Whew! I finally finished my charms for my stamp club charm swap - 19! This is the first time I've ever done a charm swap and I really enjoyed it. It took me awhile to come up with an idea, but once I did it was a lot of fun figuring out how it was all going to go together.
I was actually inspired by a sarcastic comment from my 19 year old daughter. I was whining about having no ideas and she said something like, 'take a piece of copper and smash it in an eyeball, something, something, blah, blah, blah.' This probably sounds weird unless you first understand that we
are very, very weird so that is a fairly normal conversation. All I heard was
smash copper and a little lightbulb went off over my head!
I had some unfinished wooden spools that I thought might work well for the base. I inked them and wrapped them with copper strips that I embossed with the word 'Create'. A black glass bead in the top and bottom holds the head pin in place.
When they were done I thought they looked a bit like
Tibetan Prayer Wheels. From Wikipedia:
A
prayer wheel is a cylindrical '
wheel' (Tibetan:
'khor) on a
spindle made from
metal,
wood, stone,
leather, or even coarse
cotton. Traditionally, the
mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is written in
Sanskrit externally on the wheel. Also sometimes depicted are
Dakinis, Protectors and very often the 8 auspicious symbols
Ashtamangala. According to the
Tibetan Buddhist tradition, spinning such a wheel will have much the same meritorious effect as
orally reciting the prayers.
I guess 'Create' is pretty much my mantra. Maybe they're little artistic prayer wheels. The fantastic Buddha stamp is from
Vickie Enkoff and seemed to fit just perfectly.
Another tag, this time for the Created Byhand Summer challenge. I'm also submitting for the Ranger Yahoo group's monthly challenge.
My original inspiration for my Tag Tuesday tag was this fantastic window die cut from RockCandy Studios. It started out a pearlized white color. I sanded it and then inked it with brushed corduroy Distress ink. At that point I was going to head in one direction and then the song Killer Queen by Queen came on the radio - there was a bit of lyric that came floating over to me, "'Let them eat cake' she says, Just like Marie Antoinette." I was like - aha! How perfect.
Ok, something a bit more conventional for this week's Created Byhand French theme. This time I did use more scraps, but no oversized pointing hands or anything, lol!
I built this collage on top of a piece of torn cardboard. Most of the paper elements are held in place with beeswax. I wasn't sure what would happen when I put the beeswax over the image of the woman, but I like what it did. Makes her look a bit ghostly.
I think all this Mississippi heat has gotten to me and I've gone a little crazy. The evidence is above. I originally set out to make a tag for the Tag Tuesday challenge using nothing but scraps from my scrap can. That's where I put all my bits and pieces that are too good to throw away, but not big enough to put back (ha, like I ever put anything away!). When I was arranging all the pieces it somehow occurred to me that the clock should have a head and probably hands and of course, some legs and ladies boots. Of course!
For this week's Gothic Arches Postcard theme. Stamps are from The Stampsmith's Passage to India plate.
Whew! I finally finished my charms for my stamp club charm swap - 19! This is the first time I've ever done a charm swap and I really enjoyed it. It took me awhile to come up with an idea, but once I did it was a lot of fun figuring out how it was all going to go together.
When they were done I thought they looked a bit like Tibetan Prayer Wheels. From Wikipedia:
