Old Curiosity Shoppe Altered items

Today I wanted to share some altered items I made for the "All Handmade round 7" swap I joined over on the CMB. The Hostess, and my partner was Kelley Rooks. The rules were that you had to make 5 handmade or altered items. Kelley loves the G-45 Old Curiosity Shoppe collection and had recently altered some items for her scraproom...........so I wanted to make a few things to match that she could use. I made her an altered clipboard, wooden frame, pencil cup, canvas, a tiny hanger which is a photo holder and a name plate. I have already posted the info on the canvas.....so over the next week I will post each of the other items individually with the info on the supplies I used etc. Thanks for looking!

G-45 Old Curiosity Shoppe Altered mini Canvas & easel

My friend Kelley Rooks from the CMB was kind of enough to RAK me a brand new 12x12 stack of the NEW G-45 Old Curiosity Shoppe and the rubber stamp set to match it! Woohoo! Thank You so much Kelley! I love this collection! Anyway, I am also in her "all handmade swap" on the CMB and we are partners. So I decided to make this little altered canvas for Kelley as a "Thank You" and send it along with her other swap items when I mail them out this week!

Now Kelley is all about recycling, renewing, and using up leftovers and things from our stash so that's exactly what I decided to do with this little canvas. I grabbed my baggie of leftovers pieces of cardstock from the G-45 Old Curiosity shoppe and my decoupage and started gluing. Once I had the canvas covered with paper I coated the whole thing with decoupage and when it dried I randomly stamped some images on the paper and inked all the edges of the canvas. The chipboard tag is one that goes with the collection so I added a button and adhered it to the top with glue dots. The chipboard numbers were leftovers from a pkg of Colorbok numbers I had lying in a drawer and they were a bright Lime color.......so I altered the numbers and inked them up a bit with my Tim Holtz "peeled paint" Distress Ink and adhered them to the canvas with my glossy accents! Placed the little canvas on the mini Easel.....and Whala! Done in 15 minutes! I love the way it turned out......I hope Kelley likes it! Thanks for looking!

Copics vs Spectrum Noir

Today I want to talk about Alcohol ink markers. I have been collecting Copic markers for a few months now and Love the professional results achieved with these markers. Blending and shading is a breeze and with over 300 colors to choose from who wouldn't love these markers. But the price point is a little steep and I have found at $6 each for these markers that I am not able to purchase them as often as I would like. Lets face it......you get what you pay for though! And the Copics are definately worth every penny of the cost.
Then along comes Spectrum Noir markers. I walked into my local AcMoore the other day and discovered these markers for the first time. Six markers in a pkg for $14.99 less my 50% off coupon equals $7.50. WOW! Thats $1.25 per marker. How bad can they be? right? so I purchased two pkgs of the Spectrum Noir markers. I bought a set of the purples and a set of the pinks.

Now for my comparison. I colored in an image completely with Copics and one image completely with the Spectrum Noir.........and then I colored an image using both.
We all know the specs on these markers so there is no need for me to get into all that when all that really matters is performance. right?

The biggest difference between the two markers is the tips. The Copics have a chisel tip and a brush tip.....and the Noir markers have a chisel tip and a Bullet tip.

What I found is that although the Copics do glide across the paper a little easier.......the Noir markers seemed to work just fine.

I have problems getting into tiny areas with the brush tip of the Copics and tend to color outside the lines occasionally.....whereas it was much easier to get into the tiny spaces with the bullet tip on the Noir marker.

The Noir markers seem to be a little wetter and absorb more into the paper though so they are prone to bleeding more than the copics.

It seems to be much easier to Shade with the copics......I did find that the lighter colors of the Noir markers tend to wash out the darker shades......so when blending and shading you have to go over the image a few more times to get the same results you would achieve with the Copics in less time.

As we all know the Copics are available in 358 colors and the Noir are only available at this time in 168 colors, so BIG difference there.

I did find that on my third image where I used a combo of Copics and Noir markers to color my image that the two different brands of markers worked very well together.

So the bottom line for me is that there are pro's and cons to both. I myself do like the copics much better than the Noir markers.......but the fact is that they are both alcohol ink markers and the Noir are so much cheaper to buy  that I believe I will continue buying them and adding their colors into my copic collection since they do seem to work quite well together. So for a beginner like myself on a budget my opinion is that the copics are a much better marker and worth every penny but i see no reason not to enhance your Copic collection with the Noir markers. Besides that fine point bullet tip on the Noir markers does come in handy when coloring in tight little spaces.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my comparison and personal opinion on the differences between these two brands of markers and that maybe this info will help someone else in deciding whether or not it is worth the money to purchase the Noir markers or not. I would love to hear your opinions or any info you have found between the two. Please feel free to comment below. Thanks!


Theresa

Chunky Charm Bracelet

I have another handmade item today that I made for CoyoteKim to go along with the "Whats in your vintage purse" swap. As you all know by now the theme for this swap was "Paris", and we were to not only alter a purse and fill it with goodies but also make some handmade items. I figured by now that Kim had enough Chunky charms in her collection from all the charm swaps she has participated in.......so I decided to make her a charm bracelet instead. I bought the chain and the toggle closure at Michael's......and then was able to find all these cute "Paris" charms at M's and Hobby Lobby! The charms include a tiny carriage, Umbrella, a heart charm with a cameo, an Eiffel tower, a fan, a ladies boot and a suitcase. This charm bracelet was actually easier to put together and quicker than making the chunky charms we all love! some of you may recognize the design on the background card......I inked it and de-bossed it with my letterpress printing plates, and then wired the charm bracelet to the card. Thanks for looking!

