GOT JO'S TAG BOOK!

Package from Australia! Got my tag book swap from Jo yesterday. So thought I would post about it today! Great green and white tissue paper. The tag book came in this container. Lot of lovely detail in the package. First tag sweet little boy.Great Paris tag, the second one.Third tag says it all!!I saved this cute little guy that was the stamp on the package. Jo did a lot of sewing on this project. I can sew but don't do it, but looking at Jo's maybe I should incorporate some in my projects. Have to dig out my machine. Went to Mike's and HL yesterday but was just too late for the bargains. Everything was gone , and they were stocking spring stuff.
They also had valentine stuff out. Only a couple things 40% off. HL had some Tim Holtz at 30% off so I got a package of fragments. Stopped at a different WM and found a few Christmas sticker type things for next year they were 48 cents. And that was all my after Christmas bargains. Bummer :( Going to check for yard sales this AM and maybe make a quick trip to Jo-Anne's I do have a 40% off and a 10% off total purchase. I am really wanting a Big Shot and wonder if I could get it with these coupons...that would make it 50% off...works for me. lol Thanks Jo so much for being my swap partner I love it. That's all for now thanks for looking and come back soon
blessings
donna

TAG BOOK SWAP

HOPE YOU ALL HAD A MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Got my book tag swap from Jo from Australia. The swap was hosted by Jean at http://lilaclanelivery.blogspot.com/ . We were to make a 3 or 4 page tag book with a container. Here is mine. I used a muslin bag (not made by me) and added a charm to it. Put a few stamped butterfly's on it. Close up of the glass bead charm. The first tag in the book I stamped with a dress form stamp, an over all dot stamp, and a Paris stamp. Added some blue checked tissue paper, and some pattern tissue. Then cut a cute girl from a vintage pattern, put a button on her shoulder. Also added a button to the dress form. Second page I stamped all over with my crackle stamp. Stamped a few bird cages. The black bird cage is an acrylic one that I got in a swap. I glued it down then penned the chain to hang it. Some dot tissue added to the bottom. Third page I stamped a little script stamp some girly shoes, a Pairs stamp and some pretty pink rose lace. Cut the pink girl again from a vintage pattern and added the button. Fourth one I think is so cute with the flower button faces. At leas that's what I think they look like little button faces! Crackled the back ground stamped with some out door and garden stamps. Added some rose lace.
Fun again making this tag book, I think Jo is a sewer and I tried to get some sewing in there. Me I am not much of a sewer I can but don't do much. Soon as I get mine from Jo I will post about that also. I still have a couple swaps to get yet. Family left yesterday so Pearl and I are headed out to Mikes and HL this AM. Hope all the good deals are not gone! Jo's blog is http://scrapnstitch.blogspot.com/
All for now thanks for looking and come back soon.
Blessings
Donna

GIFT CARD HOLDER & SCROOGES

Made some gift card holders, I was going to make them out of TP rolls, but changed my mind and took these greeting cards that I got in a big bag full at a yard sale. I did not like these so used them.I cut them in half, covered them with patterned paper, this one is from the Sugar Plums stack. Put on some cute Christmas embellishments then added my gift card. Here is the ATC card I received from Cindy Rose at http://cindyrosesgarden.blogspot.com/ Very nice card Christmas Past is what she chose to put on the card. Great card with a lot of neat detail. Thanks for swapping with me Cindy I love it!I was in two Scrooge ATC swaps. I had a very hard time with this because having no printer and no access to graphics's I had to make do with what I could find. I looked thru some old vintage Christmas books I had and one of them had an excerpt from A Christmas Carol in it. And it happened to be about Tiny Tim. And to add to that the couple of graphics's in the book were hand drawn and in black and white.So what I did was antiqued the heck out of them and went from there. On the back I used my script stamp and on the other I used a piece of paper from and old account book. Trying to go along with the accounting theme that Mr. Scrooge was involved with. Used a scallop punch and punched some script from the book and put a vintage button on it. Used a pre-made envy and stamped it with the script stamp. Then added a Merry Christmas to it. Man have I had trouble doing this post. So I am done for now. Thanks for looking and come back soon.
Blessings
Donna

