New Addiction

I was invited to join the GAS MAMMA group on flickr. This months swap is altered Scrabble game pieces. Right up my alley, no arm twisting involved. LOL!

Of course I had to involve Spud, lots of arm twisting. LOL! I finally got him to set the drill press up for me, only after I tried doing it with a regular drill and almost went through my finger. I wanted holes top to bottom instead of front to back. I love how they spin and it gives you more decorative space on the tile.

If you don't have a drill press, then use teeny tiny eye screws on the top. The ladies in this swap are such a hoot and the horror stories of drills has been something else. Please be careful. I have to constantly remind myself to be careful. Just because it looks fast and simple doesn't mean it is.

I use Judykins Diamond Glaze on these. It gives them a high gloss, but makes it hard to take pictures. Well I'm an Artist not a Photogragher. LOL! Photograghy and shaky hands don't mix. That's when I yell, "SPUD!" LOL!

Have a great day! Create!

xOxO- Nina

A Different Light

This is my true passion. To take something that would have been thrown away and make people see it in a different light. This little cutie is made from a light bulb that burned out. It went from no longer being useful to beautiful. I make a lot of these and people always seem to love them. Amazing what a little Sculpy and wire can do. Light bulb to lightning bug. Hee-hee! I just love these little cuties.

Now go look through your house and find something that is no longer useful and make it beautiful. I think with age I would want someone to see that I'm beautiful, even when I'm no longer useful. LOL!

Stay up late, create!
xOxO
Nina

Button Lovers

For you button lovers, a bouquet of button flowers. I was dusting this last night and decided to share it. I am obsessed with buttons and could look at them constantly, they're all soooo unique. I made this 5 years ago when a friend gave me all of her Mother's vintage buttons. I wanted a fun way to display them without hurting them. This is what I came up with and I never tire of looking at it.

Go and get some green florist wire, the kind that comes in long sticks. Fold one in half and put a small shank button on first, that will be the center of your flower. Pick a larger holed button, put one end of the wire through one hole and the other end of the wire through the other hole and slide it up. Now thread your largest button and slide it up. Once your happy with the colors, Twist the two tails of wire starting as close as possible to the bottom of the flower, keep twisting all the way down to the ends of the wire. Now you have a nice sturdy steam.

These look so sweet. Put just one in an old medicine bottle or a whole bunch in your favorite vessel. These button flowers always make you smile and they'll never wilt. LOL!

Have a beautiful creative day everyone.

xoxo-Nina

Made with Love

Sorry the picture is blurry, the arthritis is bad today, can't keep the hands steady. I made this pendant for my wonderful new friend Jeanne aka another. realm at flickr. Some people have a way of encouraging you without even knowing it. Jeanne is one of those people and I am very happy to call her friend. Of course I LOVE all of you too! If it wasn't for all of you I wouldn't get off my butt and go into THE MESS and be inspired to create.

THANK YOU, ALL OF YOU! I have been going through some horrible things right now. ALL OF YOU make it bearable. Being creative keeps me busy, hopeful, and gives me an enormous positive outlet. You are all sooo encouraging and inspiring. I love seeing what everyone is creating. See you can change the world by one piece of art at a time.

Now go create something and remember it will touch someone. You have all touched my heart in ways only YOU can.

xoxo-Nina

Dominoe Pendants

These had me up until 1am, but I was determined to get some done. My poor Spud (that's what I call my husband, he used to be my stud, now he's my couch potato) I made him take 56 dominoes to work with him and drill holes in the tops for the eye screws. So after nagging at Spud to do that for me, I figured I better make some pendants. Thank goodness Spud's a machinist, darn dominoes are not easy to drill. New dominoes are made of a very brittle plastic, more like resin, they chip easily. If anyone out there knows of a softer dominoe, please let me know.

I used alcohol inks for the background color. I outlined the edge and did the zetti sides with a black sharpie marker. Dorothy and the Witch are stickers ( I cheated) from Michael's craft store. I sealed them with Krylon UV protective sealer. It comes in gloss or matt from Dick Blick's art supply store. This particular Krylon fixative is great for scaned printer images. Ink from your printer fads very quickly in any sunlight. Fadding was a real problem in my collages, Krylon UV is a must have when using scanned images. The words on these pendants are from my printer.

