Why not make your own altered art scrapbook embellishments? The currently fashionable art form known as "altered art" simply refers to taking one object and doing something to alter it. Altered books, for example, are enjoying a popularity surge as altered artists apply their craft to creating works of art from old, used books.
Altered art, in the form of small, flat items, can transform into striking and unique scrapbook embellishments. Not only are these embellishments personal to you, as opposed to the ready-made variety, but they are inexpensive or even free to obtain. Additionally, you have the satisfaction of knowing that by recycling, you are taking a step towards protecting our environment.
To create your own altered art embellishments, simply locate, small, flat items that can be decorated, modified, or altered. Consider using items such as earrings and other old jewelry, zippers, pockets cut from jeans or other clothing, CD disks, optical lenses, buttons, miscellaneous small items found in the hardware store (washers, corner braces, etc.), the rectangular formica countertop samples that you can find at home renovation centers, labels, stickers and related items found at office supply stores, assorted items found at fishing stores (old lures with the hooks removed have many possibilities), ribbons, greeting cards, mirrors, keys, chains, sachets, chopsticks, bamboo skewers, pieces of rubber or wire mesh.
Do you have old glasses or sunglasses hanging around the house? Discard the ear lobes (or figure out a way to use them), then transform the lenses into frames to display pictures or journaling. Add stickers or other small embellishments to the lenses if desired.
How about old film or video tape? Instead of throwing out that broken tape, pull it out of the container and consider ways of incorporating it into a layout. Why not? It's pretty. It's black. It's shiny. What a great border or trim it will make, especially if you alter it by applying colored stamping ink. Solvent inks like Stazon work well on shiny, glossy surfaces like tape.
Who knows what else you might turn up by searching through your junk drawers or the garage? A visit to a flea market, garage sale or the Dollar Store might prove a rich hunting ground for items that you can alter and incorporate in your scrapbook layouts.
When using altered art objects as a scrapbook embellishment, you will need to consider whether the item is acid free and lignon free. This may not be a consideration for you. Many scrapbookers do not necessarily intend that every scrapbook made must be archival quality. If you do not care whether this particular album will last for generations, then use anything you like in your layouts. If archival quality is important, you can purchase deacidification archival products for your embellishments.
The altering process itself can involve any number of activities, including coloring your new-found embellishments with paint or stamping inks, hot embossing with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel, or decorating with papers, beads, wires, stickers, pictures, glitter, fibre, and so on. Consider combining two or more items together to form something new, or cut items into pieces, which you can then use individually or reassemble.
For example, CD or DVD disks can be broken or cut into pieces, and each piece used as a separate item to decorate or alter. Heating the disks in hot water before cutting makes them easier to manage. You can also punch small holes in CD disks, or in pieces of disks, through which you can attach thread to dangle a charm or tag.
The possibilities for using altered embellishments are endless. Please refer to this link for pictures of Altered Art Scrapbook Embellishments
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