An Altered Thingumy-bob

We all have  lots of thingumy-bobs and doo-dahs that we save to alter don't we? That thing that you just know will be fab for altering so you pick it up and tuck it away with all the other bits that you save to alter "one day". Over at UKStampers (link on my sidebar!) we have just had an altered thingumy-bob swap to clear some of that stuff!
In my cupboard of bits I came across this wooden thingumy. We had these at Christmas for the Guides to decorate and hang on their trees but as I ordered and paid for the p&p I got to keep the spares. Needless to say I have done nothing with them!. So out it came for a sand and some gold paint

.....to be transformed into this fat-necked fairy/angel! Ooo I used lots of "bits"; her skirt is a massive scrapbooking flower from an unopened packet, her overskirt is from my sister's wedding favours, her sash is from a gift tag and the wings are leftover laminate from when I was cutting stencils for a school jubilee project. Had a bit of bother with the feet/legs. They were not going to attach to the body AND the boots so for a short while it was going to be one or the other but after the application of extra sticky glue and tape they finally stuck!
So she flew off to a new home where I hope Sid liked her!

Altered ATC

Over at UKStampers I have just taken part in an altered ATC swap. We could use any material EXCEPT paper/card to make it so I used felt.

I started by stacking 5 colours of felt and drawing a simple design on the what will be, bottom one.

Then I machined round it twice to make it extra strong. 

Then I cut through the layes, up tight to the stitching to leave different colours showing from each layer. So on the first layer I cut pretty much all of it away to leave the black out line. Then I cut everything but the fin..

Gradually I worked through the layers until I had white showing just for the face and I embroidered an eye and mouth. This is called reverse applique and I have never done it before but once I worked out what colours I wanted between the top black and bottom white it was very easy.

Just a shot from the side so you can see all the layers.

An Altered sick bowl!!!!

Some of you may know that I recently had a small op from which I am all recovered now, but on the way home I felt a bit queasy so brought home several of these papier mache sick bowls.

Needless to say I didn't use them but couldn't bring myself to throw them away! Jess has asked me several times for a bowl to put her bits and pieces of jewellery in when she takes it off at night so this seemed like the ideal thing to alter!

First I trimmed off that rim then I found the scraps of fabric left over from her cushion and chopped them into bits before glueing them all over the bowl. I covered the whole lot with lots of PVA.

It took ages to dry but once it was, it set really hard and she has now taken it off to Uni with her!

Altered Domino Book

Now my recipient has my book I can show it to you! These are the inside pages before I assembled the book. It was a bit like doing Inchies again!

This is the domino covered in crackle glaze, before it did it's crackling thing! I used alcohol inks and then stamped and embossed the pattern and the edges in pirate gold.

So here it is in it's final glory, all tied up ready to go! I really enjoyed this and it is lovely to get back into being challenged again.

Altered Dominoes

Now I have been a good girl and finished most of my unfinished jobs I am taking part in new challenges! So first off is a Domino Book Swap. I have never altered a domino, let alone made a book from one! First hurdle was no dominoes but two lovely ladies from UKStampers sent me a few each to practice on. They look oriental to me so first I used my alcohol inks for the background. Then I stamped and embossed the fish and the edges with gold. Lastly I covered it with crackle Glossy Accents.

This one I tried something else; still alcohol inks for the BG but then I stamped chinese symbols on it before adding the image of the lady and the coin. This time I edged with a gold/red embossing powder and used UTEE to cover it all.

So after my experiments I think I prefer the glossy accents finish to the UTEE. Now I have to post my domino book to the recipient. Once she has it I will show you what I did.

Altered Tuna Tin

Do you remember that I recently did a swap with an altered sardine tin? Well after that we decided to alter a tuna tin! I am very late with this because I was waiting for inspiration and then once I'd had it I was waiting for clock parts! We have a clock repair shop nearby and my daughter wanted some bits for a textiles project. They said they would save her a few broken bits and pieces so when she collected them she let me have a rummage and take some cogs and hands. This is a poor photo but I put them on a spindle (so there are three layers including the hand) and then added the vintage lady between them. The flower I made after seeing it in this months CraftStamper magazine. The outside is covered with metal from a beer can that I heated in the gas flame (to turn it brown) and then embossed with the cuttlebug cogs and gears. Finally I used another cog as a base and posted her off to my swap partner!

Dear Diary...

Last year Jess was very upset that she no longer got a School Planner. So she had to buy herself a dull, boring diary and she asked me to decorate it for her which I did (with vintage nudes!) Well she needs a new one now so she presented me with her latest one and asked if I would "bling" it for her with 40's and 50's fashion.

This is the finished result. I painted it with acrylic paint and then added images and text from the internet and magazines. It was all looking a bit staid unitl I added the two saucy girls on the spine! Then I added glitter paint on all the pink bits and once it was dry I covered it with stickyback plastic a la Blue Peter! Voila, one blinged diary! Now she said she would do mine in return...

Altered CD

I just took part in an altered CD swap over at UKStampers. No theme, just alter it! I have done one many moons ago where I die cut lots of flowers and made them into a kind of floral "pomander" so I thought I might go again with a similiar style. As it is meant to have stamping on I decided to stamp and then hand cut all my flowers this time. I started by colouring plain white card with a variety of glimmers, H2Os and distress inks. Then I stamped various flowers and added those candy dots for centres. I die cut some ferns, curls and leaves and then put it all together!

It is very sparkly and glimmery in real life but it doesn't really show here! I hope Sid liked it!

Now it does rather look as if I haven't been doing much recently, but I have just started a CJ with my group of friend that I craft with once a month. I can't put pics on here though as the girls do visit from time to time (so they tell me!) and I want to keep their entries secret until they get them back! I have done my book and also my first entry in someone else's book...