Tag Archives: Ephemera

Keep you ephemera close by

Keep you ephemera close by
Keep you ephemera close by

There’s a good chance you have a lot of ephemera. I do too. However, I have it stored away in so many different places and in so many boxes, that I often can’t find it when I am in the middle of a project.

To combat this problem, I made a desktop ephemera storage box. While it certainly can’t hold all my ephemera, I can keep it filled with different odds and ends that I can use in upcoming projects.

Keeping some of your ephemera nearby is is especially helpful for those of you who like to make junk journals and art planners. What’s more, it makes for some fun eye candy.

Read the rest of this entry

A holiday feast for the eyes–and no impact on your thighs

A holiday feast for the eyes–and no impact on your thighs

christmas-cake-by-betsy-skagen-101026

Here’s a holiday dessert that is completely guilt free (unless you have some weird paper eating fetish). Read the rest of this entry

When altered art turns deadly–your number is up

When altered art turns deadly–your number is up
When altered art turns deadly–your number is up

 

 

 

I was making Halloween tags out of bingo cards the other day when my husband quipped “my number is up”.  Being that I’m the wordsmith, I don’t know why it is that he remembered this expression and I didn’t. Maybe because he causes me so much stress. I certainly know that even if my number isn’t up, my memory certainly is.

Paper-Calliope-for-ColourArte-Numbers-Up-Box-5

Now where was I?…Oh yes, well he may have remembered the phrase, but I was the one who realized that I could have a lot of altered art fun with it.

Your Number is Up is actually a combination of altered art and mixed media. It plays upon the themes of numbers and bones. Please visit  ColourArte to see more details about how I made it.

Paper-Calliope-for-ColourArte-Numbers-Up-Box-10

Full tutorial for Cinderella’s Time Gone By Artist Trading Block

Full tutorial for Cinderella’s Time Gone By Artist Trading Block

Paper-Calliope-Cinderella-ATB-Finished-Front-2

Last summer I posted a tutorial for an usual Artist Trading Block over at the Robin’s Nest. It was so well received that I thought it deserved a full replay here.

My Cinderella’s Time Gone By Artist Trading Block (ATB) features remnants of Cinderella’s ballroom dance at the castle and plays with the concept of Time: the importance Time played during Cinderella’s special night, the fact that this Time took place in the past and how Time distorts, warps and fractures memories. Read the rest of this entry

Making an altered art circus mini album

Making an altered art circus mini album

Paper-Calliope-Mini-Circus-Book-Cover

As I wrap up my month as the guest blogger for the amazing company Whisker Graphics, I took advantage of all the stripes, dots and zig zags that their products offer to create a fun mini circus album.

Anyone who visits my blog regularly knows that I love anything with a vintage circus theme, and this mini album is chock full of circusy fun. I made the album for a friend of mine who has been especially kind this last year. She is the mom of a talented youth circus performer and I thought she could add ticket stubs, photos and other mementos of her daughter’s performaces to the mini album.

Paper-Calliope-Mini-Circus-Album-page-1

Read the rest of this entry

Beach beautiful is wild

Beach beautiful is wild
Beach beautiful is wild
Bonus: Learn a fabulously frugal trick for using 
spray inks when you don’t have masks or stencils! 

 

Without going into the gory details, last summer was a tough time for our family. Truth be told, all of 2013 pretty much sucked. A short respite from the dismal came when we visited a small zoo south of Milwaukee. Normally, a zoo isn’t all that exciting to me, but this one turned out to be pretty fun–probably more so because it was such a relief from the worries. It was literally a stone’s throw from Lake Michigan, so it wasn’t long before we headed down to the beach to watch my son climb rocks and my daughter do handstands in the sand.

Read the rest of this entry

Valentine’s Day is the 14th

Valentine’s Day is the 14th

2014-01-12-01-altered-web-1

Valentine’s Day is the 14th

Although the techniques I used for this tag were similar to the Heart aMazing Tag, I was much happier with the results. To continue the chocolate box metaphor, I guess this one had the caramel filling.  Nom Nom.

When all else fails, Coke is it.

When all else fails, Coke is it.

To most closely replicate this tag, you will need some sort of red ring. I am lucky that my vintage stash contains a plethora of red, white and green plastic translucent rings. I have no idea what they were used for or where I got them. I suspect they came from a game, but that’s just a guess. In any case, scrounge around your supplies and see what you discover. If you come up empty, you can always use the plastic top from a Coca-Cola bottle.

Measure the width of the interior of the circle and using a computer and a sans serif font, print out the number 14 onto to tan or ivory paper. Choose a font size that will mostly fill your circle. If you wish, you can print several different sizes to see which one you like best.  You can always use the leftover 14s in some other Valentine collage. Center the ring over your chosen number 14 and use a pencil to lightly trace the ring. Then cut out the circle and glue the number to the back or inside of the ring. Read the rest of this entry

Valentine’s tags are like a box of chocolates—sometimes you wrinkle your nose and just keep chewing

Valentine’s tags are like a box of chocolates—sometimes you wrinkle your nose and just keep chewing

2014-01-12-01-tag-4-a-web-1.jpg

You Heart aMazing

I’ll be honest, this tag is my least favorite of the five. I like each of the elements on their own, but somehow they just didn’t mesh together well. I guess it is kind of like that big ol’ box of Valentine chocolates. You always end up biting into one that you don’t like. By the time you realize it, you are half way through and then you are left with the quandary of deciding whether to go ahead and finish it or stick it back in the box to disgust some other member of your family.

I’m speaking from experience, as my daughter has been known to do that with just about anything. The other day I found a solitary doughnut left in the box with the topping completely gnawed away. Now that’s an enticing breakfast. Read the rest of this entry