Ms. Ruin's Playthings


"The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates." -Oscar Wilde

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Someone Special

One very beautiful thing came out of a melt-down of a day...Regal Tweet No. 3 in the series.  I am rather fond of him.  I think he's beautiful.  ::smile::

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Regal Tweets by Ms. Ruin


Sound the horn...introducing Regal Tweets by Ms. Ruin!  I will be creating a series of wooden birds just like the first two in this series and all of them will be up for purchase in my Etsy Shop.  Regal Tweets are perfect for your desk, coffee table, book shelf and make perfect inspiration gifts for just about anyone, including yourself.  ;)  So stay tuned, these little tweets need a home and I will be showcasing them soon in Ms. Ruin's Playthings Etsy Shop.  Lets take a look at the first two tweets in the series.  Oh, but before we get started, lets look at "the before"...


Do you see nothing, or do you see possibility??  I see possibility!  So this is how the Regal Tweets start out, nice and plain.


And this is what they become when I am through with them.  This is the very first Regal Tweet in the series and this little fella dreams in numbers.  He was created with metal reactive paints and patina.  His crown is made of chipboard and covered in gold adirondack paint.  The numbers are stamped and so is the word "DREAMER".


Although the surface is flat and smooth, you still get the illusion of lots and lots of texture.


The second Regal Tweet was also created with reactive paints and patina.  I used iron on this little guy.  I gave him an eye which was actually a metal brad, and a really cool crown because otherwise he would just be a tweet.  I also added the wood blocks that spell the word fly.


I love that crown...certainly fit for a King!


Again, the illusion of texture meets the dimension of the letter blocks.

Thanks so much for looking --I hope to be creating more tweets for this series in the near future.  Stay tuned...

Ms. Ruin

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Bros before Hos

I hope this project doesn't offend anyone, it was meant to be funny...but if it does, well, you'll get over it.  This started out as a project I was going to make for the Smudgy Antics Challenge but I decided against it since the only "stamped" portion of it was the words.  So anyway...I'm not going to go into full details of how I did this because as you can see...it's just a lot of pre-printed die-cuts, buttons, twine, lace, and canvas with flock on it.  If you have any questions, just drop me a line!  Oh...and for those of you that like all of the little detail shots...here's a bonus shot, but as always - you can click on the images to view them larger.  Have a great weekend!

Anything Goes

I decided to join the Smudgy Antics Challenge this week with a theme of "Anything Goes".  This is my first challenge with this group so I'm excited and I hope that they like what I bring to the table.  Here's a little art therapy --something I created this morning as the challenge ends today.  My anything goes is about foolish hearts.  I was inspired by a poem I wrote where I question my own heart and ask "what are you good for anyway, you're nothing but trouble."  Face it, we all play the fool at some point in our lives...I'm not afraid to pour that into my art.  So without further ado, I present you with my foolish heart. 

I love layers and I love texture.  So I REALLY LOVE this project because I got to use both techniques.

I first took a canvas that already had a black flocked design on it.  I primed it with a spray primer and then painted over it with bronze reactive acrylic paint.  I did a base coat and then added a second coat, at which point I sprayed it down with Patina.  I set it aside to dry and I moved on to the next layer.  I took a wooden slab --I think this measures about 4"x4".  I adhered a grunged up photo of myself and sanded the edges.  I sanded the edges and then stamped silver scroll work on both sides of the photo (over my black hair).  I painted the edges of the wooden block with black acrylic paint and then set it aside to dry as well. 


Then I moved on to the focal point of this mixed media piece --the foolish heart with all of it's little secrets.  The key is by Tim Holtz...I sprayed patina directly onto it to give it a bit of a mossy look.  I also took a porcelain crown that was white and I painted it with reactive acrylic paints as well.  I think I used brass on the crown.  I sprayed it down with Patina and then set it aside to dry.  While the key and crown did their thing, I went ahead and worked my magic on that little foolish heart.  All the while I was thinking that I really wanted to journal but I was struggling with "where" on my project I was going to have room for journaling.  I kept that in the back of my mind as I started working with the heart.  I took a thick piece of cardboard and stamped the heart on it.  I cut it out and when I was cutting it I noticed that the layers of cardboard were easy to peel back.  I knew exactly where I would do my journaling!  You'll see soon enough.  I punched two holes on the left side of the heart and wrapped and tied hemp through the little holes and made a knot.  I then glued lace to the backside of the heart, and glued the key and the crown to the front of the heart.  HOT GLUE IS YOUR FRIEND.  :D  And now to the really cool part...

I split the cardboard in half with my fingers --just pulled away at a nice thick healthy corner and I added my journaling to the inside "My foolish heart...what are you good for anyway?"  Ta da!

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoyed my foolish heart project!
Y Ms. Ruin

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Ver-Day Everyday!

I have recently started playing with Ver-Day Patina and reactive acrylic paints.  These paints have metal particles in them that react to the patina and make your projects look amazing!  I won't educate any further because the girls at Ten Sceonds Studio are complete experts at this and you can see their online video tutorial by clicking here.

I didn't exactly follow the rules on these projects --I became a little impatient and helped the drying process by using a heat gun, I also used a sponge brush which according to the video is a no-no.  Plus I went all crazy and used ALL of the paints on one project.  HAHAHA.  But these are just my first two projects so cut me some slack.

