rollin' rollin' rollin'

i've been catching up on my altered rolodex swaps for the junk journal junkies group at paper anthology. here are my two most recent sets:

july's prompt was "use a stencil" and luckily, i have quite a few of those! ;) in this case i chose my beloved donna downey poppies. since i was working on samples for an upcoming gel printing class this particular week, my background uses a couple of techniques i'd like to incorporate in the class, including a horizontal ombre blend and printing the stencil twice with slightly different paint colors to get a sort of shadow effect. 

to finish off the card bases, i added a bunch of grungy overstamping to the backgrounds of the cards. arguably too much, lol; i actually liked the cards better one step before the final version. but there's no crying in baseball and there's no "do-overs" on optional swap projects, so i just rolled with it. my sentiment is composed of diecut letters using impression obsession's typewriter lower case set on scraps of glossy white cardstock.

my top layer of poppies are diecuts, painted with colorburst, in a mixture of mostly fuchsia with a bit of marsala, to approximate the same shade as the quinacridone magenta acrylic paint i used on the gel prints. the stems are chartreuse with a tiny touch of terre verte. here's a great tip for watercoloring flimsy or tiny items, like my memory box "row of poppies" die, with it's skinny skinny flower stems. cut them from nice sturdy watercolor paper, then DON'T remove the excess paper until AFTER your flowers are dry! this gives you a much sturdier base on which to work and helps prevent some of the warping.

june's prompt was a color palette of sage green, pink and grey. i dusted off my alte new rose flurries die set and used up nearly all my red and pink cardstock scraps to assemble the layers and layers that make these flowers look so beautifully dimensional. 

my background is a literal patchwork of grey and silver patterned paper scraps cut into strips and pieced together in a sort of funky herringbone pattern. i did a post last year which explains the process in more detail and it is right here, should you need it. the only thing that's a tiny bit different with the rolos is that i assembled my herrings and then diecut the cards, since this saved a lot of tedious trimming up at the end.

i hope the weekend is treating you well and that you will be able to sneak in some creative time! ♥

Fair Warning!

Hi folks, today I have a special public service announcement: It turns out making altered rolodex cards with holiday artist trading coins on top is slightly (ok, a LOT!) addictive. On the plus side, this a super fun, super flexible --and, perhaps most importantly--  super FAST way to create with your favorite Eyelet Outlet brads and washi tape. And of course, this idea would work equally well as package tags, gift certificate holders, small cards, tiny bags or boxes... well, let's face it, a week before Christmas, the prospect of being able to make a whole bunch of useful holiday items is *not* to be sneezed at! So here are a few more ideas for you:

I will mention all the specific products in a minute, but probably the most important thing to tell you is the basic "recipe". I made the artist trading coins first. I started with 2.5" circles cut from scraps of patterned paper. Then I inset circles cut with the next smallest size of my nested circle dies. Then I added two or three holiday-themed brads to each coin. Of course, the rolodex card format could easily be discarded in favor of tags, or A2 cards, but in any case, there's a formula for your "base" as well: a neutral paper (or papers, plural; yes, mine are collaged vintage papers, but trust me, yours need not be!) with strips of holiday tape on top. I like to combine 5/8" tapes with skinny ones, but if all of your washi is the same width, you can get the feeling of variety by adding multiple strips of some tapes and overlapping others. I chose combinations of tape that coordinated with the colors in my coins, paired up each set, and that's IT! Instant holiday festiveness!

Here are the brads and tapes I used on each card, working from the top left of the photo above: Skate Brads, Snowflake Brad, Green Filigree Tape, Silver Skinny Glitter Tape; Pinecone Brads, Poinsettia Brad, Pine Tree Tape, Skinny Holiday Assortment; Sleigh Brad, Prancing Deer Brad, Merry Christmas Tape, Skinny Holiday Assortment; Holiday Tree Brads, Snowman Brad, Green Filigree Tape, Skinny Metallic Tape, Green Dot Tape. And now, starting at the top left of the photo below: Holiday Tree Brads, Snowman Brad, Green Dot Tape, Wide Tree Washi, Skinny Green Stripe, Skinny Holiday Assortment; Holiday Mitten Brads, Candy Cane Brad, Red Tree Tape, Skinny Green Stripe Washi; Elf Brads, Ho Ho Ho Tape, Red and Green Dot Tape, Skinny Holiday Assortment, Skinny Green Tape; Holiday Light Brads, Deer Tape, Skinny Holiday Assortment.