MINI ALBUMS DONE

Here are the two mini albums I was working on. I used the chunky children's books you get at the Dollar Tree stores. I got some last year, and covered them with some old paper. And that was it, then this year I started watching You Tube and seen how everyone was making such beautiful mini's. And realized I had a long way to go, and the paper was just too old and not pretty. Some was but most not. So I practiced on these two books. Bloom is on the right and love is on the left. Both covers I left the old paper on. Added some lace, flowers , bling and a stick pin. All the edges of the albums are distressed with Ranger distressing ink. I put glimmer mist on some of the flowers. I made some and was not happy with it, so I went back and added more perfect pearls to it and it is much better. The Bloom mini album. Click for close up. I have not added a charm to this one yet.The love mini album. They booth have fibers added to the binding. And this one has a charm. I have a closure on this one, a shank button secured with a fancy paper clip on the front and I used those stretchy hair bands and glued it to the back page, after punching a hole to slip it thru. Then to cover the hair band, I put a paper flower on it. I should have put the band on the back cover before the paper. Here is a few pages from the albums. You can see the paper clip on that holds the shank button on the left side page. I made a tag for a photo and space to journal on the back. You can also put a photo on the page its self. The right hand page I used the top half of a greeting card that was shaped like a purse and stuck a tag in that. I did use pretty Mariposa paper on the left side , with the butterflies. Old paper on the base of the right page and a couple circle tags. Some lace on the bottom.I used more Mariposa paper on these pages, I want to save that paper to use when I get better at making these mini's. The shiny pink butterfly is a from a bunch of rhinestones I got in PA. The left page has a tag and the right is for a photo. Or what ever. Used old paper mostly on this page, a scrap from the Mariposa for the tag. The flower is a from a piece of lace that I cut up. Put some paint and rhinestone on it.This page has old paper on the back, and the tag is made from scrap that I used on the second page above. A paper flower on the tag stuck behind lace. This is the album sitting up so you can see the closure. And how fat it is. These mini's are made to be fat. They will be even fatter when they are loaded with photos.
I wish I knew how to make a video and up load it to You Tube. I would like to try my hand at that. It is a good way to network with other artist. I think I need a new camera first, then look in to doing it. Do any of you watch the You Tube video's on scraping and other art ?? You should take a look, a whole new art/craft life opened up to me. I have a couple more of these to work on. Then I want do some that should be good enough to give away as gifts and to sell. I need to make some simple ones that would sell at craft shows in the spring. That's all for now thanks for looking and come back soon.
blessings
donna

MY DOMINO & DIE CUTS!

This is the altered domino that I made for my swap partner Karla. I used patterned paper cut down to size for the domino. Sealed it with Glossy Accents. This side you can ware it at Christmas.The other side, used more pattern paper ,added some bling pearls,again sealed with Glossy Accents. Used a vintage jewelry chain that I got with some vintage costume jewelry. They make great necklace for this kind of project. Use the good quality ones. Added a hummingbird charm from Mike's. Tiny screw eyes in a drilled hole top and bottom. I had fun making this and really love the one Karla sent to me. I posted about it a week or so ago. Click on to enlarge. Got my first batch of die cuts in the lace swap I had. Got these from Jean at http://lilaclanelivery.blogspot.com/ I love them, just what I wanted. Thanks so much Jean for swapping with me, hope you like the lace.A few of the things she sent, now these were sent in big bunches of each thing with many many things lol.This is just a sampling of things she sent, all kinds of things, a couple I don't know what they are. But most I know. Thanks so much Jean, again I love it all!! All for now thanks for looking and come back soon
Blessings
Donna

DOMINO SWAP & ROSES

Hi all, got my domino swap necklace from Karla Jackson, the other day. WoW what a lovely necklace . It was in this tulle with a Santa tag.Then inside was the necklace in side of a cupcake paper, now how cool is that for a wrapping!This is the altered domino, an old time father Christmas under what looks like glossy accents. You just have to see this to believe how nice it is! Before the glossy accents was applied it looks like she sprinkled it with some glittery things. Click on the pic to see detail. My daughter, years ago made me a Christmas necklace that I ware every year. But I forgot it in PA so this year I will ware this one!! Just in time Karla!It was a cloudy rainy day here yesterday, with not much going on. So I watched some You Tube, and seen them making these roses. So thought I would try my hand at making some and here they are. They are what is called spiral roses. You cut a 3 or 4 in circle in to a spiral and then roll it up. Just go to google and type in paper roses and you can find then easy. And they are sooooo easy to make.This is the second style of paper flowers I learned from You Tube. The first ones were made with the cupcake papers. Look back to this summer on my blog and you can see that post. I also have a pic of then on my side bar. Try them so much fun to make.Been rainy in Florida, but not that cool. Working on that mini album that I told you about last week. Some mistakes like the closure should have been put on before the paper was added to the front and backs. But its coming along. I am going to transform all those chunky books I did last year (when I didn't know what I was doing ) to some of the things I have been learning on You Tube. I tried to make a paper bag mini album, did not work out too well. There are many ways you can do the paper bag album and later on after I tried the first one I found another way to do it , and I think will work better for me. So that's up next. Well all for now thanks for looking and come back soon
Blessings
Donna

MORE MAIL!

