April Swaps

I am scheduling this for when I'm gone. We will be in England for two weeks visiting our son who lives in London and also touring the countryside.

This is the front of my junk journal page for the April swap with a sewing theme.

 

On the right is a window envelope made into a flip. I collaged the front with scraps around the window. I added a cluster of a few pieces of fabric, lace and a tiny piece of vintage tape measure to the upper left with a bulb pin.

This shows the flip-out page on the right with a pocket and two journaling cards (sewing pattern fronts reduced in size) which I inserted back to back so an image shows through the window on the front.  The left shows the full front page on which I collaged pieces of a sewing pattern, a bit of tape measure and a piece of fabric. The thread card is a digital image cut out and wrapped with embroidery floss and a small black safety pin attached. The woman image is a stamp which I stamped twice - once on card stock and watercolored and once on patterned paper for the dress.

Back of page

I collaged some sewing pattern tissue on the tea-dyed background and then added a torn strip of scrapbook paper on the left for a narrow pocket. I made a tag from a button journaling card to insert in the pocket.

Small mailable pocket

This was a swap for a small, flat mailer pocket using a You Tube video as inspiration. You can see the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zbQ4IWTIYc  It's easy to make with many possible variations. It only takes a 6" x 6"  paper and mails flat.

Spring House

This is for a quarterly house swap. Using a given size and shape of house, we create one for each season. These are mailed to different partners so everyone will get a nice variety but they will be equal in size. Of course, for April it was a spring house.

I used pattern paper for my house, roof and door. The tulips were cut from a calendar and I used Wink of Stella on them for a subtle sheen. The butterfly is a fussy-cut image on which I also added Wink of Stella. The doorknob is a decorative brad.

Retreat Projects

Every year for the past 15 years, the online art group I am a member of meets in Grapevine, TX, for a four-day retreat. Members come from all over the US. Due to the pandemic, it has not been held the past two years but we were able to resume this year. Each year has a theme and projects mainly coordinate with that theme. Everyone also makes their own book following the theme. This year's theme was "Get Your Kicks on Route 66."

Here are some of the projects/make'ntakes we did.

This was the altered tin I "taught" - I've posted this before.

"Make 'n Take" Cards and Tags

And more ... on the left is a gift card holder - the cup "lid" slides out to reveal slots for the card; on the right is a center-fold card - the  focal image slides down the center to keep it closed.

And a large box card. So fun to make. This one I'm keeping for my grandson's 

upcoming 10th birthday. He'll get a kick out of it.

A folder one member gifted everyone. 

It opens up to reveal several pockets for stickers and playing cards and the center portion holds several Route 66 postcards.

Another member gifted everyone this booklet to hold the 4" x 6" postcards we each brought to trade (showcasing our own state).

And yet another member took photos of each of us along with a group photo and presented them to us in this little keepsake folder.

And, finally, this is the little Route 66 book I created.

In my ongoing effort to use up my stash, I found a 5" x 7" chipboard ring album and covered the front and back covers with a piece of fabric I found at Joann's. I cut out part of the fabric, sewed it onto a piece of burlap and mounted that to the front. The closure is a wheel I pulled off a matchbox car and used a rayon ribbon for the tie.  I tied several ribbons and strips of different Route 66 fabrics to the rings along with some old charms, a key and several stamped shrink plastic charms I made.

Close-up of rings/ribbons/charms

Inside front cover and a few pages. I used a double spread for each state that Route 66 traveled through. I printed Route 66 road signs for each state and "laminated" them back to back for side tabs.

Hope you enjoyed this little peek into our weekend art retreat! As always, it was tons of fun with great friends.

We are leaving for England tomorrow to visit our son who moved there over 2 years ago. Due to the pandemic, this is the first time we've been able to go, though he has been to the states several times since. We are looking forward to seeing the sights in London and then spending about a week in the countryside. My husband will be checking out his ancestral home and doing some genealogy research. I've scheduled a few posts during our time away. Enjoy.

Collage Challenge - Weeks 13 & 14

I'm back from my retreat - what a fun time it was. I will post some of the projects later.

Here are two weeks of the 5-prompt collage challenge.

Week 13

Prompts:

1) a poem ("Bed in Summer" from Child's Garden of Verses)

2) a bird

3) a measurement (measuring tape, top and bottom)

4) stitching (real, drawn or stamped (real on sides of poem)

5) repeated rubber stamping (background)

Bonus: a portion of used envelope (inside pattern of envelope)

Week 14

Prompts:

1) a ribbon ( ruffled along left side, polka dot at top, felt rickrack at bottom)

2) a plant (wildflowers)

3) a person (in whichever form) (girl image from catalog)

4) splashes or splotches (green ink splashes)

5) sheet music (top background)

Bonus: a piece of sewing pattern (tissue at bottom left)

I also added a few stamps to complete the collage.

 

Folded pocket/notepapers made from one large book page

 I made this large folded pocket from a large page from a gardening book. It's folded not quite in half vertically and the remaining piece folded over to create a flap. I covered the inside with a piece of avocado-dyed paper and added a  tab and eyelet for the closure of baker's twine.

For the left side of the "folio" I made a tuck spot from lightweight cardboard packaging, decoupaged with a napkin I had covered with beeswax. It has a soft, velvety feel. The tag is made from an old postcard. I collaged scrap bits of papers to the blank side with a few leftover pieces from the same napkin. The words are from the same book. The "notepad" is just different lengths of papers stapled together at the top, covered with a strip of patterned paper and this header glued to the right side.

This could tuck into an altered book or journal or could be used alone as a small journal.

This will be the last post this week as I am going to an art retreat starting today through the weekend. I hope to have lots of projects to share upon my return.

Collage Challenge - Weeks 11 & 12

Week 11

Prompts:

1) a child or children (vintage children image)

2) a cleaning product (hand soap)

3) a flower (blue flower)

4) a barcode

5) handwriting (used the base page in the 

planner which had handwriting)

Bonus: something that works as a title for the collage (Janet & Jo nail polish)

Other items I added: blue Bingo card, blue circle collar ad, patterned paper. I used

the color blue to unify the collage.

Week 12 

Prompt:

Do you ever order take-out? Use a take-out menu with other restaurant 

and good images and ephemera to make a collage.

This week was a real challenge for me as we don't do much the-out and I had no menus.

Luckily, there was an ad for Asian Buffet in our weekly grocery ads mailing that had a

menu so I used it and went with an Asian theme. I used some origami patterned papers, a piece of a chopstick package and food images from a magazine.