Paper or Plastic?

Hi, its Sue Kithcart here helping you get ready for fall! I absolutely love pumpkins! So I suggest when they ask you in the grocery store if you want paper or plastic, I say choose Paper!

so here is my way of recycling that paper grocery bag!

so here is my way of recycling that paper grocery bag!






 so you are starting with a paper grocery bag, if you use a lunch bag it will be super small and much more fragile!


open the bottom of the bag to make it like a tube!
then twist your bag lenthwise to give it some texture. This will also make it easier for the next step.  I did not do that on mine because I simply missed doing this step. It still worked but it was difficult to do the next step.

twist the bottom of the bag and then put either a rubber band or even masking tape around it to hold it in place ( I did not have a rubber band).

Next you will turn the bag inside out so your  tape or banded bunch is on the inside.

next you will take some shredded paper or plastic grocery bags (more recycling) or pillow stuffing or even old rags and fill the bag.
I used some old curtains that were made from sheets that were hanging in our house when we bought it. Knew I saved them for some crazy reason!

Now it is time for a rubber band or wire! take the top of the bag and gather it and then use your wire or rubber band to wrap around your stem!

now get out your orange, brown and green paint!
I painted the base orange but threw in a bit of brown here and there. A sponge brush works best. Don't worry if you don't get every single spot as it just makes the pumpkin more primitive ! Then use the green to paint the stem.

Next I wrapped some wire around the base of the stem. Take a pencil and make the wire pieces coiled. I also made a leaf from the wire .  Next add some rafia or even some ribbon. The possibilities are endless!

I would love to see your pumpkins!!!!
Have a wonderful fall!

Project UTEE

So here is a little project using my under utilized UTEE jar.  I saw this on line and though it was pretty cool.  First take you stamp, silicone work the best (there is no guarantee that it works with every stamp so be careful if you have a  favourite one that you don't want to ruin. 

Start by inking up your image, I used staz on ink and let it sit for a few minutes. 

Melt your UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Powder) in a heat pot, like this one.  Don't mix around too much or it gets bubbly and you don't want that.

Pour the UTEE over the image trying to cover it all, also trying not to pour it over the edge.  Let cool till just warm to the touch, then gently pull it off the stamp. 

And this is what you get, cool eh!  Nice image that can be used on an altered box, page, canvas etc.  Here is what I did with it.  I attached it to a mixed media canvas as the center piece. 

Definitely going to do this again!  It has a great affect.  Hope you all enjoy and share what you have made!
Love Jennifer

more butterflies...??

I googled these




Are you taking note...butterflies!!! hehe

Happy Days
Sarah x x

Wanna see some beautiful butterflies?

So some of you are wondering what we are up to? all im going to let you in on for the now is keep a watch out for all the beautiful butterflies that will be popping up here on the altered blog, hehe






Happy Days
Sarah x x

Train Tidy

Hi everyone,
I'm a bit late this week with doing my blog post and even more disorganised than I thought as the photos I had of the progress of this item are missing. So I only have photos of the finished item. Ooops!

My nephew turned 6 in August and I have been meaning to get this done since then but with an overseas trip and extreme work stress, I've only just finished today. Slack, I know! We are in different states too so that means another couple of days to get this posted down to him.

I wanted to make him something functional yet decorative for his room and love the Kaisercraft Party Animals collection. Teamed up with their train tidy, its a great fun item for any kids room.

The kaiser wood items come as flat packed raw MDF so you need a good file to get rid of unwanted tabs from the edges. I then painted the pieces in the colours I wanted, but be mindful that the wood will swell so you may need to further sand down some parts to put it back together. I then cut out pieces of paper from the Party animals collection and decorated the train accordingly. I have used a couple of kaiser wood shapes also for extra dimension and some droplets. The train sections are linked together with some album rings.

This is a great project for a kids room, to store items such as pencils, small toys or other bits and pieces. It would also be great made up in christmas colours so that you can put lollies or other goodies in there and place it on the table for a decoration.

Have a great week.

Holly xo

Do you like butterflies??

Something is going on....stay tuned to find out more!!!!

{{{hugs}}}
Sarah x x

We have FACEBOOK

We have a facebook page now for all of you that want to just put up a project but not email me with it, so much easier! you never know it might get picked for our blog!!

Here's the link. http://www.facebook.com/groups/156209674444587/#!/groups/156209674444587/

Happy Days
Sarah x x