I love it in August when it's time to start thinking about, and crafting for, Halloween. Alpha Stamps is now carrying wonderful ATC-sized masonite tombstones. I just love them! They are nice and sturdy, and there are five different tombstones in a package. Here's what I did with some of mine, using images from Alpha Stamps collage sheets. I started out by covering each of the tombstones with pages from an old book, and then inked around the edges. An old metal ruler makes a nice base along the bottoms. For the first two I did, I thought it would be fun to picture the deceased, and give a little hint into what caused their untimely demise.
This woman was poisoned by a spider, poor dear. I used a clear stickers of spider webs and a spider along with her image. She's so pale, and her all white outfit made her seem ghostly, so that's the way she's now remembered.
The gentleman suffered a vampire attack. He probably won't be in his grave for long; if you look closely, you will see he has been turned, and is already beginning to bear his fangs. I added his tiny fangs with a little dab of white paint. The bats flying around his head are chipboard, so they're nice and sturdy.
And what's Halloween without Edgar Allan Poe? I made a Poe memorial out of one of the tombstones. I used an oval wooden frame painted black and spritzed with copper Glimmer Mist to set off his portrait, and then added some bronze roses to encircle the frame. A couple of ravens have come by to pay their respects.
I have two more tombstones to play with. Whom shall I kill off next?
My older daughter has been living and working in Korea for over a year now, and soon my husband and I will travel there to see her. A couple of her Korean co-workers have been so wonderful to her, and I wanted to bring them each a little gift. We like to travel light, so the gifts had to be small and easy to pack. I asked my daughter for hints as to what they might like as far as colors and themes, and decorated an Altoids tin for each of them.
One of her co-workers loves children's literature, and works as an English translator, so the tin with the kids and the alphabet around it is for her. Another really loves teal, so the butterfly tin is hers. The third tin is for the parents of one of her friends, who I hear is going to invite us over for a traditional Korean meal. Mmmm! Since I don't know them, I just went with sort of neutral papers I like.
When I get there, I'm going to put some delicious Dove chocolates in each tin before I give them. Look how perfectly the chocolates fit inside!
I hope I can find some great ephemera in Korea to use in future projects!
EDIT: A few people have asked for directions on how to make these tins. For my complete tutorial on how to cover Altoids tins, click here.
I've seen so many lovely coiled fabric bowls on Craftster, but I never thought I'd make one myself, until I got together with several other Craftsters, and we shared some of our favorite crafts. alwaysinmyroom was nice enough to bring the supplies (including her three sewing machines!) and teach us how to make these bowls. I'm worried they might be addicting!
I made this smaller bowl first, just to get the hang of the technique. When I got home I found the perfect plastic button to sit on the coil.
After I made the small basket, I decided to see what it would be like using white thread. Definitely an improvement! This next basket is about twice as big, and was done with a tighter zig zag stitch, which makes it more sturdy.
Look how pretty! I love this color combination.
And, because we all agreed that these would make quite suitable hats, I included a picture of my faithful dog Stella, who graciously offered to model. She's loving this look!
As someone who usually works with paper, I really loved switching it up and getting back to sewing. I'm going to drag my machine out and make a few more of these. I've already started wrapping the rope for my next creation.
I just got back from a wonderful weekend with some of the Craftster mods. We had so much fun! We went shopping for mixed media supplies at antique malls one day, and spent all the next day crafting! We may have slipped in a little time to share some Cosmos and wine as well.
One fun thing we did was a Yankee swap, where we each brought a little craft and swapped them out. Everyone was so happy with what they got that there was no stealing. Here's what I made to give away: a small "Pocket Affirmation" tin. This is the size of one of the Altoids mini tins.
Here you can see there's some Dresden trim on the side:
I had this great image from an Alpha Stamps collage sheet, and felt that this gentleman would be the perfect guy to say everything one would need to hear.
The pocket envelope on the left holds a card that has different sayings on it, so you can make him say whatever you need to hear. There are two balloons on the other side of the card as well. One says, "You're right, as always." I left the other one blank so that the recipient could write in whatever she personally needs to hear most.
HSG ended up with this tin. I hope this pocket affirmation tin always reminds her how awesome she is!
Here's my little paper creation/entry: a beach cabana for bathing beauties!