I hope you will be inspired to borrow this "recipe"... or create your own! It really is a fun and fast way to get LOTS of holiday greetings done, with ZERO stress involved! ♥

tic-tac-toe... let's go!

it's a make-your-own challenge kind of week at shopping our stash, since lovely mimi has devised (and hand lettered!) an awesome tic-tac-toe style board for us to choose any row, column or diagonal of three consecutive elements!

i chose the diagonal that runs from top left to bottom right: leaves, stash more than five years old and powder pigments... in my case colorburst, of course!

patterned paper scraps from: authentique, glitz design, graphic 45, photo play and carta bella; scraps of gold glitter paper: american crafts pow; glossy black cardstock bases: ranger; circle die: spellbinders/nestabilities; leaf dies: provocraft/cuttlebug (small) and sizzix/tim holtx (large)... used on bits of vintage book paper painted with autumnal shades of colorburst; ink for edges: colorburst; pen outline: faber-castell pitt artist pen in SX; gold distress stickles: ranger; flowers: prima; brads: queen and co; labels: dymo; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, scor-tape by sookwang

ok, so the leaves and the colorburst are pretty obvious, i think. i painted various vintage papers somewhat randomly with 2-3 shades of the latter, then diecut them. i inked and outlined around the edges and dabbed on a little bit of gold stickles, which is hard to see in photos but very cool irl. the 5-year-old items are the set of cuttlebug dies i used for the smaller leaves-- one of the first dies i ever purchased. for that matter, the tattered foliage die i used for the larger leaves is probably close to five years old as well. the little white prima blooms are from the "got flowers" era, which is probably 6 or 7 years too, right? of course, my trusty dymo labelmaker is much older than anything else i used, and it's still going strong!

i made four artist trading coins, for an instagram swap with an "autumn" theme. the requirement was actually only to make three... but i decided the camus quote fit better when broken into four pieces.

all of the papers i used were scraps from my september and october classes at paper anthology. which were still sitting in a pile in my art lair, and were perfect to make a neutral, but not boring background for the coins.

the tiny red mini brads are pretty elderly too, actually. they probably come from around the same time as the little prima flowers.

there's lots more inspiration awaiting you from the lovely ladies at SOS, why not treat yourself to some eye candy, darlings? ♥

A Penny For Your Thoughts

Or in this case, maybe better than a penny... Artist Trading Coins! I've been seeing these 2.5" circles of artsy fun all over social media, and I've been dying to try out the format. It turns out, they're VERY fun --and a bit addictive-- to make. Plus, Eyelet Outlet brads are absolutely the perfect sized embellishment. I made a set of six coins for my first time out, but I already know I'll be making more!

I've mentioned before that I come from a punny family, so I always have lots of random word play in my head. Since this is quite a small format (ATCoins are generally 2.5" circles) just a line or two of text is the perfect fit. I formatted my puns in a free font called "Tahoe" but set off a few key words in a chunky, funky script called "Cry Kitty". I generally print my text on clear inkjet labels, which I trim down and adhere to scraps of patterned paper for a little more emphasis. I made the backgrounds using scraps of more neutral papers, in torn layers, with an accent of Wide Flower Tape in an understated henna shade.

For "All's WOOL That Ends WOOL" I was able to employ both a sheep from the Pig and Sheep set, plus a ball of yarn and needles from our Knitting Brads, while a pair of lovely Chicken Brads illustrate "Just WING It".

This one's a bit of a liberty, because I've actually used a Llama Brad on my "ALPACA" card... so shhhhhhhhhh... don't tell, ok? I couldn't resist adding a couple of Mini Ant Brads because it's a picnic!

I couldn't decide which style of Fox Brad (the packets contain both) to use for "Crazy Like a FOX" so I didn't choose... I added one of each!

Another tiny cheat: technically, these are Duck Brads, but I just couldn't resist the phrase "I've Got GOOSE Bumps"!

