Craftside

Gift Tag bag from Beyond Scrapbooks

I have a confession to make, I have yet to make a successful scrapbook page. There, I've said it. But that does not mean I haven't tried, you don't learn and grow unless you try and it also doesn't mean I don't buy virtually every piece of paper, embellishment, rubber stamp, punch and book on the subject (well looking around my studio it sure feels that way). So this book rocked my world because it was filled with projects that I could make with all my goodies!

Beyond Scrapbooks:
Using Your Scrapbook Supplies to Make Beautiful Cards, Gifts, Books, Journals, Home Decorations and More! 

By
Barbara Bourassa

Avid crafters have known that scrapbooks have spawned an enormous number of unique and beautiful supplies, tools, and techniques that can be used to create hundreds of fabulous gifts, home decorations, jewelry and more.

Using scrapbook supplies, you can publish your own book; design your own cards, calendars and stationary; decorate frames, lampshades or coasters for your home; design your own jewelry using metal snaps, charms, and beads, and create the look of decoupage on candles, magnets, and trays with fantastic results. Set aside your stencils and use die-cuts to decorate rooms, doors, and mirrors; make your own jewelry, napkin holders, and tiebacks using ribbons and twill, and create holiday decorations and ornaments in minutes. And that is just the beginning.

In all, there are 25 how-to projects with step-by-step instruction, followed by variations of other materials that can be substituted. It is the perfect book for scrapbookers, paper artists, memory artists and crafters.

Barbara C. Bourassa is a craft designer, photographer, writer, and editor living in North Andover, MA. Her professional credentials include writing and editing positions with several magazines, including Handcraft Illustrated, Cook’s Illustrated, N magazine, and Natural Health. Beyond Scrapbooks is her first book with Quarry Books.

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Now let me share with you my spin on this ingenious idea.

I started with a standard ATC and then punched a "File Tab #68500" from McGill." I then glued the file tab over the ATC sandwiching it between the tab, and then trimmed of the excess paper. I also rounded the corners of the paper just under where the tab met the paper. I punched a hole in the tab and added a bunch yarn scraps to form a tassel.

My thought is these could be used the same way as in Beyond Scrapbooks and give them as a gift to be used as gift tags, but what about giving them to an ATC maker as a blank pallet for them to work their creative magic on?

Inovative photo corners made with Ribbon from Scrapbook Collage

Scrapbook Collage:
The Art of Layering Translucent Materials
By
Trice Boerens

Never before has there been more interest in scrapbooking. Once a seemingly mundane activity, scrapbooking has grown into a sophisticated art with scrapbook enthusiasts clamoring for more ideas for making their pages creative and unique. Scrapbook Collage feeds exactly this demand. Each section focuses on a variety of translucent materials that can be used to build beautiful layers and dimension into your scrapbooking projects. Through stunning finished pages, illuminated details of the unique techniques and materials applied to sample projects and templates, this book provides instruction on how to create sophisticated, collage-style scrapbook layouts.

Trice Boerens has worked in the craft industry for the past 22 years as an author and writer, and for numerous books and magazines. Although textiles featuring needlework and quilting have been a central focus, she also designs jewelry, greeting cards, children’s books, home accessories, and even tattoos. She has also done design work for companies including the Disney Corporation, Blue Mountain Arts, and the Campbell’s Soup Corporation. She is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a degree in Art Education and Graphic Design. She is the author of Decorative Embellishments for Scrapbooks (Rockport, 2004). She lives in Ogden, Utah.

I am all about including things in my scrapbooks and altered books in new and innovative ways, especially when I can make them myself. Who doesn't have scraps of ribbon laying around to give this one a try:

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Not one to do things exactly the same, check out my spin on this cool idea.

First of all I had to get creative on the adhesive front. The original project from Scrapbook Collage called for double-sided adhesive and I either don't have any or can't remember that I do, you decide.

So, I did know that I had double-side iron on adhesive (and more importantly, I could find it) so I grabbed that and my pretty pink organza ribbon.

Now organza ribbon will melt so I set the iron on 3 (pretty low) and the adhesive will go through so I put a scrap piece of paper in the folded area and pressed the paper backed adhesive to the side with the open fold.

I then pressed the smaller triangles onto the side tabs.

I then peeled the paper back off the small outer triangles and pressed the tabs open.

To adhere the photo corners into my altered book I peeled the paper backing of the large central triangle (the first one I ironed on) and pressed them to the page.

These guys work great because the translucency of the organza ribbon allows the entire image to show! In this case I popped in one of my ATC's that is a pocket egg made from Michael Strong's rubber stamps egg stamp.

Organ-ized Organza ATC Storage in an Altered Book- what an all around good crafting Friday it iz!

The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery and I'm not kidding!

When I read a book I put sticky tabs on pages I want to go back to and either try out the technique or use the image as inspiration for a design I am working on. Lets just say my copy of

The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery
Mixed-Media Techniques for Collage, Altered Books, Artist Journals, and More
By
Karen Michel

is exploding with stickies!

