Ice Cube Cozies

craftster Ice Cube Cozies

craftster organizes challenges on a regular basis, one of them was the Craft Challenge #30 – Cozies WITH Irony.
Personally I liked the Ice Cube Cozies best, but make sure to check also the others, like An Irony Filled Tea Cozy or the Brrr… Antenna hat!.

But I don’t think that I will put any of those cozies on my that’s-what-I-really-have-to-do-list ;-))


Links:
At craftster: Craft Challenge #30 – Cozies WITH Irony
To see the respective entries simply click the links of the poll or check the
CHALLENGE 30 ENTRIES.

By way of example check

 

Polymer Clay Flower Canes

Polymer Clay Flower Canes

This Thursday started its first challenge which theme is ‘fresh’.
When I heard about I thought immediately about the little polymer clay box I made long ago but am still fond of (not least because of its freshness ;-))
It is a little cardboard box that I covered with polymer clay and embellished with self-made flower and leaf canes (for links to tutorials see links below).

 

Polymer Clay Flower Canes On this picture you see one side of the box. The finger isn’t there by accident, but to show how small the box is ;-))

 

Polymer Clay Flower Canes This is a close-up from the lid. You can see the purple Hydrangea-like flowers with the Jellyroll center and the leaves.
I made the transparent cane with the white dots to simulate those white flower tufts often used by florists.

 

Polymer Clay Flower Canes Just a last close-up.

 


Links:
Hydrangea-like flowers
Jellyroll
Leaves

Artist Book

Artist-Book

As mentioned before in the entry about paper beads, I once created an artist book.

Step Outside Your Box Saturdays posted this week a challenge about books and I thought it an opportunity to show my artist book ‘blickkontakt’ (which means ‘eye contact’).

I wanted ‘blickkontakt’ to give the viewer many surprises to discover and created therefore several windows and fold-outs.
The pages were created from cardboard and covered in hand-stained papers. Then I stamped, embroidered, tape transfered, sketched, scribbled and glued.


Enjoy the pictures
(Click thumbnails to see photos)

Artist-Book The cover with the round medaillon in its ‘pocket’. Along the spine I let hang the threads with the paper beads.

 

Artist-Book Still the cover, but this time showing the backside of the round medaillon.

 

Artist-Book Pages 1 & 2: You see the eye through a round window, the spirals are hand-embroidered, the little altered slide can be put into the lace pocket.

 

Artist-Book Pages 3 & 4: The images are tape transfered, the flourishes are hand-embroidered.

 

Artist-Book Pages 5 & 6: I stamped, wove paper, embroidered, crocheted. The dark circle is a free swinging altered bottle cap, the semicircle on the left upper side is a fold-out, where I glued a hand-beaded star.
(Unfortunately the tape transfers gleam so, that you can’t see their motif.)

 

Artist-Book Pages 7 & 8: I cut two little round windows into the right page.
The raffia forms a little pocket, where I put a transparent tape transfer tag.

 

Artist-Book Pages 9 & 10: Stamping, tape transfers, embroidered spirals, fold-outs, hand-stained crochet flower and hand-made bead fringe.

 

Artist-Book The verso with tape transfers, stamps and a ringlet from a fake hairpiece.

 

I created more artist books, if you like to see them, take a look at Art.


Links:
If you want to create your own (Altered or Artist) Book, you may want to take a look at the following links (the list is far from complete!):

About Altered Books:
What is an altered book?
Definitions

At art-e-zine: Altered Book Workshop

Get Inspirations:
Gallery of Altered Book Artists
Google results of search for ‘Altered Book’
Google image results of search for ‘Altered Book’

Some of the used techniques:
Paper staining
Tea Staining Your Art Journal Pages
Tea Stain Paper

Image Transfer Techniques:
Easy Photo Transfers (different techniques)
Image Transfer
Packing Tape Image Transfers

Here at unikatissima:
Paper Beads