ACT: No Paper!

The challenge of making an ATC without using any paper was one I readily embraced.

 Before I get into the description, I learned yesterday my phone has an option to select the type of light source. The photo above is using the fluorescent option...it is actually pretty close to perfect color match!

Here is another before I discovered that.  You can see some of the elements better, but the color was baaaad!

I started with a piece of Plexiglas from an old poster frame.  I cut a 2.5 x 3.5" piece using my Tonic/Tim Holtz scissors.  Two sides were finished because I cut from the corner, but the other two sides had little cracks all along the edge. :(  My swap partner works with metal, so I opted to just cover up the cracks, but before I did that, I used alcohol inks to marble the Plexiglas.  The copper was leftover from a project and was easily cut with the Tonic scissors.  I got out a long handled lighter and carefully added some patina to the copper, then hammered it flat--or at least flattER.

I glued the copper on (and all the rest of the elements) with Fusion glue.  The corner is brass, meant to go on the corner of a book cover.  It helps hold everything together, just in case the glue doesn't.  I added cork leaves, punched and painted with twinks, a circle punched from walnut veneer, an acetate clock face embellishment, a 7 Gypsies hourglass rubbing, some old watch gears and a couple rounds of thin copper wire.

The back is painted with a metallic white acrylic paint so it would help the Plexiglas shimmer from the front, and give me a place to sign my work.

In all I was VERY pleased with the outcome.  It was great fun to use things out-of-the-ordinary to create this, and I am sure it will not be my last challenge of this nature!

Recycled Revelation #12 Swap ATC

For this ATC, we were to select four items from a list of elements to include.  The ones I chose were:

• something silver
• wrapper from something
• dictionary definition
• something music related
• any brad

Yeah, I can count, but since it was on the list... Anyway...

The silver is mylar from a flight simulator mirror that exploded before it was fully installed.  These things are terribly expensive, but once it is torn, it is not worth anything to them, so Ornery brought a piece of it home for me a couple/few years ago.  It's been waiting for a role to play in my art, and TADA! :)

The wrapper is the nutrition information from some Newman's Own Black Licorice Twists. 

The dictionary definition is the part of the tail end of a 7 Gypsies twill with Friend on it. 

There is a die cut eighth note tucked under things there, that is my something music related.

Obviously the brad is at the center of the little flower which I added because everything just looks better with flowers on it, although I haven't ever seen a black one in real life...  I also added a strip of some of my new Washi Tape!  Woot!  

Once I got started with all the components I realized it would look good if I stuck with a black and white theme, so that is what I did.  I think I will name it "Friends aren't fattening." 

Fall Theme ATC

You can click the image to see more detail, but the card itself is only 2.5 X 3.5 inches, so it is very tiny!

The banner is made from various scraps of paper and a single strand of three-strand jute. I cut a paper Prima leaf in two and added parts to the top and bottom, used my QuicKutz to make the pumpkin, also from scraps, and added some "frost" (aka Stickles glitter-glue) and a 7 Gypsies pocket watch rub-on to denote "falling back" from Daylight Savings Time.  The card itself is a Bristol card from Strathmore, covered with Basic Grey paper.  This is for a SwapBot swap.

More Cards...

The goal was to send 24 all occasion cards as a gift. I already had two made, so in the last three days I have made 22 cards.  Here are the rest of them... I was pulling from the blue/green scrap bin for most of these.

And here they are all boxed up and ready to go. :)

Birthday Cards

"Do you have any cards with you?"

"No, what do you need?" was my reply.

"My brother's birthday is coming up and I need a birthday card."

So, off to the craft room I went, with nary an idea of what the man (27) was like. Here were my two offerings, she took the first one. (She is a younger sister and slightly mischievous, so I thought she might like the "You're how OLD?" sticker to rib her older brother a bit.)
5" square made from citrus green card stock covered in some old newsprint tissue paper I had in my stash. I added the 7 Gypsies tag and various other metal embellishments as well as the clock face. Inside is a sticker that says Happy Birthday mounted on black textured paper. I selected a black envelope for it and she said she had all sorts of ideas for a fun mailing label.

Creative Imaginations papers, American Crafts ribbon, and I don't remember whose sticker--I have had it in my stash for several years. This card is 6X6 with a white envelope that won't fit inside the plastic sleeve with the card. Oh, well. :)