August 19, 2006

Altered Craft Projects

In our world of crafting we have been seeing some new developments with our altered craft projects. Crafters are becoming more environmentally aware and choosing to "craft-cycle", a word that Crafty Places has coined thanks to our friend Terry Kay at PRWeb, something rather than throw it away. It has been really fun and interesting to see these new developments as crafters become more creative with what they "craft-cycle".

Some fun things to "craft-cycle" include:

Altoid Tins: These are fun to adhere patterned paper to or even paint on and add creative embellishments; index photo prints are great to add to this rather than throwing them away because we don't know what to do with them.
Clipboards: We all have those raggety od clipboads laying around, you know the ones, with the brown wood that casue splinters every time we touch them. These are great to alter; after being painted and embellished with photos, die=cuts and ribbons, these make a wonderful memory keepsake.
I think my most favorite "craft-cycled" item are the hot-beverage sleeves that we get from our local Starbucks. These are always being thrown away without a care. Did you know that these make adorable scrapbook mini-albums using no more supplies than the hot-beverage sleeve itself, craft knife, cardstock, pencil, scissors, and a two-inch strip of ribbon? Embellishments not included, just use your imagination and you can save those poor little sleeves from a terrible demise. After all they do so much for us!
Another craft altered craft project that has been tried and true are light switch plates. We have all at some point altered or painted our light switch plates in some way to match the decor of the room or area where they reside. The neat thing about them is that they can be transformed into beautiful little scrapbook mini albums. The supplies that you need to create a little mini scrapbook album from your light switch plates are: 2 light switch plates, 2 large pieces of chipboard, ruler, pencil, scissors, 1 or more sheets of cardstock, 2 or more pieces of patterned paper, paper trimmer, strong dry adhesive, ruler, anywhere hole punch, liquid adhesive, d-ring. That's it and embellish to your liking.

And last but certainly not least are those famous AOL CD cases that we all know and throw away. These are great for altering; supplies needed: CD tin, Gesso, acrylic paint, decoupage glue, glitter, beads, and a foam brush. Tip: the easiest way to prep anything that is metal - or any surface that already has printing on it is to prime it with a couple coats of gesso. What is gesso you ask; Gesso is: "Modern acrylic gesso" is actually a combination of calcium carbonate with an acrylic polymer medium and a pigment. It is sold premixed for both sizing and priming a canvas for painting. While it does contain calcium carbonate to increase the absorbency of the primer coat, Titanium dioxide or titanium white is often added as the whitening agent. This allows the "gesso" to remain flexible enough to use on canvas. High concentrations of calcium carbonate will cause the resulting film to dry to a brittle surface susceptible to cracking."

This gives you an unaltered canvas to create wonderful unique creations.

There are tons more "craft-cycled" ideas use the above to get started and by all means we would love to see your "craft-cycled" projects and ideas. So send them to submit@craftyplaces.com.

Enjoy!

Crafty Tags: arts and crafts, altered craft projects, crafts