Spare Time Designs by Stacie

Made a move

2007-01-29T23:43:00.000-05:00

Well, in keeping in line with the name of my website that I'm working on- I've moved my blog to a different address. Here's where I'll be now:

http://creativejunque.blogspot.com/

I've moved over all of my entries & turned off the comments on this blog. So come visit the new one! See you there ;-)

Oh So Charming

2007-01-28T10:20:00.000-05:00

Here's a sample of the charms that I made for Dawn's charm swap on Art.e.Zine. There are 25 for the swap. I started with a scrabble tile. Adhered paper from a vintage dictionary page then sealed it. Drilled my holes & added sealer. I added some color with various Caran d'Ache Neocolor II crayons then smuged and blended. Then sealed again. Then I added the image, and sealed again. Some images have accents of color from the crayons that are also sealed. The sides are finished with metallic paint pens. I needed large jump rings & I wanted them to be sturdy so I made them out of 18 g wire & work hardened them with a rawhide mallet, then tapped them with a hammer for decorative purposes. These were fun to make & I hope that people who get one will enjoy my charms.

Copper Hearts

2007-01-27T10:31:00.000-05:00

This is a scan of the hearts link bracelet that I finished last week. It really looks nice on my wrist. I wanted to do it in copper first because I was having "issues" with the jump rings. First they were too small & it didn't lay flat, then they were too big & they stuck up too high. Then they were just right. As soon as I finished this, I started a silver one. I think I'll add a couple more links to this & turn it into an anklet. Maybe a bead danglie by the clasp too. And in my typical "overdoing" it, I've got plenty of heart links left. In silver & copper. I like copper, it's got a very warm feel to it.

Seriously I need to stop scanning the jewelry & take photographs. LOL. But the scanning is so much faster. I have another bracelet made. I'll try to photograph it today. If not, I'll scan it tonight.

I'm not really sure why this picture seems so small. If you click it you can get a bigger view.

Forty Two

2007-01-11T22:35:00.000-05:00

Today is my birthday & in a way that seems kind of old when I write it like that. LOL. But I only feel old sometimes ;-) Went on a bit of a shopping spree today & had some yummy chocolates after my delicious steak dinner. It was a nice day. No art to post though- didn't do any.......didn't do any laundry today either so that's a good thing!

Happy New Year

2007-01-06T22:31:00.000-05:00

I love the new year. I tend to spend the first couple weeks of the year (up till my b-day) reflecting on the year past & planning for the year ahead. Still in that mode I guess. And watching my DH work on his website so much really makes me want to add some finishing touches to my own so that I can share the address with my friends & family. Right now it's just too......empty. LOL. Anyway- I needed to post my lottery entry to the group so I thought I'd post it here too. I scanned it instead of photographing it (I'm on a deadline here & taking the picture, playing with lighting.....it would just be late!), so it looks a little wonky to me. (They are both circles, not wonky like the one on the left looks in the picture) A pair of sterling silver hoop earrings, hammered for stability. The theme was winter & I thought the colors of the beads with the silver helped convey that. At least winter in my mind. LOL. Realistically- it was 82º today. Doesn't feel much like winter. I digress.....
I'm working on a bracelet right now. I'll post when I've finished it. LOL- just remember that there's a bunch of different projects going on in here so I'll probably finish something else first.

Geeze.....Another one?

2006-12-29T16:52:00.000-05:00

Yup, more on the Paris theme. LOL. I might have mentioned that there's decos going around in round robin style & they've all got the same theme. Honestly I did this one weeks ago. But a dear friend mentioned that I'm not updating my blog enough so I thought I'd post a pic of this. Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays so far. After New Year's I think that things will get back to normal around here.

