All Things Altered Fall/Halloween Blog Hop

Hello all of you altered art fans, and welcome to the annual All Things Altered Fall/Halloween Blog Hop, hosted by the very talented Pam Bray of Scrapbook Flair, which is where it all starts.  I am so excited and pleased to be a part of this hop, which includes so many talented artists.  You will be inspired by the projects that will be shared on each of the designers blogs.  We are sure that you will love the "out of the box" projects that everyone has come up with.  Along the way, you will be able to leave comments for some fabulous prizes and, of course, we would love for you to start following our blogs. Please tell your other scrappy friends about our hop. I am sure you will have a wonderful time.

For my project, I chose to do something that makes me think of Fall.  I began with a piece I found in the local charity shop.  It started out like this ... 

... and ended up like this.

I totally love the way this turned out.  I used Graphic 45's Renaissance Collection of papers and cut outs.  Below, you can see the fair lady bringing in the last basket of roses for the season.  I adhered her to heavy chipboard before coating her with Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint.  Unfortunately,  this made it hard to get a real clear picture, but she does have a mysterious sparkle about her.  

I love mixed media, and here is a perfect example of why.  I started with green German scrap borders and corner pieces, painted them with Vintaj Patinas, brown acrylic paint, and even added some Brilliance Lightning Black ink to them.  You just keep going until you get the look you want.  The bird, also pictured below, is a German die cut.

I added some Prima vines in a Fall color scheme, a Graphic 45 metal butterfly with decorative brad that I colored with Vintaj Patinas, and a cute little bird's nest.  A few pretty feathers were added here and there.

I have some blog candy to give away to one lucky winner chosen at random.  All you have to do is (1) leave me a comment below and (2) follow my blog.  I will announce the winner next Thursday, 4 October.  

Be sure to visit each and every one of the other blogs participating in this two-day event.  

The lineup is shown below so you won't miss a thing.

1. Pammejo http://www.pammejo-scrapbookflair.com/
2. Nicole http://canadiannickelscrapn.blogspot.com/
3. Betty http://scrappybetty.blogspot.com/
4. Gloria http://www.gloriascraps.blogspot.com/
5 .Irit http://iritshalom.blogspot.com/
6. Christine www.scrapbookingtechnique.blogspot.com
7. Debbie - http://studiobeecreations.blogspot.com/
8. Jennifer - http://hydrangeahippo.com/
9. Jess B. - http://thatzuneek.blogspot.com/

10. Barbara R. - http://blackholeartstudio.blogspot.com/ - You Are Here
11. Shelley http://heartstring-designs.blogspot.com/
12. Candice - http://candicewindhamdesigns.blogspot.com/

13. Eileen http://eileenhull.blogspot.com/


I had so very much fun with this project, and I hope you have been inspired to make something from someone else's throw away, just as I did.  Thanks for stopping by, and please come back soon.

Happy altering!

Barbara

Tips and Techniques Thursday

Hello again, and welcome back to another edition of T&TT (that's Tips & Techniques Thursday, of course).  

Today I am going to share a technique with you that I used for my altered cigar box, posted last weekend during Leslie Rahye's Very Fall Steampunk Blog Hop.  In case you missed it, this is the box.

What I am going to show you now is how I made those beautiful steampunk style metal leaves on the box top.  Pictured below are the products I used:

First, die cut the leaves from the Spellbinders Premium Craft Foil, or any lightweight metal you may already have on hand.  I used the Memory Box maple leaf die.  I then embossed the leaves with a Paper Studio Gears embossing folder.  Easy so far, right?   

Next, I painted each leaf with Vintaj Moss Patina and let it dry.  Then I spritzed each leaf with two colors of Smooch Spritz in Limolicious and Sea Kiss.  I used a heat gun to quick dry the paint, allowing it to bubble, which made it age some.  

Now you have beautiful leaves that are easy to mold and maintain their shape for adding to your steampunk style botanical art.  Here is a closer look at them on the cigar box lid.  

Of course, there are a million different ways to make these, but this is just one of them.  I hope you enjoyed it and will give it a try.  It is a lot of fun and the results are pretty amazing.

Until next time, I hope you have wonderful crafting experiences!

Barbara