Altered State: A Round Up of Altered Books

06 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Collage, DIY & Crafting, Mini Album, Mixed Media, Paper Sculpture, Papercrafting, Soft Sculpture, Textiles, Vintage

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

altered book, art journal, Cappucinoandart, etsy shop, flyinpurplemunkiez, heart shaped book, Ingrid Dijikers, journal, MacLean County Arts Center, Melissa Thiese, Raidersofthelostart, scrapbook, Sharen Chatterton, TarnishedandTattered, Through the Rabbit Hole, travel book, vintage ephemera

Altered Books, Art Journals, whatever you like to call it I call them amazing! You can take any book, paint it, collage it, fold it or tear it and make it yours. Add some swatches of fabric, paint chips, some vintage ephemera and you have a great piece of art to enjoy that you personalized and created on your own. Here’s a round up of interesting, eclectic and artistic altered books for you to enjoy.

At the end I’ve posted the name of the winner from my last post! Maybe it’s you!

1. This is a pretty incredible example of an altered book way before Altered Books became cool.

This great blog post is brought to us by CappuccinoAndArtJournal and you’ll want to check out the other pages that she has posted from this antique journal, great stuff!

2. How incredible is this?

This book was taught at the MacLean County Arts Center in Bloomington, IL a year ago. How amazing is this? I would love to take this class! “Bring in some of your old books and turn them into art by cutting, drawing, gluing, collage, and just about anything you might think of to alter the state of an almost forgotten form of literature.” WOW!

3. I love the whimsy of this incredible book by Raidersofthelostart.

It’s available for purchase in their Etsy Shop.

4. Setting Them Free Altered Book by Sharen Chatterton

This is a stunning example of objects bursting out of the page, so lovely! The contrast between the plain images in the book and the colorful dimensional butterflies is wonderful.

5. One of my favorite artists is Ingrid Dijikers. I feel very fortunate to have taken a class with her at Art & Soul in Portland, OR several years ago. We created the beginnings of a book in her class “Through the Rabbit Hole”.

All of her work is so incredibly artistic and even her doodles are perfectly placed. Check out her blog to see more of her amazing work!

6. This is super cute!

I found it on Tumblr so I’m not sure who to give the credit to. If anyone knows, let me know and I’ll update this!

7. This gorgeous altered book was created by tarnishedandtattered

SWOON!

8. Tarnished and Tattered also created this gorgeous Wedding Book as a present for her cousin.

Unbelievably gorgeous!

9. I am also loving this travel book by Melissa Thiese.

I’m planning on borrowing some design elements, (like the folded over page to create a pocket!) from it to document my last couple vacations when I finally get around to creating books about them!

10. And this heart shaped book is stunning. I believe it was created by FlyinPurpleMunkiez.

I love how it has hidden spaces to keep treasured items!

Thanks for joining me on this journey through altered books!

Have a wonderfully creative week!

xo,

Christine Barker

PS: The winner from my last post is number 8, which is Patty Antle!!! Congrats Patty! Please visit my Etsy shop and choose one of the Pin Cushions priced at $15 and email me at kryztyne @ gmail.com (remove spaces) to let me know which one you’ve chosen. Thank you to everyone who left a comment, I appreciate you playing along!

Home Decor: Tea Cup and Lavender Sachet Tea Bag

01 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Christmas and Holidays, DIY & Crafting, Lovebug Creations, Paper Sculpture, Papercrafting, Rubber Stamp

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

birthday gift, free printable, free tea cup pattern, free tea cup printable, LOveBug Creations, mother's day gift, organic lavender, Rumple Ribbon, stay calm and drink tea, tea cup, tea cup pattern, tea cup printable, tea cup template, wedding shower favor

Women are like tea bags.

We don’t know our true strength

til we’re in hot water!

-Eleanor Roosevelt

And how true is that? We’re going along through life and we get slammed from the side from some unforeseen challenge and we rise up to meet it. It’s not until later that we realize exactly what we’ve just accomplished and give ourselves a pat on the back for meeting the challenge head on and not running from it.

For this week’s project, I’m inspired by all things tea related so I’ve created a tea cup from scratch. My challenge, thankfully a small one this time, is that I want a certain tea cup shaped die and it’s sold out everywhere. If only I’d bought it when it was first released! (Foiled again!) So, I created my own template and I’m sharing it with you in case you’d like to make your own cup of tea!

