Paper stash mail art swap for A Vintage Journey (part 1)

Hello friends and welcome! It's been a very long time since I posted here last, the reason being that I have only just returned from a month long visit to my family in Australia. But now I am back and plan to post more often and also be more active again on social media. So thank you for your patience!

Today a new challenge is starting at A Vintage Journey, and our host is the lovely Sandy. Her chosen theme is Paper Stash, and this is what she had to say about it:
I am sure we all have them, those endless bits of beautiful scrapbook papers we have hoarded over the years. Create a project of any kind using them in creative ways in our preferred vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk styles.

Well, I certainly am a paper hoarder, and for my project this month I decided to cut into my favourite

"Time is an Illusion" stash by Stamperia. 

I am currently involved in a mail art group swap with 4 different American ladies and we decided to trade 3 Artist Trading Coins plus a decorated envelope to mail them in. We agreed on a particular size of envelope (A6) so that the envelopes can be made into a little book.

So I have to make 4 envelopes, one each for the other participants. I decided to make them all from the same paper collection, here you can see them before I altered them:

Today I will just share the details of the first one, but before I do, just a little more of how I made them:

I am lucky enough to own a WRMK envelope punchboard, which makes the process very quick and simple, but if you are interested, - there are numerous videos on YouTube that show you how you can make envelopes yourself. When making envelopes, I always round the corner of the top flap, just because I think it looks neater. I also score and fold down the corner of the bottom flap, just at the point where it will meet the two side flaps. The  finished envelope then looks like this:

Alright, now to some of the detail of how I altered my envelopes:

Here is the front of the first one. I decided to use some elements I received from a pen pal to collage the front. I added some strips of music paper, a  paper leave, a beautiful vintage botanical image that I coloured with water soluble pencils and a stamped image of a little hedgehog. I wanted it to have an Autumnal feel 

The hedgehog is from a free stamp set that came with a magazine. I fussy cut and again coloured with water colour pencils.

I inked and stencilled around the edges using one of my Tim Holtz layering stencils. I have loads of these stencils, but always seem to go for this one, - it is my all time favourite....

I also added some old postage stamps, also received from previous art swaps.

Here is the back of the finished envelope. Some strips of washi tape, some inking around the edges,

and a die cut adhered towards the top. I also added some gold foiling, just using a glue stick and some gold foil here and there.

The heart was punched out from another scrap of the paper, I then glued only the bottom half onto the envelope, so that the top flap of the envelope can be slotted underneath and so close the envelope shut.

Now you may wonder how the envelope will be sent in the mail, and more importantly, how it will not be spoiled by weather or other damage?? Well one of my penfriends had the brilliant idea to simply put her fabulous envelopes inside one of these cellophane card sleeves that people use to sell their cards. You adhere both the address and the postage stamps to the outside of the cellophane sleeve, put your decorated envelope inside and voila, postie can still enjoy a bit of colourful artwork and your envie will stay clean and undamaged on the way to its recipient.

Well, that was it for today. I will be back with more details on the other envelopes and some of the coins that will go inside. Meanwhile, do check out what my talented teamies have made for the challenge, by clicking here, and why not dig out your own paper stash, make something fabulous and share it with us on the Vintage Journey blog.

Thank you for your visit like always and happy creating!

xxxxx

 

Autumn Splendour for A Vintage Journey

Hello friends, hope you are keeping well! It's the first Friday in October and that means a new challenge starting at A Vintage Journey. Our host this month is the wonderful Sara Emily, and she chose the theme Autumn Splendour. Autumn is my favourite time of year, specially for crafting.

This is what Sara had to say about the challenge: With the glorious colours of fall it would be oh so nice to see some falling leaves, pumpkins, acorns or any other favourite images that brings fall to mind. Just remember to create your project in our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.

Well, as you will see I incorporated most of these elements in my project, which is actually a little folio, created for my daughter, whose birthday was right at the end of September.

I have some step-out photos for you, so let's get started:

I started by cutting a panel with the second largest of my stitched rectangle dies, inked it with a mix of Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap and Iced Spruce Doxides and then stamped one of the leaves from the Tim Holtz Nature's Wonder set, in both Frayed Burlap and Iced Spruce Doxide Ink. I also stamped a couple of spiderwebs from the Tangled Webs set.

I cut a second panel with the large Postage Stamp Bigz die and then embossed it with the 3D woodgrain folder. I coloured it with the same colours but also added some Distress Crayons into he mix. I did not pay much attention to the central bit as I knew that would be covered anyway.

A third panel was cut to the exact size of the embossing folder and embossed with the 3D leaf swirls.

For those of you who are new to these folders, I just wanted to mention that it is really worth heeding Tim's advice of spraying lightly with water, putting the folder 3 times through your machine and then drying it with a heat gun before starting to colour. It really makes all the difference and if using thick card stock (I used Ranger Mixed Media Heavystock), your card almost gets a plaster like appearance which I totally love....

Time for embellishments. This is the larger size of the Starburst  3D Sizzlets, again using the same colours plus some Antique Bronze Distress Crayon.

And of course a collection of leaves, cut with the Fall Foliage Thinlets dies and coloured with normal Distress Inks and some Paper Artsy Infusions.

Finally a little chipboard centre for the starburst diecut, coloured with a mix of Distress Inks and Infusions and then covered with Glassy Accents, a trick I learnt on YouTube from the lovely Scrapcosy one of the Paper Artsy designers.

Alright, onto the inside of this little folio (it has a 1/4 inch spine, so there is some space inside.

As you can see, on the right I created a pocket to hold a large tag (cut with a Graphics 45 die). It has a personal message to my daughter on the back.

On the left side a similar panel to the front, in addition to the leaf stamp I also used some stamps that came free with a cardmaking magazine.

On the right the pocket and large tag. The pocket was decorated with a strip of hessian/burlap and some die cuts, the pumpkin and acorn come with one of the sidekick sets and the leaves are from the Funky Florals set 3 I think.

They were all coloured with various Distress Inks and a water brush.

And here finally is the tag, decorated with further 3D Sizzlets dies and another leaf.

Well that's it. Do head over to the Vintage Journey blog, where there is fabulous Autumn inspiration and of course we would love to see what you create!

When this post goes live, I will be in Australia where it is Spring, but I hope you will all have a super creative October and thank you for your visit here today!

xxxxx

Coins, coins and more coins (plus another freebee)

Hello friends, it's been awhile,  as life has taken me different places, but today I have a little something to share. A few days ago I spent a wonderful day with my friends, Annie and her lovely mum Rita and we had a great day making Artist Trading Coins and a little booklet to hold them.
I posted about these coins and booklets in a previous post. They are so much fun. Here are the three little booklets I have made so far:

And below some of the latest coins I have made, the one in the middle at the bottom is the one that Annie made in exchange for a couple of mine.

Below a few close ups, -  a link to how to make the booklets I posted in my previous post, check it out if you are interested.

This one uses some paper dolls and a little vintage flower image cut with one of the Tim Holtz postage stamp thinlets dies, plus a few scraps of washi tape and one of Tim's word stickers.

This one was collaged with bits and pieces from the Stamperia Time is an Illusion paper collection. This paper is just perfect for this and for making coins too! The text is from Tim's Snarky comments stickers.

Here are a couple of mixed media coins, using die-cuts, a few chipboard scraps, texture paste and gold foiling.

These three use different backgrounds, the left distress inks and infusions plus a stamped image from Tim's  Mr Bones stamp set. The middle one was done with Oxides, infusions, a bird stamp (sorry don't know who made it), some foiling and washi etc. The one on the right finally was made with the same Stamperia paper I used for the album and some paper dolls.

Here finally is a close up of Annie gorgeous coin, I just love it. She also used the Stamperia paper/

The words both she and I used on our coins, came mostly from a word sheet I made and will share as a freebie below. Just print out on white thin card and use as you want. I made up phrases and sized it so it would fit the 2.5" coins (printed on A4 card) But you can of course use them for whatever you want. Enjoy.

I tried to print it on black card as I thought that might save on ink, but it did not work, just to warn you.....

Well that's it from me for today. Tomorrow I am off to Australia for 4 weeks to be with my lovely family there, so it will be very quiet here indeed, but I will try and visit at least sometimes.

Thanks for your visit here like always

Artist Trading Coins, a booklet and a freebie

Hello friends and welcome, specially also to my new followers!
Today I want to share my latest addiction, - Artist Trading Coins. I only very recently found out about these, when my lovely friend Jennie did a post on them on the Paper Artsy Blog, where these AT Coins are the theme of their latest challenge. It was love at first site and I just knew I had to give them a go. Years ago I used to swap ATCs, so this was just like going back in time but with a fun twist....
So far I have made 9 coins, plus a little booklet to store them in, so here goes:

Here first of all is the booklet. I made it following a video tutorial for which there was a link on the PA blog, you can find it HERE. 

I slightly adapted the size as the lady who made the video suggests, and I learnt several things along the way, but more about that in a moment. The cover of mine is made from Kraftcard and I used 45andMarket papers for the inside structure and pockets.

I used the Tim Holtz flower jar stamps and dies plus one of the bugs from the Entomology set to decorate the front of the cover and a couple of Paper Artsy stamps plus another bug for the back:

Here you can see how the pockets fit inside, the video shows a very clever construction, which was new to me.

The spine is one inch wide and I decorated it with a die-cut from one of Tim's new Dresden Trim 3D dies. The seam binding ribbon was dyed with Infusions Sunset Beach and a tiny bit of Antique Linen Distress spray.

Alright, onto the coins:

These 4 were made on collaged backgrounds and I used paper dolls to decorate them.

The next 4 were made with the help of a collage sheet I specially made for the purpose, I will share it with you as a freebie at the end of this post.

The final one I made I will show you inside one of the pockets of the booklet, so you can see what the inside looks like:

The booklet has 9 of these pockets, and this is what I learnt: The 45andmarket papers I used are very thick, they are more like card than paper. I absolutely adore them, but they were a bit too thick for this project. I also made the mistake of adhering the pockets on the wrong side of the internal structure, I should have stuck them on top, not underneath the gusset, as you can see on the photo above. (if you watch the video you will no doubt understand  what I mean).

The back of each coin is finished with these backings. My lovely friend Annie shared with me where you can get these, you can find them HERE.

If you are into making these Artist Trading Coins, or would like to give it a go, and are up for a swap, do let me know in the comments or be in touch by email. They are 2.5" in the round, so will fit the normal ATC pockets and things. You can find out much more by going to the Paper Artsy blog where there are some stunning examples!

Here finally is the collage sheet that I used as a starting point for 5 of my coins. The circles print at 2.5" on A4 paper (and I am pretty sure that for my American friends, they will print to that size on your letter paper too).

 

Well that's it, hope you are all having a good week, I am going to link to the Paper Artsy challenge and like always, thanks for taking the time to visit!

xxxxx

Mr Bone's love story

Hello friends and welcome to a first Halloween project from me....

Now to be honest, I am not a huge fan of Halloween and last year I managed not to make a single Halloween project.... This year however, after watching a Tim Holtz Facebook live where he showed some of his new Halloween products, I fell in love with some of the stamp sets... So I ordered 3 of them (ouch), so now I feel obliged to use them of course, so you can expect to see a few more in the coming weeks....

Let me give you a quick run through of this journal page....

I paper pieced the skull, i.e. I stamped it twice, first in black archival and then in Antique Linen Oxide ink.

I cut of the hat part of this second one, coloured the skull part with Distress markers and a Stabilo All pencil and then glued it onto the one stamped in the black Archival. For a bit of fun I added the two roses, because Mr Bones is desperately in love and trying to make a statement to his loved one.... (leave you to guess who that it)...

The Spiderwebs were done with emboss resist. I expect most of you know how to do that, but in case you don't:

Emboss resist:

1. stamp your image using embossing ink.

2. Emboss with clear embossing powder

3.Colour the background with any medium (aside from acrylic paint as that will dry on top of your embossed images).

4. Cover your project with kitchen roll and iron with a hot iron. The embossing will melt into the kitchen roll and you will be left with a beautiful white resist.

My background panel was done by blending different Oxide and other Distress Inks, but I think I used too many layers, because it turned out much flatter than I envisaged.

I embellished my page with another stamped image, some alcohol lift ink leaves left over from a previous project and some little flowers created with the Funky Florals dies, also by Tim Holtz.

I mounted the skull on two panels embosssed with a couple of 3D embossing folders and added two phrases from the clippings stickers by Tim that would suit my theme. The little spiders were from a free set that came with a magazine. I just stamped and fussy cut them.

I will add this page to Art Journal Journey where the latest challenge is A World of Fantasy , and like usual, thanks so much for coming by today!

xxxxx