Altered Gift Bag

Hello friends --here are a couple of quick ideas to alter gift bags.  I went to the store and had a bag in hand and then I thought, "What am I doing?  I have all sorts of stuff at home to decorate a bag AND I have bags."  So this is what I made...

The bag in the back was stamped with a vintage baby buggy and then I adhered a flower to it.  The bag in the front took a little more work and a 3rd degree hot glue burn, it was worth it though!  I basically made a little chalkboard that they can remove and keep and then write their own messages.  Here are the steps for the second bag...

• Paint a piece of chipboard (size of your choice) using at least two coats of Chalkboard Paint.  Allow chipboard to dry.  (Tip:  the chipboard will curl but when the paint dries all the way through, the chipboard will flatten).  If you don't have chipboard, try using a thin wooden board.
• Adhere Maya Road Vintage Lace Tape around chalkboard.
• Wrap hemp cord around chalkboard and secure in the back with a knot.  I also used hot glue to reinforce the position of the cord.
• Glue chalkboard gift bag.
• Embellish hemp cord.  I used Basic Grey, Maya Road, Recollections, Tim Holtz and Prima.

TA-DA!

The bags were a big hit and the best part is that my friend and her hubby now have a little chalkboard to use in their baby boy's nursery.

Until next time, peace, love, and extra special gift bags!

Deserted Beauty

Hello  friends!  Thanks for stopping in to see my latest project.  This mini book is actually a design team project for The Crafty Scrapper.  When I first received it I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do with it but at the last minute, it all just sort of came together.  Plus I had an opportunity to fuse my love of paper crafting with my love of urban and not so urban exploration.  You see, when I'm not painting chipboard I enjoy exploring abandoned places and capturing images to share with others.  Those of you who follow my photography are familiar with my motto, "I find beauty where most see atrophy."  I hope you are able to see the beauty too.

This lovely camera chipboard album is by the fine folks at Leaky Shed Studio and can be purchased at The Crafty Scrapper.  I also want to mention that all of the gorgeous paper I used in this album is from the "Accomplished" line of papers by Authentique.  You can find this paper right by the checkout!  A little bit about the cover which is typically the most embellished part of the book in my projects...I wanted to create a contrast between something beautiful and something, well, a bit on the mucky side because that's definitely what this book is about.  I chose a soft damask print for the background and then a bold brick print for the accent pieces of the camera.  All of the paper embellishments including the alphabet are by Tim Holtz and the flowers are by Prima.

Lets explore the inside of the book and don't forget that you can click on the images to view them larger.

This page holds a couple of pictures of an abandoned elementary school located in Premont, Texas.  I used a pocket from an old library book to hold my photos and a card that tells you a little bit about the photos.  

In case you're wondering how I got the pretty text on the Maya Road kraft tag, I simply printed the text on a regular sheet of paper, adhered the tag to the paper over the text, put the paper back in the printer and reprinted the text.  Be careful not to jam your printer!  If I had a typewriter, I would have used it instead. 

I really liked the way this turned out.  I'm not gonna lie, I was so frustrated with this page that I wanted to put the pictures sides by side, glue the Maya Road light bulb in the middle and call it a day.  But I walked away, got some sleep, and in the morning I churned this out with ease.  

The photo on the left flips open so that you can see the entire picture on the right and you can also read some details about these photos.  And just in case you can't see the print, these photos were taken in the ghost town of Medicine Mound, Texas which is located between Amarillo and Dallas.  We found the structural remains of a filling station and some really neat relics including the gas pump.  We continued down the road and drove through a field (remember, not so urban exploration) and found a very old grade school.  You can see that edifice on the cover of the book.  I don't think class will ever be in session again.  Or will it?

This old tractor was found next to an abandoned gymnasium in Shamrock, Oklahoma.  The town has few residents left and it appeared that the majority of the buildings were rundown.  I didn't do too much with this page other than cut along a couple of the clocks to tuck my photo into position.

I really like this page despite it's simplicity.  Sometimes when you have captivating photos, you don't want to clutter the page too much or you have one art form taking away from another.  I think a piece of burlap and hemp twine were just the right accents.  The Baker Hotel is located in Mineral Wells, Texas.  Is it haunted?  Likely.  But I'm drawn to it's towering beauty, sadly it lays in ruin.

On the flip side you'll find this image of an abandoned auditorium in Premont, Texas.  I am absolutely in love with this place but only have an opportunity to drive by it twice a year on my way home to South Texas.  And 9 times out of 10, my husband does not want to stop.  I don't know that I'll ever go back in there but I can tell you that I have been in there three times, alone, in the silence.  I have stood behind the curtains and peered out past the stage into an audience of empty seats.  Listen...you can almost hear them applauding.  

