Hippity Hoppity

Easter's on its way! I made up sweet cards for the nieces and nephew.

I printed a few vintage Easter postcards onto fabric and adhered each to a cardstock base. Then I cut an egg-shaped "window" from a piece of pastel fabric and adhered and sewed it on top of the fabric postcard.

Then I stitched a lace or seam binding ruffle around the opening and added a matching bow.

Now I need to buy some sweet treats for them and I'm all done!



Come Inside

I created a couple more pages for my art journal. I went with a fairy garden theme just in time for spring. Here is the double page.

On the left side, I layered a beautiful cabinet card image printed onto muslin with some bits of old lace and crochet trim. I painted a Dusty Attic chandelier embellishment and glued it down. On the right side, I typed Shakespeare's Fairy Land poem to accompany my little flower fairy.
 

Here she is, awakening from her fairy sleep.

But wait, there's more! The fairy page opens to reveal what awaits you inside the mysterious Fairy Land.

Perhaps you'd care to tiptoe through the tulips, or stay fresh as a daisy.

 

I'd like to stop and smell the roses.

Treasure Hunting

... or "more junk" as my husband calls it. We ended up in Dallas last week and I didn't want to waste the trip. I found a couple of estate sales to shop while we were in the area. Here are some of my treasures.

Old advertising envelopes (available in my etsy shop), sparkly Christmas picks, doilies, and old travel postcards.

An old cigar box full of thread.

I didn't find the book, but this cover came home with me. It will be great for a Christmas altered hanging. There were several rolls of the vintage Halloween crepe paper, so I bought a couple.

A pile of old pillowcases. The eyelet fabric is actually an old dress, tattered and torn from years of use and storage.

My favorite find was this HUGE old ledger from 1903.

It has 161 of the 1,000 pages used. They aren't "filled" but they contain unique entries like "will pay when Mr. Williams pays him for the tomatoes"!

The entries include the person's name and their occupation, like blacksmith, dress maker, laborer.

I will have blank and "with writing" pages listed on etsy.

 

Some Images

I bought a great old German book because of the wonderful illustrations inside. I've scanned some of them to share. Please feel free to use these in your artwork, but do not sell them. They are free for everyone.

I'll post a few more in a couple of days. I also have an old French fashion magazine that I need to scan.
 

Spring Puzzle Inchies

I participated in another inchie challenge this month. This time, the theme was to make a puzzle with your inchies. I started with a 2x2 square with embellished image:

I then cut this twinchie into four inchies, which make up the inchie puzzle.

I used vintage florist greetings for the image (those little cards they tuck into the bouquet) and embellished it with Stickles, tiny flowers, and a paper-punched butterfly. I can't wait to see what the ladies come up with for their inchies!

 

Happy Spring

Back on this post, I shared the projects I made for a Spring Art Swap with a couple of friends. Here are the projects I received from these two talented ladies.

First up is my friend Julie. She made this fabulous altered Spring banner. On the back is a spring poem to inspire me. I love the colors and all the little bits and bobs she embellished it with. I have it on display in my entry with my spring and Easter projects.

Next up is Diana, who made this stunning altered canvas for me. I love the colors and the layers she applied. I'm hoping to get a beautiful spring photo of my niece to place on it.

Here's a close-up of some of the embellishments.

Thanks ladies for another great swap!! I truly love what you made for me.

Big Mini Book

I have been terrible at keeping up with my scrapbooking. I still have vacation photos from 2006 that aren't scrapped. I wanted to get busy creating, but was a little tired of doing 12x12 albums. So, I decided to make my own album that is the perfect size for scrapping these vacation photos from our 2006 trip to Florida.

The album measures slightly larger than 8x10 inches. I made the front and back covers with chipboard that I covered in paper and fabric. Here is the front, covered in a piece of barkcloth. The embellishments are resting on a burlap base. I tied a little grungy tag and some stained cheesecloth to the top binder ring.

Here's a peek at some of the pages inside. I went for a minimalist design to make the layouts quick and easy. I used a "sea and sand" color scheme for all the pages and used just a few embellishments on each page.

I also didn't do a lot of journaling - basically date, where we were, what we did. For pages that included more journaling, I hid the journaling. Like this page highlighting our day at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach. (It's actually a two-page layout.) Each of the four photos (two are shown) lifts to reveal two more photos. Tucked under each photo "book" is a tag that I wrote the journaling on. This way, I've preserved the memories and information, but it doesn't clutter my page.

I used pop-dots to raise the photo of us at the Southernmost Point landmark.



One of my favorite memories from this trip is visiting the Key West Butterfly Conservatory. I took a ton of photos and it was hard to choose just a few. I had one enlarged, so that little beauty got her own page.

I selected more of my favorites and made a flip-out book. Because these extra photos would be too heavy to adhere to a piece of cardstock, I created a page, slightly smaller than the others, from cardboard. The cardboard is sturdy enough to handle the weight of the flip-out book. I covered it with patterned paper and a few neutral embellishments.



On the left below is the back of the cardboard page. It's the perfect background for this photo of Husband, taken as we were driving out of Key West. On the right is one of my favorite photos of us, taken at a fabulous Cuban restaurant in Palm Beach - The Columbian.

