F Artful Thursday – Loose Ends | tamdoll's workspace

Artful Thursday – Loose Ends

March 25, 2010
There are often unfinished projects around here.  Lots of ideas that haven’t even made it to the creation stage yet.  And then there are the patterns that I purchased over the years – downloadable .pdfs being some of my favorites – they’re usually affordable – and I can have them in my hands within seconds.  The only problem is, sometimes they’re impulse purchases and I forget I have them stored on my computer!  That’s why I’m calling them “Loose Ends” – my projects and ideas that need some tidying up!
 Magazine Page Pendant
This week I mentioned CraftyPod in a blog post and recalled buying one of her tutorials for “Magazine Page Jewelry”.  Found it on my hard drive.  It was simple, took under an hour & I love it.  (The peanut gallery over here wasn’t impressed I’m sad to say.)   I think it’s great that I would have normally just tossed these colorful magazine pages into the recycling bin, but now I can play with them in a way I hadn’t thought of before. 
As all my Artful Thursday projects (and most for 2010 I expect), I’ve only used what I had on hand.  Magazines, glues, gloss varnish.  Inside I wrapped up some hearts:
love inside
That’s the back of a Kashi cereal box used for stability in the piece. 
Could I have done something more original today? unique?  Come up with this on my own?  Yes, maybe, but it would have taken me lots longer than one hour, and probably would have ended up in trial and error/frustration.  That’s why I don’t mind purchasing a “how-to” once in a while – no need to reinvent the wheel.  But… like my kids pointed out, I can certainly embellish it, add some sparkle…. so I’m looking at this as a launching point. I’ll revisit this project again in the future, but I’m sure it will end up looking very different now that I’ve gotten the feel for it.
Be sure to visit the other participants this week – there’s always something great going on in this group -
Artful Thursdays
Do you buy patterns and kits from other crafters?

6 comments:

  1. recycling is the best way and besides it saved you a ton of money not having to buy more art supplies. love it

    if you have time come by and see my artful thursday project this week.

    tina
    embellishments by tina

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  2. I agree about not re-inventing the wheel, but adding your own special touch is always a good thing.
    I'm a sucker for any type of paper engineering kit.The last book that I bought was The Pocket Paper Engineer by Carol Barton (Popular Kinetics Press). Shows you how to make pop ups. I've been using this to "inspire"my crafty girls. Each section has pop ups that you can make and then store in a folder for future reference. If I could buy you a copy, I would! It's so much fun.

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  3. I thought it was glass tiles at first- wow- so amazing.

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  4. Thanks guys!

    CraftyRichela, I do like that book - I've gotten it out of the library in the past - after seeing some of your projects I'm thinking I should get it out again! Another one I've added to my wish list is The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook
    - I've been seeing it over at the Craftside blog & it looks good!

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  5. I really like the idea of using only what you have and have set the same challenge for myself. And I enjoy buying patterns from other crafters - sometimes thay are exactly what I am looking for and others they are the springboard that sets me on my own path. And - I love the jewellery!

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  6. cool project! I usually look through library books for inspiration.

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