Who doesn't love old barns?  I know so many people that do!  How I wish I could have gotten closer to this old barn in Tennessee.  Again, the printed text on the kraft tag was made with my deskjet printer.  The pocket frame is by Tim Holtz and the Frozen Charlotte doll is by my friend artist AND author, Lisa Pace.

Does Tim Holtz have some of the best hardware or what?  I love all of these little trinkets.  This photo is really special to me.  I had seen this house so many times on I 35 North from Waco to Dallas.  One day, while traveling alone, I finally exited off the highway and spent a good 30 minutes studying a map and driving down side road looking for this house.  Well, I found it.  It was on a dirt road that had not been traveled in so long that the grass and brush had started growing over the road.  That's why I had difficulty finding the house!  But I found it --I traveled down the road with nothing and no one else in sight.  I reached the dead end and there I found this magnificent beauty.  I took my photos and then just stood there and wondered what her story was.  If those walls could talk, what story would they tell me?
  

For this last page, I used a really neat technique that you will want to try on your next project.  Hold off on the coffee, you're going to need a steady hand for this.  

For this page I took a Maya Road linen heart and laid a stencil over it and then gently applied a thick coat of Wendy Vecchi's Embossing Paste in white.  I promise, once you do this you will want to do it over and over...just imagine the possibilities.  I also stenciled some beautiful black birds on other linen hearts for a different project.  About the photo:  The gorgeous statue on this page was found in an overgrown cemetery in South Texas.  I doubt that old place has many visitors, but I have a hunch that this statue restores hope for the disregarded.

I hope you enjoyed my book.  If you would like to see it up close, please stop by The Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie, Texas and tell them you are there to see Sonia's latest book!  And don't forget that you can also follow my art and my photography on Facebook and on Pinterest (the links are on the right).  Until next time...take flight!

Ms. Ruin

Altered Mason Jars

Hello bloggers and blog readers.  I've got a few projects I've worked on lately that I want to share with you but for today we'll zero in on a couple of gorgeous altered mason jars.

As you know, I run Artsy Fartsy, a swap community on Facebook, with the help of my friends DeeDee and Genie.  Each month we host a swap and for the month of March, DeeDee hosted an altered mason jar swap.  My partner told me she enjoyed vintage styling and she lives in Louisiana so a fleur-de-lis would be to her liking.  So with that little bit of insight I got to work.

Ms. Ruin's Supply List:

Basic Crafting Tools 

Alcohol Inks and a dauber

Paper Flowers

Embellishments

Twine

Tissue Paper

The first step I took to create this gorgeous project was that I applied a decorative oval shaped sticker to the jar.  This particular one is from Tim Holtz's Idea-Ology Industrious Stickers/Borders.

I then started inking the jar with alcohol inks on the outside only.  I used about three or four different colors, I believe they were ginger, butterscotch, raisin, and gold.  I applied one color at a time.  Keep in mind that you don't have to cover the entire jar with each color.  I however did cover most of the jar each time I applied an ink.  The key to getting that marbleized look is to simply tap the jar with the dauber repeatedly --kind of like using a sponge when sponge painting.  The gold ink was the only metallic I used.  I made sure to make it the last ink that I applied all over and then I went back over it here and there with other colors.  (Helpful tip:  Keep alcohol blending solution on hand just in case you don't like the way your project is looking, you can apply the blending solution and the inks will wipe right off. )

The ink dries very quickly so I was able to move on to the next step within seconds.  I wanted to bring out the details of the sticker a little so that they wouldn't get lost behind all of the inks I had just adhered so I took a sanding black and just scuffed it up a bit.  Since the sticker is paper, white was exposed.  I went back and dabbed alcohol inks over it.  You can also use distress inks for this.  

I took a handful of flowers from my flower stash and adhered those to the bottle with hot glue.  And trust me, those babies are not coming off of that jar without a fight.  I then applied the fleur-de-lis which is an embellishment I had in my collection for many years.  I used E6000 to adhere the embellishment.  One of the final steps was to wrap twine around the neck of the jar and then I tied down the key.  There is one final step which I will cover in a sec.

I actually had two jars on hand so I decided to decorate a second jar for a friend.  I used all of the same steps except that I stenciled the first letter of her name on the jar rather than using a fleur-de-lis embellishment.  When it was all said and done, I kind of wish I had also used an embellishment because she too is from Louisiana!  But I think it's just as pretty and personalized.  :)

Alright, the final touch on these jars was adding this printed tissue paper to the lids.  Remember, mason jars have those little plates that come right off so what I did is I traced the circle onto printed tissue paper, this paper is by 7 Gypsies.  Then I applied glue and seal to the plate and adhered the tissue.  Once that was dry I put a coat of glue and seal over the tissue to protect it from tearing.  Ta-da!  Project complete.

What's next at Ms. Ruin's Playthings?  In my next post I'll be showing you these sweet little hoots that hatched in my craft room over the weekend.  Until next time...