I want to show you what I did with all that memorabilia that we collect on vacation. I didn't want it to clutter up my pages, especially since it didn't match with my color scheme. On the inside of the back cover, I created a pocket out of burlap and tucked all these momentos inside - menus, ticket stubs, maps, you name it. To make sure the papers didn't fall out or slide around, I criss-crossed and tied a piece of twine to keep them in place.



I was able to scrap my entire trip within a week. I was thrilled to get it done. I was very selective in the photos that went into the album, which helped keep it manageable. Now I can move on to our Savannah trip...

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day! My niece thinks she should get gifts on "Patrick's Day," so I made her a little pin and hair barette so she can show off her Irish pride.

For the pin (on the right), I punched a scalloped circle from a piece of Prima packaging, then added two sparkly shamrock stickers. Every girl needs some sparkle! I stitiched a ruffle from green polka dot ribbon and used my hot glue gun to adhere it to the back. I added another punched paper circle to finish off the back and glued on a pin back.

I made the "Kiss Me, I'm Irish!" banner on my computer, cut it out, and adhered with glue dots.

For the hair barette (on the left), I glued some of the leftover ribbon ruffle onto the barette and then added a sparkly shamrock sticker. These both held up to her wearing them to play in, so hopefully they make it through tomorrow!

Published!

Do you have a copy of the April CARDS magazine? There's a card featured on page 60 that I'm awfully fond of :)

They did change a part of my instructions (I don't know why), and it's actually incorrect. So, if it doesn't make complete sense, that's why.



Fairy Whispers

I was in the mood to create a little something the other day, and a tag fit the bill perfectly. I started with a plain manilla tag that I painted with Ranger's Pool paint dabber. I stamped on the background with Basic Grey stamps and Broken China Distress Ink.

The fairy is cut from a wrapping paper scrap. I embellished her wings with Lavender Stickles and added a little mound of grass for her to rest on using colored pencils. I added some trims and flowers at the bottom and typed a little sentiment using my old typewriter.

A decorative brad and some coordinating ribbons top her off.

Traveling Treasures

I spent a long weekend visiting my family in NJ. Coincidentally, there were two antique shows going on when I was in town. Lucky me! We even brought my 3-year-old niece with us, for better or worse.

Here's a look at some of the treasures that came home with me (I had to leave two old books with my parents because my suitcase was already full).

The lace tablecloth will go perfectly with a new dining table display I set up before I left. I picked up a piece of old fabric, some jewelry bits and bobs, and two bisque dolls. I know I should have bought more of them.

The old tin with cats was too cute to pass up. And so were these little mugs! I have 5 total, with another sheep and chick.

We stopped in a thrift shop and I found four boxes of these old stick-on letters. I think they were used for putting names on glass doors and windows, because I can't imagine who else would need so many of these letters. My sister thought I was crazy when I opened one of the boxes and said "jackpot!" Some of these will end up on etsy, whenever I can get organized enough.

Here's what my niece enjoyed doing while I was there - dressing up and dancing ballet with me. She made the pink tissue paper flower and greeted me at the airport with it. She was so excited! I'll get to see her again next month, so saying good-bye wasn't nearly as hard this time.

Spring Is in the Air

I did a little Spring Art Swap with a couple of friends. Since they both received their packages, I can share the projects I made.

I decorated a little trinket box using spring colored papers, trims, flowers, and findings. I inserted a pretty vintage image in the box lid's window, and also decorated the inside of the box. This is Diana's box.

I made a ribbon bookmark for each and a custom jewelry piece. For Diana, I made a pair of sterling and glass bead earrings that are just right for spring.



I decorated Julie's box in a similar way.

I tucked a pretty soldered pendant inside (since her ears aren't pierced).

And, it's reversible. I added an antique glass button to the top. Now I want one! I'll have to get busy and make some more.



Thank Heaven for Hoarders

Who else would have kept all the junk I love to buy? Like this 1951 French fashion newspaper. Or old kitchen curtain fabric.

 

My next task is to scan these images and post for you to use.

How about more trim, buttons, and an old jewelry box.

This pretty little vase is marked Bavaria. It's just so sweet! I love using little vases and jars like this as a toothbrush holder in our guest bathroom. The Bingo sheets are heading to etsy. I should put some of the little tins up there, too, but I haven't been able to part with them yet.

The Sirens

I'm working on an art journal with my friend Julie, and this month I created in her book. Here are the pages that I made. I recently bought a new mixed media book, Image Transfer Workshop. I haven't had a chance to go through too much of it, but I tried out one technique that I've used in the past - the packing tape transfer technique. (This is a fairly common technique. If you google "packing tape transfer" you'll find instructions.)

The inspiration for my pages was this image that I pulled from a magazine and made into a transparency using the packing tape transfer technique. Then I flipped through Julie's book and found this poem "The Sirens." Bingo! My three ladies are now the three sirens.

I added paint to the background and positioned the image on some sewing pattern tissue so the title would show through when adhered.
 

On the facing page, I wanted to create a little shadowbox to embellish. I glued several pages together and then cut out a window. I framed the window with masking tape and patterned paper and then added three vintage millinery flowers - one for each siren. (I just noticed the III and "flower" below my flowers. What a wonderful coincidence!!) I found the perfect phrase from one of the pages that I cut and adhered it below with the window. It needed sparkle, so I outlined the text with Platinum Stickles.

I wanted to add lace to the page with the ladies, but I was afraid the book wouldn't close. It's already a tight fit with what I've done so far. I'll have to save the lace for another time.