Mixed Up Magazine Santos Cuff with RELICS & ARTIFACTS Ambassador Chrissy Colon

One of the biggest thrills of doing what we do is being published in major magazines.  I had such an opportunity to have this piece featured in the October/November 2017 issue of Mixed Up magazine.  Not only did I have the privilege of being published, I also had the distinct honor of this piece gracing the cover.  Talk about a "WOW!" moment!

I had this department store cuff which I bought on clearance, some awesome ColoriQue inks, and the perfect focal point to upcycle an item that was mass produced into something unique and one of a kind.  Of course, you know I do love my bead details!

For the full tutorial complete with photos along with loads of inspiration from other international artists, be sure to subscribe to Mixed Up magazine.  

Supply List:
Relics & Artifacts® Flaming Hearts Ex Voto II
ColoriQue Ink
ICE Resin
Cuff
Beads

Calavera Necklace with RELICS & ARTIFACTS® Ambassador Chrissy Colon

I am not one to do the same type of project idea multiple times.  This one was an exception.  I embraced a challenge courtesy of a very good friend of mine who wanted a custom necklace.  She wanted black with bright, bold colors.  Since I never work with black, my natural response was, "Challenge accepted!"

As most already know,  I do love working with beads.  I find something calming and almost therapeutic about gluing each bead into place and watching my sketched design come to life.  When the piece is completed, the sense of accomplishment and completion is enough to stoke my creative fires.

While the overall design is simple, the bead work is where the magic is with this piece.  The creativity begins to flow and new ideas spring forth.  The second layer of the necklace that has the cross was one such "AHA!" moment.  The addition of a few stone skulls on handmade eye-pins stitched together the elements seamlessly.

Supply List:
Relics & Artifacts® Crosse Icons
Relics & Artifacts® Archangels
ICE Resin
Firemountain Gems seed beads
Carved stone skull beads
Necklace Chain
Head pins
jump rings
lobster claw clasp

"Better Days" with RELICS & ARTIFACTS® Ambassador Chrissy Colon and CANVAS CORPS BRANDS

Have you ever had a project that started out as this incredibly inspired idea and as you worked on it, it completely fell apart?  I'm not talking about a slight shift in direction.  I'm talking it COMPLETELY and UTTERLY spiraled out of the sky and crashed into a flaming ball of wreckage? 

I have had more than my fair share of disasters and most of the time, they end up in the trash.  This project was on such fireball or a crashed idea but unlike my craft fails before, I could not throw this one away because I only had one Artboard to work with!

The Artboard substrate and the Papillon butterfly were painted and repainted a whopping three times before I finally found an idea that seemed to work!  A happy benefit of the multiple mulligans was I ended up with pieces that had some marvelous texture.

The result of my frustration and repeated do-overs was a piece that I ended up liking after all was said and done.  What was the lesson learned?  Maybe I should start to hold on to craft fails as they may have some locked away potential!

Don't forget we have a giveaway at the end of the month!

Here is all you need to do.  Be sure to use #RACCBmatchup so that we can track you down!

-Leave a comment here on any or all of the Match Up Posts during the month of July with Relics & Artifacts® and CCB.  You can leave one on each post for more chances to win. 

-And/or leave a comment on the CCB Facebook page.

-And/or leave a comment on any of the CCB Instagram posts where you see any of the projects from the CCB team or the RA team. 

Feel the urge to join the addiction that is Relics & Artifacts®?  Take a look in the Sandra Evertson shop and stock up.  You can also join our Relics & Artifacts® Tribe on Facebook and be inspired by fellow creatives in the best creative group on the web!

Be sure to follow along by searching #RACCBmatchup too.  If you love what you see and would like to join our Facebook group, the CCB Collective, just click the link and ask to join today.  We would love to have you! 

Supply List:
Relics & Artifacts® Papillon
Relics & Artifacts® Milagros
Relics & Artifacts® Dresden Wrought Iron
7Gypsies Artboard (6x6)
7Gypsies Parchment Rub-on "Grow"
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist "Fully Purple"
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist "Coffee Shop"

"Kintsugi Inspiration" with RELICS & ARTIFACTS® Ambassador Chrissy Colon

Kintsugi is a Japanese method for repairing broken ceramics with a special lacquer mixed with gold or other precious metals. 