The background was some hand painted paper. There's an old postage stamp from France & some french text. The picture & some scrap paper, the eiffel tower cut out is leftover from my chunky pages, then a bit of ink & some neocolor crayon for the blueish. I love those things ;-)

Pendants & Herringbone

2006-12-10T21:29:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been bitten by the jewelry bug again. There are some things that I want to learn & some techniques that I want to do over & over again (until they're second nature to me). So I've dug out my jewelry things & have been playing a bit. Well- until the whole family got sick- that's not left me with much time. Although I've got a lot to learn, I still thought I'd post some pix. LOL- Easier said than done. These little buggers are hard for me to get a good shot of, I'm not a very good photographer to start with. So, blurry pix aside- here's a few. Quite a diverse group I know. I'm thinking I need more beads- LOL. Actually there IS a class that I want to take next month, we'll have to see how it goes. Until then I'll just keep on playing as time permits.

Remember Paris

2006-10-22T22:55:00.000-05:00

Here's a preview of my pages for the Paris Chunky book on BookArtz. I'm really happy with the way they turned out. Acrylics for the background, inks, reproduction of a vintage postcard, vintage paper from a dictionary, more acrylics & neocolor II crayon. I'm excited about this book. I just love chunky books. The thrill of opening the envelope & looking through the book over & over just soaking in all the details & the love that went into the pages. Sigh.....I'm looking forward to this.

Just posted a mini book swap on BookArtz tonight. I love to have a reason to make a book, otherwise I don't seem to make the time for it. But that was the point of posting the swap- many people that I know are like that.

Teeny Tiny Collage

2006-10-15T15:48:00.000-05:00

After seeing these tiny 1 x 1 collages on Christi's Blog- I just had to give it a go. Boy oh boy.....this is small! There's not much room for anything & I found the hardest part to be- cutting out the images. When time permits.....I'll make more. ;-) I see them popping up on various blogs so I'm sure I'll be swapping them soon. It is certainly a great way to use up scraps! And I need that since I save even the tiniest pieces.

More Paris

2006-09-30T19:17:00.000-05:00

My mind has entered a fantasy world for a little while. Well not so much fantasy because I did have the good fortune of visiting the city of lights when I was younger, in the early 80's. It was a long time ago. But.....my mind gets to go back there because of some projects that I have coming up. A Paris Chunky book, which I have been painting backgrounds for the last few days. And a deco RR with the same theme. I know.....normally I don't like deco RR's, but it's on BookArtz & some wanted to do a deco but have never done one before- so that's the way it was set up. Here's my deco.

Did you ever finish a project then want to change something? For some reason I thought that piece of paper should overlap the black piece......till I was done, now I don't like it. But it was too late to change it. Now I know next time I won't do that! ;-) But I did like all the layering on this.

The binding was new for me but I really liked it. I've got another one started but it's on the back burner right now so I'll just work on it when I'm in the mood. Really want to finish this chunky book first.

Not so Vintage

2006-09-11T16:51:00.000-05:00

This is a spread that I did in an AB. I think my friend Brigitte will be surprised. She's probably expecting something a bit more vintage. I hope I don't disappoint her. There ARE a couple strips from a really old bookpage. IT wouldn't be from me if I didn't add that! ;-)

Happy Birthday Baby

2006-08-30T22:06:00.000-05:00

My youngest turned 3 today. Seems like just yesterday we were awaiting his arrival. Had some yummy chocolate cake that the boys helped me make. His party is this weekend but we couldn't let the day go by without cake!

Not much art time since school started. I do have somethings to upload but not tonight- I've got to get some sleep, that alarm will ring early tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Lottery Entry- Out of Africa

2006-08-11T16:44:00.000-05:00

This was my offerring for our lottery on the deco group. I haven't worked much with this theme so I really enjoyed this. It didn't scan well- it's brighter in person. The red is more vibrant & the gold is bright. We'll know Monday who will win this & the other gorgeous entries for this month. I'm feeling lucky though!

It's an altered condom. I made the poly clay piece with a mold. There's fabric, paper, mesh, lumieres, a button and fabric paint on this piece. I attached a pin thingie to the back so it could be worn as a pin. I really should try to get a better picture. LOL.

Been very busy with family things so this is the only thing that I've done all week. I'm hoping to have a creatively productive weekend. ;-)

Altered Postcard

2006-07-26T00:37:00.000-05:00

This is a postcard that I did using the technique from Try it Tuesday by Claudia Roulier. This was a new transfer technique for me & I had some challenges- probably due to the humidity. I will definitely do more of these as I really enjoyed the process.