This tea cup features some beautiful Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon in “Crushed” from the Loves Me, Loves Me Knot Collection and a little bit of “Buttercream” from the I Do Collection.

The flower is from the Love in Bloom Collection in “Crushed“. Beautiful Blooms are made of clay, hand dyed and have a glossy finish to the top side of them. The bottom is not glossy to make it easy to adhere these embellishments to your projects.

I filled the tea bag with some organic lavender and it smells so good! Wouldn’t this make a great gift for Mother’s Day, a birthday or even as a favor for a wedding shower?

Here’s the free printable, ready for you to glue to chipboard and cut out or use as a template with your own card stock glued to chipboard. To create my cup I glued card stock to both sides of a piece of 8.5″ x 11″ chipboard and set it aside to dry. Once dry, I cut out my shapes. The base of the cup can also be punched out using a 1.5″ circle punch, just use two pieces of card stock and glue them back to back. You’ll want to use a really strong adhesive tape, like Sookwang, or even a low temp glue gun to ensure the cup doesn’t come apart. I used regular paper glue to attach the cup base and let it dry upside down overnight. To create the handles, I wrapped the chipboard around a pencil to get the curlicue effect and then used adhesive tape to attach it to the cup. To shape the saucer, I just gently pulled up the edges and worked my way around the shape to get the edges to come up.

Thanks for stopping by to see my project. Remember, stay calm and drink tea. Have a great week!

xo,

Christine Barker

Blog Hop: Lovebug Creations and Fleurette Bloom

28 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Blog Hop, Collage, DIY & Crafting, Lovebug Creations, Mixed Media, Paper Sculpture, Papercrafting, Sewing, Textiles, Vintage

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

ANTIQUE FRENCH LARGE GLASS BRIDAL DOME, Antique French Wedding Crown Display Globe de Mariée, arlene baker, beaded tiara, blog candy, blog hop, Digital Papers, Fleurette Bloom, FRENCH Globe de Mariee Wedding Display Case, gilding the lily, globe de mariée, LOveBug Creations, Peony Cutting File, Rumple Ribbon, souvenir de mariée, SVG Cutting Files, SVG Peony, SVG Swan, Swan Cutting File, wedding globe

Welcome to the Fleurette Bloom and LoveBug Creations Co-Hop!

If you’ve come over from Chantel, you’re in the right place. But if you’ve landed here and want to begin with the first stop, head over to Fleurette!

The pairing of Lovebug Creation’s fantastic Rumple Ribbon and trimmings with Fleurette Bloom’s outstanding SVG’s (Scalable Vector Graphics) and digital delights is a great way to freshen up your projects. Who wants to be ho-hum? Not us!

You’ve seen some fabulously fresh projects so far and there’s more to be seen. Are you ready to see what I’ve made?

To begin, I used the Fleurette Bloom Swan Lake SVG Card Collection which includes everything you see in this picture.

Swan Lake SVG Card Kit / Collection

And I used the “Lush Flowers” 3D SVG Collection.

I created a replica of an antique French Globe de Mariee using Panther Pink Rumple Ribbon and a gorgeous mystery product from Lovebug Creations (check back for the reveal tomorrow!), and some adorable Swans and a Peony from Fleurette Blooms SVG Cutting Files.

Here it is without the glass. What do you think? Each detail in these Globe de Mariee’s symbolized a different aspect of a French bride’s marriage and French Garden House has a lovely blog post about the history of them if you want to learn more.

Doesn’t this Pink Panther ribbon look dreamy against the silk velvet cushion? I’m absolutely swooning!

Ooh la la!

My love for swans burns brighter than ever and these SVG cutting files from Fleurette Bloom are incredible. The detail on the wings is amazing and their little eyes and beaks are just precious!

This beautiful, dimensional Peony is from the Fleurette Bloom Lush Flowers Collection.

And some detail shots. I made the crown in a Beaded Tiara class with Arlene Baker and I’m just so tickled with the way it turned out! Dresden is from Gilding the Lily in Fullerton, CA. Vintage millinery flowers and fruits are from Michelle Hurtt.

Now, how about some BLOG CANDY??

Fleurette Bloom is offering a $10 gift certificate to her ONLINE STORE

AND

LoveBug Creations is offering a $10 gift certificate to their ONLINE STORE

AND

I’m offering a $5 Giftcard to the Lovebug Creations Shop!

So what do you have to do to win this great stuff? Easy!