Peace, love, and alcohol ink!

Ms. Ruin

Uncaged

My very latest "completed" Design Team Project is a decorated Maya Road linen heart.  We were each asked to embellish the heart with our own "style".  The goal is to describe who we are and what we like to use in our day to day projects.  Of course this was a no-brainer for me.  I used some of my all time favorite products from Maya Road, Tim Holtz, Ranger, and Prima (product list at end of post).  But we'll get into that in just a sec.

So why "Uncaged"?  Well, it's simple.  I have always been a creative person.  I can thank my very talented mother for this.  She can draw.  I cannot.  But I did inherit other artistic traits from her.  Thanks, mamacita!  Back to "uncaged"...well, as most of you know I was in a marriage many years ago that was riddled with domestic abuse.  I was not allowed to create anything, to keep journals, to write poetry...nothing.  This is devastating to someone like me who needs to express herself with words, with art!  I can remember keeping a spiral notebook hidden in the back panel of my nightstand.  On the nights that were the most traumatic, I would pull it out after he was asleep and I would write in it...in the dark.  I couldn't see lines, but so long as I could feel the paper, well, that was enough for me.  That notebook was my only friend for several years.  When I visited the notebook, I was free!  But any other time, I was a prisoner.  ::exhale::  But that is over now!  And guess what?  I can create whatever the heck I want too!  Try and stop me.  I use a lot of birds in my work because I wanted so badly to be like a bird.  I wanted the courage to fly away, to escape, to break the confines of my cage.  Although that time of my life is now over, I still can't fly.  Well, at least not physically.  But every other part of me has the freedom to soar!  

"Most birds were created to fly.  Being grounded for them is a limitation within their ability to fly, not the other way around.  You were created to be loved.  So for you to live as if you were unloved is a limitation, not the other way around.  Living unloved is like clipping a bird's wings and removing its ability to fly.  A bird is defined not by being grounded but by his ability to fly.  Remember this, humans are defined not by their limitations, but by the intentions I have for them; not by what they seem to be, but by everything it means to be created in my image.  Love is not the limitation; love is the flying.  I am love."  -William P. Young, The Shack

Alright --are you ready to see the entire project?!  Here we goooooooo...

Lets work from the bottom up...this wooden cage is by Maya Road.  I dabbed it with gold adirondack paint by Ranger.  Then I journaled the word "uncaged" on a piece of scrapbook paper and adhered it to the cage.  I decided to add a pink flower to soften the idea.  The wing is also by Maya Road and it is actually acrylic!  I lathered one side of the wing with glossy accents, also by Ranger, and then adhered it directly onto vintage music paper.  Once it was dry I simply tore away the excess paper.  This was easy to do as the paper was very old and brittle.  If you are using newer paper you may need to use scissors.  

I have been playing with polymer clay lately.  I'm new to the clay world but I can only imagine possibilities!  I was looking for a bird mold but didn't have any luck in that department.  But hey, craft people are resourceful so instead I pressed a Maya Road wooden bird into to the clay and used it as a stencil.  I popped him in the oven for 15 minutes --I guess you can say I had a bird in the oven.  ;)  Anyway, once he was cooled off I dabbed him with various alcohol inks.  I don't recall which ones I used, I tried about 4 different shades and finally got this pretty iridescent look.  I definitely used Raisin and Gold but after that I don't recall.  If you decide to use alcohol ink on clay and you don't have an extra piece of clay but don't want to commit to a color --ink the backside of your project for testing purposes.  ;)  My last steps were stamping the word "soar" and outlining my little fella with a black pen.  Oh!  Quick note about the "soar" stamp.  That word, plus the ones I used on the heart are from a new art journaling stamp set by Maya Road.  GET.THESE.STAMPS.  I promise, you will love them and you will use them often.     

Another medium I LOVE to use is cardboard.  And it's free!  In this piece I cut out a heart from corrugated cardboard and then painted here and there with Mahogony Crackle Paint by Ranger.  The keyhole is from the Idea-ology line by Tim Holtz.  I also used alcohol inks on it.  The crown is chipboard by Maya Road, painted with Gold Adirondack Paint by Ranger.

So there you have it!  I hope you enjoyed my project.  I am shipping it off to The Crafty Scrapper today.  I almost can't wait to get it back so that I can hang it in my studio.  In my next blog post owl feature a couple of fellas that are quite the hoot!  You'll have to come back and meet my new friends.  ;)  I will leave you now with the product list for this project.  Peace, love, and taking flight!

