A MUST follow Blog: The Altered Page

Recently a great gal sent me some blogs to check out for my Men Craft Too! Section. 

I have to say I think I spent hours looking through some of them, especially the one I'm showcasing today! Recently I've been talking to one of the artists Seth Apter. He's a genius! And we all know I don't throw around those sorts of terms very often. But he's just so innovative and exciting to follow. 

Okay let me start off by just sharing some of his work. It speaks for itself. His work is expressive, unique, masculine, eclectic and full of color. The attention to detail he has is amazing as well. I can look at the same piece multiple times and find things I missed. His blog is called The Altered Page.  Check it out. You'll be there for a while going through all of the wonderful posts, pod casts and more. 

If you've been considering getting into Mixed Media pieces or even if you already are into it but looking to expand on your techniques and knowledge Seth's blog is an amazing place to start. 

Alittle about Seth:  Seth Apter is a mixed-media artist, author, and instructor from New York City. His artwork has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions throughout the United States and Canada and can be found in multiple books, independent zines, and national magazines including Somerset Studio, Cloth Paper Scissors, Studios, and Artful Blogging. He is the voice behind The Pulse, a series of international, collaborative projects that are the basis of his book The Pulse of Mixed Media: Secrets and Passions of 100 Artists Revealed, released in March 2012 by North Light Books. He is also the artist behind two workshop DVDs released in June 2012 by North Light Media: "Easy Mixed Media Surface Techniques" and "Easy Mixed Media Techniques for the Art Journal". He is currently working on his second book, "The Mixed Media Artist: Art Tips, Tricks, Secrets and Dreams of 40 Amazing Artists", due to be released in January 2014.

I urge all of you to head over and take a look at his blog. Just be prepared to spend a bit of time there. You can also head over to his Facebook page and follow him there. 

Mixed Media- Altered Coasters

A Mixed Media group I belong to is hosting a altered coaster swap. I was excited to play with some mixed media on these babies. I've played with coasters for 3 years or so..... love making mini albums out of them. Here are my little guys! I played with Gellattos, Pan Pastels, water color crayons, coasters bribed off cute bar tenders, stickers, crackle paints, Dustic Attic pieces, staples, Helmar, Maya Road felts, etc. Thanks for looking. 

Background to start.

Backgrounds to start. 

Backgrounds to start. 

Crackle and some sequin waste.. excellent combo!

Here a fun wooden dit cut dress form, mists, stickers, paper Dollie, trim and micro beads. The backs are a surprise for those rec. them. 

These are mised, and crackled through stencils and a little Dusty Attic fun. 

Fun gelatto fun, antique book page tag, twine, corrugated circle, Maya Road felties.

Paint, mists and fun picture and quote. 

Paint, glimmer, mists, canvas and stamping!

Lots of fun here, kraft papers, thread bobbin, twine, Maya road flowers and pins. 

Lots of messy happiness here. Stencils, pearls, chipboard, tags, dyes.. fun fun. 

Mists, paint, Gelattos, paste, bricks.. fun fun. 

okay this ones has tons of layers. there's gelattos, masking tape, mists, burlap paint prints, embossed metal... loving this one. 

Paints, stencils, wood pieces, simpliest one but love it as well. 

Paint, stencils, lots of crackle on background and  the words.

50 Sucks Project

This weekend finished up a few projects. This being one of a few. Used a simple pot with a fake plant in it I had laying around- you can buy them for 2 bucks from Dollar General. Pulled the plant out and then used the planter foam in it to hold the suckers. I saw a version of this on Pinterest but wanted to do alittle something different. 

Don't forget about the amazing giveaway going on HERE

Now onto the project!

At first I was just going to use one large cut piece of paper around the pot, then later (after all my suckers were of course in place) decided to do something different. I covered the pot with mod podge. Of course goes without saying it holds exactly 50 suckers!

I then applied the torn pieces of some very old DCWV paper I had to cover the entire pot and then added a coat of mod podge to seal it all in. 

I then took two paper straws and poked holes through them.

I then ran green and blue twine through a large needed. 

I ran the twine through each letter and the two strays. I didn't like how it looked when in the suckers. So, I poked a 2nd hole through the straws and decided I liked the 50 above the sucks better.

I can't say I'm ubber happy with the way it turned out, but it looks well enough for a first attempt. I'm sure now that I have found out how super easy it was to make I'll be making more in the future as simple gifts for others. 

Hello there

I have a normal blog, however I decided that I would like one that is just for crafty projects. I plan on having giveaways and tutorials and all sorts of other great fun.. maybe even some vids. on how to's. Here is the most recent creation! I love it. It's a Time Holtz alterable box frame! I adored this and the possible ideas long before I ever bought one! I decided for this peace to do my first altered art piece. There are no pictures! Which is a very hard thing for me as I either work with a project or with pictures. I love how it turned out! It's got bits and pieces of wonderful vintage materials I have collected throughout the years as well as just alot of my favorites trinkets and things. Each piece has a special meaning to me and me alone. On this project i used all Helmar adhesives. It was my first time really using them and I just fell in love with them. Used nothing but them on this project! Thanks for looking! I'll promise lots of pics and when I can lots of details and pics on how to do them! This box is 9 inches by 6.5 inches. Just looks big in pictures!