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