Steampunk Altered Couture

Steampunk is always one of my favorite things to do as far as DIY fashion, jewelry, or collage.  I made this steampunk hat to coordinate with a paper dress for a tradeshow last year.   The Editor from the magazine, Altered Couture picked it up for this issue.

 
I was shocked recently when I was browsing the magazines at Barnes & Noble and saw my hat.  It realllly takes a long time for things to finally get published, but it's so cool when you open up a magazine, and there you are.
I'm crazy for Altered Couture, and I'm tickled to death to be featured in it!  

Of course, my crazy dude had to monkey around with it before it shipped out to the editor.  I can't have anything lying around without him grabbing it and putting on a show for me.

The aftermath of creativity.....

Crystal Studded Stilettos

Any day is a good day for jazzing up a pair of high heels shoes, right? These gorgeous stilettos caught my eye at the payless shoe store, and were perfect for a wedding project we are doing here in the iLoveToCreate Design Studio.

They are so pretty just the way they are, and perfect for the budget-minded bride. BUT, think of the options, girl! With crystals and glitter at my fingertips, I really got carried away.

The heels are not covered in fabric, but some kind of leatherette, so instead of heat-setting I decided to grab the Liquid Fusion and get busy. I started by doing a polka dot of glue all over the heels, and then grabbed my Tulip Fashion Art Tweezers to pick up the largest crystals out of the adorable Tulip 300-pack Crystal carousel.

After those dried, I filled in the gaps with smaller crystals.

Turns out, that the carousel had just enough crystals to cover the heels.

The trick is, having those large crystals on there and letting the glue dry about an hour before you add all the rest. That way they don't move around like a big mudslide!

Of course, I had to glitter them. The Tulip Fashion Glitter Bond went on very smoothly with the little applicator that comes in the kit. I pretty much covered one side at a time with glitter bond and then sprinkled them solidly with Multi Ultra Fine Glitter is absolutely amazing, and looks so glamorous!

Not only are the perfect for a glam bride, but they are faulously fun for dancing at the reception!

TWILIGHT JEWELRY BOX

It's TERRORIFIC TUESDAY, and I have the perfect project for you.
It's a:

TWILIGHT JEWELRY BOX!

I had so much fun designing this with a Twilight theme. At the iLoveToCreate studios, we have tons of old mannequins. These hands were laying on a shelf, just asking to be used in an unbelievably unique way.

So.... I grabbed an unfinished wooden box and painted it black. Then I found 4 huge beads to glue onto the bottom of the box with Aleene's Liquid Fusion. I rubbed the edges with silver rub-n-buff to give it an antiqued look.

I crystalized the glass apple (from the Dollar $tore) with an unbelievable amount of Tulip Crystals. I used the Aleene's Liquid Fusion again. I laid the apple in a martini glass to be able to turn it for different angles, and glued crystals in small areas at a time and let it set before moving on to another area, until the entire glass apple was covered with crystals. It looks delicious, but don't BITE it! teehee....

The last step was to assemble the mannequin hands on top with the crystalized apple and glue them into place the the Aleene's Liquid Fusion. I used a couple of bottles to lean the hands on, until the glue was totally set. I added a black satin bow where the wrists connect. That's it!

There you go.... a great Halloween project. Or, if you are a Twilight fan, or a Snow White fan, or you just love apples.... this is a great project for YOU....

Have a TERRORific TUESday!
Pattiewack

We made it to California!

We made it to California, and my favorite grocery store.. Trader Joes. This bottle of wine cracked me up! The $2 Chuck was right there, ready for us to throw in our cart, too. Yeah!

Angelcots.... these white apricots were soooo juicy. They have a cute name, too.

Clovis is soooo pretty, quaint, and pedestrian friendly. We have spent many evenings on the outdoor patio eating Italian food, Mexican food, and having a nice glass of wine or frosty mugs of beer. Our fave coffee shop keeps giving us cookies when we drop by, and the owners even invited us to their house for their 4th of July swim party! We feel like we've found a new hometown.

We've just about finished unpacking everything, and I put this shelf off for last. (sigh)

But, I do have to use my books for inspiration, and I seem to be LOTS more creative when I'm organized.

