January Swaps

I've signed up for several swaps this month. The first was not actually a swap - we send as many cards as we like to one member who then distributes them to the residents of a nursing home. I sent quite a large envelope full this month as I had made many cards from scraps when I was cleaning up my craft room.

Next is the monthly altered trading coin (ATC) swap. ATCs are little 2.5" round art pieces. I participated in all twelve months of 2019 and am continuing for 2020.  January's theme was "Valentines" and we made two to send to two others. For mine I used bases punched from patterned scrapbook paper and then fussy-cut images from vintage valentines, along with a sentiment. I also added red heart stickers and Stickles around the edges.

A new swap (which I am hosting) is for "inchie" houses.  These are tiny houses which must be no larger than 1-inch square with an optional roof that makes the house no larger than 1.5 inches. This will be a quarterly swap with no theme and we make three to send to three others.  

I made myself a little template and then cut three houses out of some gelli-printed paper scraps I had. I also cut three more to back the houses and tiny rectangles for windows and doors.  I doodled around the details with a fine black pen.  These are so small it's very difficult to get much detail and it will be very interesting to see what others come up with!

And last but not least, I joined the first of an every-other-month junk journal page swap. The parameters are to make one page (not a spread) no larger than 6-7" tall by 3.5-5.5" wide using "junk." These type of journals are quite the rage now and it's amazing what you can do with junk mail, old papers, receipts, empty food boxes and your stash!

This is my fully-loaded page with tags stuffed in the pocket.

And with pockets emptied:

(not sure why this photo looks more green but the actual color is like the photo above)

The base is a folded map page from an atlas, lightly collaged with book pages and music papers.  Little scraps of fabric are sewn to the right edge and a kraft-colored doily is glued over the top edge of the page. The front pocket is half a security envelope glued on so as to create a pocket at the top as well as at the side. It is collaged with bits of vintage wallpapers with a few tiny labels added.

These are the two pieces added to the side pocket. One is a copy of an old postcard and the other is a tag created with an architectural image and a woman (which I repurposed from a card I received a long time ago!).

Peeking out of the top pocket are two tags and a little booklet.  The largest tag has collaged scraps of papers, a stamp and fussy-cut butterfly and a photograph of my mother and two of her sisters when they were teens. It's printed on vellum and I had made it for another project and never used it. I love it because she is sticking out her tongue! The smaller tag is again collaged with book pages, other scraps and an image of a vintage girl. I created the little booklet from an extra family photo Christmas card as it was a nice sturdy weight. I collaged bits of map and text papers to the outside and inside added some vintage lined paper for journaling. The fiber on the paper clip is from a fraying chenille  throw I have - love the color and texture.