My muse returned

My muse left me for awhile. I'm not making cards this year, or gifts, or tags. I did get a little creative with my Christmas wrapping though.

 I bought some brown kraft paper for wrapping, and then I found my wrapping paper and used that up. I started wrapping my presents for friends last night, and thought it would be fun to do a little something different with it.
My original plan was to stamp on the paper, but I thought this was cuter. I added some burlap ribbon, some vintage trim and some vintage bits on top of that. I just glued the loops to each other and not the packages, thought it would be easer to unwrap.

 This one has some toile I got in a swap, I don't know if it's old, the pin someone gave me.

 This one is blue velvet and a pin I bought.

 This one is a thicker lace and a sparkly snowflake.

 I like this one the best, I think it's the most Christmasy, it's red velvet ribbon and a broken pin.

My muse did come back last week and I got sucked up in making a few patchwork quilt like pieces.

 This one is in different kinds of fabric with different shades of green.

This one I haven't sewn down yet, everything is sheer and I think I really need to borrow a sewing machine to sew it. I probably won't sew them down in blocks, maybe I'll do a little freeform stitching.

I'm kinda stuck on these two. My original thought to was to make two stockings, but the stocking background was just too big for the sheer piece. I also thought I'd make them pockets (like a stocking), but I don't know if I want to do that anymore. I wanna do some kind of embellishment on them, but I don't know what.

Anyone have any ideas?

Halloween ATCs

I'm not much of a Halloween crafter, but I was putting together a Halloween basket for someone and then some goodies for others, I thought I should include a card with them.

These were scanned so they're a little smaller than my regular photos, sorry, I'm sure you can click on it to make it bigger.

Mostly, I just added pictures to a background.

I used orange, black, purple and neutral backgrounds. I actually prepared many more backgrounds than I made cards, so now I have backgrounds for something else.

Starting in the top left corner and going clockwise: the background is orange and white striped the image is something I got in a swap, this one is my favorite; the background is black, I have no idea where I got this image; the background is white with black spots, there's three pumpkins I got in a swap last year and "Halloween greetings" at the top; the background is orange, the gold is from an Asian paper, the trim at the bottom is from a swap and the bat came with the above pumpkins; The background is white layered with a house and blood, I really like this dripping blood, but I didn't really know what to do with I; the background is black with an orange strip and a goblin on top; the background is white with black and orange fabric and a stamped cat on top; the background is purple with some washi tape on the bottom, a witch girl and "witchy woman" on top of the washi tape.

Linen and Lace

My last post was about the cards I made for this swap.

I received my return cards on Wednesday, normally I would take pictures of these as they came out of the shipping envelope, but I picked up my mail on the way to work, and I knew what it was so I couldn't wait to open it.

Here's what I received back:

 Starting in the top left, Sherry of Createology, top right: Susanne T of No 108 Bella Vista, bottom: Pam of Virginia Retro.

Kimberly also included a bunch of Halloween stuff for crafting, I'm almost inclined to make some Halloween cards, I usually don't create for Halloween.

Linen and Lace

Hi All, I signed up for Kimberly's Linen and Lace ATC swap, and have finally finished my cards.

I have four done, but only because I decided I didn't really think the butterfly one goes with the others, so I had to make another one.

 Kimberly said it was up to me how I interpreted the theme, so I used a linen hanky for the background and then promptly covered it up, but the lace is promptly seen on all of them.
This is the one I created today:

 Like I said, linen hanky has background, on top of that I added a piece of wide vintage lace, some blue rhinestone flowers and some blue trim. I might go back and add a little blue coloring to the lace, I'm not sure. Compared to the other two, it's kinda dull (but only cause I'm not really a neutrals kinda gal).
These next three, I made at the same time:

 Again with the linen hanky background, on top of that is some (I have no idea what it actually is) green fiber (?) and then the edging of a green napkin, some lace I picked up at a garage sale and some tatting from an old shirt collar at the bottom.

Linen hanky background layered with some green fabric and then more green ribbon and some vintage buttons. I also added some lace to the bottom.
After making this last one, I decided I didn't like how it looked with the other two, and I'm gonna list it on Etsy.

There is a linen background, some brown/gold fabric, some very elegant looking trim and then the lace butterfly. The butterfly was originally white, so I colored it with some alcohol inks and then used some gold puff pant to accent some parts of it and tie it in with the other fabrics.

I'm thinking of wrapping them in a vintage hanky to send them on their way.

My Own Style Swap

A few weeks ago, I joined Kimberly's ATC swap, My Own Style, check out this post to see what I made for it. Earlier this week, I received my return cards in the mail:

 This first one is from Kimberly, hostess, of ArtJoyStuff:

 I really like how she used fabric on it, it's so gorgeous.
This next one is from Sherry of Createology:

 I love the blues in this one.
And the last one is from Jane, no blog:

 I really like the key and the round beads?

I see on Kimberly's blog that she's got upcoming swaps listed, some of them sound really fun to me. The current swap is grunge, but I'm not really sure I'm a fan of grunge, so I'm not participating. the rest of the year swaps sound really fun, I'm hoping I find time for those.

 

Thank you lades for your beautiful cards.

Getting creative

I was in charge of prizes for my cousin's fiancée's bridal shower this weekend. I thought I'd get a little creative with the wrapping of the prizes, plus I haven't done anything arty in awhile.

Here is a book wrapped in tissue paper with heart ribbon on top. The box I covered all the seams with washi tape (I'm trying to use more of it, I have 25 rolls). I also added some flower stickers.

 Here I had two gift bags that were kinda plain. The pink one I added some satin ribbon and then a strip of ribbon with white roses on top. The second one was a brown bag, I added some washi tape to the top, some vintage lace and then some green wired ribbon and a burlapish flower sticker to the top. I love how this bag turned out so much that it inspired something else.

