of a Take It Leave It swap on the All Things Tim Yahoo Group last year. I used Traci Bautista's Collage Pauge that you can find at Joann's. I have been using this like a gel medium and really love it a lot.

Beaded Leather Necklace

This was a lot of fun to make. I stamped all over the suede leather inside and out and beaded around it. Added some long danglies to each side and then the necklace itself.

A close up of the front of the bag.



Went back a little on this to show the danglies on each side of the bag.




This is the back of the bag.




This is the inside of the bag.

ONE WORLD ONE HEART --- Let's Ride the Magic Carpet

I am very excited about participating in this adventure for the first time as I am very new to the Blog World. I am looking forward to this a lot as it is such a great way to get acquainted with new blogs and meet new people.

Click on the link below to see what it is all about.



Just a few reminders:

1. Comments need to be left on this post only to be entered to win.

2. Winner will be drawn on February 15th.

3. Only one post per person. Duplicates will be deleted.

4. Be sure and leave your email address in the comment or a link directly back to you so that I can easily contact you if you win. A good way to leave the email address is blahblah at yahoo dot com because some blog comment areas have a hard time recognizing emails. Especially, if you post as "Anonymous", it is very important that you do this.


Here is the piece of art that I made that you have a chance at winning.


UNITED STATES FLAG BOTTLE CAP PURSE







SO JUMP ON THAT MAGIC CARPET AND LEAVE A COMMENT TO WIN THIS ONE OF A KIND PURSE THAT I MADE.

And after you have done that, take a minute and check out my new blog and my adventures in creating art and, of course, Using Up All That Stuff.

Funky Wallets

I drew my inspiration from two online classes I took from Alisa Burke called Graffiti Chic and Adventurous Accessories. The first class was all about decorating the canvas with acrylic paints and the second class was all about making many different accessories out of canvas. All of my canvases are painted on both sides, sometimes I do them matching and sometimes not. Some of these wallets are lined and some not. Some of them have pockets on the back and some don't as the original design did not but I had a lightbulb moment so I added pockets to the back of the remaining wallets that I made and will do that from hereon out. As you will see, I did all kinds of different closures.

A Great Unit for Ribbons, Fibers and Such

This is a unit I got some time ago when a store was going out of business. Each layer swivels on this too. I felt like it was meant to be because seconds after I bought it, I heard someone ask for the price and after hearing it was sold, asked if they had another one like it.

Some More Organizational Things

This is one of my favorite organizational units I have. I found this at Costco. It is meant for guys to put all their nuts, bolts and screws and such but I had a different idea for it. Everything is in full view and you can just pull out one of the bins and work from it. Way too cool.




This is an item I found at a thrift store some time ago. It is quite large and it is on rollers. You can clip tons of stuff on this. I think I paid a whole $2 for it. Don't you just love those thrift stores, flea markets, etc. I got this wonderful habit from my father........thanks Dad.....I love finding those bargains as much as you did.

Some Thrift Store Finds

Here is one of my thrift store finds of recent. I was looking in the area of where things like this should be but didn't see it. A couple walked by me and I heard this lady's husband tell her about this huge basket of cones of thread. My first thought was "why didn't I see that" and then I said a little prayer that the lady would not want it. Then I heard the lady say, I could have really used that a few years back. Wow that was a close call. I rushed to it and grabbed it up. I have started sewing of late and this is what was on the bottom shelf that I didn't see........shame on me. This came at a great time as I am using a lot of thread for the Remains of the Day class I am taking on line. There are 18 cones of thread for a mere $4......oh, it was Senior Day for another 20% off......



You can always use lace in your artwork. I think I paid $3 for this huge thing of beautiful lace. Although I will never use all of it myself, I have given a lot of it away to friends.





Here is some more lace that I found which I thought was nice.



Another find that was exciting to me was a box of security envelopes because Mary Ann uses them in her Remains of the Day Journal. Although I get some in the mail everyday, this was just perfect to have all of these new ones on hand. And it goes without saying that I will be giving away some too.

One of the Many Necklaces I've Done

I have done a lot of jewelry in the past but this one was handy. I like doing all kinds of jewelry but haven't made new pieces in awhile.

The dice necklace was a lot of fun to do.

And the Winners Are.......

The winners of my Giveaway Post are:

Nancy said...
Welcome to Blogland! Yours is great!!

All of your art is beautiful, Nancy. I love your background papers, your bird - and the fabric journals - WOW! You are even more talented than I realized! Where do you find all of the "Nancy" comic books & such? I so love my calendar cover - would love to make more using our great name. ;o)

Cynthia of Cynful Creations said...
Nanc, congratulations on starting your own blog and thank you for sharing it with your ROD class members. Your pages and journals and artwork is all fantastic, I'm going to enjoy cruising through your entries.

paperqueen said...
Welcome to blogville! I think you will enjoy it here, and I KNOW you have a huge amount of talent to share.
Hey, I'm your very first follower!
Congratulations.....and I LOVE your papers, BTW.
Eileen in NYC


Please email me within 48 hours your address so that I can get your prize out to you.

Thanks for leaving a comment and I am sure I will do this again.

Altered Cigar Box

I even hate to say how many cigar boxes I have but it is a lot. I really like them just as they are but I am going to do a few of them with different themes to just enjoy them up on the shelves. The boxes are also a nice way to hold stuff. Some of the ones that are 50 to 60 years old, I will never alter them as I just couldn't bring myself to do that........they are just great that way.