1. Become a follower of each crafter (if you’re not already)
2. Leave a love note in the comments at each blog spot with your email info (so we can let you know if you win!)
3. For extra chances to win “Like” our Facebook Pages and leave a comment at Fleurette Bloom Designs and LoveBug Creations
4. Check back on Wednesday for the announcement of the winners

The co-hop line-up:

1.   Fleurette
2.   Kimi & Pamela
3.   Stephanie
4.   Dawn Mercedes
5.   Connie
6.   Kristin
7.   Katie
8.   Ilda
9.   Tanya
10. Chantel
11. Christine <– You’re here!
12. Kathy <– Go here next!
13. Cheryl
For your next burst of Spring inspiration, please visit Kathy!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderfully creative weekend. Don’t forget to leave a comment to be able to win some blog candy! And, I’m sending out a great big THANK YOU and hugs to Connie for cutting out this file and mailing it to me. I’m still in the stone age using a Cricut and she was so sweet to cut out my swans and flowers for me on her Silhouette! I couldn’t have done it without you, Connie! ❤

xo,

Christine Barker

PS: Lovebug Creations will be having another Blog Hop tomorrow to reveal the newest spring colors and trims. Stop by and be the first to see what’s new!

Field Trip: Glitterfest 2014

16 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, DIY & Crafting, Field Trip, Glitter, Mixed Media, Paper Sculpture, Papercrafting, Soft Sculpture, Textiles, Vintage

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

anaheim, anaheim expo center, charlotte, crazy cat lady, Dianne, dotti cordell, Glitterfest, jlf design studio, jo lynch, Julie Haymaker Thompson, kristy lynn, leticia fernandez, Lisa Loria, little white farmhouse, lulu max jewelry, meyer imports, michelle hurtt, millinery flowers, oil painting, paper clay, paper clay doll, Sheryl, susans charming trinkets, sweet insanity bake shop, tara wilson, tiki ranch, tustin, velvet flowers, victorian scrap, vintage findings, vintage flowers, vintage millinery, Whimzy

This weekend was the much anticipated Glitterfest in Anaheim, CA hosted by Sheryl Simpson and Dianne White of Whimzy in Tustin, CA. They also have a show in the fall and I look forward to both every year. I have some good friends who bring their art and treasures here and each time I go I make new friends!

This year the Expo Center was decorated with a sweet candy theme and I just adore the sweet colors!

One of the vendors is my friend, Michelle Hurtt, selling some beautiful and truly authentic vintage millinery flowers and blooms. These flowers are from the 1930’s through the 1950’s and are virtually impossible to find anymore. The collection that she has is in amazing condition and what an extensive and beautiful collection she has! For this Glitterfest, Michelle wanted to share some of her treasures with the Glitterfest attendees and introduce everyone to her new business. Last week we chose the flowers from her warehouse and I put them together into color collections. I’m so proud of my friend for going out on a limb and pursuing her passion and I’m excited for her new business venture. I can’t wait to see what direction she takes with her incredible stash of goodies. Michelle is known for her exquisite attention to detail and her beautiful design sense and I know that everything that comes out of her studio will be stunning!

Here I am with sweet Lisa Loria in the photo booth!

Lisa is known for her whimsical designs and is going back to her artistic roots and spending more time painting. I am loving the direction she is headed in!

More of Lisa’s adorable work!

Have you ever seen a cuter necklace? These are made by Tara Wilson of Lulu Max Jewelry.

Tara specializes in mixing vintage pieces of jewelry with modern pieces and creates truly one-of-a-kind wearable art.

These gorgeous pastries are from Kristy Lynn of Sweet Insanity Bake Shop.

Here’s my favorite son, Trevor, trying on some spectacles in the Little White Farmhouse booth. Since he was with me and being so patient I tried to hurry through the show and didn’t get to spend as much time looking, chatting and taking pictures as I usually do. But, he was such a good sport and even carried a really heavy cement head to the car for me without me even asking!

Little White Farmhouse always has a wonderful collection of vintage items that I just love!

And then I saw two of my friends, Dotti Cordell and Jo Lynch! I was introduced to these girls through a swap hosted by one of my BFF’s, Julie Weller, and met them in person for the first time at Glitterfest a year ago. We keep in touch via Facebook and I just love them!

While walking through the aisles this table caught my eye. I saw some very familiar art work and did a double take. I had no idea that Julie Haymaker Thompson would be at Glitterfest!

