Wednesday, September 18, 2013

ATC for Paper Traders monthly lottery

Each month the Paper Traders Yahoo group sponsors an ATC lottery.  Submit an ATC and one person from those who submitted will win all of the cards for that month.  Here is mine for September:



I decided to do a Halloween one.  Most of the images were cut from ArtChix Studio collage sheets or faux postage sheets.  I cut the numbers with a Memory Box die.  The tiny hat on the crow was cut from orange paper and Stickles glitter was added in some places.

Enjoy your day!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

manila envelope journal swap

The Paper Traders Yahoo group sponsored a one for one manila envelope journal swap.  My partner is Lillian in Canada.  Here is the journal I sent to her:


I used gesso to cover the whole envelope and then added some torn paper strips and pieces of doilies to add texture.  Then I used paints, inks, stencils, bubble wrap and rubber stamps randomly until I liked the results.

Here is the inside front cover:



And the inside back cover:



And the back:



Vintage seam binding was tied around the whole journal - a generous length to allow for expansion.  Five sheets of Bristol board paper were folded in half to make the signature which was sewn into the cover with waxed thread. 

Since this is the first ever journal I have made in this fashion, it was an interesting process and one that I will do again sometime.

If you are interested in joining the Paper Traders Yahoo group, click on the button on my sidebar to learn more. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, September 16, 2013

altered postcard exchange

Hello!  Inspiration Avenue sponsored an altered postcard swap and I just finished mine.  We were to use actual postcards, old or new, to alter in any way we wanted. Here are mine:




I will be sending these three postcards to three separate people and I will received three back from three other people.  Can't wait to see them!

Here is a photo of the backs, which we were to alter also. 


I really had fun doing these and like the way they turned out.  The beach scene is my favorite one!

Have a great day!

Friday, September 6, 2013

another ATC swap for Paper Traders

The theme for this 6-for-6 ATC swap is "Wings & Things". 


I decided to use a butterfly with this clipart image to, in a subtle way, reference the metamorphosis of a blossoming young lady transitioning into womanhood.  The background was made by misting water over an ATC cut from watercolor paper. Then I brushed distress inks over the paper until I was happy with the blended colors.  After the inks had dried, I used a Magenta crackle stamp to add some more texture to the background.  Strips of text were torn from an old book (1925), distressed along the edges and added to the bottom.  The images were also distressed with ink before adhering them. A Martha Stewart punch was used for the butterflies.  Two tiny gems were added to each of them.  The words were computer generated.   

It will be fun to receive some more tiny ATC treasures in my mailbox!