Here is one that I altered using actual patterns, some Basic Grey sewing scrapbook paper and some fabric I had. The scissor, thimble and needle holder was once a necklace. It was another thrift store find. I found a lot of old jewelry while I was up in Oregon. I had held onto it for a long time and finally I found just the right use for it. I used Idea-logy type charms to spell out Sewing Box and that is an actual zipper, spool of thread and bobbin.

Little Knitted Purses

I learned to knit when I was young and did some sweaters, etc. Got away from it. Went back to it.........you got the picture. Well, when my Mom was very ill, I went to Oregon to care for her. I started knitting again while I was there. It was something I could do with little supplies while sitting with her. I knitted several afghans while I was sitting with her which I gave to her special friends so they would have something that I did for Mom for them. While I was up in the Northwest, I was able to go to ArtFest and I had this thought of making a bunch of these for trades. Some of them did not have chains on them and were just little knitted pouches with stuff inside. I think I ended up doing about 100 of them. I so wish I had the pictures of all of them but they were lost in a computer disaster. I did them all different and in many different sizes and shapes and used many different kinds of fancy yarns plus a worsted weight yarn. That way, they had more substance to them. I just ran across a few the other day so I had to share.

Giveaway--Deadline to Post is Tomorrow at Midnight

Just a reminder that I am giving away some things of mine to the lucky winner or perhaps winners on the January 11th post. It is entitled Giveaway....Celebrating My New Blog. You can click on it on the sidebar to your right. You need to leave a comment on that post to be eligible. It might be a box of goodies or something handmade or both.....who knows. I will announce the winner on the 19th.

The Paint Station

On one side of this room, I have two 6 foot tables which are adjusted high so I can stand and work. Really like standing better than sitting for most things. On this table I use it to paint canvas and fabric with acrylic paints and also decorate and paint paper to use in my artwork using Adirondack Color Wash Sprays and dye ink reinker sprays. I really like doing this part as well as making the items out of the painted canvas and paper.

At the back of the table are a bunch of blue cabinets which you find at Home Depot, Harbor Freight, etc. which hold a lot of trinkets, embellishments, etc. to use in my work. They are so handy to have in view. They are actually sitting in part of the bay window there which I put to good use. What you don't see in this picture is what those cabinets are sitting on........12 x 12 boxes of gorgeous papers.

On top of the blue cabinets are containers for Jelly Belly candy. I found these in Ellensburg, Washington, at a big yard sale that was being held for my nephew's daughter, Caitlin Calhoun, to raise money for her to go to Scotland to work with the Youth for Christ organization. I have a lot of thrift store goodies in those containers and they hold so much.........the attached scoops were still attached to the containers and inside the box was a bunch of the JB plastic bags.



This table is lined with plastic so I really don't care how much paint or ink it gets. Also, when I am painting pieces, etc, I work on a stack of either paper towels or papers and when they get enough paint, designs, etc on them, I use them for other projects. Nothing goes to waste in my world.

Fabric, Paints and Paper.....Oh My

This is a piece I did a while back while just playing around. I looked at it today and thought about using it but I like it so well that I put it back down. Just need to make another piece like it. I found a bag of cut up fabric (I think it was 2" squares) that was probably going to be a quilt or something.....at a thrift store....of course. I put down one layer of paint and then I randomly put down squares of fabric with gel medium. Then I did another light layer of paint and then did some dry brushing of different colors on it. The circles were created by using a prescription bottle and putting the rim of the open bottle in paint and then down on the piece to make another layer on it.

It Used to Hold Candy and Such.......Now It Holds Good Ole' Junk Stuff

I walked into a thrift store last year and from afar I saw this wonderful old stand that probably used to hold candy or such but all I saw was what a great thing to hold all my junk stuff. It is five layers and six containers for each layer and it swivels around too. I couldn't get to it fast enough. And to my delight when I went to pay for it, she told me that it was a 50% off day.........oh be still my heart.

A lot of the stuff in those jars are from the thrift stores too. I have spent a few years collecting all that good stuff and it is so handy now to just twirl the layers and see what will work for a particular project. You know the old say, out of sight, out of mind.........very true.....you just forget about it but not now.

Pages in a Travel Jourrnal

Here are some pages that I made for a travel journal back in October. There are lots of pages that will hold things like Artist Trading Cards, pamphlets, postcards, etc. All the papers and/or canvas was painted by me and sewed on the machine. I also have a picture of a couple Artist Trading Card holders. I did about 200 of these with ATCs to trade. On some of them I used my hand painted papers and some of them are scrapbook papers. The covers of the book and some pages that have zippers are canvas that I decorated. All of the ideas of these pages were mine and I had fun creating them.

Altering Composition Books

I altered a couple of those $1 composition books........I thought the cover needed a little pick-me-up. I used plumber's tape that comes in a roll, embossed it with a cuttlebug embossing folder, colored it with alcohol inks and added nailheads. After doing those steps, I glued it to the book covers. I also did the inside completely. The one with my name on it, I used metal pieces that I colored with alcohol inks from my stash and added the appropriate letters to spell my name.





Here are some watercolor papers that I colored for the signatures of the books. You know I can have any "white" pages anywhere around me.