A Beautiful Life...

This canvas has been re-purposed and re-painted several times.  It has recently just been a work in progress for me and I think I'm finally happy with it...for now.

Sweetheart Magnet Swap

I joined a magnet swap on my Yahoo! Soul Journaling group. I love these swaps because they challenge me to try something that I normally wouldn't do. I recently made a set of magnets for my Altered Art group also - they were made out of little Altoid tins were a lot of fun. You can see that post HERE.
The other reason I join these swaps is because it's always fun to see what you're going to get back. I will be sure to post what I get in return! I'm not gonna lie. There have been swaps where I've received things that weren't quite my style and that's okay. The only time is "bothers" me is when I receive work that is of a low quality, falling apart, sloppy, etc. That's only happened to me a few times and it was from an old scrapbooking message board I used to frequent. Anyway, because of that, I quit swapping altogether, but now I'm giving it a go again with these new groups.
Here are the magnets I made. I wanted them to have a homemade look because of the nature of the group. I have made adorable magnets with glass beads and such that actually look store bought - but the idea here is to look hand-made. =)

I cut hearts out of chipboard and then covered the front with quality printed scrapbook cardstock type paper.

I adhered the paper doily halves with gel medium, lined the edge with Aleene's craft glue and dipped it in vintage chunky glitter (I've had it since 3rd grade...that's vintage enough. LOL)

I then started layering on the embellishments like Prima flowers, vintage buttons (my great-grandmother's buttons), ribbon and then I added the stamped words.

The back is covered with book text from an old beat up copy of Pride and Prejudice. There was still glitter on the back when I took the picture, but I brushed it off before I sent them out. Of course with glitter, it will get everywhere no matter what. lol

Here is a little extra one that I made for the swap hostess. This was a wooden heart that I gesso'd and then painted.

The back is also covered in book text.
So, I had a good time with these. I will be posting some of my other magnets that I make for my Etsy shop - those are really great as gifts or for your own office. Have a great weekend!! - I'll be back with my 3 in 30, One Little Word Captured, and Simple Things updates through out the weekend. "See" you around. =)

January~Magnet Swap

So we are doing a 3 for 3 magnet swap on one of my Yahoo! art groups. I wanted to do dominoes and saw that someone else had already done some. I decided to use the Altoid Smalls tins that I was hanging on to. The outside says, "Caterpillar, you were..." and the inside says, "Born to Fly..." I had fun playing with Mica, stickles, punches, napkins, Mod Podge... Altered art, upcycled art...whatever you want to call it - it was fun. I hope the recipients like it. I will post what I receive in return once it's over. =)