My original idea for "Don't Worry, Be HOPPY" was to use one of our adorable Frog Brads (the set has lillies and cattails in it, too!) but as it turned out, all of the other coins were more or less neutral colors, and the bright green frogs realllllllly stood out. So I swapped them out for a pair of handsome Rabbit Brads, instead. I probably shouldn't leave them alone for long though...

I hope you'll be inspired to try your hand at a few Artist Trading Coins, starring some of *your* favorite Eyelet Outlet critters! ♥

hot, hot, hot!

it's a timely challenge this week at shopping our stash, we're feeling, "hot, hot, hot" so we'd love to see something summery/weather-related OR perhaps you prefer your heat in the kitchen (cooking or baking) OR in a restaurant via chilli peppers or other spicy treats? be creative and have fun!

colorburst backgrounds painted on strathmore watercolor paper diecut with heidi swapp's memorydex dies; pink paper scraps of far too many origins to list, but luckily ANY pink paper would work; texture sand and tiny blossoms: little birdie; crowns: jolees stickers or diecuts with eyelet outlet bling; lots and lots of random letter stickers from... well, everywhere, lol! adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, gluedots, nuvo deluxe adhesive

 
i went all beachy, mostly because i was in the mood to paint with my colorbursts AND i had an awesome new flamingo die from stephanie that i was longing to test drive! everything else is pretty ancient stash, and very mixy-matchy. my junk journal junkies group at paper anthology has been having a series of memorydex swaps, for which this month's theme was "queen bee". in this case the "bee" became "beach" (say them both fast, lol!)

if you're looking for the perfect colorburst "recipe" for the easiest watercolor beach background ever, may i suggest a nice big brush and some yellow ochre with just a teeny touch of sepia for the sand? leave a tiny hairline of dry paper (or wait for the beach to dry completely) then paint a strip of rich turquoise ocean. when that's nearly-- but not quite entirely dry-- come in from the top with a clean brush and some rather diluted cerulean sky, but let it overlap the turquoise a bit, so that you get that nice blendy horizon line. for bonus points, after everything is BONE dry, use an old brush (or your finger) to swipe a little bit of liquid adhesive (i love nuvo deluxe!) randomly across the beach and sprinkle on some texture sand! warning, this is a bit addictive, you probably won't be able to stop at ONE!

when it was time to add my flamingos, my SOS "use what you have" ethic really kicked in. so i assure you that NO large pieces of paper were cut into for this project, i just raided the pink scraps file and used up lots and lots of tiny leftover bits! then i mixed and matched the prints to assemble eight uniquely lovely "beach queens"! this spellbinders die is absolutely awesome and has just the perfect amount of detail, there are even two different styles of legs. i cut some facing in each direction-- so technically YES, some of my cuts are "backwards" --but i like the variety. my only tiny complaint is that there is no separate die for the beak, so i handcut teeny pieces of black paper. btw, did you realize that flamingos' legs are also a pinkish shade? (thank you mr. google for settling that for me!)

when it was time to add my sentiment, i realized i didn't have enough of any one type of sticker for all of them, so i mixed and matched. my crowns are half a package of jolee's stickers and a few tim holtz diecuts adorned with fancy eyelet outlet bling.  

there are lots more ideas awaiting you from the HOT MAMAS of the sos design team. why not treat yourself to some inspiration? ♥

get krafty!

that's the name of the new challenge at shopping our stash and i bet you've already guessed from the spelling what we're looking for this week. yep! we want to see projects which feature kraft paper. here's what i made:

kraft cardstock plus scraps of glossy white cardstock: the paper cut; matte white cardstock: staples; vintage sheet music and ledger paper scraps from my stash; "cool beans" stamp, coffee bean brads and henna style flower tape: eyelet outlet; oversized flourish stamp: tattered angels; inks: ranger distress and archival; paper scraps: photoplay, glitz design, hambly, junkitz; paper flowers: prima; memorydex card dies: heidi swapp; coffee cup dies: stephanie barnard for sizzix; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, scotch/3m foam tape and gluestick

i suspect this needs a tiny bit of backstory, otherwise eight coffee-themed altered rolodex cards might seem like an odd thing to make, lol. this spring, my friend anna gave me a very cool heidi swapp memorydex holder and the dies to make my own rolodex-style cards. so of course we swapped cards, as well. when our fellow junk journal junkies at paper anthology saw them, we embarked on some bigger group swaps. this month's theme is "coffee or tea".

