Time to Paint

I finally had a few moments to just sit and get some of this swirly happy painting bug out of me. I've always had a thing for snails, no idea why, but I love them. But I have never done any snail art, again, no idea why. So this past weekend I made this black and white painting of snails on mushrooms! and I got to use this long frame, so yay!

Read to Succeed

The NAEA, Nelson and I volunteered to do a Read to Succeed program last night. Our station was the "Make things out of marshmallows" station. It was super fun and really made me sure that I do want to teach, I loved it so much. Here are some pics!

Journals

I've recently really gotten into making journal covers, it gives me the same outlet as ATCs, but it's bigger...and useful. Beth likes useful art. So here are a few of my favorites, more to come!
Ignore the glue spots!

Finally!

A small moment to post! Unfortunately, I haven't been spending all this time making cool things. But i am working on a project for my art education class that I'm pretty psyched about. We are keeping art journals all semester, so I'll be posting pic of my favorite pages and I'll make a video at the end of the semester with all the pages in. So enjoy and I welcome any kind of criticism, I've never really done this before, so tips are welcome!

Pretty Music Flowers

I felt like doing something was just pretty. No real challenge, just fun crafting. I think I'll use it as the front of a card. Enjoy!

My first Card

A couple of Christmases ago my friend Gregg gave me a stamp that said "you're my cup of cocoa". I could never find anything to do with it, so I decided to make a card. This is my first attempt at card making, so be nice. :) I really like it alot, and I love the color scheme I used. It's made from stampabilities stamps and ink, acrylic paint and colored paper. nothing fancy, but I'm happy wit the results.
This is also my entry for Cute Card Thursday, so wish me luck!

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Nelson's Brithday Present!

This past weekend was my boyfriend's 19th birthday. He's a music education major and he's played saxophone for 8 years. In our new house we just moved into he has his own music room, so I made him something to make it pretty! I started by cutting out the basic shape out of balsa wood, then painted it black. I added gold bristol circles as the keys modeled from his custom z alto.

Big Changes

So the end of this semester is coming to an end, I have to go to the NAEA convention in Minneapolis for a week this Friday, plus my boyfriend and I are moving into a new house! No more tiny apartment I get my own craft room, yay! But it looks like my blog will be a bit skimpy for a while, but I'll be back! I have about 4 unfinished projects I'm working on, and I'll still be on everyday to see that awesome stuff everyone else is posting.
So for now, here's a pic of my 3D design class project. It's 4 ft tall, made of MDF plywood. It's up for sale for the right price, but I really kind of love it, ha. So we'll see if I actually sell it.
:)
-Beth-

More Jewelry Fun: Earrings!

Sometimes you just get in those crafty moods. I made a few new pairs of earrings out of buttons, stone beads and peacock feathers. I also thought I'd try a little bit of hemp bracelet and necklace stuff, hopefully I can get a whole bunch of this stuff done and go to a craft fair.

Who Can? Art Can.

This is an altered tin can I made after seeing loads of others on other blogs. This one is more playful and colorful than most of my other work, but I thought it would be handy to have around the house. I can't wait until I get my own art classroom so I can make like, 10 of these for the tables. So excited!

I'm Sticking With You: Magnets!

I just spent the last couple of hours making alot of really cool magnets! There are some made of dominoes, mini dominoes, bottle caps and just metal pieces. Two of them feature these super cute kawaii stickers my friend gave me. So go craft some magnets, let me see your ideas!

Altered Scrapbook Box

I've been keeping my stickers and stamps in this box for about 5 years, but it was this old orange box with purple flowers, not really my style. So finally, I got around to making it pretty! First, I covered it in Chinese newspaper from the people I used to work with. I cover the inside and out, even though I didn't decorate the inside. Next, I added a brown ribbon to hold it together. The horizontal ribbon snaps on to the vertical ribbon by a clothing snap I sewed on. After that, I just had loads of fun decorating! I added a playing card, a couple of dominoes, pieces of cardboard, foam letters on the side and some cool scrap pictures I had saved. Now I have a scrapbook box that makes as happy as the things inside!




check out the altered inker's blog for another project like this
and here is a little box challenge for Lots to Do!

Dragonfly Pin

This is super simple. Just a bottle cap with 2 holes for places to feed the bead wire. Attach to a safety pin and add a decoration to the center. I had a nice dragonfly piece that fit it perfectly. And there you go!

Domino Accordian Book

First, I painted 2 dominoes and attached a folded piece of Bristol board between the two with regular glue. Then the Bristol was painted, I chose rich organic colors. I then colored the edges of the Bristol pages with a gold sharpie for a more elegant touch. A gold ribbon was added to hold it all together, it's very springy and pops open easily. Now it's ready to be purposed to any idea I may have! In case I find a really inspiring quote to pop in there, or as an impromptu gift.

Mother's Day Bottle Vase

For mother's day, I am making an altered bottle vase with flowers that hold pics of me and my brother and sister. First, I covered an old soda bottle with masking tape and spray painted it gold. The tape added a cool texture with the paint. The center name place is a piece of brown paper bag. I added some chipboard letters, bits of mirror, wire and beads to finish off the bottle.

Spoon Fun!

After seeing so many blogs with awesome cutlery projects, I decided to try it out. This is just a bent spoon, spray painted with silver and gold. I added a gold button and a fortune cookie paper. "Someone is watching you from afar". Kind of creepy, but I like it. Some extra beads, ribbon, and pearls finished this off, and can be used for a wind chime or mobile, not sure yet.









This is another utensil project I did a couple years ago. Just watercolors and painted forks and spoons. Makes a great kitchen decoration!

Spring!

It was a lovely weekend for outside fun. I spent it in our hometown playing in the grass and basking in the sun. Good photo-ops too. The prettiest little boy in the world here.

Cuddly Creatures

I found this idea on Artattack, and thought it was awesome! They're a lot of fun and not too much work, so try it! I made one as a present to my boyfriend for valentine's day. This isn't the best pic, I'll see if I can get a better one. Enjoy!

Hooray for Recycled!

I found this broken brick outside of my high school, and decided that it wasn't totally useless yet. A quick paint job made this an excellent bookend that adds a mix of industrial and artistic style to the area.



Bottles are a kind of obvious recycled craft to do, but that doesn't take away any of the fun of doing it! Here are some ideas for other things to recycle into crafts. This necklace is made of can tabs that I kept finding (mostly thanks to a NOS binge), rainbow hemp and a pretty snail pendent. (snails are kind of my thing). This is a super easy wearable craft, and I love it!