And the winner is...

Its kind of bittersweet the

art doll raffle is over, but

also exciting to finally

know who won!

http://projecttiesthatbind.blogspot.com/

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Last Chance!

The Ties That Bind Art Doll Raffle

will close this Wednesday

Septembe 30th at 11 am PST

This is your last chance to

purchase tickets

or

make a donation

www.artforthecure.com

Visit the Ties That Bind

Art Doll Project Blog

HERE

to see more pictures or to see

how much we've raised so far!

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view my newest additions!

Halloween Banner Flags

The flags for the Halloween swap I’m hosting are starting to arrive. I’m really excited to see them all put together.

Click HERE to view previous

Halloween Banner post.

(updated Oct 5th,2009 with 2 new banners)

Crafty Blogger Blurbs

The Impatient Crafter There's a brand new The Impatient Crafter YouTube video to inspire you to declare yourself an artist! Madge explores the Cricut Expression in this quirky new video offering.

The Artful Crafter Recycle artificial flowers into frilly fairies. Teens, tweens and kids-at-heart will love making and “hanging around” these little creatures.

Cathie Filian Cathie has a quicky way to jazz up plain glass candle holders and it uses scrap ribbons!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Craftside's got a crocheted pumpkin pattern, how to sew a shower curtain and towels, an interview with Tracie Lyn Huskamp author of Nature Inspired and a Mixed Media Dada Dolly TP cozy.

Crafty Princess Diaries A granny square dress? Is it over the top or a true crafty fashion statement?

Cross Stitch at About.com Louise is proud to show off her first project, a Peter Rabbit Cross Stitch Bookmark by Anchor. It's a great first time effort.

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style Do you sell your crafts? Have you ever? Read Linda's musings and share your stories in the comments section.

Mixed Media Artist Give your favorite building a new look by creating a fractured photograph!

Naughty Secretary Club Join Jen on a week long screen printing adventure as she reviews books, plays with a YuDu, puts a unicorn on a onesie, plays with vinyl records and more.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery Army men are melted into service to make this cute coaster using the wonderful tutorial from the new book Craftcycle by Heidi Boyd

About Family Crafts Never run out of Halloween crafts, activities, and motivation. Get new Halloween projects delivered to your email box every day for 31 days! Find out how...

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view my Halloween additions!

Halloween Banner Template

I'm hosting a Halloween banner swap and just finished my flags. Each person was assigned a letter so that when the flags are tied together they will spell out HALLOWEEN.

Click HERE to view the other

flags for this banner.

Bottle Cap Charm

I made some cool bottle cap

charms to hang from the points

of the banner flags.

Supplies Used
Plain Bottle Caps

Skull Beads

Black Glitter

Dimensional Adhesive

Thin Ribbon

Spread a layer of adhesive on the top of the bottle cap, sprinkle with black glitter. Add skull bead onto bottle cap while it's still wet making sure the bead bail is past the bottle cap area and free from glue. Set aside to dry. Once dry, string ribbon through bail.

Make your own Halloween banner

BANNER TEMPLATE

Click on the banner template above, save and print.

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Help make a difference...

Help make a difference send

a virtual T-shirt and

help support

Ovarian

Cancer

Research

Fund

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view my newest additions!

Happy Autumn!

Happy first day of Autumn!

Here's a digi autumn piece from last season

that I created. I'm sure it's feeling like autumn

somewhere....unfortunately just not here yet!

We are suppose to reach 100 here today so it's

a bit hard to imagine its fall yet! LOL

Click Here to view another past autumn piece.

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Story Angels

Meet my Story Angels: Becky, Addie and Celeste

They're my newest whimsical characters.
You can now purchase them at my Zazzle Store

as cards. I'd be interested in knowing if there

were other products you'd like to see them on.

Leave a comment or email me at:

otm@outsidethemargins.com

to let me know.

Beautiful flowers!

I thought I'd share some pictures of the

beautiful flowers I received for my

birthday yesterday!

Aren't they gorgeous!

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Crafty Blogger Blurbs & Michael's Coupon

About Family Crafts If you are trying to find creative costume ideas for couples or groups of peoples, check out the lists I have compiled with the help of visitors like you.

Cathie Filian Dry hands and feet season is just around the corner...Time to whip up some handmade lotion bars. Cathie has a yummy DIY recipe!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Craftside's got a chance to win a copy of Nature Inspired along with some original artwork by the author Tracie Lyn Huskamp, a fun Halloween ghost decoration delivered to you by Fedex, creatively photographing your shadow and a sneak peek into the soon to be released 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse.

Crafty Princess Diaries Tammy shows off the preemie baby blanket she started not that long ago. If you are looking for a super easy crochet project, this is a good place to start.

Cross Stitch at About.com Go Team! Make some sports-themed gifts or decorations using the free Sports Motifs Pattern Collection. Your fans will think you are "Number One"!

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style What did I find at the Wisconsin Quilt Expo? Check it out!

Mixed Media Artist Cyndi shares her finished quilt...and swears she is ready to start the next one!