Product List (Click image at beginning of post to see large view of most products used):

• Maya Road Linen Heart
• Prima Paper Flowers (the best!!!)
• Maya Road Wooden Bird
• Black Sculpey Polymer Clay
• Maya Road Chipboard Crown
• Maya Road Art Journaling Stamp Set (LOVE!!!!)
• Ranger Distress Crackle Paint
• Maya Road Acrylic Wing
• Maya Road Wooden Birdcage 
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Keyhole
• Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Inks
• Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber in Gold
• Vintage Piano Music Sheets

Family Matters

As I mentioned earlier, I was away on a retreat with some friends this weekend so I managed to get a lot accomplished.  I completed three projects for family and about family.  First of all --the Circus is coming to town and how I wish I could take my niece and nephews with me when I'm sitting front row at American Airlines cheering like a fool.  LOL.  But in the spirit of the Circus --oh, and not just any circus...I'm talking Barnum and Bailey, baby...anyway, in the spirit of the Circus or Le Cirque, I am sending both my nephews and my niece some fun and flavored popcorn that is adorned with a circus themed tag.  Something tells me they are going to care more about the popcorn.  :p

I also made a 5x7 book FOR ME.  Yes, FOR ME.  You see, I rarely keep things I make but gosh darnit, I'm going to keep this one for myself.  This book is filled with beautiful 5x7 portraits of my family from start to end.  The only embellishing I did was to the cover.  I covered it with 7G tissue paper and made one of my famous clusters using flowers and elements from Maya Road, Prima, and Recollections.  I am so pleased with how this turned out. 

The other project that I made is a 5x7 album as well but this one is about my nephew playing T-Ball.  Again, not much embellishing and the paper that I did use was from a cheesey kit.  But that's okay...it's not the paper or the embellishments that made this book and told the story...it was the pictures inside.

Thanks for reading!

Celebrating Mom

I have a lot of influential and inspirational women in my life, but I only have one mother and she embodies much more than I can ever put into words. Happy Mother's Day, Mami. ♥

I made a couple of handmade gifts for her.  The first gift is this mini album using the new spool shaped chipboard by Maya Road.  I think she will like it.

My FAVORITE project is this one.  It's a spin off of my garden themed coin purse.  This is a book with a bunch of my original garden photography.  It's a big hit with others that have seen it so I know she will just love it too!

I'm not crazy about my handwriting but I wanted the book to be intimate.  Plus I didn't embellish it because I didn't want to take away from the photos.  FYI --the paper I used from cover to cover is DCWV's Tattered Time...I dig.  :)

If you are a mother, Happy Mother's Day to you!

Canvas Giveaway

I am commemorating National Scrapbooking Month with a fabulous giveaway!  I am giving away this canvas I made using ink sprays, stencils, and stamps.  All you have to do is leave a comment here and you will be entered to win this very colorful piece of art.  Happy National Scrapbooking Month from Ms. Ruin's Playthings!  ♥

National Scrapbooking Month

May is National Scrapbooking Month.  Although I'm not a very good scrapbooker, I think I do really well with mini books and mixed media.  So why not celebrate the art of crafting and some of the women that have influenced me, motivated me and have been on the artistic journey with me for several years.  So I decided to do a little something special for a handful of friends...for Dee Dee who encouraged me to try out for the design team, for Kimmy and Genie who have been my online friends for several years and we have inspired one another and watched each other evolve in our different forms of art, for Lisa who has taken me in like a family member and shares my passion for crafting, and for Deb who is my crop buddy, retreat buddy, and basically keeps me in the know of the latest and greatest in the craft world.  Because let's face it...I'm such a busy person I don't have time to read blogs and figure out who is doing what in the scrapbook world.  Thank you, ladies! 

So what did I make for them?  I made each of them a beautiful canvas using the new Dylusions ink sprays by Dyan Reaveley.  These are the ones that I have in my arsenal...

So using her sprays, stamps and a stencil by prima I made 5 gorgeous pieces of art to send to my friends.  Here are a couple of the ones I will be mailing out this week.  To see all of them, visit my facebook art page.

Virtual Yard Sale: Flower Garden

We are having a Virtual Yard Sale at Ms. Ruin's Playthings.  Lets take a look at all of the beautiful flowers that are in bloom in my Etsy Shop.  Click on each image for listing details.

Birthday Layout

In this layout I used new paper by American Crafts –this set by Amy Tangerine.  I know you’re wondering which ones so for your information, I used Gaby’s Gallery to mat the photo and Indigo Inspiration as the 12x12 base (paper shown below from left to right).  Aren’t these super fun colors!

The embellishments in the kits I received were not packaged so I’m not sure who makes this beautiful flower –likely Prima.  As for the number two, I took a piece of chipboard, covered it with Gaby’s Gallery and then wrapped this fuzzy string around it.  Again, not sure who makes that either.

I have to make at least ONE thing pop on my page so I pop dotted these clouds.

And finally I added this little die cut tag which I believe is part of this new line.  These flowers are likely by Prima.  Notice I also put lace trim on the edge of Bryn’s dress.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a very simple scrapbooker.  But I really dig the way this page turned out –hope you like it too!