Wooden ATC Book

I decided to whip up this little baby with my left over kit supplies from Alpha Stamps along with lots of my swag from Xyron.  I even made a Snapguide to show you how I put it together.  Here is a link to all my supplies.  

Inside there are lots of fun evelopes and pockets.

You can see that the stain gives the cover a nice uneven look.  I like that it makes each and every piece unique.

I cut up a bit of scrap paper from Graphic 45 to embellish my pages.  I found stuff to decorate this book in all kinds of unlikely places.

I am addicted to the little glassine envelopes.  I just love how you can see through them.

I like to use rub ons as opposed to rubber stamping.  I find that these are so much more reliable!

This envelope has the coolest pattern.  I tucked a bit of map inside which you can barely see.  The ATC cards are really perfect for this quick project.

I used a bit of the new Tim Holtz ephemera through this book as well.  It blends right into what I have going on.

More secrets tucked inside envelopes.

The rub ons work really nicely on the envelopes as well.

I hope you found a bit of inspiration in today's post!  Be sure to check out the Snapguide for the how to!

Cheers,

Rhea

Steampunk Spells Envelope Book

What can I say, I just adore the new Steampunk Spells paper from Graphic 45.  I am also excited to show off my crazy wire binding that I just made up as I went.  It may be messy, but I can say it is certainly innovative!

I am not going to show off too much here.  In an attempt to engage readers in another format I have also included a video tour at the end of this post.

Inside the embellishing was done through the use of brads.  I capitalized on the fact that they were envelope pages, so I could hide the backs of the brads inside.   A lot of the embellishments were left loose, as I really like the element of movement in my work.

Did you also take note of my cool new watermark from Graphic 45?!?  I was so excited to receive this badge of honor!  I had to stretch myself to learn how to apply it, but mission was accomplished.   Without further ado, here is my little video tour.

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Cheers,

Rhea

Graphic 45 Design Team Call Audition 2013

It occurred to me today to try and use some of the "luck of the Irish" of St Patrick's Day to assist in today's application for Graphic 45's current design team call.  I seriously love the products made by this company and I think it shows in my work.  In this post I will highlight a six of my favorite projects, with lots of Graphic 45 products to be seen. 



The letterbox tray above is one of the top posts on my blog and I have also seen it many times on Pinterest.  Here I used one of my favorite papers, Old Curiosity Shoppe.   I think Steampunk Debutante is my next runner up and it is the focal on the next two projects. 



This large mosaic piece hangs in my dining room and I really love it.  It was so hard at the time to use up all those cool gears, but now I get to enjoy them in my art every day.

The book below is another great piece.  Here I finished off all of my paper left over from the project above.  Inside the envelope book are lots of great tags and inserts. 

I would have to say that assemblage is probably my favorite medium to work in.  This next project is a very fun Halloween Assemblage piece that also gets lots of traffic here.  My Steampunk Apothecary employs a very nice collection of different Graphic 45 papers.  I used the Kraft Reflections, Old Curiosity Shoppe and Halloween in Wonderland.  Amazing how seamlessly they all work together.



It was hard to choose between two different Birdsong projects I have recently done. 







Since I could not decide on which one, I ended up choosing to include them both. 





Thank you as always for tuning in.  I hope the luck of the Irish is with you today too!

Cheers,

Rhea



Christmas Envelope Book

Not all that long ago I received a delightful parcel of Christmas crafty goodness from Alpha Stamps.  Inside I found lots of delicious Christmas paper, ephemera and trim which quickly took shape into this cute little envelope book.

I love the fancy latch, it works perfectly for this style of book.  A bit of patina coloring was added to the latch and the edges of the book with a little help from guilders paste. 

Each page of the book is made of a sturdy policy envelope.  I tucked some of my larger ephemera bits inside the book, but you could add tags, cards, personal notes etc.

I used lots of different trims throughout the book to add lots of depth and texture.  I got out the spray adhesive for the first time in a while.  I love the easy application, but I did find that it did not stick well in a few spots. 

I mixed in holiday imagery from many places.  I used Christmas Dresden and Christmas Collage Sheets as well as the ephemera I linked to earlier. 

In the envelope above I layered the trims.  This is another great way to stretch or transform your stash, and you know I am always trying to find ways to do that.

I love the moon on this page.  I have been using him over and over again in lots of spots, I have always been fascinated by the moon and the stars.  And yes, that is exactly where my blog title comes from!

Welcome to the holiday season folks!

Cheers, 

Rhea 

Mail Art Junque Journal

I am delighted to be able to finally show off this treasure.  At one point I thought this lovely little book was lost forever, but it resurfaced and I am so grateful.  This journal started out as a Mail Art journal,  round robin style swap through Swap-bot.  When it was returned to me there were still several pages unfinished, so I just added more of my own mail art and lots of other paper junque.  It is so fun and packed with goodies. 