as soon as i heard that, i knew i wanted to use my eyelet outlet coffee stamps and coffee brads, not to mention the cool coffee cup dies that were part of my prize from stamps of life in the last coffee loving cardmakers' bloghop.

when i started piecing the dies in a "traditional" sort of travel coffee style, they were kraft and white, which helped me the rest of my papers and embellishments. since this is a fairly small format, it was possible to use up a whole bunch of paper scraps, which is always fun. i tried out a few different washi tapes, too. and since i was using scraps, it meant that even though i used the same basic design, every single card is unique. which i love!

be sure to check out all of the krafty goodness from my design team sisters over at SOS!

1...2...3...SWAP!

when i was getting ready to send my torsos in for the SCD swap, the lovely carol asked if i would also like to trade ATC's with her...well ♥YEAH♥!!! of course i would! :) knowing that i tend to get "on a roll" and have trouble stopping at ONE idea on these occasions, carol came up with the awesome idea of doing three inchies, two twinchies and an ATC; our theme was faces; here's what i made:

i went a bit vintagey...and there's sort of a slight "sub-theme" of cakes for some reason! (probably because i am always half-dieting...and always half-wishing there was a bit of cake in real life!) :)

i will show carol's half of the swap, and my bounty of torsos from the something completely different gang, when they arrive!


(~materials~ vintage: ladies (& gentleman) (& cakes) cut from old magazines & books + some text and a cool chart; word stickers & tiny flowers: making memories; tiny pearls: kaiser; rub-ons: sei & fancy pants; butterfly punch: martha stewart; ink: colorbox & stewart superior; labels: dymo; adhesives: uhu gluestick, tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape)

don't fear the reapers!

yes.

REAPERS.

plural!!!

it was gina's idea, obviously. most really great swap ideas are. afterall, it was she who thought up the monsta swap, and the art-o-mat one.

when she saw the wistful reaper i made for stef a couple of weeks ago she said, "i'll carve a grim reaper stamp and then LET'S SWAP!"

of course i said yes. i always say yes. if gina ever asks you to swap with her, you should say yes. you will ♥LOVE♥ what you get, i promise!!!

so by the next day she had carved the most amazing and adorable reaper that has ever been seen on this or any other planet!

it took me slightly longer to crochet mine. (though seriously...the patterns in the creepy cute book are *quick* and you really only need beginner-level crochet skills!)

the last time i looked, there was an extra reaper stamp in gina's etsy shop...

...i'm just sayin'...

(thanks, g!!!!!!!!!!)

♥♥♥♥♥

best swap theme ever??!?!

when gina found this awesome ART♥o♥MAT site, the first thing she said was, "we have to do a swap based on this!" so we decided to make little packets of art that could (theoretically) be dispensed from converted cigarette machines. of course gina is MUCH faster off the mark with these sort of things than i am, so you've already seen her half of the swap, which was AMAZING! we didn't really have a theme, as such, but gina mentioned that she had used more birds than anything else, and as you know i LOVE birds anyway, so i took that and ran with it.

when i first heard the name ART♥o♥MAT--before i read about them-- i was intrigued, and wondered if such a machine would sell little packages of *ART*...or little packages of art supplies? it turns out the real ones all dispense ART, but the idea of both sort of stuck in my mind, so i decided that my package would consist of something i made AND ALSO ingredients for gina to use, all more or less on a bird theme.

here's the container:


ok, yes, i cheated, i wound up having too much to fit inside, so there are some little envelopes, as well. my "ingredients" are mostly vintage bits cut from books and magazines, stickers, feathers, little game pieces and charms...basically if it was tiny and fun and in some way avian, i put it in the tin!