 I also made a card for the shower and a graduation card for my cousin's kid (different cousin).
For the bride's card, I used dictionary paper with the word bride on it as background, some vintage lace and some pearlized buttons on top.
For the graduation card, I used dictionary paper with the word graduation on it for background, layered some paper and added stickers spelling out "Congratulations" on it.

I joined Kimberly's My Own Style ATC swap a few weeks ago (mostly because I needed to do some art), and I had the hardest time figuring out my style. This morning, I sat down with my supplies and was thinking how much I loved the gift bag above, so I basically re-created it on ATC's.

I used dictionary paper with the word artist as the background (I made three for the swap, and one for me), added the green wired ribbon with the burlapish flower sticker on top. I used some vintage trim and a paper measuring tape for the bottom.

 Liz at Lululiz in Lalaland kinda inspired me to make pockets for them, she always does for her cards, and I thought it might be fun to start doing that with my cards. So, I used the leftover page of the dictionary. I folded it over and added some washi tape. I plan to match each card to its page when I send them out.

I still have to write up what my style is. I'm not entirely sure, I was always going to start with dictionary paper and then go from there. I like that I combined vintage, fabric, and paper.
I love these cards so much that I really want to keep them and make something else, but I'm not going to. I know I've done something great to give away when I want to keep it.

Altered Tins

I've started altering Altoid Tins for gifts, here's a few I've been working on.

This one was for a friend for Valentine's Day:

 I glued burlap ribbon to the front, added a charm I got in a swap and a jewel on top.
This is the inside of the box:

 There's vintage blue paper as the background, with a strip of ribbon roses on the inside of the lid, I added a tag to the bottom with some more ribbon flowers.
This is the back of the tin:

 We both work at a library, so I thought it was fitting to put "A nation of readers", and "Learning never ends" stamps. I also added a saying from a Dove chocolate.

This next one is a birthday present for a friend who likes birds and blue.
 The front of the tin:

I have decided one of my new signature things is to use dictionary paper as backgrounds, I also added a shiny bird to it.
The inside:

 I glued a few birds on the lid, and a bird and nest to the bottom.
Here's the back:

 A cute kingfisher stamp.

This one is a birthday present for a friend who likes purple:

 

 I added a butterfly and some flowers to the lid, I also added some ribbon and faux pearls to the edge.
This is the inside:

I painted a metal pendant from a necklace for the bottom, and added some dogwood flower stickers with puff paint accentuating them. I added purple flowers to the inside of the lid with a couple butterfly stickers.
And here's the back:

 I added a butterfly sticker to it.

These next two are for the Pay It Forward project that I signed up with Kathy at Kluless and Cathy at Ma Vie Trouvee. So, ladies if you're reading, stop.
This one's for Kathy:

I added burlap with a strip of canvas to the front of it and some vintage buttons. I also added lace to the edges of it.
Here it is opened:

I filled it with buttons because I know she collects buttons, I also added some vintage trim to the lid.
Here's the back:

I added a nice vintage looking picture.

 

And this one's for Cathy:

I added a piece of silver paper and a very colorful motif. I painted the edges green. I believe she likes bright colors, so I tried to use some for her.
She was talking about this being the year of the Ram for the Chinese New Year, so I went with that theme:

I used some stamps in this too. A little back story on that, this summer my parents sold their house and a we were cleaning out, we found my brothers stamp collection, so I have a ton of stamps now, I plan to use some in my artwork, but if anyone's interested in some stamps.
Anyway, the one on the lib is very bright, and I added a ribbon that I printed The year of the Ram on, on the bottom I added some green paper and three ram stamps.
Here's the back:

I thought this was a cute little ram stamp as well.
I also gathered up some handmade beads for Cathy, because I know she likes beads:

I plan to get these will go in the mail tomorrow, I hope the recipients like them.

Valentines

It's getting close to Valentine's Day, so I made a few valentines. I decided to create them out of buttons, since I have a ton of those. I apologize that the pictures are to dark. I finished them tonight and have a few I want to get in the mail tomorrow (fingers crossed they'll make it by Sat, they're going in state, so should be fine.)

As you can see I basically made hearts with the buttons, I covered a few cards with dictionary paper because I wanted to see how it looked with the white buttons on it, a sort of low-color card. I kept thinking they needed something else in the middle to make them look done, so I dug out some heart shaped things from my stash.

This one I covered the background with dictionary paper, and tried out a button border, I also only used clear buttons for the heart. I'm not sure I really liked the clear buttons on the dictionary paper. I used a clay button for the center.

 I also made the heart with clear buttons here, the middle is a sticker, I had a particular person in mind for this one.

 The middle here is a piece of lace.

 For this heart, I used all vintage buttons with string, the middle is a locket.

 Again, dictionary paper, this one has all vintage buttons with a sticker in the middle.

 I used a cupid button for this one.

 More dictionary paper with a sparkly pendant for the middle, all mother of pearl like buttons here.

 Just a clay button for the middle.

 Another pendant for the middle, again with the buttons with string.

 This one has a nice cloisonné pendant for the middle, sadly it fell off after taking this picture, figured I'd send it plain.

 This one I had a particular person in mind, which is why it's made with purple buttons and a nice bead for the center.

 This one has a vintage pin for it's center.

 This one has a button with a heart cut out.

 This one has a sticker I picked up somewhere, the design is created with micro beads.

And lastly, this one has a piece of metal filigree in it.

 

I kinda think they look like a kid made them. I found out I do not freehand hearts well. And when some of them looked so good before I glued the buttons down, they seemed to have morphed into something that's not a heart afterwards. Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right?