The belief behind this ancient technique is to acknowledge and show off the history of the broken piece and to visibly accent and enhance the repair into the piece instead of disguising it. The process usually results in something more beautiful than the original.  The scars are representations of growth and should be considered beautiful rather than ugly. 

Remember that shattered piece?  I applied a faux kintsugi technique to "repair" it. 

The beauty of this philosophy is that non-Japanese crafters and artisans may not even realize it, but they practice this philosophy when they see a broken object’s potential.  Every time we upcycle or repurpose an object, we reincarnate and resurrect a whole new beautifully made over piece that would have otherwise been thrown away or forgotten!

This piece was broken intentionally and then put back together using a technique that emulates a long ancient art form.  If you are interested in learning how I accomplished this look, stay tuned because I plan on sharing it live with you in an upcoming "Live From the Tribe" feature!

Supply List:
Relics & Artifacts® "Spirit Treasures"
Liquitex Gesso
Liquitex Acrylic Paint
Liquitex Acrylic Inks
Epoxy
Mica Powder

"The Gypsies" with RELICS & ARTIFACTS® Ambassador Chrissy Colon

"The Gypsies in the noisy throng
Stray Bessarabia around.
Today over the river, long,
They’re lodging in their tents, worn out.
Like freedom their night-resting is –
And peaceful sleep the heavens under.

Between the wagons’ tired wheels,
Covered with rugs, long-used in wonders,
A fire’s flamed. A family’s Preparing, round it, a dinner;
A horse is gazing in the fields, Is sleeping, free, a teamed bear-thriller.

Amidst the steppes all well lives: The peaceful tasks of families,
Ready by morning for a travel,
And songs of wives, and children’ weeps,
And ringing of a mobile anvil.

But now, over the Gipsy camp,
The dozing silence is prevailing,
And heard is, in the sleeping steppe,
Just a dog’s barking and steed’s neighing.

Extinguished is each single light,
All’s peaceful now. The moon is shining,
Alone in the heaven height, And at the quiet camp is lighting."
--Aleksandr Puskin "The Gypsies" (1824)

Supply List:
Relics & Artifacts® "Andromeda Mini Throne"
Relics & Artifacts® Dresden Trim "Daisy Chain Small Gold"
Mod Podge
Liquitex Gesso
DecoArt Acrylic Paint
Napkins

Poem retrieved from https://www.poetryloverspage.com/yevgeny/pushkin/gypsies.html

Day 7 with That's Crafty! and A Recap with RELICS & ARTIFACTS®

What an amazing week it has been here at Relics & Artifacts®.  This week, we had the opportunity to collaborate with another company and show the world just how versatile not only Relics & Artifacts® craft blanks are but how equally versatile the products offered by That's Crafty! out of the United Kingdom are.  We were able to work with MDF and acrylic pieces, stencils, stamps and really flex our creative muscles.

We find inspiration and creativity in places we least expect it and in arenas we swore we'd never enter. 

 Day 1:  "Inspiration in Unlikely Places" by Chrissy Colón

All week long, we showcased individual works from each of the Relics & Artifacts® Ambassadors in a parade of creativity, vision, and one of a kind design, like simple everyday items which become intrinsic to our identities and personalities.

Day 2:  "Glasses With A Story" by Milagros Rivera

We can rediscover our own spirituality or possibly be inspired by another culture's beliefs systems.  With art and inspiration, there are no wall, no boundaries.

Day 3:  "Ganesha" by Monica Downing

Thoughtful affirmations struck chords within our hearts and caused us to take a step back and truly believe in the power within ourselves to just reach for the stars.

Day 4:  "The Stars" by Lynne Moncrieff

Poetry married with mixed media breathed new life into the basic substrates laid before us.  A vision and a story begin to form and our hearts are unveiled.

Day 5: "The Heart, Unveiled" by Sherry Matthews

Finally, art and the blending of items within our creative arsenal can take us on a journey through time.  We can go back to times long forgotten and rediscover the timeless treasure of inspiration.

