Altered Composition Books

I love to alter Composition books.  they're inexpensive and just the right size.  I saw these little guys at Walmart a couple weeks ago.  they're mini composition books and I think they were a dollar, couldn't pass that up!

I've altered a few composition books in the past here's a few:

the hardest part for me is the waiting.  Gluing the pages together, waiting, gluing, waiting, etc.  but in the end instead of 160 pages, I have about ten,  I did the same with the mini's and at this time, I've only finished two.  it has been rather humid and the dry time had been 2-3 days.  For an impatient person like me, that is an eternity!  once I design the covers  that usually tells me what's going to go inside.  here's what I've got so far:

front

back

front

back

so many products went into these little guys. ( I already had everything, so I didn't need to purchase any additional items)Tim Holz fabric

Martha Stewart Decoupage Birds & Lace

Various Tim Holtz embellishments

Martha Stewart Clay molds (bird on right)

variety of Arti Cake and Industrial Chic jewelry pieces

and other baubles and doo dads on hand

speaking of baubles and doo dads, I made this 'thingy' a couple weeks ago:

I had this small piece of wood that was once part of a barn that was built in 1880 Kentucky.  Painting or staining was not an option, wood that old needed to be seen, not covered up!  so I made a mobile-ish kind of thing.  I strung together, beads, baubles, doo hickeys and thingies and even though it don't know what to call it, I love it :)

one last item I made.  I decided to 'rust' a glass bottle.  it sat there for weeks until I decided what to do with it.  I decided to go with a bird theme....big shocker....

rusty bottle, cork paper, muslin ribbon, sisal twine, dried leaf and a clay bird, very easy, but I am pleased with the results.

And on a closing note I thought I would include a photo of pure beauty and elegance

Canada Geese don't even have to try to be beautiful, they just are....

Lindo Lake

there's something that has happened the last two summers, before I show you, I'd like you to see how Lindo Lake USUALLY looks!

see in the distance the lake is so swollen it has began to pour into the meadow?

that is Theodore and Lucy in the distance swimming over to me

these are the wintering Canada/Cackling Geese

More Lake overflow

all of these are how the lake usually looks, but now just like last summer/fall it looks like this:

Empty. Dry as a bone.  Foliage starts to grow and take over (yes that is a lone sunflower growing the middle of the 'lake')

Unlike most bodies of water in San Diego, Lindo Lake is a natural lake, it was not man made. usually it's level will decrease, but the last two years, the East Basin dries completely.  fortunately the lake was split into two sections and the picture below is the side that remains full year round.  However it can be misleading.  It looks like a full lake, but in some areas, the geese will be swimming and then all of a sudden stand up and the water will come up halfway up their legs.

while this seems to be a sad occurrence, as with every situation in nature, all the animals adapt.   Soon we will receive rain and the lake will fill again.  it's a beautiful thing to see and I am counting down the days until it happens :)

A Free Project

I had a co-worker ask me if wanted the ceramic pot below.

 a free item I could re-make?  Of course I wanted it!!  it's a perfectly fine pot as it was, but really wouldn't 'go' in my house, so I began the transformation.

#1 two coats of Gesso:

#2 three coats of Americana Warm White Paint:

then I had the great idea of grabbing my sandpaper and distressing the whole thing... guess what?  HORRIBLE idea!  it looked ghastly!!  it looked like I painted it white and sandpapered it.  it didn't look 'distressed' it looked like I painted it, and dropped it and a bunch of paint smeared off.  NOT a good look!!  So back to the drawing board.  More Gesso, more paint and I was back to the white pot again. BORING!!!  Decoupage?  Stencil?  what to do?  I really liked the thick layer of paint and it had a chalky appearance, so I didn't want to cover the whole thing.  it was the design at the top that was really throwing me of.  So I decoupaged that, added some sisal twine, then white washed the twine and I came up with this:

it certainly doesn't look like the same pot now!  I added some greens, a little birdhouse pick that I made and a turkey feather and I am done.  This project was free, money wise, but it did take several hours.  But as far as I'm concerned, it was time well spent.

Speaking of time well spent, I went to Lindo Lake yesterday and spent time with my favorite residents: the Canada Geese.

this is Nancy AKA Mama Goose.  She allowed me to sit here with her and her babies for some time and when they all finally drifted off into goose slumber, it took my exit.  Yes, time well spent.

Hot Glue Molds?

several months ago, I saw these at Michaels (oh and I bought them) and then I started seeing several Bloggers had done projects with them.  These are pretty darn cool!  And not too expensive!

 

here's the problem.  when I bought these, I did not have the money to purchase the special glue sticks.  Could I use any glue stick?  Rather than try that right away, I had another idea....

 

 

I just happened to have some clay and gave it a try...

 

these are just a few, but I will say I have DOZENS of this molds.  the clay woks pretty well, it's kind of a pain to get it all in the small nooks and crannies, but it is worth it!!

 

these were white clay, then painted with silver paint and then smudged with black paint:

 

I DID try to use hot glue with these molds (just regular, not the Mod Podge version and perhaps that was the issue) and it just didn't work.  Perhaps the Mod Podge version is formulated for the molds?  BUT in a pinch, clay works great!!!

 

I was on a bit of a Mold kick and you know Martha Stewart has clay molds....

 

this is actually a mold for jewelry making...

 

 

and that bird alone made this set a MUST

 

 

 the flowers on the left are just plan white clay. the Gerber Daisy on the Right is the Martha Stewart Air Dry Clay, which unlike clay that you bake, is pliable and practically weightless.  the flower on the bottom right was is oven bake clay and I used patina paint to 'age it'

 

this little bird is from the Mod Podge mold.  This is just a wooden egg, painted white, then painted Slate green, sanded, little piece of burlap and there you go...

 

I love all these molds!  I plan on many more projects with them!

 

 

 

 

 

New Martha Stewart Decoupage Line

 I should start by saying, I LOVE Martha Stewart!  Every time a new product line comes out, I try to purchase as many items as I can.  When I saw the Decoupage Line on several blogs, I was very excited.  It's all because of Martha Stewart that I KNOW what decoupage is.  It all began in October 1994.....that is a story for another day.  On with the products :)

Of course I had to get the bird themed paper...

 

And I just had to get the lace as well...

 

 

in a perfect world I would have purchased more, BUT since I'm not loaded, I purchased both of these lovelies with 40% off coupons, so instead of  $9.99, they were only $5.99!!  they are definitely worth the $9.99 (if I had to pay it) and I know I will get a lot of use out of both.

 

Something that seemed to be missing from all the descriptions of the papers was something very important.  See below:

 

The images just pop out!  NO cutting!  That is such a relief!!  Most decoupage papers require that you have to painstakingly cut out each image, not this one :)

 

 so here's what I've come up with so far  (I just bought them yesterday, so I was only able to complete one thing)

 

 

this is a mix of Martha Stewart Decoupage papers, Graphics Fairy Images, scrapbook paper and various ephemera:

 

 

I created this box with a purpose in mind.  there is something that I collect.  I find them while hiking, nature walks, and sometimes I'll find them on my porch.....

 

 

Feathers!  I love feathers, but I cannot bring myself to purchase them because odds are whatever feather I purchase came from a bird that is no longer alive.  All the feathers I have found and collected were shed and not one bird was harmed in the process :)