AFTER!

Here are the "after" pics. Sorry for the quality; I'm still figuring out how to use my new camera. I'm beginning to realize that "Kodak" is actually code for "does whatever the heck it wants and not what I ask".

I probably should have named my kids Kodak and Kodakette.

I used mulberry papers for the cover and a stamp by PSX. I blended the edges of the stamped paper with Pebbles chalks (I did a bit more since I took the pic) and added the bottle (Jolees) and a piece of actual driftwood from a log I dragged home from South Carolina about 10 years ago.

The inside lid has another sticker by Jolees - you can actually shake the frame and the pebbles and starfish cutouts move around - cool! The inside compartments have 2 stickers and a pretty striped rock, more driftwood, some seaglass, a vial with white sand (from a real beach in Aruba), and a shell. The watch face has a tiny spiral seashell in it - hard to see from the pic.

Hope you like it! I know I enjoyed making it very much. Have a great weekend!

Before and after

A few weeks ago, a friend's Dad (a watch collector and local flea market vendor) gave me eight huge boxes of stuff ("garbage", he said) that he had already gone through. They were from the estate of a local watchmaker who had passed away in his early 90s.

My son and I stayed up very late 2 nights in a row sorting through everything. A lot of it was indeed garbage, but I salvaged quite a lot of watch bands, parts, faces and other items that I've slowly been selling off on eBay.

And then... there were these little boxes.

Mostly cardboard and some with plastic inserts, like compartments, to hold all the tiny watchmaker parts. Many had scribbled markings, broken bits and probably 30 years' worth of discoloration on them.

These little boxes attracted me like crazy! I've always loved miniatures and immediately thought they would be so much fun to alter.

To go back a step: I had sent an ATC to a friend in BC as part of a non-art-group swap with a Beach theme. The envelope came back here a few weeks later, torn and sodden from sitting in my mailbox all day, and the ATC was ruined (didn't know bubble mailers could tear, did you? Neither did I.) Sadness ensued.

Well, when I saw these little boxes, I immediately thought: "AHA! I can REPLACE the damp ATC with something in a beach theme!" and the wheels started turning...

Last night I finally put it all together. Pics coming up - I just put a final coat of sealer on it and am waiting for it to dry. :)

What's on your art calendar for today?

It's a stamp! It's a duck! It's the Loch Ness Monster!?!

These are a couple of the oddest little stamps I've ever seen.

I'm not sure what those top ones are supposed to be - the image on the wooden side is gone, so I had to stamp them once just to see what I would get. I think they're meant to be "bonbons" or truffles - personally, I think the one on the right looks like a distant shot of the Loch Ness Monster, but YMMV.

And the half-scrolls on the right in Pic 2 definitely look like ducks. DEFINITELY. With some deft colouring you could have a LOT of fun with these!

Loch Ness bonbons: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230175184914&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=013

Duck scrolls: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230175123583&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=013

Dare to share!

I completed this ATC as my first experiment with Twinkling H2Os - once I saw the lovely shimmer they produce, I just HAD to have some! It really isn't as crooked as the scan makes it look, either. :(

I matted it in lovely deep cinnamon brown handmade paper and mailed it off to a dear friend in Alabama as part of a Secret Pal exchange I belong to (on a non-art board).

Off to try colouring my hair today... hopefully I get some of that "shimmer" myself. ;)

Tag! You're it!

Found this absolutely gorgeous tag-shaped rubber stamp in the discon bin at a small stamping store I visited for the first time today. Isn't it great? Of course, it's up on eBay... :)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230175127617&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=013

She WON!

My girl's team won their final 2-0 - guess who scored the winning goal? Yep, lil smiley-face with the dark hair... In the second pic is the team captain hoisting the plaque and trophy as League Champions for 2007!

I'm closing out a bunch of my eBay auctions today and expecting a furniture delivery today, so this entry is short and sweet. ;

Boot straps?

No, actually. These are watch straps (or bands, I should say) that I'm currently auctioning off on ebay.

Since my photog skills are still developing (I made a camera joke, hee) I thought I would try to take some 'macro' shots of one of my auctions. Jewelry photography is an art form, as I am quickly coming to realize, and good photographers probably don't get the credit they deserve.

This is the auction: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230173129363&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=013

Everything in the first 2 pics is in this lot! The remaining 3 pics are some detail shots - you can see the stampings "genuine leather" on a number of these. Grab 'em while you can! ;)

Another gorgeous fall day, sunny, bright, and warm.

Today I drove my son to school along a stretch of lovely suburban road lined with tall, gnarled, old-growth maples. With the early-morning sun glinting off the top leaves (stained a fiery red with the recent cold snap) it's one of the prettiest sights in my neighbourhood. I'll have to get a pic of it when I'm not driving.

Today I need to start on a Halloween swap I'm in... I want to alter a little sectioned cardboard box I've set aside. The swap is for a family with a 3 year old girl, so I thought of putting in some shiny cute stickers in each of the sections... it's all percolating right now.

For today, here's my first little "shrine" or altered art matchbox.

My daughter is playing in her soccer final early tomorrow morning. Go Blizzards!!

Might help if I added in the auction link ... *grumble grumble*.... ;)

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmomsie564

Good GAWD. ME, bloggin'. Will wonders never cease!

Single mommy, 2 of the world's best kidlets, and an irresistible feeling that life is one big ripe adventure for the picking... the rest is to be discovered. ;)

I've recently started selling on eBay - altered art stuff (mostly watch parts right now) so check it out!