My ARTistic Life

Jewelry Inspiration from My Mom & Aunt and Winners

Last week, I asked you for ideas on how you'd like to use our new Wood House Pendants and Ornaments. Wowza, you blew me away with your fantastic ideas!!! I said I'd pick 3 winners but I picked 10!! And believe me, it was hard to narrow it down to 10.

Here are the winners:

Lelainia
Idea: showcase favorite pics from online photography classes

Suzie
Idea: create a sweet Christmas village all dressed for the holidays

Kim Sirak
Idea: make mini christmas collages, add snow to the rooftops and give them as little gifts or special gift tags

Sandy Alsfasser
Idea: place holders for my Thanksgiving table that my guests could take home with them - would use snippets of photos that would be personal for each guest

Carole Kurth
Idea: mini-quilt with four types of fabrics in each window and with lace embellishment on the outside

Sallie Rodman
http://salliesartjourney.blogspot.com/
Idea: make a banner of pictures of my husband who passed away last Christmas to hang this year on our tree

Susan G
Idea: make an awesome advent calendar all mounted on a canvas

Lisa M
Idea: add them to the cover of an art journal

Shelly Kane
Idea: make a necklace with special family photos my grandmother

Cindi
Idea: a year round ornament/wall-hanging for my dad with photos of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren

A big round of applause for all of your great ideas! I hope you'll email me photos of what you create. For now, can you please email me with your mailing address? : )

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Recently, my Mom (Karen Strauss) and aunt (Dianna Rapp) had a fun girls art day together. My aunt wanted to make some gifts for friends but she loved everything so much that she had to keep a few for herself. lol. Here is a lovely owl necklace that they made with Large Baroque Photo Charm, Birds & Branches collage sheet and Large Oval Acrylic Bubble.

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Here is another cute necklace that they made with Large Baroque Photo Charm, Birds & Branches collage sheet and Large Oval Acrylic Bubble. Note: they said that they used Beacon's 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue: Crystal Clear, Instant Grab, Fast Dry Glue (purchased at Michaels Craft Store) to attach the acrylic bubbles. They said it was similar to E6000 but lighter. Hmmm...I think I'll need to get some of this glue. : )

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Super cute earrings to match! These are made with Medium Dot Oval Photo Charms (should be back in stock any day now), Birds & Branches collage sheet and Medium Oval Acrylic Bubble. The yellow discs are actually vintage czech buttons. Love!

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Love these happy earrings! These are also made with Medium Dot Oval Photo Charms, Birds & Branches collage sheet and Medium Oval Acrylic Bubble.

Thanks for sharing these with us, Mom and Aunt DeeDee! : )

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Next month, ARTchix Studio is turning 10! Can you believe it?! I'm so proud, excited and over the moon! Thank you for supporting me to do what I love for 10 whole years. I have a favor to ask of you. Right now, I'm focused on designing some fantastic new products and planning out some special handmade gifts that I want to make for our 10 year birthday.

You all have such excellent ideas. Can you please help me with some ideas on ways we can celebrate together? Perhaps ideas that play off the number 10? An online party of some sort? Are there party games you can play online? Help! lol.

Please leave a comment with your ideas on how we can all celebrate together. Really appreciate it. : )

 

Flying Seahorse Earrings + 5 Cool Giveaways!

Last week, I made some cool Inchie Earrings with crackle paint. I'm happy to report that the complete class is now up on our website. Hooray! Also, I couldn't resist showing you this: I added one of our new Waffle Windows (inchie size) to the earrings. Love this! I just added a touch of Gilder's Paste to our Waffle Windows and glued it into place. Sweet!

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This week, I decided to whip up some Flying Seahorse Earrings using our Classic Photo Charms (1" with 2 Loops), new Red Seahorses, Small Wings and background images from our new Dress Me Up Doll collage sheet.

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Ta da! Here they are! Check out the new Flying Seahorse Earrings Class on our website for detailed step by step instructions.

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Bruno thought they were totally cool!
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And lookie what I have for you this week!!! Flying Seahorses Gift Packs...5 of them!!! That means 5 chances for you to win! Woohoo! Each pack includes our Dress Me Up Doll collage sheet, Small Wings, Classic Photo Charms and Red Seahorses. Wow!!! I've wrapped them up with festive ARTchix ribbon, they look so pretty!

To enter to win, simply comment on this post and answer this question:
What animal would you like to see ARTchix feature in the future?
Currently, we have cats, birds, butterflies and new seahorses and elephants. What would you like to see next?

See you next week with more fun and creativity! : )

Cute Inchie Earrings!

Last week, I asked if you'd be interested in some fun jewelry ideas. I'm so happy that all 75 of you enthusiastically said, "YES!" I feel like you've given me the green light to jump into making some fun jewelry projects that I've been wanting to turn my attention to for awhile. So, thank you. : )

Today, I thought it would be fun to share these super fun earrings with you...using Ranger Crackle Paint which I've been playing with lots in my paper arts lately. To start, simply give your bottle of crackle paint a good shake and then dab it onto 2 pieces of thin cardboard that are 1" square each. When dry, rub some charcoal into the cracks to bring them to life. (My talented friend, Kathy Cameron, told me about combining charcoal with crackle paint... love it!)

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Next, cut out 2 inchies from our Nature Silhouettes transparency sheet. And glue them to the crackle background with a strong glue that dries clear. I like Crafter's Pick Ultimate, Ranger Glossy Accents or Diamond Glaze. Press down firmly to adhere the pieces together. When dry, adhere them into the Inchie Photo Charms with the same glue. Push down firmly and be sure to have a slightly damp paper towel on hand to wipe away any excess glue.

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Now to add a bit of bling. On the left is a completed earring. And on the right, it shows the supplies I used to make it: ear wires, jump rings (2 so that they will hang correctly), long head pin and pretty bead.

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Ta da! All done and ready to wear! I'll be posting this as a class on our website next week. It'll show each step in more detail.

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Here I am wearing them. I thought it would be nice for you to see me in them so that you can see what they look like on a person. : ) They match with just about everything I own...black, white and pink...always a good thing. Hmm...these would make nice gifts too.

See you next Wednesday or Thursday with another fun jewelry idea. And hopefully, fingers crossed, some beautiful seahorses, coral and more! (We're still waiting to announce our gorgeous new products until our postal strike is over. Thanks for your understanding.)