Dorothy says, "Kansas?" and on the back of the pendant is Toto saying, "dah LOST!" The Witch has the caption above her head "misunderstood". LOL! Gotta love the witch!

This is why the Mermaid got put on the back burner, I didn't want Spud mad at me over the dominoes, so I had to make a couple of pendants to placate him. HEE-HEE! After all I need to keep Spud happy since I'm always dragging him into my projects. Last year I made him machine slots into antique zinc lids from the old blue canning jars. I wanted to make banks out of them. I collaged labels on the jars and they made the cutest banks. Spud wanted to choke me. Zinc lids have white glass on the underside of them. He took all this time to carefully pop those white disks out to have me turn around and say, " Oh! I don't need to save those, it wouldn't have mattered if you broke the white glass disks out of the lid." Ooops I should have told him sooner!

Well I'm sure you all have stories of the abusive things you've done to your Hubbies in the name of art. LOL!

Stay up late, make art!
Nina

Unfinished Mermaid

Now realize I'm not even close to done with this, but Cathy really wanted a sneak peek. I had a very hard time photographing this for the simple fact that, not everything is attached and it needs to be hanging to really get a good picture.

The body is the center back to an old wood chair, the fins are alcohol inked aluminum colander parts, the halo around the face is an old tin Jello mold, the boobs are bottle caps, and the face is molded from Sculpy.

I have to finish painting the face and attaching everything. I will be using willow branches for the arms. I already have them debarked and sanded. I used green metallic paint for her fish tail. Alcohol inks automatically look metallic when applied to metal. I used green and then fuchsia on the tips of the fins. She is really beautiful in person, even in her amputated state. LOL! She will look so much better once she gets her make-up on. Right now she looks like she's been soaking in cold water for too long. LOL!

Oh! If any of you ever use alcohol inks remember to seal it when it dries. It is water proof, but if you use it on jewelry, women use perfume and perfume has alcohol in it and that will seriously make the ink smear and bleed. I mention this because I am making dominoe pendants right now and I use alcohol inks for background color. You don't want some woman or man to think he caught a disease when their skin gets stained. Well, maybe. LOL!

I hope you've enjoyed this preview and my little tid bits. I hope this will help all of you to try new things. If anyone ever has a question about products or any medium your not familiar with, JUST ASK ME! I will do my best to help you. I have sooo much stuff in the MESS and I've probably done or tried it. I want to encourage and inspire all of you to create. You all have something to share, express yourselves, after all someone out there needs YOU to touch them with YOUR ART!

All of you have a great week-end and know I treasure these new friendships, truly.

Live artfully- Nina

Obsessing Over Artist Trading Cards

I've had ATCs on the brain for months. These are some of the cards I'm working on for the Milwaukee live trade. The theme is Game pieces to be interpreted by you. LOL! Sorry but games in general has many possibilities and my brain is whirling with twisted versions of games people play.

I really NEED to be working on other stuff like the Mermaid assemblage that's screaming on my studio table, "FINISH ME!" This is one of those projects I know you'll enjoy if I get off my butt and post pictures of it. I've been a little depressed lately. The economy is getting to me, every where you turn so many people are suffering, HORRIBLY. OK, I'm snapping out of it. LOL! HAPPY THOUGHTS - HAPPY THOUGHTS! My new mantra.

Well, off to THE MESS to fight with the Mermaid fins. I almost smashed my fingers tacking on those fins. Who knew art is so dangerous? OK, I'm dangerous with hammers, nails, exacto knives. Have an ARTFUL DAY!

xoxo- Nina

Mother Teresa

Today I was thinking of the light of God's love. Certain people glow with that light, like Mother Teresa. You could see it in her eyes. I drew this picture of her right after she passed away. What an awesome life, awesome light. She makes me realize you can never give enough, never be selfless enough.

We all have something to give. Time, talents, a good ear to listen, or a shoulder to lean on. Sometimes just a smile can change someones day. We can change the world if we keep our eyes on God. Let that light SHINE!

Artfully yours- Nina