Do what you love. I love Glitter!

I think the Gemini in me makes me flickle and flighty or the full and new moons have been making me to go off into dreamland. I have just been all over the place mentally thus why I haven't been blogging much. I will do betta. I promise.
Anyhoo, I have been pushing along with TerrorChic Designs. I am at the stage where I just love creating so I have just been focusing on creating new stuff when I am inspired. For all the folks who are creative entrepeneurs it can be a fine line from doing what you love and creating things strictly to sell to others. I really, really want the notecards and decoupage art to sell to everyone for a few reasons:

- I think that everyone deserves and should receive a handwritten note on a piece of art that is made slowly and deliberatley with human hands.

-It is nothing sweeter than seeing glitter on anything. I wish I could glitter my entire body. Glitter is joy.

-Handmade is better than factory produced cards that you buy at your local store.

-I LOVEEEEE making them. They bring me happiness and I still believe in the saying, "Do what you love and the money will come."

Since my last post, I made my big sister a decoupage candle jar for her 40th birthday. I didn't get a photo of it before I shipped it to Chicago but will have her take one and share later. I also sold a card, and made two more inspired by Etta James and Erykah Badu. Check them out:

I have also been sending Happy New Year cards to friends and family. I love surprising them!
In a few weeks I will be attending a Rubber Stamp and Paper Arts Festival - woo hooo! I snagged a free weekend pass as part of a crafters Meetup group I am a member of. They have a class on wet embossing and I am super hyped to take it and learn some new techniques. In the meantime, I will be sending out more surprise handwritten cards.

When was the last time you received a handwritten letter or card?

Crafting mania: Collage Jar Candle Holder and Ida B. Wells

So, I literally have been waking up and without eating breakfast running to my craft table and going crazy. I spent over 4 hours cleaning and organizing the space to make it more inviting. Everything has its own container and place which makes creating faster and more fun. For the past two weeks, I have been obsessed with saving any and all glass jars that come my way. I have saved peanut butter ones, spaghetti sauce, relish and pickles. I started saving them because I love the way they look without the label and I enjoy drinking juice and wine out of them. It reminds me of my grandma who only drank out of jars. She was all about canning peaches and other fruits so her tiny house was overflowing with them. I guess the extras ones became cheap drinking glasses for her. I also remember her telling me that she hated drinking out of plastic cups because they always felt greasy and unclean. I miss my granny.
Anyway, I finally started experimenting with all the jars. I continued my obsession with decoupage and mod podge and started gluing all my left over handmade paper scraps and images that shared similar colors. I hand painted designs onto the paper, added glitter, tied purple raffia around the lid and glued three coffee beans. Finally, I  stuck a small tea light in it and LOVE the final result. The candle holder looks amazing on my craft table and I can't wait until the evening so I can chill with my honey with it glowing brightly.

Love this Frida Kahlo sticker

handpainted red spots

Two tealights down and it holds the wax nicely.

Another project that I finished awhile ago is the Ida B. Wells Collage that was inspired by the cute small gold frame I got a thrift store for 80 cents. I ripped the old picture out of it and collage an image of IDa B. Wells with a red leaf I got on a leaf hunting trip with my son, glitter, bling and my favorite mod podge. I figured out a way to secure it back into the frame and now have it  hanging in my kitchen. It is also for sale if interested. It will go up on my Etsy store

I am working on another jar project that involves ribbon and lots of paint. I will post tomorrow once it dries and I see the results. Have you guys been crafting lately? Did you make anything fun for the holidays?

If you create it they will come.

I am excited to share some of my new crafting projects. I am still working away like a busy elf finishing the Jospehine Baker cabinet and the Tina Turner Vision Box. I took a short break from them and spent a day experimenting with the stationary. I have always loved to write handwritten letters and keep a box of greeting cards for quick sending to family. I was still inspired by the amazing Jewel Magazine that I sourced all the photos for the Baker Box. I remember I had this gorgeous dark brown notecard paper so decided to collage images right onto them.

I love the term: "You betta werk." It was made famous by one of my imaginary BFF's RuPaul. I continued to cut images that just spoke to me and had colors that would pop against the dark brown card stock. I love adding layers, embellishments, glitter and shine. I am happy with the four that I was able to create. I will be exploring the art store tomorrow for more paper in classic colors to use for a full collection of cards.

I opened up the etsy store, even though I have nothing listed yet since everything I have made has sold. The store is called TerrorChic and will include the decoupage wooden items, clutch purses, vintage tea pots and the stationary. It has been fun building the collection and brainstorming on the pieces I want to represnt me and my mission as an artist. The journey continues.

What is your creative and artistic outlet?

Upcycling and the Vision Box

I have the crafting bug all in me and can't stop with the modPodge and decoupage projects. As I experiment with different techniques I was inspired to focus my crafting on Upcycling. Upcycling is: the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value. It's taking something that you would otherwise throw out and finding a way to make it into something else. As I was cleaning up, I found two of my old cell phone boxes. I remember stashing them away because I loved the sleek design of them. I found some nice images of Tina Turner in my original search of my mags and knew I wanted to do a project inspired by one of my favorites: Tina Turner.
I started the process when I saw the text: "Do what you Love" in an old yoga magazine. This one sentence inspired the idea for the entire Vision Box concept. I decided to paste it inside so it could be displayed as the foundation of the entire design. Before I move on with more of the process, Let me explain the concept of my Vision Boxes.

The Vision Box: I love the idea of Vision Boards, Law of Attraction, Positive Affirmations, Mediation and Visualization as tools for fulfilling your dreams. I have created vision boards for years and love the artistic aspect of them. My Vision Boxes are for holding what's close to you and remembering your center. I envision you holding inspiring quotes inside, trinkets of hope, love letters to yourself and photos of family. I have had this one displayed open on a shelf with the "Do What you Love" staring right at me everytime i pass it. I believe that words are power and surrrounding yourself with inspiration is important as you follow your path.

I will continue the rhinestones around all sides and I also glued these round mirrored tiles. I love these tiles so much.

I moved onto the first step in the latering prcess. I usually out my first base layer down first then use it as inspiraion for more images over it later.

I then was inspired by the images of Tina Turner so I added them as the spirit moved me. This is a close up of Tina's beautiful leg. Her legs are so iconic in pop culture and inspring. To me they represent strength.

I then added photos to the back of box and the front of the lid.

Later today I will add a third layer of accent colors, images, objects for texture and paint. I am very pleased with the results so far and plan to continue on my theme of strong women by creating a Zora Neale Hurston Vision Box and a Coretta Scott King Vision box. I also have plans to decoupage an IPad box and thrifting on Thursday to find new treasures to experiment with. My etsy page is empty right now as I organize my products for selling. I did however open one and names it TerrorChic.

I actually already have buyers for the Josephine Baker Cabinet and the Tina Turner Vision Box. Woohoo! I am grateful. Keep manifesting.