Faux Soldering

When I created these bubble Christmas ornaments...I wanted to cover the seam where the bubble was glued to the cardboard to give it a nice finished look.I pictured them being soldered.... Well if you've ever soldered before, you know that it heats up not only the solder & copper foil but whatever it is that your soldering. Seeing how the bubbles are made out of plastic, soldering wasn't an option. Sooo-- with that said, I had to do a faux soldering treatment on these little fairies in the bubbles. Here is how I did it, so easy-peasy.

I laid some masking tape onto some cardstock paper... then just cut that into 1/4 inch sections.Then I just pulled each piece, tape side in the ink through the embossing ink and then covered each with a generous amount of silver embossing powder. Hit each one with the heat gun and wah-lah, instant soldering that is ready to be applied to my plastic bubbles.Here are the bubbles with the soldering pieces glued in place~

Easy peasy~

Mixed Media Monday~

This weeks challenge was to make something using circles. If I had to pick a favorite shape, it would be the circle. Here are mine... The completed ones are at the bottom of this post~ I needed some heavy duty cardboard to build these upon... so I used a scrabble board that I cut up into circles. I pulled off the scrabble paper and glued on some vintage sheet music to be used as the backdrop. I left the burgandy paper that comes on the back of the scrabble board as is, as I love the vintage look it has already. I painted circles onto the sheet music using iridescent paint, glitter paint and translucent paint, they really look 3 dimensional with the different paints added. I then made some nests using black felt as the base. I cut apart a huge store-bought nest so I could use the thin sticks from that. I applied hot glue to the felt and then just layered on the sticks and some green moss. I then hot glued some fairies with transparent wings into each nest. This one pictured below is my favorite. Of course I had to add some round beads and some sparkly rhinestones to each one~Once the innards were completed... and in keeping with my more is better mantra... I encased each fairy sitting in a nest inside of a bubble.... I used the e6000 glue (love/hate relationship with that stuff) then I set about to cover the seam where the bubble is glued to the scrabble board. I wanted to solder it... but that would melt the plastic bubble, so I opted to do a faux solder treatment on each one. (tutorial here)Then I just hot glued on some vintage looking do-dads and taaaaaaaaa daaaaaaaaa instant caute! I am so entering these in the fair next month!Anywho, you can view more art pieces by checking out the weekly challenge site for mixed media art here---> Mixed Media Blog.

Transformation Thursday~

I got these vintage t.v. trays from a yard sale where everything was free! I loved the roses on them but the black was scratched and covered in grease from years of use. Gross-- but I took them anywho! They even had the metal rolling storage stand for them :-)They have been in my garage for about a year, then out by the trash cans for about a month.... until I decided to try spray painting them. I was going to trace the flowers and cut a stencil to cover them and spray paint everything white.... but seriously, I'm crazy-- but not that crazy! So I opted instead to cover the entire rectangle part of the tray and paint everything else once the trays & legs were degreased. Taaaaaa daaaaaaa, now they are Shabby chic t.v. trays and I lurve them!
You can view more transformations over at "Shabby Chic Cottage" and also over at "A Soft Place to Land" Kimba is hosting a "do it yourself" linky party. The Coloradolady is also hosting a Vintage Thingie Thursday. And last, but not least...Leigh over at "Tales From Bloggeritaville" is hosting a Thrifty Thursday linky party~ If you have linked to my blog and wish to view more... you can click right here to go have a lookie~lou.

Happy Birthday...

to me...

happy birthday to me

hand me a fork,

pass me my cake

happy birthday

tooooooo

meee~

(second verse same as the first)

Play yard~

Jen is hosting a "Before & After Party" on her blog: Sanctuary Arts at Home and...Sara over at the Thrifty Decor Chick is also hosting a before & after party as well! I think I've just about gotten my side yard completed... so I'm joining in on the party! Here are the before photos of what the side of my house looked like just about two short months ago. (we live on a corner lot) I have been working very hard on this new addition. I put in a cinder block retaining wall and then added a fence on top of that. That alone took one whole week of 10 hour days to complete.... yes, I laid the cinder block myself... it is easy peasy seriously~I dug up the entire lawn area, tossed out the grass & weeds and leveled out the remaining dirt. Our property is on an elevated lot, it was no easy task. Where the gate is in this photo below (see the circle with the goose on it?) is now an opening into our existing backyard. Bags & bags of morter.... truck loads full of cinder block. I had to tear out a long brick planter, cut down and dig out the root of a huge pine tree.... just to get it to this point....

Anywho, now it is an area that I head to first when I go out into the backyard, I think it turned out caute! Below you can see the play house I found at a yard sale for $50. The dark green shade sail was another yard sale find for $10. The bricks I had piled on the other side of the house just waiting for a project like this! The deck is about two weeks old... the step down into the yard was just completed today~ Here is the view from the opening of where the gate used to be.... I moved the same gate to be used way over there...see it?

I've made the brick walkway go around this crepe myrtle tree... I added the retaining stones around the tree as well. Next year I have plans to add a plywood circle/seat on top of those and add a cushion for a round seating area~ I am using some of the plastic baby gate panels as my deck railing. I am just going to use wire ties and attach them to the gazebo panels. I don't want my grandkids to tumble off even though the deck is not that far off the ground.

Of course I needed to get new patio furniture for this area... I got this 6 piece set that was originally $650 for only $250~ The gazebo was $15 at a yard sale. It has a fabric canopy, that won't fit anymore since we had to enlarge the gazebo to fit our deck. I am going to string wire across the entire top of it and just use the rolled bamboo for the gazebo top. I've moved the fountain I had beside the pool into this new area. (craigslist, $75) It is sitting ontop of the old air conditioner cement slab-- that was an unsightly eyesore-- until now. Now, I love the cement slab! I am eventually going to do a mosaic on the cement. I also moved the arch and filled in the back with chicken wire, it will eventually fill in completely with star jasmine. I still consider this area a "work in progress" There is a lot of things I still would like to do...like dig a large hole to place the small trampoline into, cover some of the dirt area with faux grass.... fill up the fountain with water and actually turn it on. Work, work-work... and I love it! If you have linked to my blog and wish to view more... you can click on this linkie right here.

Ann & Andy~

The Faerie Wysperer is hosting a birthday party for Raggedy Ann. Hop on over to her blog for some birthday festivites and giveaways as well.
Here is my Raggedy Ann & Andy dolls..... I've been working on them in the evenings after working out in my yard all day long-- needless to say I'm pooped!I obviously didn't go with the traditional red/white & blue colors. Shabby chic is more my style! I gave them both blue eyes and blonde hair~I drew the faces in pencil then embroidered them. Ann has cute pouty lips...Andy has a sullen look to him as he isn't so happy to be wearing such girlie colors. He also doesn't appreciate his hair being smoothed out, he would much rather it be messy~Ann has an embroidered red heart on her chest with the words "I love you Chloe xoxo Nana" and in Andy's heart the words "I love you Jonathan xoxo Nana" It is much easier for me to actually finish something if I have it in my mind that I'm making it for someone other than myself! So, the grandkids will have these added to the huge stash of toys they have already.
Here are the two standing together, arm in arm. I made Ann's pinafore out of a vintage appliqued piece I picked up for .45cents. Her dress is really pretty, but the pinafore is so wide it hides it.This is the first time I have ever finished a doll from making the actual doll to making its clothing as well. I must say, it is a lot of work. Very time consuming!!!

Vaaaaaaaacaaaaaa~

I'll be out in my yard for the next 4 days working on getting things finished-- (like... the deck, laying down weed barrier & bark, laying brick, hanging bamboo, enlarging the gazebo, etc...) I'll hopefully have my Raggedy Ann & Andy dolls finished by then as well. I'll work on those when it gets to dark to work outside! I'm anxious to show those two off as these are truely the only dolls I've ever completed and I must say they turned out better than I expected--- like someone else made them! I think the next doll I attempt, will be one made with paper clay. I'll share the linkie to the blog of this fabulous artist that is a true inspiration when I come back online next week. For some reason my computer is acting all wonky and won't let me do anything other than type~ Taaaaaa taaaaaaaa for now all you sweet gals that read my bloggie and make me feel all warm and fuzzy...
or is that menopause?
...hmmm I am turning 45 on Tuesday....