Brads of a Feather...

...Flock together! Eyelet Outlet Bird Brads, that is! There are Bluebird and Robin Brads (which come in the same packet) and two styles of very handsome Cardinal and Cardinal Profile Brads! Please don't ask me to choose a favorite, because that would be impossible!

I haven't made Artist Trading Cards or, in this particular case, Artist Trading Coins... in a while, but suddenly I was in the mood, so that's what I made. What are "Artist Trading" items? As the name implies, they're intended to be small handmade items for crafters and artists to trade via the mail, at conventions and meetups. Generally, an artist will make a series of similar ones at a sitting, in order to swap with several people at the same time. Artist Trading Cards are the size of a playing card (2.5 x 3.5") and Coins are 2.5" circles. The etiquette of this artform demands that they never be sold, only traded; though you can also find something called ACEO (Art Card Originals and Editions) which are essentially the same format, but intended for sale.

This trio of Artist Trading Coins feature our various bird brads, with stamped backgrounds of nests and foliage on some lovely, slightly yellowed, book paper. The Robin and Bluebird each stands proudly in front of a nest. Surrounding it, there are some tiny paper leaves, which I made by cutting apart the smallest size of EO green Paper Flowers. 

The Cardinal and Cardinal Profile are perched in some branches, to which I've added more paper leaves and some tiny berries snipped from the edge of a Bling Swirl. Each ATC has a Dymo Label sentiment, from which I trimmed away the excess tape, so that the scale fit my design better.

Whether you've made Artist Trading Coins before OR you've always wanted to try, wouldn't this be a great time to make some and surprise your crafty pals with Happy Mail? And I bet for any subject or idea you can dream up, there's an Eyelet Outlet Brad that will make your design even better! ♥

May/June Classes

It's May 2nd (*HOW* did that happen already?!) so we've got a brand new schedule of classes at Paper Anthology. There are some awesome ones this time, so you should really go see the whole list on the PA website, but meanwhile, here's what I'll be teaching:

Layered Blossom Cards

These bright and beautiful cards have not one, not two, but THREE luscious (easy!) layers for maximum dramatic impact. We'll make a simple collage of torn paper, add a little stenciling, then diecut the blooms and place the whole thing over a fast-but-bold blend of luscious ColorBurst shades. (Students might like to wear an apron for the ColorBurst portion of the class.)

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

Are you interested in Artist Trading Cards, Artist Trading Coins or Altered Rolodex, but don't quite know where to start? We'll talk about the "official" sizes, plus a few tips and tricks; then make a bird-centric version of the three most popular swap shapes, using stamps, washi tape, Eyelet Outlet Bird Brads and even a bit of found image collage. (PS: if enough of us are interested in these formats, there's a possibility of arranging official Paper Anthology swaps!)

Just a reminder that Paper Anthology is located on Route 46 in Kenvil, NJ; which is in Morris County, near Roxbury. Here is a map. Trust me, it's worth the trip! Full details of dates, times and prices are on the PA Class Page! ♥♥♥

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! ♥