I am showing off a few pictures to entice you, but I am also posting a You Tube video, as I think this will better capture all of the yummy mail art goodness inside. 



Lots of people contributed to the cover and I love this aspect of the journal.  It is hard to imagine what it looked like before I sent it out into the world.  I wish I had a "before" shot to share with you.  I picked up a few of these handmade books at an art student's garage sale.  In hindsight, I should have grabbed more than the three I did. 





Here you can see how thick this book really is.  There are a ton of flaps and fold outs I made simply by creatively attaching envelopes with  decorative tape.  You would not believe how much decorative tape there is in this book. It makes for really good collage fodder.





These are two pieces of mail art that I had received and added to the book before sending it out.  I just adore the mermaid envelope!



Here is another great spread that is true to the original theme.  These pages were completed by Mandy, aka Farstarr.  She has a lovely etsy shop worth checking out!



Here is another one of my favorite spreads.  I made this one from wonderful mail art items I recieved from Su, aka, TangleCrafts.  She also has a wonderful etsy, filled with zines and all sorts of mail art fun.  The brown insert is actually a self mailing zine that is all mail art themed and just filled with lots of useful information and inspiration.  I thought this was a clever way to add this to my book.  I made a simple hinge with gaffer tape from 7 gypsies.

Hopefully I have teased you enough to want to take a gander at the full tour of my fun journal!  Enjoy!



Steampunk Journal with Jewels

This is another one of those projects that has been rattling in my brain for a while.  Although it pained me to do so, I used up most of my Graphic 45 stash of Steampunk Debutante paper.  At least I have a pretty book to show for it!  I used a lot of items from the G45 line in this project.  The policy envelope book was one of those things I saw online and really wanted, so when I found it at Altered Art Addicts in Jackson, I was super excited. 

One of my favorite tricks on the cover, was how I altered the key.  I used a patina product on just the key part of the embellishment, helping the clock and wings to stand out.  I also cleverly lined up the key to mimic the pattern on the paper. 





Early on in my creating process, I decided to add lots of embellishments and metal.  I love to use jewelry techniques in my mixed media projects, as this is where my creative roots lie. 



The orientation of this book also makes it unique.  I thought my use of space allowed me to use my papers in a more effective way.  I adore the wings I attached here with Tim Holtz's charm clips.  It was a happy accident but they move perfectly as you turn the pages. 

Here again I used a charm clip to attach my jewelry.  On this art charm I have a pendant I made with resin, watch parts and tissue tape.  It has been lying around for a while, I was glad to find it a proper home.



Inside of each envelope page has a little something tucked inside.  This tag was fashioned from the packaging that the Graphic 45 trims came on.  You can see the trims used through out the project too.  I love to repurpose things in my art, especially if they were meant for the trash can.  A few of these supplies also came from Dillon's Scrapbook Center, another local shop. 

Here is another shot of my favorite gal.  I just love this sheet of paper. I made a pretty big error on this page, and I will let you in on my secret.  The framed butterfly is totally crooked.  A little bit of texture from the ribbon and a successful distraction takes the eye away from my mistake.  The wings were colored with a bit of acrylic paint and some rub and buff. 

I used consistent or complementary background papers on each spread.  It helps to unite each set of pages.



I actually also mixed in some other Graphic 45 paper in this project from the Botanicabella line.  They are so smart to keep their palates similar as they blend seamlessly. 



I love the little vintage "souvenir" metal embellishment.  It was given to me by a colleague who picked it up for me after seeing some of my assemblage art. 



I love all the butterflies.  They were each fussy cut one by one.  I used them throughout the book, again bringing in some continuity.  Another tiny detail I added for fun, a women peeking out behind the keyhole. I wish you could see the other side of the key, there is the most amazing natural patina on there. 

  

I love the little metal pull tag here.  This was done by gluing two of these little metal things back to back.  I have no idea what they were for, but they worked for this.  The background of this pull out is actually the back of a paper pack. 

One of my favorite things about Graphic 45, they include faux postage in every line.  I adore all things postal.



I love how all the journal jewelry can be seen on other pages. This last page has to little tags in it.  Apparently, I was on a roll!

Another tag with my "gear gal" on it.  Oh how I adore her!  She looks better with real gears in her hair though. :)



I hope you enjoyed checking out my little exploration in Graphic 45.  I had a blast creating this from all those things that are so hard to use. 

My original intention for this post was to make a video tour of this book, however it proved difficult given the orientation I chose.  That was something I did not think of before assembling!  I used a lot of photos to try and assist.  My apologies to those with slow computers!

Cheers,

Rhea