I’ve always loved her art and can I just tell you how thrilled I was to finally meet her in person? Her art is cute, fun and whimsical and she is one of the most down to earth people I’ve ever met. I think I’ve convinced her that she has to come out to Orange County again in the very near future to teach a class. (I’m not above begging if I have to!)

I just love her style, the colors she uses and her paper clay dolls are just so fun and unique.

One of her dolls is holding a cat and since I have 5 cats and may have been nicknamed “Crazy Cat Lady” by my niece, Noel, I just knew Julie’s doll was destined to come home with me. This picture shows my kitties, Mr Darcy and KirJava, checking out the adorable doll.

One of my favorite booths is Tiki Ranch and they never disappoint with an extensive selection of findings, bits, bobs and doo dads.

Victorian Scrap? Tiki Ranch has it covered!

I found some fun treasures in the booth of Leticia Fernandez of JLF Design Studio. From Charlotte heads to paper clay creations she had a fun mix of goodies to peruse.

I found a bevy of beautiful jewelry in this booth from Susan of Susan’s Charming Trinkets.

Do you love miniature animals like I do? This booth from Meyer Imports had wonderful reproduction mushrooms, mini plastic animals just like you used to get in the cracker jack box and every color of German glass glitter that you can imagine!

Thank you so much for stopping by and reading my review of Glitterfest 2014. Have a wonderfully creative weekend!

xo,

Christine Barker

Design Team Call: Graphic 45 Design Team Call 2014

20 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Cardmaking, Collage, Design Team Call, DIY & Crafting, Glitter, Jewelry, Mini Album, Mixed Media, Paper Sculpture, Papercrafting, Rubber Stamp, Rubber Stamp, Scrapbooking, Tags

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

2013, Altered, announcement, antique, art, audition, craft, Crafting Design Team Call, Create, Design Team Call, diy, Family, graphic 45, Graphic 45 Design Team Call, Home, idea, mixed-media, scrapbook, scrapbook paper, vintage, We Want You

It’s that time again! Time for the Graphic 45 Design Team Call!

Terms and conditions are here DTcallG452014-2. For more details, check out their blog.

Good Luck, Friends!

xo,

Christine Barker

Mixed Media: Sail Away with Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon

01 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Collage, DIY & Crafting, Lovebug Creations, Mixed Media, Paper Sculpture, Papercrafting, Textiles, Vintage

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

collage, hearts, lace, lace trim, LOveBug Creations, mixed-media, mother of pearl, Rumple Ribbons, sail boat, shabby chic, vintage spool

Ahoy there!

With summer moving forward full steam ahead, it’s important to take the time to buoy our creative spirit. Inspired by a mixed-media sailboat created by Angie Blasingame I found online, I created my own shabby chic version.

The bow (front of the boat in sailor speak) of the ship is decorated with a cute bow made from Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon in “Simply White” from the Star Spangled collection. The fore sail is decked out with pretty heart lace trim.

I used a vintage spool to support the mast.

The stern is decorated with vintage baby mother of pearl buttons and a pretty bow.

The hull is made from a recycled USPS chipboard envelope and collaged with book pages and pattern tissue.

The aft sail is decorated with white lace and a vintage pearl button is placed at the top of the mast, along with more Lovebug Creations Rumple Ribbon.

Thank you for stopping by to see my project. Leave me some love in the comments!

xo,

Christine Barker

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

-Mark Twain

Wedding Blog Hop with Lovebug Creations and Jaded Blossom

31 Friday May 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, Blog Hop, DIY & Crafting, Lovebug Creations, Mixed Media, Paper Sculpture, Papercrafting, Rubber Stamp

≈ 49 Comments

Tags

altered book, blog candy, buttercream, cake topper, crafty wedding, creative wedding, diy wedding, dove, i do, jaded blossom, jaded blossom stamp, LOveBug Creations, lovebug creations ribbon, make your own wedding, Rumple Ribbon, wedding, wedding cake, wedding cake topper, wedding clear stamp, wedding craft, wedding dress, wedding rubber stamp, wedding sentiments, wedding stamp, wedding wishes

Welcome Wedding Hoppers!

Thank you for joining our hop, hosted by Jaded Blossom and Lovebug Creations! You’re just over halfway through and there’s more amazing wedding projects for you to see! (If this is your first stop, don’t miss any of these incredible projects. Start at Candace’s!)

Don’t forget to visit and leave a comment on each blog to be entered to win some blog candy!