Altered mini Canvas & Easel

Today I wanted share another one of the altered items I made for CoyoteKim for the "whats in your vintage purse" swap. This is a mini canvas and easel I altered with the My Minds Eye Lost & Found 6x6 paper stack. I believe this collection is called Madison Avenue.  I'm not a big "pink" lover but I really like this paper stack with all the vintage dress forms, newsprint etc. and thought it would be perfect for this little canvas. I started off by painting the canvas with Pink Acrylic paint. Then I took one of the newsprint pages from the stack, cut it slightly smaller than the canvas and inked it with pink & brown ink with my blending tool. Next I tattered the edges with my Tim Holtz paper distress tool, and then inked the edges brown. I also cut another piece of paper from the stack with the dress form and sewing machine image (I think I cut this at approx 2x3 inches) and once again used my blending tool to add a little bit of pink and brown ink, tattered the edges etc. The flowers are from my stash and are Recollections and then I added the vintage sewing needle tag, a few stick pins and a sewing needle and a button to finish it off. Super simple project and these little canvas's are sooooo addicting! Can't wait to make another one.  Thanks for looking!

Part II of the "Parisian Purse Swap"

As Promised here are the details of the inside of the Parisian Purse I made for CoyoteKim in the "Whats in Your Vintage Purse Swap".................this purse was a little on the small side so as you can see I literally stuffed it with all kinds of goodies. I covered the inside of the box with more paper from the DCWV Mariposa stack and created a little pocket on the inside of the lid. All the goodies you see are just tossed in there loose. I sent Kim a bag of the Tim Hotz wire hanger clips, a crystal letter "K" for her to use on a project. A bag of tiny doilies and then a couple larger doilies (that are in the bottom of the box under all the other goodies) the Large white Flower and butterfly are recollections. I also sent her a metal Fleur De Lis, a bag of Paris buttons with cameos, a wooden "eyeglasses" stamp..............and the rest are handmade goodies like the small altered wooden hanger, Key chain and Picture holder clip.

I love this little wooden hanger, Isn't it cute? Why the heck you would have one in your "vintage purse" is beyond me, LOL! But I altered it and added it anyway! Actually Kim had sent me a Large wooden hanger she had altered for me in another swap, so when I found these little ones I decided to make a "smaller version" for her.  I covered the hanger with My Minds Eye paper and then sanded and inked the edges, Added the black double bow and then hot glued a Cameo button to the center of the bow. On the back of the hanger I attached a small wooden clothespin so the hanger can serve as a photo holder........the size of this hanger is perfect for a 4x6 photograph. 

The next photo clip is one I found at Michael's in the dollar bins, this was the one with the clear acrylic block that had a bright green flower image stamped on two sides. I simply took a paper towel and some Acetone and gently removed the image so the acrylic block would be clear, this worked really well and left no trace behind on the block. Then I wrapped the block in black tulle, tied it with a black ribbon and hot glued a beautiful black flower to the center of the ribbon.

Last but not least is the key Chain I made for Kim's purse. This a "Mix and Mingle" key pendant you can find in the Jewelry section of the craft store. The top of the key twists off so you can add your own beads and decorate the key anyway you like. These keys are intended for the metal lined beads, but I liked these beads better so with a few twists of my bead reamer I was able to make them fit.

Stop back tomorrow and I will post pics of the other handmade Goodies I sent along with this swap that did not fit "INSIDE" the purse! And as always, Thanks for looking! leave me a comment if you'd like!

Parisian Purse Swap

Today I have the first of several projects I made for Kim, aka CoyoteKim for a "Whats in your vintage purse swap" And the theme for this one was "Paris". I started out with an unfinished wooden purse I purchased at  Michael's.....and then I painted it with an antique Gold Acrylic paint, after the gold paint dried I applied a coat of black satin Acrylic......and then I sanded it so the Gold would show through. I had such a hard time finding Paris themed paper and embellishments at my Local Scrapbook stores.......so I ended up using this yummy black paper with the tiny gold fleur de lis from the DCWV Mariposa stack. After I adhered the paper to the purse..........I liked the matte look of the paper with the shiny gold fleur de lis....so I chose to NOT mod podge over the paper on this one. The beautiful background label is also from the same stack......I fussy cut it out and applied it to the front of the purse with Fabri-Tac glue. The flowers are from Recollections and the Eiffel Tower is Jolee's. I made the black butterflies with an EK Success 3D punch. I punched all three layers of the butterfly and then adhered them together in the middle only....and then added antique gold stickles to the body of the butterfly. Then I added a little bling and a butterfly stick pin. (Lots of butterflies on this one.....not sure if butterflies are a  "Paris" thing though. LOL but I think they look pretty with the Eiffel tower.)Below I have pics of the top and back of the purse. I will post pics of the inside and the goodies I made to go along with it over the next few days! Thanks for Looking!