for my "piece of art" i wanted to make a very inky stampy accordian book type thingie like i made for leah in the spring. partly because i love the idea of working big, but having it fit in a small package... (& in the ART♥o♥MAT swap, the packaging seemed crucial to me!) ...and partly because my favorite art quote of all time just happens to involve birds, and i knew it'd work really well in this context...but mostly, i confess, i just love making little books. :)

the first time i made one of these, i used ranger glossy cardstock, so that the glossy "plasticky" side would reinforce my booklet. this time i went a bit bigger (the unfolded size is 3.5 x 18") and had to use uncoated cardstock. this turned out not realllllllllly to be strong enough, and even while working on it, i could see the folds were not going to last forever. see those swirly green packing tape "leaves"??! those are NOT decoration!!! those are strategically placed, on the outside only, to reinforce the hinges! i *THINK* it works, both mechanically and visually, but next time i will go back to glossy, even if i have to join two pieces to make it big enough.

design-wise, i started with my favorite barnett newman quote:

"aesthetics are, to the artist,

what ornithology must be to birds!"

(i *THINK* the photos can be clicked on to make them bigger

...it is hard to get something wide to fit in blogger's format!)

then i used masks, spray-on and stamping inks, stamps and markers to illustrate and enhance the theme. (this involoved sooooo much more time and activity than that one simple sentence implies, as i'm sure all you stampy types realize!!!) at the end i added a little painted & stamped chipboard bird to the cover, and a ribbon to hold the whole thing closed.



and thus i declare the first annual ART♥o♥MAT swap to be officially concluded! :)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

(~materials~ stamps: purple onion designs, tim holtz, autumn leaves, hero arts, cherry arte, heidi swapp, studio g; spray inks: glimmer mist, radiant rain, ranger distress + perfect pearls made into custom colors; stamping inks: superior india ink, ranger distress, colorbox fluid chalk; masks: heidi swapp; glitter letters: making memories; chipboard bird: maya road; ribbon & decorative packing tape: michaels; labels: dymo; other: vintage images from various books, mint tin, sewing machine, corner rounder)

heart the art: week 24 (doubt) & a SWAP!

this week's heart the art prompt is DOUBT, a subject very close to my heart...but not in a good way!

yeah, i'm definitely a worrier, from a family of worriers. i try to compensate for this by being as positive a person as a natural worrier from a family of worriers can be. so sometimes i am *VERY* strong and impervious to doubt. and sometimes i am a push-over. and i never know which it's going to be until i am in the midst of whatever worrying situation occurs. i was wondering how i'd sum all of this up in one 4x6" art journal page, when i found this illustration in my "cool things ripped outta magazines" file, and then the rest of the page just sort of fell together.

text reads, "Me & Doubt"

(Who is whom depends on the day.)

(materials: crafty secrets woodgrain patterned paper; magazine illustration glued to staples' photo paper to create a faux polaroid; copic pen; manual typewriter; colorbox ink; masking tape)

and now the swap, or rather *HALF* a swap...and sadly, it's not MY half...but i have to show you now 'cause i can't wait! recently, gina saw this cool story about art-o-mat machines (they're actually old cigarette machines converted to sell small pieces of affordable art; they are in galleries and museums around the country; the closest one to new jersey is at the whitney in nyc, just in case you were wondering!) and suggested we create a swap around the idea. since she is MUCH FASTER than me, she finished first...and the results are completely AWESOME!!!

ok, so obviously this is the card and the "art-o-mat" package gina created. the box is ATC-sized and handmade and completely gorgeous! but wait'll you see the contents...i swear it is like the TARDIS in there, otherwise she could never have fit so much in:


seriously, is that a "WOW" or what??! there are a couple of ATC's (including a fabulous PIRATE one!!!) ...some fabulous inchies...a hand-carved stamp that is probably going to be ALL OVER the next 47 things i make (just warnin' ya now!) ...an embossed clay button...some cool beaded pins...and le piece de resistance: a teeeeeeeeny (1.5 x 3") hand-made art journal!!!!!!!

thank you thank you thank you, miss gina!

you have really reallllllly outdone yourself this time, i am blown away! (& i am very nearly almost halfway done yours!) (no, seriously) (ok, maybe more like 30% done...but i'm workin' on it!) ♥♥♥♥♥