Altered Spoon

This was a fun swap I participated in - an altered spoon. This is my third attempt. The first is a very nicely painted wooden spoon which is now on my wall. The second is a moon and stars sitting on my shelf. It turned out just fine, but I wasn't sure if it was too whimsical for my partner in this swap. The spoon I sent her is in the photo. It began with a thrift store gold tone spoon with floral motif on the handle. I added some vintage lace on the spoon part. The heart is made out of Model Magic and painted. The beads are fabric that has been stiffened with white glue and painted. I was very happy with these beads and have since made more for other projects. I added ribbons and funky yarn. One requirement of the swap was that the spoon have words. I duplicated the heart on card stock and wrote the following quote by Confucius "Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart."

My altered life

I'm back! This time I will be writing about art and life. My life has taken an unexpected turn as a part time art teacher. This has been a blessing for several reasons. One, my boys get to continue attending a school that I am crazy about. Second, I get to see them during the day. Third, teaching art brings art back into my life on a daily basis. I am now able to create and that makes me happy! I have been rewriting an entire new curriculum this year for seven classes - an exhausting process, so with that comes a trial run of seven art projects - at least two per month. So far all the projects have been well received by the kids.

I have also discovered the world of ATCs (artistic trading cards) and altered art. ATCs are tiny works of art the size of a baseball card. I belong to several yahoo groups and I make and trade worldwide. My altered art groups teach me to think in a more abstract way. My art (watercolor) work has always been very detailed and perfect. Altered art lets me go "wild" with collage and altering such things as books, jars, spoons, game pieces.... I save all sorts of strange things that I may be able to incorporate into a piece. Right now I am working on a paper bag album. The base being lunch bags that are sewn together with a book binding stitch and then filled with paper, paint, 3D embellishments. I made hubby a Valentine bag book with his favorite Bible verse.

I am not sure how often I will post, but I will try to make it interesting and maybe learn how to upload photos. Journey with me and maybe learn something along the way.