Naughty Secretary Club If it will sit still long enough Jen will find a way to make it into jewelry, even iron-on T-shirt transfers are not safe.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery See how to make a patch with a rubber stamp project inspired by the Super fun book- Bend The Rules With Fabric by Amy Karol

The Artful Crafter If this isn't a green craft, we don't know what is! Let Eileen show you how to make desktop organizers from junk mail. Saving the planet - one catalog at a time.

The Impatient Crafter Madge talks about crafting a life of joy, which is a crafting of a sort indeed. The best sort.

Whoops my bad! I did have a Michael's coupon posted here but I didn't pay attention to the year and it was from 2008 Doh! Many thanks to whomever pointed that out to me!

I do have a JoAnn's coupon posted HERE

that is still good until Oct 7th, 2009.

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view my newest Halloween additions!

Partay!

Its my party I can dance if I want to! LOL

Its my 46th birthday whooho! Here's to a new year filled with friends, family and art!

I actually have a birthday twin, Mz Joanne (we both have birthdays on the same day) how cool is that! Joanne is offering one of her cool dolls in honor of her blog anniversary and her birthday (today) so stop by and leave a happy birthday message!

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view my newest additions!

Art Doll Raffle nearing the end....

I had a fun morning going with Kris and Kathy to Sacramento. We brought the art doll to make her final guest TV appearance on Good Day Sacramento. I was able to sit behind the scene to watch them tape a segment for our
Ties That Bind Art Doll Raffle

She's now back here in Modesto on display at
Yours and Mine Art Studio
if you'd like to visit her.

What we really need are more donations or raffle ticket purchases. Tickets are $5.00 each for a chance to win this awesome doll or 6 for $20.00. Our goal is $10,000 and we are almost at the half way mark with only 15 more days to go before the raffle is over. The winning number will be selected through random.com at

12 Noon on September 30th PST

ALL of the money raised will go to

Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF).

If you haven't purchased a tickets or made a

donation please, please, please I'm begging

you pop over to the link below to do that now:

ArtforTheCure.com

I'm also asking everyone to send this request out to all your friends and family.... just think if we each sent out a request to 10 people what we can do?

Thank you for your support!

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view my HALLOWEEN additions!

Michaels Coupon & Joanns Coupon

Here are 2 new Jo-Anns and Michaels coupons just double click and print or save to your computer and print.

Jo-Ann's expires 10-7-09

Michael's expires 9-22-09

Happy Shopping!

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view my newest HALLOWEEN additions!

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner It's the return "Terrorific Tuesdays" on Swelldesigner's blog! Learn about how you can participate in all the fun, spooky Halloween action!

Crafty Princess Diaries Tammy shows the beginnings of a baby blanket in progress, a super easy crochet project to consider for those who make charity items.

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner It's the return "Terrorific Tuesdays" on Swelldesigner's blog! Learn about how you can participate in all the fun, spooky Halloween action!

Cathie Filian Melt up some soy wax and make some easy candles with Cathie.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Craftside's got a fun skull quilt tutorial inspired by a quilt in the new book Quilting Art, how-to's on painting rocks like skulls, eyes and more for Halloween, tips for re-purposing in the studio and the correct terms for the parts of a book.

The Impatient Crafter Get your teens ready for Back to School with these recycled denim book covers from The Impatient Crafter for I Love to Create!

Vickie Howell-Craft.Rock.Love Join Vickie & Lands' End for a Twitter Party to celebrate the FeelGood campaign to benefit the homeless!

CraftyPod Check out Sister Diane's newest ebook - Creating a Blog Audience: An Unconventional Marketing Guide.

Cross Stitch at About.com Do you find solace in your stitching? Vote in the poll, read the comments, and share your own experiences.

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style I may have to tackle a t-shirt quilt---I'm getting ideas from all directions.

Mixed Media Artist Cyndi has a copy of "The Art of Fabric Collage" to give away!

Naughty Secretary Club Jen is in the midst of wrapping paper week with clever how-to idea, uses for wrapping paper that have nothing to do with gifts & a Wrapagami book giveaway.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery How to make a Cone Candy Holder Candelabra inspired by a pretty project from Paperie for Inspired Living by Karen Bartolomei

The Artful Crafter Do you know how to make a secret box book? It's not hard - well - except on your fingers. Eileen shows you how. She took lots of photos since she won't be able to type for a while. LOL

The Crochet Dude Check out Drew's super cool Crochet Word Search that he has as a free download on his blog! I wonder how quick I can finish it!

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view my HALLOWEEN additions!

Felt Love Banner

Valentine Love Banner

A little early for Valentines Day but here's a

felt love banner using pre stiffened felt,

felt trim and silver sequin trim, rhinestone

and flocked lettering.

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view my newest Halloween additions!

Halloween Card

Meet Esmeralda, my newest whimsical

character just in time for Halloween!

You can order her on greeting cards and

postage stamps by clicking on my zazzle

store link below:

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view my newest additions!

Shout Out

I wanted to give my buddy Christy a big shout-out for the fun Halloween project she created from fun stuff she found in the $1.00 bins at Target mixed with some of my Color Mists.

Click HERE to see how she created the above project!

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view my newest additions!

Christmas Felt Santa Banner

As promised here's yet another felt banner for the Christmas boutique.

View previous banners HERE

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view my newest additions!

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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