I designed this for Alpha Stamps, so most of the supplies came from there. I started with some chipboard houses from 7Gypsies. Each set comes with three houses: a solid one, one with 4 small windows, and one with a large cutout. I used two sets, because I wanted to have the large cutout in both the front and back of the cabana. I covered all the sides with scrapbook paper (Graphic45), and inked around the edges. On the front, I used a Travel Adhesive Border to create the waves, and images from the Bathing Beauties #3 collage sheet. I added a metal frame, a seashell, a drink umbrella, and a Cream Resin Sparrow, among other things.
To make the structure 3D, I stacked up some matchbox drawers to put in between the two houses.
Each little drawer is decorated with a beachy photo and some seashells from Florida.
I wanted light to show through the cabana, so I glued a thin sheet of blue tissue paper over the opening on the back, and then used Blue Dresden Shell Border strips to cover the edges of the paper. A seashell cut from a Travel Adhesive Border and an image from Travel Stamps Varnished Paper complete the look. For the feet, I used some wooden beads from an old necklace.
And there you have it. All ready for some fun in the sun!
I got mine! Look at the fantastic forest microjivvy sent me! Poor moon, he was trapped in the hands of the wicked tree. I don't think he's too happy about that.
The little drawer slides open to reveal some tiny goodies. I absolutely love that hippo. I'm going to have to make him a special home. Or if I feel he is strong enough, I might let him play in the light of that poor imprisoned moon.
Look at that poor fellow, all in the clutches of evil. So sad! You'll notice there's practically no hope of escape, though, as every branch ends up in a gnarly clasping hand. Don't turn your back on this tree!
Thanks so much, micro! You are so amazing with tiny details. I will put this wicked tree in a place of honor in my craft room.
I'm hosting a Wicked Forest Altered Matchbox Swap with cackle, and my partner is none other than the amazing microjivvy. I had to step up my game! I made her this little wicked forest shrine. She's a better photographer than I am, and was gracious enough to let me steal her photo:
I had a great time making this. I cut the front piece out of cardboard, and glued down the leaf motifs and the half-round metal pieces. Then, I glued wrinkled and then flattened tissue paper on, making sure that the paper clung to those pieces in hopes that it would look like they were carved out. I'm not sure that was 100% successful, but I like the effect. I then covered the drawer of the matchbox with the same paper and inked everything with both black and tan-colored ink to make the texture show.
Then it was time to make the tiny forest. I used some branches from a dogwood tree to make the tiny trees. There's a moon way back in the background, but it did get covered by all the woods! And then there's the little strange man in a suit. He came from Tiny Things Are Cute and is a little less than one inch tall. Here's a lighter pic of the interior so you can see him better. There he is, standing near the right of the box. I put a little moss on the ground, and hung some in the branches to mimic Spanish moss, which is Nature's spooky decor.
I put some Dresden trim around the edge of the arch for a little more texture, and then put glued everything up with a cardboard stand.
When cackle first suggested "Wicked Forest" as our next theme, I was a bit apprehensive, but it's good to have a bit of a challenge every now and then, so I'm glad we went with it.
cackle, Killam Creative, MissingWillow and I had a Craftster meetup last weekend! Of course, we had to do a little swap. We each thought of a theme, and then crafted small tins or ATCs for each other. Here's what I brought for everyone: tiny altered tins.
For Killam Creative, butterflies:
For cackle, mermaids:
And for MissingWillow, zombie sheep :
My theme was Children's Beauty pageants.
It was so fun to all meet up and share our art! Here's a group shot of all the tins together:
I hope everyone else will post what they made so you can see them all up close. To read more about our weekend, visit the Craftster blog!
Pretty much everyone in my family carries Altoids in their car. (My family is my best source of empty tins!) The other day, my Dad called and asked me to decorate the outside of a tin for his travel Altoids. He didn't have a preferred theme, but I know he loves to travel, and he loves old cars. While I was pondering what to do, I thought about how dependent I am upon my GPS, and how he and my Mom still prefer using a map. I have a terrible sense of direction, so I have tons of maps left over from my pre-GPS existence. Perfect! A map tin!
The top includes the area where my parents and siblings live, with "road trip!" spelled out in tiny stickers. I used 7Gypsies rubdowns for the pointy hand and the vintage truck.
Around the side, their home state, South Carolina. The bottom of the tin has the area I live in. You could almost use this map to get to my house, but you'd have to fill in some of the gaps between the top and the bottom!
Because this tin will be used for mints, I didn't decorate the inside. Here it is, filled with tasty Altoids mints. The paper sleeve that came with this tin says, "Open Your Mint Hole". Nice.
I put several extra coats of Mod Podge on this tin, since it will be used often. I hope my folks enjoy it every time they're in the car.
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