Day 6: "Ancient Rome" by Heather Thompson

You see, what this collaboration and celebration of creativity with That's Crafty! has done, is spark a new flame and opened a new realm of possibilities within our own creative selves.  We were challenged and thus inspired to look at substrates we would not necessarily have thought to pair with Relics & Artifacts® and breathe new life into not only our creative souls, but our imaginations.  From this collaboration came pieces we had not dared to try or ideas that were merely ideas collecting dust in our proverbial rolodex of thoughts.

We hope this week has been as inspiring to all of you as it has been for us.  The ladies over at That's Crafty! were a pure joy to partner with and we were honored to work with each of them.  Please be sure to visit That's Crafty! today and see what Lynne Moncrieff has in store on this final day of our creativity celebration. 

Don't forget to visit each day's post and leave a comment to be entered in our giveaway.  A winner will be drawn Monday and will receive **3** sets of Relics & Artifacts® Matte Resin Craft Blanks of their choosing. 

Cheers!

A Team Up and "Inspiration in the Most Unlikely Place" with RELICS & ARTIFACTS® Ambassador Chrissy Colon

This next week is going to be a week that is absolutely jam packed with inspiration from both sides of the pond!  Relics & Artifacts® is teaming up with our friends from That's Crafty! in the United Kingdom for an overload of creativity, inspiration, and did we mention a giveaway?  More on that at the end of the post!  So without further ado, let's get this party started!

First up this week, is Relics & Artifacts® Ambassador Chrissy Colon with a colorful project inspired by one of our resident muses, Frida Kahlo.

How exciting is this?  We got a chance to play with products from That's Crafty! and they did not disappoint!  For my project, I chose to use the plain MDF board and some fun little bits Laura was kind enough to send in our packages. 

Now for an earth shattering fact about me: I love comfort.  I love comfort foods, comfy blankets, comfort zones.  I love comfort zones so much, that I never realize that I am fully entrenched in one, until something like this comes along.

Little known fact about me:  I am very comfortable with is working under pressure.  There is nothing like a looming deadline to really push your creativity to its limits.  I recently saw some images that inspired me to want to do something in the Mexican folk art vein.  I love talavera and the simplicity of color.  I love that imperfections are embraced and that there really isn't a wrong way to paint such patterns.

Another little known fact about me:  My favorite color is red.  But I never use it in my crafting because it terrifies me when I start slapping it down.  Do you know how hard it is to make sure red paint doesn't look like blood smears or splatter?  This piece is all sorts of covered in red!  And it doesn't even look like something that just fell out of CSI!

And yet another little known fact about me (get ready to clutch your pearls and shoot me some mean side eye):  I am not a Frida Kahlo fan.  I know, right?  In our little universe of creativity it seems so sacrilegious, so blasphemous.  I always told my friends, "You won't see a Frida piece come from these hands."  ::insert walk of shame::  So what happened today?!  I have no clue but I reveled in it.  The unfamiliarity, the breaking down of walls and barriers, the joyous feeling of a mind reopening, it all felt so fresh and so new!  I found myself on Etsy browsing all the Frida things.  The result?  Pure, simple, magic.

Now about that giveaway!  Follow along all week, visit the Muse and the That's Crafty! blog, leave some love on each day and be entered to win *3* Relics & Artifacts® sets of your choosing!  At the end of the week-long event, we will choose a winner!  If you are really looking for some extra fun, That's Crafty! is also hosting a giveaway as well so be sure to follow along with them too! 

The ever so talented, Moira, is the first on the That's Crafty! team to share in the fun!  Be sure to give her some love from the Relics & Artifacts® side of the house!

Supply List:
Relics & Artifacts® "Ex Votos I" (sold out but any heart will do)
That's Crafty! MDF Panels
That's Crafty! MDF Hearts #3
That's Crafty! MDF Panel #1
That's Crafty! Dinky Stencil "Moroccan Background"
Iced Enamels "Garnet"
Iced Enamels "Chartreuse"
Iced Enamels "Turquoise"
Iced Enamels "Amethyst"
VervePrint "Frida Kahlo Part 1"
Cemerony "Frida Kahlo Cuffs"
Liquitex Acrylic Paint
Copic Multiliner