AlteredPages Artsociates

Today I have for you a quick upcycle  with big results!   Today's project began as an ornate ceramic frame.   The focal point of the frame was a 3x3 inch tumbled marble tile.  The tile originally had an old world, Tuscan style wine label on it.   It was beautiful, but it just did not match my decor any longer.  I adored the piece and could never part with it...so I gave it new life as Halloween decor.  Technically, I can give it new life again and again with any theme collage images from Altered Pages .   The frame itself is about a 11x11 inch square and is a couple inches deep.  So it is a great size, not too big, not too small.  And, it looks great sitting on a thick wrought iron easle.  I first used water diluted  Tacky glue to add a scrap of torn  vintage music sheet .  I then aged the music sheet a tad more using  sepia toned ink   & my Ranger Blending...

It is no secret that one of the things I love best about Altered Pages is the large catalog of digital collage images.  They can be used as a single focal image on a project or combined in a seemingly infinite amount of ways.  This greeting card today uses images from several different collage sets to create a sweet floral fairy scene. I picked out three of my favorite images and cut each one out in detail.  There was a lot of white in both the daisy and fairy images so I grabbed my craft knife and started by pruning the daisies.  When I was satisfied with my trimming I used glitter glue on the daisy centers.  I printed off a second image so that I could mount the center flower on foam dots. I ended up leaving some of the white toward the bottom because there were other things going on.  I added a white flower border and pale yellow Dew Drops to the bottom.  I find that when you're making a scenery card, it helps your eye to rest when ...

Hey, let's just have fun and experiment!  We are going to play with a trending art form  that you may have seen a bit about;   String Art.  It is fun and easy and the results are pretty incredible. You will want to use a watery consistency of medium  as your "ink".   You can use diluted  acrylic paints, Gelatos or Splash inks .  You then s aturate pieces of  twine  in the colors of your choice.    I prefer using gloved hands for the next few steps.  Sometimes I like messy artsy looking hands, but I had literally just had my nails done this day and did not want to lose my French mani. ;-)  Now, lay the twine in a meandering pattern from the top to the bottom of your paper.  You can use an art journal , as I did here with my Dylusions journal, card stock or even a premade craft card .  You basically just need two pieces of paper to sandwich over your twine.  ...

Who doesn't love huge colorful flowers? Well, let's make some! Gather up a bunch of patterned papers...card stock works best, but by all means, add in some  Vintage Music Sheets  or other papers that you love.  This is a great way to use up scraps because the largest piece of paper I am using here is 6x6 so size does not matter.  You can do 8x8 or even 12 x 12!  As long as you have a perfect square you are all set.  This is great to work on when you feel like creating something, but you are not sure what.  Just grab pretty papers and start cutting petal shapes.  You can store them in a baggie or envelope and they will be ready to go when the mood strikes.  You can make a ton of these little guys while binging your fav Netflix.  This pic below represents a very small number of petals that I have cut recently...there are many more behind the scenes.  ;-)  To get the flower shape you will take your square of paper and...

Today, I have a quick little post about all the options for you at  Alteredpages.com   if you love playing with watercolors like I do.  Whether you prefer  watercolor pencils ,  Gelatos  or a bit of shimmer like these  Niji paint sets , AlteredPages has you covered.  You can even paint right on  vintage music sheet  like I have done with this butterfly.      Or, use a more traditional approach with this  Prima watercolor pad  like I did with my little cactus friend below.  This piece is not quite finished.  I need to decide what this guy is sitting on...maybe a potting bench or maybe in a garden.  We will see, but for now he is just kind of floating around.   I love to make little pieces like these and send them off to family and friends.  They make great little memories for sharing.   So, give our watercolor supplies a try for yourself and make some...

Hi again guys! Today, I have a quick little lotus inspired ATC.   The supplies I used are listed below.  It all starts with this piece of card stock that a little pot of pain tipped over on.  I figured, hey, let's make a background rather than trying to scoop it up.   I added more paint and smoothered it all over that piece of cardstock with my palette knife allowing it to keep as much texture as possible and I set it aside.  That was months ago and here is it becoming something beautiful!    I added a touch of gray ink to the white areas of the paper and cut it down to ATC size.   Next, came a ripped scrap of Asian vintage text. I then took some of that same vintage paper and inked it a bit with my Niji metalic watercolors in green.  I wrote the phrase "No mud - No lotus".  It is just something I have always loved. I adhered that to the ATC with a bit of gray scrap under that.  To top it all ...

I know there are other artists and crafters out there like me who have a bin full of wonderful little bits and pieces leftover from other projects.  You know the ones...the unique paper, the stamped image that didn't get used, the random Altered Pages collage image from a full sheet of images.  I dug into that bin this week to create a trio of artist trading cards (ATC) to share with you. Normally, I share how to pictures with you but since I use using remnants I don't have any.  Everything was already (mostly) ready to use.  I hope you enjoy! Supplies used: Tea Party collage sheet Pretty Purple collage sheet Pocket Quotes 2 collage sheet Chinese Textiles collage sheet Year of the Dragon collage sheet Stained Glass Windows collage sheet Collage Backgrounds 1 collage sheet Metal charms Dew Drops Glue/adhesive Fancy Ribbon (used only the pink & black dangles)

A while back I bought some second hand wooden wall  plaques. I painted them and put them aside. This week I dragged one out to use for this project .  You could use the Altered Pages Slat Sign . I decided to go crazy and make a fabulous mixed media piece. I am happy with the end results.  I began by making  modelling paste. It was made with equal parts glue and paint (color does not matter - I used grey acrylic) and then mix in talcum powder until it has the consistency of modelling paste.  I used two stencils with the modelling paste to create patterns and rough texture on the plaque, let the paste dry overnight (or longer depending on where you live). I arranged and glued die cut gears , bead trims, gems, keys and clock face. Then painted with black acrylic paint. Three coats were necessary to get good coverage. When dry I painted with metallic  paints , letting it dry between coats of paint and ...