We decided to make the "media room" our home office. Yeppers, I have to SHARE with Scott-poo. I love my "new" drafting table since we spray painted it bright red.

Anyway, the french doors are clear glass and show all of the clutter in there and can be seen from the living room, kitchen and dining rooms. Soooo, I saw a crafting/gluing opportunity!

I had these IKEA curtain panels left over from a stage that I set for one of Scott's videos, and thought they just might work for a door covering.

They're great, because I can still see through them, but they obscure the view just enough.

Ta-Da! All I needed was a little adhesive, scissors, and cool curtain panels.

Are you ready?

St. Patrick's day is a week away, and I haven't even thought about what I want to do. My gal pal Melody Good put a gorgeous shamrock plant on her desk this week and I just love turning the corner and seeing it there. It makes me smile every time.

I thought about sending out some fun treats and found these delectably delicious looking fortune cookies on Amazon.com that are dipped in chocolate and then into teenie weenie shamrock sprinkles. Talk about yum!

Now, wouldn't it be cute to mimic these with beige circles of felt that you shape and glue into faux fortune cookies, then spread dimensional paint onto them like icing, then drop seed beads onto them? Okay, now I've got to make a run to the craft store....see ya!

Creative Home Arts

There I am again, in the latest issue of the Creative Home Arts magazine. The Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue advertisement is right in the front cover! I have been slammed with hits on my website and blog since Friday, and was wondering what the deal was. Then I got my magazine in the mail and figured it out. I just want you all to know that I will answer every single email, but it might take me a few days. Whew!

Just in case you haven't become a member of the Creative Home Arts Club yet, I would love to tell you all about it. They have over 280,000 members who receive their magazine and enjoy the benefits of being in the club! The Creative Home Arts Club is a national, membership-based organization designed exclusively for the most active home arts enthusiasts. The Club welcomes crafters of all skill levels and offers the following benefits:

• Today’s Creative Home Arts—a members-only magazine delivered six times a year
• Opportunities to test and keep craft products
• Giveaways of various craft products and services
• Unique member-to-member forums
• Product purchasing opportunities
• Members-only competitions and contests
• Discounts on selected products and services
• Access to a members-only, project-packed Web site














Our production company, Crafts Studios has been producing craft DVDs for Creative Home Arts for the past 2 years.

The Pattiewack DVD Series includes...

• Let's Craft with Pattiewack
• Get Creative with Pattiewack
• Ready, Set, Craft with Pattiewack
• Creative Keepsakes with Pattiewack

We are busy producing another Pattiewack DVD right now, and I can't wait to see how it turns out! So, if you want to be a member, just check out the Creative Home Arts site for more info.

If you can’t GLUE it, I don't DO it!

Channel Six was a hoot last Monday with LeAnne Taylor. We did a live CBS segment on the Six in the Morning show, all about my new book, “The Crafter’s Guide to Glue.” As you can see, I brought books for everyone, and tons of glue projects. My demo was gluing aqua blue melamine cups to black wooden candlesticks, and then gluing on little black buttons and tying a polka dotted ribbon around the finished candlesticks. The one I did on the segment was for LeAnne, so I wrote her name with a black permanent marker. She said that she was going to put it on her desk for her M&Ms stash. (yummmies)



Out of the 73 projects in my book, I brought about a dozen. After all, I had to pack them in a suitcase in California and put them on the plane to Tulsa.



I showed how to cut out a grocery sack and turn it into a circle book, since the pattern is in the book. One of my fave projects is the weeeeeeener dog messenger bag. That pattern is in there, too.



The set-up goes fast at the station, and their kitchen set is just perfect, plus it’s large enough to hold all the projects and the demo. They also have an overhead camera that gets the close-ups for the step-outs.



Casey Norton, one of the news anchors there at KOTV had to leave early that morning, and I hate it that I missed my hug, but it was great to see the crew, and get miked by Kevin. Man, I miss everyone since we moved, but I’m glad that they keep running my segments every Monday morning.



















Scott and I got to the station at 8:20, for the 8:40 segment, which gives me just the right amount of time to get set up for my demo and get hugs from everyone.