BTW- people are getting their Shades of White book & are really happy with it. :-) It was a great project.

I'm working on a couple of decos tonight, but I think I'll head off to bed as the layers aren't dry yet. I'm hoping to finish up quite a few projects in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for all of your wonderful comments.....it really does make me smile.

Binding the Shades of White Chunky Book

2006-07-11T09:47:00.000-05:00

Here's some pics of the table during binding. These books look great & really fat. Back to binding!

**Took these pix the other night but due to some blogger script reason, wasn't able to upload them. There's lots more now.....I'm about 2/3 done & looking to be done this weekend. Yippee!

Cover of Wild West Book

2006-07-10T16:19:00.000-05:00

This was the cover of the Wild West deco that we did in the deco group. Instead of passing it around, we each made the same page multiple times so we all have pretty much the same book. The picture of Frank & Jesse James is a gel medium transfer onto muslin.

I've got lots of new art to post- I'll try to get to it this week. Binding a beautiful chunky book (almost 30 pages) & the theme is Shades of White- so it's been keeping me busy. Also wrapping up my contribution to the postage people swap. Then it's on to the fiber projects!

Mail Art

2006-06-18T15:46:00.000-05:00

Guess I haven't really finished much this week. Been spending toooooooo much time on the computer. Website isn't much further along as I veered off on a Photoshop tangent. So, more computer stuff to do but not much to show for my time.

This is a mail art piece that I did manage to finish this week. My postman is loving the mail art as much as I am. ;-) This piece started it's life as a cabinet card that I've collected. And of course some vintage text & music sheet worked it's way into the piece.

Finished the Altered Purse

2006-06-02T21:35:00.000-05:00

Well, really first I altered a pair of jeans & made a purse, then I altered the purse. This was for a swap. I got the pair of jeans at a thrift store. I used lumieres, acrylics and staz-on inks. The trims are glued on with fabric glue. Still not sure if I like it better with or without the belt, but now that's up to it's new owner. ;-)

A Creation from Keri

2006-05-30T12:57:00.000-05:00

I rec'd this beauty as a RAK (Random act of Kindness). I just love the rich red's. I especially love the paper (Treasure Trends) and the ribbon at the bottom. This was so sweet of her and it's a treasured addition to my collection. Thanks Keri- it's appreciated & loved!

Altered Papers

2006-05-26T15:12:00.001-05:00

I really like how these papers turned out. I made a little atc book with them. The papers are layers & layers of paints, glazes, inks & stamps with some gesso mixed in for good measure. The look is a little grungy. I've done a few sheets of these lately- I just add another layer when I walk by it. Then when I think it's done I can make a little book & have some left over for another project. I also love these little atc books!

Another Background

2006-05-24T10:52:00.000-05:00

I really am addicted to this! This one is on canvas & I had a little fun with the gesso (a la Keri). At some point soon I'll stop making the backgrounds & add something to them! It's just while I have the painting stuff out & spread all over the place I thought I'd do a few. More canvases to be delivered this week....Yippee!

Outside "my" box

2006-05-21T00:25:00.000-05:00

Well- I tried another technique from the current issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors (Summer 2006) and it took me outside my normal boundries a bit, but I stretched & I really liked it. I took the background & used it in a deco. I could play some more - enjoyed it! I'm really liking combination of paint & paper that I've been playing with lately. It's more fulfilling to me than just paper.

Oops- I cut off the top of her crown when I scanned her!

Behind me

2006-05-20T08:10:00.000-05:00

As much as I love swaps, I'm glad that most of them are behind me. I've got lots of things that are almost finished so hopefully I'll be posting in the next few days. Here's a slide mailer that I did for a swap that Annette is hosting. The style is much grungier than my usual, but I had fun with it. Just layers & layers of stuff. I hope the recipient likes it. Although the swap didn't specify that one was needed- I decided to break out the soldering iron & add a slide to it. There will be more of that!

Try it Tuesdays!

