"Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Halloween Altered Spoons

Hi!!! Several of the participants in Friday's Show n Tell party, asked me for instructions on how to make the altered spoons I shared that day & I'm happy & flattered to oblige. They're really simple to make but my teaching skills are very limited so bear w/ me. ;o)

I used card stock to print the images onto. First I cropped & resized the images to fit the scale of the spoon (the hardest part of the project, cause it's trial & error)...I used Irfanview (you can find the free download in my sidebar under "blogging helpers") to crop & resize. The great thing about the Irfanview program is that you can adjust the print size to whatever you want it to be. I found that the pumpkins need to be about 1 & 1/2" but that will depend upon the spoon that you are using. I used vintage, tarnished spoons but you can also use plastic....black handles would be cute. The scale isn't as important when using the image I used in the spoon below but if you do the one w/ the pumpkin; the pumpkin needs to fit perfectly into the bowl of the spoon.

I used good ole Elmer's glue (brushed it on w/ a paintbrush) to glue the images to the spoon, let dry, then I painted on more Elmer's in teh bowl of the spoon (just the front of the spoon & right up to the edges of the image) & sprinkled w/ glitter. You want to use a glue that doesn't dry right away (hot glue is out!) so you have some play time to slide the image into the bowl, until it fits just right. For the spoon below, I added a Boo banner...only gluing it to the edges of the spoon, so that it has a 3D effect.

I don't remember what font I used for the Boo! but I know it was a specialty one. If you want a different font, than is available on your puter, then visit http://www.1001freefonts.com/ or http://www.dafont.com/ or http://www.urbanfonts.com/ ... all are free to use & free of spyware. You'll need to save them in a file on your puter & open them, before they'll appear as choices in wordpad.

I glued a loop of ribbon on the back of the spoon handle, for hanging & a small bow on the front for decoration. Thse look really cute as tassels but Cindy @ Yapping Cat Studio said they'd be great strung on a ribbon & used as a garland...I think she's right!


I've included several images that will work for this project...the key is to size them right. I'd give credit as to where I got the images from but frankly, I just file them into their appropriate folders & don't keep track of where they came from. If one of them is your's, let me know & I'll give credit.

Be sure & click on the images to enlarge them before you save them to your puter.









It's that simple! I literally spent more time, messing around w/ Irfanview & getting the right sizes than I did in putting together the project.



Hope this "tut" was helpful! I'd love to see your creations if you make one!



Update: I mentioned in my Show n Tell post that I copied thse from a woman in my art group, who copied them out of Somerset, but I should have clarified that in this post as well. Don't want y'all to give me credit for this clever idea....I'm not clever, just a copycat w/ a wealth of images! ;o)

17 comments:

Karen said...

Oh how flippin' cute are those cards! You did such a good job with the spoons, and those images are PERFECT to use on them!
You sound like me - any vintage or vintage inspired image just goes under the holiday in my iPhoto. Hopefully I give credit where credit is due. It's hard sometimes!
Thanks for sharing!
Karen

The Quintessential Magpie said...

This would be really cute to do for Christmas and hang on the tree! You've given me a whole new idea, Cami. Thanks! XOXOXOXO

Anonymous said...

This is the cutest little thing! How in the world did you come up with this idea? You could do this for any holiday, couldn't you? You're the most creative one.
Be a sweetie,
shelia ;)

Lori said...

oh, those are SO cute Cami!!! what a darling idea!!!

Kat said...

These are so cute! What an adorable idea! Glad you liked the shots of the college. DH says the college ruins are in the Southeast part of town on College Hill Rd - he says you have to really look for them, they are up 3 flights of steps at the top of a hill and are hard to see. Apparently the college burned down 3 times, they rebuilt twice but gave up the third time. Have fun in Salado! Kathy

Cindy (JunqueArt) said...

Those are soooo cute!!! Thanks for sharing!

Kim said...

I would have never, ever thought of altering a spoon like that, but I love it!! And, I love one of the commenter's ideas about using them on a tree, with Christmas themed alterations.

The Old Parsonage said...

Hey Cami

thanks so much for the tutorial and the images. I downloaded them this afternoon. I just became a follower and thought perhaps you might like to do the same?

Thanks again
Leann

Stephanie ~ Angelic Accents said...

Hi Cami! I'm soooo wanting to try this! I found some Martha Stewart glitter in awesome fallish colors that will work perfectly. Now I just need to find a pretty old spoon! Thanks for the wonderful tutorial!

Big TX Hugs,
Stephanie
Angelic Accents

Cindy said...

Oh man, good stuff!!!! Thanks for all the tips and info. And great graphics too! You did an awesome job of a tut! :D I'll have to give this a whirl when things slow down a bit!

-c
yapping cat

Jenny said...

These are amazing! I'm going to change-up this idea with Santas and Snowmen! Love, love, love them! Thank you!

Charlene said...

Hey Cami! Cute tutorial of the spoons JoAnne did at Art Group. But, you were so sweet to break it all down & give those helpful links. I agree with you & Cindy that they would make a cute garland. And thank you for sharing all those images. BLOGLAND is so full of creative, sharing folks out there. So, glad you are in our group! Can't wait to see you Saturday. Thanks for stopping by & giving me the info about the Art Getogether in Salado this spring. Sounds fun... let's chat about it. Also, be sure & go over to my site & click on the sidebar for a great giveaway I have listed. Have a great day & I'll talk to ya soon.

Tia said...

Well how fun!! Thanks for sharing your cute little images too!

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

Now that is just so cute! What a fabulous idea! Thank you for haring the directions. I think you are VERY clever for being able to copy someone else's idea! laurie

Miss Janice said...

These are the cutest things ever!

Katy ~ said...

Love those vintage images!!!

I like another poster's idea about using vintage images for hanging on the Christmas tree.

Spoons are just adorable. How cute would they be hanging from a small tree in my yard!

tuxhorns said...

Just adorable! Thanks so much for sharing both your images and your cleverness...:)(Now I have to rustle up some old spoons!)