I’m a big lover of weddings so this was a blog hop that I was super excited about. We each got to pick a project to make and because I collect vintage wedding cake toppers, I thought that creating my own would be perfect.

I had so much fun with this project!

Close up of the cute dove image

Happily Ever After and Love sentiments

Isn’t this dress dreamy? I love it!

For this project I used the Jaded Blossom Wedding Wishes stamp set. (Thank you, Jaded Blossom!) It includes this gorgeous wedding dress, a sweet dove, an artistic swirl and 11 beautiful sentiments. I stamped the dress image onto a Tiffany & Co envelope and embossed it. Then I cut around the stamped image and glued it onto a piece of Buttercream colored card stock which I then cut.

Don’t you just love the Buttercream ribbon?

I used “Buttercream” Rumple Ribbon from Lovebug Creations to create the sash for the dress and the base of my cake topper. The Buttercream ribbon is part of the Lovebug Creations “I Do” collection and also includes Simply Black and Simply White.

Did you notice my altered book cake? I’ve been waiting to use it forever! I hope you like it!

Now, who wants to win a prize?

All you need to do is visit and comment on each blog in the hop and you can be eligible to win:

$15.00 Gift Certificate from Lovebug Creations

$15.00 Gift Certificate from Jaded Blossom

To find out who the winner of the Gift Certificates is, visit the Lovebug Creations blog.

And, if you sign up to follow my blog (to receive it via email), you’ll be entered to win a prize from me! I have a package of Ribbon Sliders, perfect for your Rumple Ribbon, from Bazzill Basics Paper. (If you’ve already signed up in the past, and you leave a comment, you’ll be entered to win, too!). The winner of these Ribbon Sliders will be announced on this blog on Tuesday morning.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Next, you’re going to visit Jenny’s Blog!

Blog Hop Lineup
Candace
Kim and Pamela
Martha
Kate
Dawn Mercedes
Jamie
Tanya
Crystal
Dorcas
Julie
Christine <—— You Are Here!
Jenny <—— Go Here Next!
Dawn Rene
Trixie
Ellen
Ashley
Stephanie
Jaymie
Zeni

Friday Round Up: Cute Cakes

17 Friday May 2013

Posted by kryztyne2012 in Art and Crafting, DIY & Crafting, Paper Sculpture, Papercrafting

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

art journal, beach wedding, beach-themed wedding, cake, Cupcake, Elizabeth Cakes, Everyday is a Holiday, hotel laguna, Jenny Holiday, Kimberly Ouimet, laguna beach, marjolaine, paper sculpture, pinterest, sand castle, Tahiti Pehrson, wedding anniversary

My husband and I are getting ready to celebrate our 6 year wedding anniversary on May 20 so I thought it would be fun to do a round up of cute cakes.

One of my favorite artists is Jenny Holiday from Everyday is a Holiday. She and her partner, Aaron, design some of the cutest stuff I’ve ever seen. I have this print hanging in my craft room and it makes me happy every time I see it!

How much do you love this art journal, with an adorable cupcake?

Not only are Jenny and Aaron totally talented but they are two of the nicest people I’ve ever met!

Can you believe this incredible work of art by Tahiti Pehrson? She creates paper sculptures using layers of intricately hand-cut stencils. The detail on this cake is incredible and I wish that I could see it in person. (I don’t think I ever will, though, because I read that she burns her paper sculptures after they’ve been shown.)

Isn’t this dreamy? This cake made by Elizabeth Cakes is an absolute fantasy in white. This cake is one of the pictures on my Wedding board on Pinterest. Sometimes I wish I could have another wedding just so I could use some of the gorgeous ideas I have saved on my board.

These adorable cupcake designs are from the Etsy shop of Kimberly Ouimet.

Aren’t they so incredibly precious?

This one is my favorite, with a beautiful wedding cake in the window of the Patisserie.

And, since it’s our anniversary, I want to share another picture from our beach-themed wedding.

Here is a picture of Phil and I cutting our wedding cake in 2007. Our wedding was held at the Hotel Laguna in Laguna Beach so I had to have a sand castle on top of my cake! This was the best cake I’ve ever eaten, too. The owner of the bakery is French and he made us a cake with layers of different flavors. My favorite was the Marjolaine layer, which is made with almond and hazelnut meringue layers with chocolate buttercream.

Thank you for joining me on my roundup of cakes. Now I am totally craving cake, how about you?

xo,

Christine Barker