An Altered Paintbrush

I've been swapping all sorts of unique altered arts with An Altered Place for quite sometime now, but altering a paintbrush was a first! I went to Pinterest to get some ideas, but my motivation turned out to be some awesome multi-colored trim I found at Hancock Fabrics. Once I figured out where (and how) I wanted to use it for the brush, it was nothing but fun!

I painted the handle purple, then colored some small white ric-rac with Copic markers to match the trim and ran it across the sides of the brush (hard to see). I think my favorite part was coloring the bristles. Copics will color almost anything! I just separated the brush in sections and colored to match the trim. I cut "TEE" out using Schoolbook font with Make The Cut and my Cricut. I used Paper Glaze on the "charms" to give them better stability.

 I added circles to the top of each letter to form a charm, then ran the letters through very thin white ribbon. "Tee", you ask? Well, she was my swap partner and I really wanted to personalize it just for her! Liquid pearls gave a polka-dot effect to the handle and the butterfly and lavender roses added just the right touch of "girly" to my brush.

Supplies Used:

Wal-Mart: 3" brush with white bristles, white ribbon, white ric-rac, purple paint

Micheal's: Lavender roses, white cardstock, lavender glitter (on butterfly), Liquid Pearls, Paper Glaze

Hancock Fabrics: Multi-colored trim

Joy Crafts: Butterfly Die Cut

Copic Markers

Tee's festive brush is entered in the following challenges:

The Crazy Challenge: CCH#148 - Anything But a Card

 Southern Girls Challenge: "Give it an Upper Cut and Punch it out (butterfly die cut)

Everybody Art Challenge #242 - "Butterfly"

Heck of a Challenge: "Bingo" (Flowers, Die-Cut, Pearls)

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #13 - Anything Goes

Cupcake Inspirations Challenge #216 - Lavender, Turquoise, and Pink

Tag Tuesday: The Letter "Y"

"Y" is for yellow - warm and sunny! This week's tag makes me think of the warmth of the sun and beautiful flowers growing wild in a field.

I found the sun stencil on the web and the daisies are from an old card. I used Garton font for the "Y", cut in the same color yellow as the sun and the background of the tag. Adding a little yellow stickles really makes my sun sparkle. The ribbon has "sunshine" typed on it! Perfect!

I'm having so much fun making tags for Tag Tuesday! Next week it's "Z" and I already have so many ideas!

Shabby Chic Altered Soup Can

You know how I just love swaps and we recently swapped altered cans at An Altered Place. I made this one for my sweet friend, Angi who lives in Hawaii and loves all things shabby chic. This is the first can I've altered, but definitely will not be my last!

Supplies used:
 Cardstock and cut out flowers: K&Co. Specialty Paper - Susan Winget
 Roses: I Am Roses.com
 Stick Pins: handmade by me (most of the elements were purchased from Michael's)
 Michael's: burlap, twine, and raffia
 Round of inside jewels were from stash.
I covered the can in a matching green cardstock, then cut the outer piece and distressed the edges with Colorbox brown pigment ink. Next, I attached the cut out flowers and used Scor-Tape to adhere the burlap. I tied a raffia and twine bow around the can and used hot glue to attach the roses. The inside is lined with pink matching cardstock and the top is edged with wired pink glass rounds.

I'm entering this altered art in the following challenges:
Papercraft Star Challenge #150 (shabby chic pic)
Let's Craft and Create Challenge # 72 "Shape"
Paper Playtime Challenge #12 Anything Goes
One Stop Craft Challenge #231 "For A Friend"
The Shabby Tea Room Week #171 "Ruffles and Ribbons"
Divas by Design "Distressing"

Tag Tuesday: The Letter X

This is my first week at Tag Tuesday and I'm so excited! It took me a while to figure out that I was all set up to post, so I just posted my "X" tag. It was somewhat of a challenge to come up with something unique using the letter X, but I quickly searched the good ole' dictionary and found something most interesting.....XYLOGRAPHY.

Xylography is an ancient Chinese relief printing method. The image is carved into a block of wood and used repeatedly for printing. Did you know that Vincent Van Gogh used this art form? I'm thinking this is how rubber stamps came to be.
I used one of  Bird's Tag's and typed the word "xylography" to create the background. Momento Tuxedo Black stamp pad was used to edge the tag and I cut a shadow tag in white. The letter X is Parchment font, one of my favs.
Now that I know I'm good to go, I need to get started on next week's tag, the letter Y. Yippe! (I don't know that I will actually use that for my theme!).
Hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday!