Little Book For April 8

This time I used a double sided Amy Butler Designer scrapbooking cardstock from K&Company. I made a 3.5X4 inch book with 3 signature pamphlet stitch with a fold over flap and added satin ribbon to tie it closed.

Spring Quotes ATCs

Spring Quotes ATCs
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

One of the themes for this month's swap at byhandartist's Yahoo group is Spring Quotes. For my cards I use a scan of the painted background I did a few days ago and added computer generated quotes I found online and added various embellishments.

Seventh Little Book

Well I needed another quick book yesterday, since I am also working on ATCs for this month's swaps. I hadn't planned on doing one so similar to a previous one, but what can I do? My daughter saw the book made from tissue boxes for the covers and came out with some boxes that she really likes, shoved them in my hand with the request that I make her a book. I encouraged her to have different pages, but it had to be the same pocket pages. So here is the April 7 book.
I'll be posting the ATCs soon.

Little Book 6

For my April 6 book I did something a little more complex, for me at least. I started by painting a piece of 11X24 inch HP Durable Scrim, which is a PVC banner material. I used MakingMemories Fresh Anthology acrylic paint set and used 3 of the colours for the background and 3 plus 2 other colours for foam stamps. I painted small areas of colour and used foam stamps to lift some of the colours. I did the stamping after the background paint was dry. While I just got the photo done, this book was done barely in time because of waiting for the drying time. I did a 3 signature pamphlet stitch with 2 envelopes and 1 printed cardstock based on the cover design. The yellow cord for the closure came from a grab bag of trims purchased from Dressew. and the button was from my most recent $1.99 button bag purchase. The closed book measures approx 3.5X4.5. I am pleased with how this turned out and look forward to adding ATCs, tags and journaling to this book, it's definitely staying in my own collection.

April 5 Little Book

April 5 Little Book
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

Another purse style book for ATCs made from paper from a gift bag. The trim on the bottom I knit from Red Heart Twinkle yarn and 5.00 mm needles. The pages are double-sided scrapbooking cardstock and there is a beaded handle and buttons and heavy thread for a closure on the bottom. The trim on the top is a labels 4 Nestabilities die folded over the top to the back. This one also holds ATC "hockey cards" and will probably go to my niece. I like the contrast of a girly purse book holding hockey photos.

Today's Book and ATC Backgrounds

So today being a holiday, I needed a very quick project so I used cardboard cut from a tissue box for the covers and double-sided scrapbook cardstock. This is very similar to the first Zutter ATC book I made some time ago. One of the papers had a nice stripe on one side, but a very bright pink floral on the other side, so I sponged gesso on and wiped off to tone it down.
I just scanned the ATC backgrounds I made yesterday with alcohol inks and canned air. These are precut ATCs with the aqua stripe down the side and I have a huge box of these given to me at the March swap.

Three Days, Four Projects

I showed you the first 2 books I made on April 1st and 2nd, so on April 3rd I got the inspiration from Charmane over on Tweedcurtain Productions blog to alter a watch box I've had for awhile.
This little cardboard gift box had an insert glued inside and the manufactures name on the lid. I pulled the insert out and lined the bottom with peal and stick black felt and the sides with black and white scrapbook paper. On the outside of the lid I used Nestabilities Label 4 and cut one piece of the scrapbook paper and a smaller piece of white cardstock which is rubber stamped with stamps from the Altered Art mini set. It's the perfect size to hold ATCs.

So now for the third book and fourth project I've wanted to try alcohol inks and canned air for awhile and this seemed like a good time. The long piece of shiny cardstock is 3.5 inches wide and has a black stripe on one side and a reddish stripe on the other. I dropped the inks on the black stripe side and blue it around with the canned air. On the reverse I dropped ink on the applicator and dabbed it on the used alcohol to blend it. I cut 2 pieces a little over 4.5 in for the covers.
For pages I folded 4.25 X 6 inch envelopes in half and punched the folded edge with the Zutter
Bind-it-all The envelopes were in my stash from when Ruby Dog's Art House had a bulk section and made pocket pages that will hold ATCs or tags.

Little Books

After spending the weekend at the hockey tournament in Richmond I came home and decided to start some little books. The first one I made is a small purse book made from a hotel brochure and holds ATC "hockey cards" of photos of my niece playing her hockey games. Her team had a good tournament and won or tied all their games and made it to the finales and won silver. It sure was great to see the games as this is the last year she plays in minor hockey. The pages are double-sided scrapbook cardstock and is pamphlet stitched with a beaded purse handle.
The next book is covers made of coasters that are covered with paper from a gift bag. I took the bag apart, misted it and crumpled the paper. I rubbed white pigment ink on the high points and edge. The inside of the covers is black cardstock rubber stamped with white pigment ink. The pages are brown and black cardstock rubber stamped with bleach and coloured with stamp pad inks. I added card sleeves with double-sided tape. This is bound with the Zutter Bind-it-all.

Sat. Project and ATC Swap

Well I am late posting these items, but I will share them now. On Sat. March 20 I had my ATCs ready for the Grind Swap so I went to Cherish The Thought for the weekly project. That week we made a gift card holder with embossing and tried out the Sizzex die cut to make a 3-D flower. This is quite pretty, the die cuts a scalloped spiral which is wound into the flower glued together and onto the front of the card holder. I added a little bead in the centre of the flower.
Then on the 21 I went to the swap which was moved to Heaven Tree Studio for the wrap-up of the ATC Exhibit and our usual monthly swap. It was a lively swap with some new people wanting to know about our regular swap and information about joining us. After the swap we had goodies and coffee and then a draw for door prizes. The shops involved in the exhibit donated prizes and Penelope made several wonderful gifts. I was the lucky winner of one of her hand made map gift bags containing a button Penelope made with a new button maker she just acquired and a lovely little handmade book. Very cute and a real treasure package.

More March ATCs

Well I continued to finish up some more apple theme ATCs for this month's swap. This first group "Fractured Apple" I printed a black and white and a colour photo of my apples then cut them out with the Funky Squares Cuttlebug die. I mixed the 2 images together and mounted them on metallic cardstock embossed with Cuttlebug embossing folders.
This set uses apple stickers from Ruby Dog's Art House, some have an embossed felt background and some are on green cardstock. All the stickers are stitched on watercolour paper and layered with red and silver floral mesh with bits of lace, ribbon and buttons.

March ATCs For ATC Vancouver Swap

Sunday Mar. 21 is the regular swap, so I've been creating as fast as I can to get enough ready. One of the themes this month is apples and I've used a couple of my apple photos, a Crafts Too Leafy Tree Embossing Folder. Some are coloured on the debossed side with Pitt artists pens. Some of the others are coloured with pigment inks on the embossed side. I used various Spellbinders dies to cut the apple image and a piece to layer under some of them. Three of the apple images are mounted with pop dots.

Some ATCs

I've been working on some ATCs today. The first one has some of the torn phonebook paper from the magnet phonebooks and rubber stamps from Crafty Secrets Altered Arts small set and from Quietfire Design. I added some beads a button and a piece of lace edging

One of the themes for the Vancouver ATC group this month is Apples, so I started this one with an embossed felt, placed some floral mesh torn watercolour paper and the apple sticker over this and hand stitched it all down.

Yellow Rolodex Swap

The Byhand Artists Group is having another of our Rolodex swaps and again Beth is our wonderful hostess. The theme this time is yellow and quotes. Well I came across these lovely lemon paper napkins right around the same time the swap was announced, so I just had to use them.



But wait, there's more. The forsythia was most co-operative and came into beautiful bloom, so I am sending these as well. The photo is cropped to fit and printed on watercolour paper. The quote on the front is printed on clear ink jet label and layered over torn vellum. The tag is torn watercolour paper, hand dyed mesh fabric and torn ink jet vellum stitched together. The ribbon on most is torn cotton fabric hand dyed in Making Memories craft acrylic Fresh Anthology Daffodil paint diluted in water. A few have lace edging for the ribbon. I hope all the swappers enjoy adding these to their Rolodex collection.

Embossing Folder Samples

While I was doing the card project at Cherish The Thought on Sat I also perused all the Cuttlebug Folders Jessie had on the wall. I was so impressed with the sample cards that help to really get a look and feel of the texture and if the folder was sold out I could still see what it looked like, and order if I wanted it. I found 2 new ones I wanted in stock, so I came home happy for now. The idea is so great that I made my version with chipboard covers and embossed cardstock with all of the folders I have right now and can easily add more samples as I acquire more folders.

Butterfly Greeting Card

This is the card project I did on Sat. March 6 at Cherish The Thought. The card blank is white, the next layer is black cardstock. The next layer of Coredinations Whitewash Collection in blue, is embossed with Flourished Frame Cuttlebug folder then sanded, I could have sanded a little more and revealed more of a darker blue colour. The top focal piece is white cardstock stamped with butterfly wings from Crafty Secrets Altered Art small set in black ink. The butterfly body is 3 sizes of blue rhinestones. This piece is added with pop dots for some dimension.

Spellbinders Open House

On Feb 20th Jessie had a Spellbinders open house at Cherish The Thought and we made 4 cards using different Nestabilities and techniques. These are the cards I made.

Now this was a busy weekend because on Friday the 19th I went to Vancouver to check out the Olympic activities and on Sunday the 21st I went to the monthly ATC swap which is usually held at the Grind. Because of parking restrictions we met at Collage Collage and Sat night after being at the open house I got a message that Penellope had made an ATC book with pockets as a gift for the store owner, and could we contribute an ATC. So Sunday morning I made the geranium ATCs using my photo and the seed packet card technique, I really liked how the cards turned out and the ATCs turned out pretty good too.

My Entries For TheVancouver ATC Exhibition

On Fri, Feb 26 I took my 9 ATCs for the Vancouver 2010 Exhibit in to Ruby Dog's Art House. There is a list of participants here. If you are in the lower mainland between now and Mar 21 please check out all the cards. The cards will be swapped at the regular Vancouver ATC Group swap on Mar 21.
The top left 2 cards have alcohol ink backgrounds on shiny cardstock and a photo of the cauldron taken from the viewing area. The third ATC is my photo of the torch when it came through my area. The photo is printed on vellum and stitched onto coffee stained watercolour paper with a piece of mesh fabric layered over. The words are computer generated torn cardstock edged with distress ink and fibres are added. The next 2 are playing cards with computer generated text and rubber stamped with "10". The next card in this row is the cauldron layered with pop dots over cardstock coloured with Fired Brick Distress Ink and both are cut with a Nestabilities die cut. The next 2 ATCs are alcohol ink on shiny cardstock rubber stamped with various stamps including a Quietfire Design flourish stamp. The last card is the cauldrom stiched onto mesh fabric on coffee stained watercolour paper.

Scrap ATCs

Back when I made the Dreams ATCs from the magnetic phone books, I cut the label frames, and the pieces left over from doing this were just lying on my desk. These just looked too good to waste so here are some ATCs I made and called "From Scraps To Hearts". I used silver metallic cardstock embossed with a Cuttlebug folder for 3 of the backgrounds and a patterned scrapbook paper for the fourth card. The word stamps are from Quietfire Design. The embellishments include Fun Foam hearts, charms, ribbon and rhinestones.

Late For A Birthday Card

I have been so busy over the last couple of weeks that I didn't get a birthday card in the mail at the appropriate time so I made this "Just Because" card. This is a tri-fold Climb The Hill card made from a two-sided scrapbook cardstock. After scoring the folds I rubber stamped various stamps and the Quietfire sentiment stamp and the Michalels Just Because stamp with Memories Cocoa ink and printed computer genterated words for the other phrases on vellum. The flower is cut with a Sizzixx Flower layers #3 die.