Project Number I:  Wall Art
I bought this piece of wall art at Jo-Ann's for 50% off.  Score!  But that green color is just not flying with Ms. Ruin.  Now I should have primed this first but I didn't --but it still worked out.  Hey, I don't always follow the rules and I still get favorable results.  Think outside the box, color outside the lines, LIVE A LITTLE!  ::composes herself::  ::cough::  Okay, now that I got that out of my system...here is the wall art BEFORE the reactive paints and patina:


And here is the wall art AFTER the reactive paints and patina: 

(click images to view larger)

Now that is craftastic!     
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Project Number II:  Plant Thingie
This is a plant thingie - plant holder - guy in a robe standing next to a pot thing.  Oh Lord, I am terrible at this.  You get the point!  This was completely WHITE.  I don't have a before picture --bummer.  But I'm talking stark white, no trace of a tan, would scare away women at the beach.  Yeah, that pastey white.  Anyway, now that I have painted and patinaed (I made that word up) him, he is a dapper little fella and the chicks (in my office at least) cannot get enough of him.  Keep your hands out of my pot! 




Funny thing about the word Patinaed --yanno, the word that I made up...anyway, if you scramble the letters around you can spell the word painted.  ::nerdy laugh::

Thanks for visiting!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Love

Here is another photo from my visit home (The Rio Grande Valley).  I wish I had dedicated more time to photographing...but spending time with my family was much more imporant.  For sure.  You can see more pictures from my trip on my facebook photography page.  :)  And don't forget that you can PIN all of my photography and my art on Pinterest!

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Skull Appreciation Day

Welcome Smeared and Smudged Hoppers and Happy Skull Appreciation Day to you!  My project didn't turn out as cool as I wanted but I had this vision of decorating an altered wallet --so I did.  Again, not superb, but hey, it has skulls on it!
I first started with this little canvas wallet by Maya Road. These are very durable and they are great to alter and keep as decorative pieces. However, I want something that I can carry and use and throw in the washer if necessary. You can also dry these in a dryer but I will not be doing that with this one because I used embossing powder. Can you imagine?

My first step was to stamp MS. RUIN on the front of the wallet with acrylic stamps and an embossing pad.  I poured black embossing powder over the letters and then applied heat.  I made the mistake of taking a brush and brushed embossing liquid onto some of the letters and then went through the embossing process again.  I didn't really care for that method so some letters are darker than others, but that's okay.

I then stamped skulls all over the back side also using the same embossing process.  These cute little skulls are by Dyan Reaveley from her Dylusions line. 

Check out this cute little lightning bolt.  I drew it on the canvas wallet with a marker then I took a paint brush and dipped in embossing liquid and filled it in.  I then poured the black embossing powder and applied heat. 

Okay, so how did I dye it?  Well, I took a small plastic tub and put hot water in it and then added Rit liquid dye --just like this one shown here.  In fact, I used the wine color.  I then dipped the canvas bag in it and let it soak for about 5 minutes.  I also dyed the white lace which turned it into a pretty mauve-ish color.  I rinsed everything under cold water and then placed them outside to dry.  Once everything was dry I adhered the lace with hot glue.  Remember, hot glue is your friend!

And that my dear friends is how I made this very easy skull appreciation day wallet.  Now I just need some money to put in it.  :) 

As a bonus I am going to feature a tag I made a couple of years ago featuring a dapper skull man.  I now see all the things I would do differently had I created it today.  But I didn't...so here is my throwback skull tag to add to today's hop!



Thanks for looking!  Happy hopping...off you go to see what Kat has waiting for you on her blog!

Blog Roll:

What a special night

Last night was nothing short of amazing.  I got to see The Avett Brothers for the very first time at the Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie, Texas.  There was no opening act and they played three solid hours.  They made me laugh, they made me cry, they made me clap, they made me dance, they lifted my spirit so high.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I am an Avett fan till the day that I die!  This is one of my favorite pictures from the evening but I'm still sorting.  I probably took about 100 pictures but there's only a handful that will be decent.  I used my point and shoot and I was having a hard time finding the right settings.  This particular shot was taken in Program Mode with an ISO of 3200.   


Another really awesome thing happened at this show --about ten minutes before the brothers hit the stage, Dirk Nowitzki walked in to take his seat a section away from us and one rown behind ours.  We were in section 203, he was in section 205.  I kinda thought he'd have VIP seats but I guess not.  He was so gracious and shook hands and waved at everyone.  The entire venue went crazy!  And if that wasn't enough...the brothers closed the show with "I killed Sally's lover" and Dirk came up on stage and banged on a tamborine (see video below).  LOL.  It was so much fun!!!!!!!  What a night, what a night.  One for the record books!!!!  To see more of my Avett Brother photos, visit my photography website here or Through These Eyes on Facebook

Check it!

Awwwwe!  I was so flattered that TCS was selling this kit by "SONIA DONEGHUE" <--that's me, at the Great American Scrapbook Convention.  It was really neat to see people picking up these little packages.  And what a great price --just $14.99 to make this super cute coin purse.  :)  More pictures to come from my brief visit to the convention.