Altered Wooden Spools

I recently finished up a couple of

altered wooden spools

for a swap I'm participating in.

Altered Mousetraps

I love when I can take something like 

THIS:

And turn it into something like this:

and this...

The above 2 are for a Christmas 

themed altered mousetrap swap

Click HERE to view a few other 

altered mousetraps I created.

Winter Dreams

Winter Dreams

Awhile back I posted about these Camel Snus tins my husband brings me home from work (one of his co-workers gives them to him).  I'm always looking for a new challenge on how to use them.  Above is a piece that I finally finished up which I had started this past summer.  It was one of those pieces where you start on it, but then get stuck because your not sure what to do next.  When that happens I've learned to set it aside knowing that eventually something will come to me, and it did this past week.  The middle base is a Camel Snus tin turned upside down and the back of it is a lid from a Camel Snus tin.

And the mini tree is one of my bleached trees (click HERE to view my tutorial) that I colored using watered down paint. I wanted the tree to match the aqua paint I had used on the tin.

Click HERE to view my previous 

posts using  Camel Snus tins.

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Altered Tin House

For the last year my husband has been bringing me home these Camel Snus Tins.  A guy at his work gives them to him and of course being a good hubby he saves them for me!  I've been stashing them away saying I really need to figure out something to do with them, they really are cute little tins!  Finally the other day after I pulled them out and stared at them willing some inspiration to come to me little by little it did!

It took 3 tins to create my Altered Tin House. 

I was originally going to torch and then paint the 

cans but instead decided to use alcohol inks to color 

them. I'm so glad I did I really like the look 

I achieved. The Moon image is from OTM's  

Charmed Collage Sheet #3

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Altered Baby Dress

Altered Baby Dress

"All children are artists. 

The problem is how to remain 

an artist once you grow up."
~Picasso

Last weekend I bought 2 little plain white cotton dresses for 50 cents a piece at a garage sale with the intent on altering them. I finished my first one today.  I started yesterday by using the dress as a wipe off rag for some painting I was  doing. Once the paint was dry, today I sewed the pocket and a button onto the dress and stamped some of the wording on a grosgrain ribbon and sewed it on also.  I used a fine sharpie to write the rest of the quote onto the dress.  Added some worn out paint brushes I had saved and then hung it from a large brush that I had been hanging on to also.  I'm pleased with how it turned out and even more happy that I finished it!

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Junque Treasure!

For all you Altered Artists, Trash to Treasure and Repurposing Queens and Steampunk Artists out there you will appreciate this little treasure I was gifted with yesterday!

 

 Yesterday hubby brought me back an awesome surprise from a swap meet he went to! This use to be a Pacific Gas and Electric first aid box and he paid all of .50 for it!

Inside had surprise rusted goodies as well and thebest thing of all is that it's already aged so I don't have to do anything else but figure out what to make out of it all:-)


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What is Altered Art?

What is an Altered Artist?

I'm often asked what exactly is an altered artist? Sometimes I get the classic puzzled look when I mention altered art. An altered artist aka: re-possession specialist looks at something ordinary or thrown away and sees endless possibilities of how they can transform or "alter it", if you will, into something uniquely new and different from what it was intended to be used for. A shoe is not merely a shoe, A book is not just a book to read (How many of us have been been taught not to write in books...come on raise your hands!), but for an altered book artist a plain book holds fabulous possibilities of how they can create, alter and transform the book into a creative piece of art (click here to view some altered book examples). When I look for products for my online store Outside The Margins I look for items that can be transformed and alter into something beyond what its original purpose is. For example when I came across wooden artist's palettes one day, in my mind all I could see was how cool they would be to use them as a substrate to paint on or to use as a base for a doll or some other creation. When I look at shipping tags, game pieces and small glass bottles (click here to view my altered Alice in Wonderland tag) ideas pop into my head of how I can use them in my art!  Dominoes are not just a game piece they're a necklace, bottle caps are embellishments and jewelry (click here to view some of my past tutorials). For some people this ability to see beyond the ordinary comes naturally, but for others its something that has to be cultivated and taught to grow. If you've been raised in this type of creative environment, which I was, then it just comes instinctively. For others that I've met they had to be introduced to the idea and then slowly it grew and took hold and in some cases created a monster even :-)

In this age of the push to go green and to recycle, its all the more reason to look at things you might otherwise have thrown away and see their "altered purpose." One must be careful though, as it does have it's down-fall, in that you can easily get caught-up in hoarding and accumulating too much "stuph!" Heed some words of advice that I had to learn the hard way.... You don't have to keep everything, something else will always come along when you need it. Also, don't be such a hoarder that your afraid to use or part with the things you've collected. Go forth, alter and re-purpose! When you find yourself looking at junk mail, picking up found objects off the ground that might have been headed for the garbage and think how can I use that in my art, then you know you've succeeded in becoming an altered artist!

Art Doll

In this particular piece I used a paper mache torso and added a wooden finial for the head, writing pens shaped like hands were used for the arms and copper mesh for the wings. I have yet to finish it because I was waiting for the perfect base to come along which finally did when hubby brought me home a gift recently, so stay tuned to see it finished.

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Art Comes in all forms

I just had to share my husband's creation. It's not finished but I wanted to show a picture of it where you could still tell what it was. I sometimes forget what a great altered artist he is, and how much he inspires me! This is a wood burning stove he created for his garage. Its made from a large propane tank that was discarded.