2006-05-19T17:37:00.000-05:00

I'll admit it.....I'm a technique junkie.....can never get enough! I love that Chrysti started & invited me to this group. (See link at right) We'll have a new technique each week to try. And we don't have to create a finished piece- just the technique. And to make it even better- a random person will be drawn (lottery style) to win a prize. I just love this weeks technique- supplied by Karyn Gartel- the Altered Diva! I hope to find some time this weekend to play some more. Here's a couple of my samples.
I don't know why my pix always get out of alignment when I post more than one....maybe one day I'll figure it out. Good thing I'm no longer a perfectionist as this would drive me crazy!!

White

2006-04-23T23:39:00.000-05:00

Here's my page for the True Colors Chunky we're doing. I really enjoyed working with white, but not so much the feathers! We're doing a Shades of White book on BookArtz- really looking forward to that.

It's really late at night....I'm catching up on my projects though. Still more to scan but I'll save that for another day or I won't be able to get up in the morning.

Deco: Altered Cabinet Card

2006-04-16T08:05:00.000-05:00

Had to do a free expression deco, so I'm picking my own theme. My friend Cathy sent me a great little cab card so while I was making copies for a chunky book I added it to the original & copied it also. Then it got mounted onto cardstock & trimmed. Then I made a little deco filled with cab cards for my art buddies to alter. Had to do one myself. Here's the original & my altered version.

First I used gel medium over the part of the picture that I didn't want paint to cover. When that was dry I covered the whole thing with a lovely gold acrylic & wiped off the part covering the picture with a rag. Then when that was dry I painted some color blocks with a metallic amethyst and phthalocyanine green. When that layer was dry I stamped with black memories ink, the squares (cat's life Press) and the circles (top of my glue stick container). Then I added a layer of blue glaze - simply a glazing medium added to blue paint. Again wiping off the area that I didn't want colored. Then I added a piece of vintage text & various rub-ons (Treasure Art Trends- see link at left). Then covered the whole thing with a coat of gel medium. I wanted to protect the rub-ons because this is going into a deco & will be mailed to various artist friends & possible handled. I really like how it turned out. Although next time I would allow more drying time between layers. Can't wait to do another- I have a nice little collection of cabinet cards now, just need to finish up some swaps so I have time to PLAY!!!!!

Great Thrift store finds today!

2006-04-10T16:00:00.000-05:00

My art friend Tammy is hosting an altered purse swap on our Mixed Media group. I've been in & out of several thrift stores looking for a purse to alter. I also had an idea about making one from a pair of young girl's jeans. Well- today I got a couple of pairs of jeans, a couple of purses to alter, a little mirror thing to alter (I'm thinking kid's pictures & putting it by the front door) & my favorite find......a vintage suitcase, well- the cosmetic case. I was so excited. It's old, and blue & in pretty decent shape considering. I'm looking forward to having some time to alter this little treasure. I think it'll be great to hold some art supplies. I've got some ideas for both the inside & outside. I'll post pix as I go along the process. Very excited about this!

Back to binding.......

Thanks for the comments!

2006-04-05T23:48:00.000-05:00

I really appreciate all of the comments that I've been receiving. And if I was more blog savvy I could probably respond from here......but I don't know how to do that yet! No art to post tonight. I've been working on a couple of swaps, but when I get a chance I've got finishing touches to put on a few other projects then I'll post them. Just wanted to say I appreciate the love!

;-)

Altered Condoms

2006-03-15T19:45:00.000-05:00

Okay, you may think I'm nuts, you wouldn't be the first! I made a bunch of these some time ago, before I knew about altered art. I used to sell them regularly at shows & boutiques. I've started some new ones & they are going up in my Etsy store. Depending on how many I get made I may list them on eBay or source a little boutique up here. I've altered a condom by gessoing, painting, stamping, inking & adding a bit of collage. So, what do you think? Comments appreciated! Think it'll start a craze in the altered art world? Or am I nuts? LOL

I Break for RAK's

2006-03-11T16:40:00.000-05:00

Taking a much needed break from swaps this weekend. Give myself a little time to recharge, play & clean up my ever messy workspace. In just letting myself play I'm coming up with some little things that I'll send out as RAK's (random acts of kindness) so some of my art friends. Here's one. It's an altered formica sample.