This book has a wide range of techniques borrowed from both traditional and digital art has recently begun to blend into one art form, known as altered art. The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery is the only book currently on the market that provides fascinating tips and creative ideas solely focused on this new form of art. An in-depth discussion of manipulation techniques is supplied, making this an essential handbook for all artists and crafters looking for creative ways to alter and enhance various types of imagery in new and traditional ways, and then to integrate this altered art into their work.

Karen Michel has studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is a professional artist, painter, book artist, and teacher, and is founder of Creative Art Space for Kids, a nonprofit organization on Long Island, New York. She travels and teaches workshops, and has been widely published in books and art and craft magazines. She lives in Island Park, New York.

This page seemed obvious but it really reminded me about all sorts of simple modifications to a single image that really can transform it.

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Karen Michel is really talented, I wanted to see more so I went to her Website, her blog and then I popped over to her Etsy Shop and saw this Rebirth Print:

Pretty cool, hu?

Soooo, now that my mind is tickled with knowledge. I gave it a shot:

My original photo.

I desaturated the photo and then colorized it.

Here I desaturated and then inverted the image.

I then took the inverted image, duplicated it and mirrored it.

Give it a try! Play and have some fun with your images. Or download this image and use it in your art. If you do send us a note with a link to what you made, we would love to see!

A.T.C Jean Therapy

1,000 Artist Trading Cards:
Innovative and Inspired Mixed Media ATCs

By Patricia Bolton

is beyond eye candy! I want to call it a 1000 pieces of inspiration and fabulousness.

ATCs are all the rage!

Making artist trading cards (ATCs) is a hugely popular activity for artists. Originally a paper/collage-based art form, ATCs have caught on with crafters working in a range of mediums and are now just as popular among fabric and mixed-media artists. ATCs are mini art works, the size of a playing card, often created as limited editions. The back of each card contains the artist's name and contact information. The idea behind the cards is to make them and then give, trade, or share them with others. This collection inspires with 1,000 original cards in a beautiful pageant of color, composition, and creative use of materials. The book also includes a special section devoted to explaining what ATCs are, how to get started, and includes some exciting technique information. Curated by Patricia Bolton, founder and editor-in-chief of two of the most exciting creative magazines on the newsstands, the book meets the Quarry Books mission of offering artistic and challenging new ideas to traditional paper artists, scrapbookers, mixed-media artists, and quilters by merging paper, fabric, and surface embellishment through experimentation and discovery.

About the Author
Patricia Chatham Bolton is the founder and editor-in-chief of Quilting Arts Magazine and Cloth Paper Scissors. Patricia lives in Stow, MA.

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These little pocket ATC's by Lyn Kruss are just a drop in the yummy bucket of wonderful designs and art by such a talented group of artists.

It inspired me to give it a shot. I love, love, loved the pocket idea and my mind flashed to my stash of jeans and all the pockets there in.

This Jean Therapy post where I made a cuff project you can see where this little pocket came from. Doesn't it look funny with all the cloths pins holding the folds in place while the glue dries?

  I tried a recycled wool sweater heart in the pocket.

And then I also test drove this brass rooster.

While I think this is a good start, I am not feeling the "art" part here yet. So I put the call out to all of you creatives:

Leave a comment in the comment section with your suggestions on how I can kick this into the "art" world by

Tuesday, May 27th

and we'll randomly pick a winner from those suggestions to win a free copy of 1000 Artist Trading Cards!

Be sure to include your e-mail address in the post so we can contact you!

Feel free to post a link to your corner of the internet if you have pictures of your designs for inspiration!

Thanks and I can wait to see what you have up your sleeve (or in your pocket!)

Matchbook ATC Card from The Cardmaker's Workbook

OK, it's less than 2 weeks 'till Mother's Day and I still haven't begun stitching the cross stitch my Mom requested for Mother's Day.

But, in the mean time check out this little gem of a project I whipped up inspired by Jenn Mason's latest fabu book:

The Cardmaker's Workbook:
The Complete Guide to Design, Color, and Construction Techniques for Beautiful Cards

Jenn had given me a gift of a necklace when I saw her at CHA back in February and it came in one of these great Matchbook cards. So I had on my list to try making one and what better time than Mother's Day.

I scored this great stamp from Tricia at Clubscrap.com and stamped up a whole bunch of ATC's to try out different techniques I have been learning and reading about. So I used one as my base for this matchbook card. To make the outside section I used...what else? a wallpaper sample in plaid no less! I punched 3 tiny holes and anchored the bracelet onto the ATC with a bit of thin wire twisted and then splayed out on the back. The heart charm dangle just in the center of the stamped heart and the chain framed the words perfectly!

I folded the wallpaper sample in half lengthwise and glued it together, this was necessary because both sides of the paper show when folding the matchbook cover and the back of a wallpaper sample is plain beige. This also made it a bit more rigid.

I then snipped out the words "mother" and "love" from an English to Latin dictionary that happened to be my Grandmother's but my Mom sent it to me and said it was OK if I used it in my way for art. I gave the bits of paper a light coating of copper paint just to age them a bit, I did this technique back on the bird cameo project.

To see another great card and read more about The Cardmaker's Workbook click here. And to see more of Jenn's work click on her name in the side column or below!