Got my Christmas match box swap yesterday! It was from Olivia a http://olivascreativequest.blogspot.com/ . The swap hosted by Tee. This is a beautiful hand made card. She did a great job on it. That is one thing that I have not done with paper crafting.This is what was in the box. Match box wrapped in gingham green tissue paper. And a snowman tin filled with goodies. Love these wrappings. The match box.Beautifully done!This is part of what was inside, too much for one pic. I might have got it mixed up with stuff in snowman!! Blue stuff, seed packet, lace, yo yo, beads, white yo yo, mini domino's, tags and tickets, beads,Trims, stamp, angel, lace doily, altered spoon, stick pin, looks like a snowman) butterfly, sequins, key and much much more! I had so much fun opening this package, (early Christmas) More, I think most of this was in the snowman. Lots of fun goodies,I can play with!! Thanks so much Olivia, I love it all, you went over broad!!! Olivia was not my partner, I sent my partner her box several weeks ago, and have not heard from her, so next post I will post what I made and sent. All for now thanks for looking and come back soon.
Blessings
Donna

I GOT MAIL !!

Tee from the http://creationsbytee.blogspot.com/ sent me some goodies. Got them yesterday. First she send me this beautiful altered domino necklace. Great piece with a ball chain. Thanks Tee :)She also send along some Christmas ornaments, a tag to alter, and two ornaments. All this came in a cool hand made envelope. I will have to try that. And more Tee was my partner in the ATC card swap that she hosted. So this came along for the ride also. Hand made envy here too. Love it!!! I love jolly Santa's.Karla Jackson sent me this great ATC . She also was in the ATC swap. Do to the uneven # of peeps in the swap, she was to send to me. I was not her partner but, I think I will send a little Christmas surprise to her ;) (shhh don't tell)
WEATHER IN MELBOURNE FL. Cold front that is going on the rest of the east will cross Florida today. That means cloudy, lows 50's and high's 70's My kind of weather!!
I am working on those mini albums, for practice. They are coming along. I will post more about them next time. Off to the gym and therapy. (for feet not head ) lol .... All for now thanks for looking
Blessings
Donna

WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING

PRACTICE MAKING MINI ALBUMS. When I first started in the altered art I made these mini albums before I even knew what they were. I used a fat children's book you get at the dollar store, covered them with old scrap book paper, and vintage gift wrapping paper. I used mod podge to adhere them, that did not work out so well, the pages stuck together at the seam and on the edges. This is a pic of the fix I did. I cut a small strip of paper and put it in the edge with some lace. I just glued it on the back and each end to make a pocket. Did the same to other page with out lace. That took care of the sticking. I did that to all the pages.Then I added a flower that I glimmer misted. With my home made mist. More about that later on in post. There is also ribbon or fashion yarn between each page. These books are what is called chunky books, so the pages are like chip broad. Most of the practice paper is at least 5-7 years old not at all like the beautiful paper that is out today. I want to use this paper before I tackle the good stuff. These should be nice just not like things you can do today.Made me some glimmer mist after watching YouTube how to videos. I did everything that they side to do, but honestly I am not impressed. I did not think it was shinny enough or sparkly enough. But then I dont know what the real glimmer looks like. I can not find it at Mike's or Jo's
or HL. See the mini mister on the left? That says eye glass cleaner on it, dad got this at sam's club last week they were giving them away, they are just like the ones you buy at craft store. I wish he would have got a handfull lol. That one I used gold perfect pearls and carmel alchol ink and it worked the best. The other was cranberry with pearl colored perfect pearls. I even added more than they put in them. I love using the PP 's on the ink stamp.These leaves were sprayed with the mist, as you can see it collected in the veins and sparkle but not on the rest of the leaf. I must figure out what I am doing wrong.
I sent my altered domino necklace out yesterday. Soon as my partner Karla gets it I will post about it here. Started back at the gym yesterday, just like starting over I have been gone so long. Feet getting better, still hard to go shopping tho, and still cant to my exercise walking. That I miss the most. All for now thanks for looking and come back soon.
Blessings
Donna