Waiting for some glue to dry on others & making some little books. This chould be just the recharge that I need!

Knocked Down

2006-03-08T15:57:00.000-05:00

Okay like I needed this like a whole in the head- I was sick all weekend. Not just sniffle & sneeze carrying on kind of sick- but the fever, can't hold my head up, must sleep kind of sick. And now I'm trying to catch up on everything.

I did want to post my finished atc from the Noir swap. I used paint splats as part of the background on the top- just trying to "use" the circles. I was happy with it. Now my next swap projects are Floral Chunky, color (brown), and true colors (white).

Slowly moving in the right direction

2006-02-19T19:51:00.000-05:00

Well after problems that were no fault of Etsy's- my seller account is finally set up. To set it up Etsy send a pre-approve charge of one penny to verify the account and my bank kept denying it. Rob from Etsy's Customer service was wonderful & let me know some things that could be causung the problem. After numerous phone calls to my bank- it seems they won't pre-approve any charge under a dollar. Ron upped the pre-approve charge to $1.01 and it went through the first time. He was a huge help! Just have a few things to do to set up my store then I'm ready to go. (HTML wise) I Of course after that.....I need to finish some pieces to list! I've started on some jewelry pieces that are an altered item. I'll post when I've finished one- I reallly like them so far. Hopefully this week- but I've got another swap to get out so my pieces may get moved to the proverbial back burner! I wish I wasn't so slow when I create- I'd get more done & my back burner wouldn't be so full.

Wrapping up "Wings" Project

2006-02-02T19:25:00.000-05:00

To me, everything is a project- it's how I organize it & think of it. So- the Wings Chunky Book Project- is almost finished. I'm hoping to get it mailed off to the hostess this weekend. As I said previously- this is a bit of a departure for me. But I found the wings comforting- so it was okay (in my mind) to experiment with different color. I also used acrylics for this & I've never done that for a book swap like this. I really like the way the crimson acrylic went over that hundred year old music sheet. It almost looks like a red glaze. Hope everyone in the book likes my offerring.

So much to do

2006-01-27T21:19:00.001-05:00

And it goes without saying- so little time. I'm currently working on a chunky book swap. Have a couple mock ups done- waiting for them to dry to see which I like better, then I'll live with it for a little bit & pick the one I want to make for the swap. They are very similar- just little differences, but even now- I'm leaning towards one- so I suppose that's the one. I'll scan & post soon.

Part of my problem right now is that my work area is a complete disaster. As a matter of fact- since the same things are sitting on my table- seems I'm using them in all my pieces. The really old book- The Count of Monte Cristo from the late 1800's, a set of alpha stamps, beads & headpins. Guess it's time to do some switching around & cleaning up. Well- I'm going to try to do a deco or two while I wait for some paint to dry.

Swap your art out!

2006-01-24T20:32:00.000-05:00

Looks like this is going to be the year of swaps for me- both hosting & participating. I've done a chunky book & 2 ATC swaps so far- with a few more chunkies & ATC & book & art doll swaps coming up in the next couple months. Should keep me busy. Here's a pic of my ATC for the Vintage Travel swap on MMA. Gave me a chance to use some postage stamps that I bought on eBay last year. One of my less active groups (with lots of potential) was going to close last week unless someone took over ownership. So I did (Cathy's going to give me a hand). Changed the name to BookArtz, and am still revamping the group so that it's more "me". I'll be happy with it. Announcing a chunky book swap later tonight. Just wrapping up some other things first. Hoping the group has lots of fun book swaps. But I still love the deco group & MixedMediaArt. Off to get some work done.

Things to do this year

2006-01-20T00:29:00.000-05:00

So being the chronic listmaker that I am- of course I have a list of things that I want to accomplish during 2006. Setting up a blog is one of them. Let's hope I am consistant & prolific enough to actually have pictures to post & techniques to add. I won't list my other goals now.....then I'd be accountable!