March Miscellany

As I suspected, I was unable to keep up a daily, finished craft project all month.  I did, however, work on some kind of project every single day, so I did make stuff; it just need to be finished.

Another painted birdhouse done on March 14.

This one, which I call 'Celestial House', took both March 15 & 16 from start to finish.  There was a lot of drying time involved.  I got that large circular pin somewhere in my travels.  I snapped the pin back off it, and was saving it for a special project. This one is definitely not for sale.  I also like that 3D Saturn charm and was saving that as well.

I really, truly cannot get enough of the celestial motif!

The weatherpeople got everyone all whipped up into a frenzy about a 'big storm' for March 21st, with around 8"-10".  I woke up to this....it was barely snowing.  And it was melted by late afternoon too.  I am hoping this was the last gasp.

I'm a sucker for heat activated mugs.  

I'm also a sucker for all things Harry Potter.

We went out to dinner w/ my stepson & his g/f for Russell's bday, then they came back to the house for his fave pineapple upside down bundt cake.  

Decided to give casting resin another try.  One thing I am learning, paper does not do well in it, despite all the photos I've seen of resin jewelry with pretty paper.  I'm using what I thought was heavy paper but maybe it's not.  I hope that they lighten up after the resin dries.  I put some marbles in the mold on the right.  Also beads and glitter. 

Another ongoing project is this Create Your Own Calendar which I've been meaning to do for years. 

I wasn't sure just how many years, till I came across this page at the back of the calendar.  I'm going to guess I purchased it in 2006.  So far I have all the pictures processed and mounted on 12 pages.  I still have to put the day numbers for the year too.  I have no stickers for it so it looks like I'll have to use a stencil.  After that it will be a matter of filling in bits and bobs and birthdays.

I'm cranking away on this cross stitch.  I've worked on it every day, for hours at a time, since about March 16 or 17.  If I can keep up that pace, I should have it done by the weekend.

Kind of a crazy month....hoping that winter is over though.  It wasn't near as bad as people were expecting and definitely the best one since 2012.  Looking forward to spring and warmer weather!

Craft Month Projects, Cont.

Continuing on with this self imposed project extravaganza, I was able to finish up my cross stitch on March 7 & 8.  Already framed and hung. 

Val had heart shaped boxes filled with black & white M&M's as wedding favours and I snagged two from our table that night.  I made a St. Pat's Day altered art box on March 9.  Green & gold glitter inside with Irish castle pic.  It's stacked on foam tape to make it more 3D.

Glued the cover on, added the shamrocks and rhinestones.

And some ribbon on the side.

March 10 wasn't very productive except for setting up some projects, which I guess counts since it was craft prep.

March 11 I did another box but Valentines themed.  Used red and irridescent white glitter inside with the 3D saying.

Added the pearl strand around the lid.

And some ribbon and lace on the side.

Cupcakes from scratch count as a craft so here is March 12th's submission.  I cheated with the icing and used store bought.

March 13 was spring forward day and I got about 3 hours of sleep so I was somewhat of a zombie.  I did manage to paint a couple birdhouses and finish this one.

I am seriously running out of projects to fill this month which I never thought I'd see happen.  Wish me luck!

National Craft Month

I had no idea that there was a national craft month!  I found out on the 3rd, which was timely since I'd made the ATCs on March 1st and 2nd.  I decided to try and work on and/or complete at least one thing, per day, all month.  Not sure how successful that'll be, but so far this is what I've gotten done. 

March 3, continuing to work on celestial cross stitch.  Projects in progress that are worked on every day will be considered  'craft of the day'.  

March 4, three more map pendants of places I love and a peace sign patch pendant.

March 5, dragonfly necklace

Also March 5, I tried a couple of tiny 'hurricane lamps', made from a bead, push pin and wire, with ring on the bottom.

March 6, beaded bracelet.

Not sure if I can keep up for the whole month but I'll give it the ol' college try!

Artist Trading Cards....That I Don't Want to Trade!

As my regular readers, friends and family know, I'm kind of addicted to altered art.  I've wanted to make some more Artist Trading Cards, even though that fad kind of faded about 5 years ago, and I don't know anyone with whom to trade.  Still, I'd purchased a bunch of blank card packages back when I still lived in Washington (which was 5 years ago, now).  I was kind of afraid to try them because I didn't want to screw it up.  However, the only criteria is the card size.  What you put on it is pretty much 'anything goes'.  

In my neverending attempt to use up so much of the craft supplies I've been hoarding, I decided I would knock out a few and see how they came out.  These things are like potato chips...you can't make just one.  I did seven in one sitting.  The next day I did 11.  And I like how they came out so much that I don't want to part with them at all.  Not even a little bit.  

Some of the cards I had on hand were already made from coloured chip board or matte-type paper.

And some of the cards were textured white card stock so I painted those with sparkly and regular water colour paints.  

A few years ago I tried that shaving cream and paint marbled paper.  I used my circle punches to save the best parts of the pictures.  They kind of look like planets and moons.

Another painted card.  I need to grab a real rhinestone and cover the one in the pic.  It looks so real but it's not so I will use a real one.

This poor paper redwood tree was getting very destroyed in my paper supplies.  I was hanging onto it for something special.  It was very fragile and I had to glue all the branches back on.  Then I mounted it on a piece of real wood paper.

Using metal flowers on this BINGO card was a no-brainer.

I really love these shiny/sparkly watercolour paints.  I have to use them more often.  I didn't paint the wings; I bought them that way.  This reminded me of the flying keys in 'Sorcerer's Stone'.

Another card painted with the shiny watercolour paint.  I'm just nuts about celestial stuff.

I covered a blank card with that shell paper and added the glitter to the picture.  Hard to tell but the mermaid is mounted with foam tape so it sticks out a bit from the card.  I did that 3D effect on a few of them.

Another no-brainer.  When I saw I had a bronze coloured card in one of the packs I bought, I used the blue shiny stars and a silver eagle to make a Ravenclaw card.  There is no way in hell I'm parting with this one.  I don't care if someone offers me money for it...this is my fave of all of them.

This idea is what kicked off this whole ATC project.  I'd already put the peace sign patch inside a watch face I had that still has it's glass.  'Time for Peace' came to my mind and then I thought how cool it'd be if I painted one of the cards rainbow and added it.  Since I had all the ATC stuff out to make this one card, I decided to do the others.  

Added the bow and the 'Queen for a Day' charm.

This vintage picture just screamed out for a bright flower.  This sticker was perfect.  It looked good on the silver card.  And then added the rhinestone ribbon.

This is actually a transparency that looked really great on top of the tan card.  It made the design really pop.  I used vellum adhesive tape which doesn't show up against transparencies like double stick tape and glue does.  Edged it with the pearls ribbon.

I like these folded cards too, although they don't stay closed very well.  I covered it in light blue paper and then added all the other stuff.  I thought the mermaid pic was perfect for it.  

I have a few playing cards that are backed with these fantastic pictures of tall ships,  It was hard to choose which one to use.  I couldn't get the flash to stop reflecting  no matter what I did, but the card is beautiful.  On either side are Cuban cigar labels.  Since the text on the Mermaid said, 'La Sirena', I thought the Latin labels worked well.  

I'm not sure what I will do with these.  The other 4 I made a few years ago are hanging in my craft room but I don't have any room for 17 more of them.  But I do know one thing, I'm not trading them!