Recycled Halloween

Recycling items we already have or saving items from the trash can open up a whole new world of possibilities when it comes to creating.

For years I have always loved old frames. They are just so timeless. Whenever I head to a thrift store or rummage sale I go right for the frames. There are always so many of them left over, I usually take the whole lot of them and get a great price as well.

Last Spring I received a lot of 12 big wood frames w/o the glass for $2.00. Then 2 days after the sale there was Spring clean up week in my town. As I was walking I found a bunch of discarded frames waiting to head to the dumpster, so I rescued them. Now I had a bunch of open frames waiting to turn into some kind of art and this Fall they did.

A few weeks ago I mounted the open frames onto the wall and decided to create a Halloween scene in each of them using black paper owl cutouts from the dollar store. There are about 18 in a pack, just attach some scotch tape to the back of each owl cutout and attach inside the frames to create a scene.

This whole project cost about a $1.00 for the cutouts and the free frames from cleanup week. You could do this for any theme, holiday or family silhouettes. Fast and easy project with an artsy, vintage feel. Recycling is a great way to preserve our past and to bring discarded items back to life again.

Happy Recycled Halloween!
xoxo
Lisa

Mounted Toy Plaques

Come One, Come All to the Spring Circus Toy Ball....

Its the first day of Spring.  What does that mean? Nature waking up, longer days of sunlight, flowers sprouting, trees glistening and birds chirping. Spring is a time to clear out the old and ring in the new. Its this time of year that we plan for the warm days of summer.

Spring is also the start of circus and carnival season which lasts till the end of November.  The calliope music, the kettle corn, candy apples and the big top. Ornate performers, glowing amusements and boardwalk adventures are all waiting for us this coming months.

As a lover of circus themes and the author behind: "Altered Art Circus", Quarry Books, Lisa Kettell, I am preparing for a new season of adventure.  To kick off the season I have created some new projects to share with you.  One of the projects is called: "Mounted Toy Plaques"and was inspired by a project in my book, "Altered Art Circus".  Which involved recycling discarded plastic animal toys.

For this piece I recycled a small plastic animal toy, mounted it on scrapbook covered wood craft circle, and embellished.  Its really simple to do and I will tell you how.

Materials:

• Small plastic toy animals
• Medium sized wood craft circle
• Medium sized scrapbook embellishment frame
• Scrapbook paper
• Crepe paper
• Glitter
• Glues: hot glue, craft glue
• Tools: hot glue gun, hot heat tool, scissors
• ( I used the hot marks tool kit w/ hot knife point by Walnut Hollow) 

Directions:

1. Layer the medium sized wood craft circle with scrapbook paper, secure in place with craft glue.
2. Line the medium sized scrapbook embellishment frame onto the scrapbook lined wood craft circle.
3. Using the hot knife point with the hot tool, cut the plastic animal toy in half. Then hot glue to the center of the wood craft circle.
4. Decorate the mounted plastic animal with crepe paper, a paper hat, glitter and trims.

Tips/Tricks:

1. Use a piece of chipboard or cut a circle from a discard piece of cardboard or box.
2. Use scrapbook borders or trim such as pom pom in place of the frame.
3. Add tags, and additional embellishments to the piece.
4. Create several, connect with ribbon for a banner or small swag.
5. Make larger mounted plaques using larger plastic toy animals mounted on larger backgrounds such as round frames and book covers.
6. Instead of plastic animals, make one out of clay or layer an image.
7. All discarded plastic toys or doll heads will work as well.

To purchase small plastic toys for $3.95 for a bundle visit my artfire store:
http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/MoonfairesWorld 

If they sell out, email me at lisakettell@yahoo.com for a reserved listing.
xoxo
Lisa