Vintage treasure swapping

So somehow, after years and years of going without, I've suddenly found myself flush with the riches of craft swappin':)

It all started a couple of weeks ago, when I left a comment on one of the blogs I really admire, life is beautiful. Nicole then had a proposition I couldn't pass by: a swap. We settled on a theme of vintage supplies, and a 10x13 envelope so we had some parameters:)

I had a fun time riffling through my stashes and stuffed the envelope. Since she's received hers, I won't be ruining the surprise by sharing some photos here of what I sent to her:





(Notice Butterfly helping out?)

I can't wait for my goodies to arrive:)

About 30 seconds after Nicole's suggestion, I happened to also stumble upon a Memory Makers blog call for a vintage kitschy swap. What the heck, I thought, and went for it:) Since that one's still in process, I'll save it for another post.

THEN, shortly after that, I was out and about someplace in my neighborhood and noticed a flier for a supply swap:) This one was co-hosted by a cool shop that features the work of local artists. It's called Happy Delusions. Basically, we were to bring down stuff we weren't going to use -- from papercrafting items to fabric to anything that another creative person would re-repurpose. Anything left after the swap ended was headed to a local thrift shop.

So I tossed in some of the inspiration kits I have for sale on etsy, plus a bunch more stuff, and had fun riffling through the baskets and tables to find new treasures of my own. It was fantastic, too, to watch the stuff I'd brought be claimed almost immediately!

Here are a few pix from that event:




While the madness ensued, Elephant wandered into the store to find things to beg me to buy for him. Butterfly hung out with us ...


She even scored her own treasure: Someone brought along a Play-Doh kit that's now a prized possession.

What fun.

Happy autumn!

So many photos, so many supplies, so little progress.

One of the drawers in my studio desk has half-finished class projects from past Creating Keepsakes conventions. Today, I went through and finished a few off. I'll get there. Eventually.

I hope.





Oh, and before I forget, my yard is **overrun** with these little guys. Well, this guy's body is about the length of a 50-cent piece. No lie. Freaks my sister out, and I have to admit the daily walk-through-the-cobwebs routine is starting to get old. C'mon spiders. Maybe a less busy walkway would be more family-friendly?

Etsy Treasury listing, Harvest Moon

Look what I did today:



Please go and visit it here to see the original, which is much prettier than this thumbnail shot.

Today I am ...

I stole this idea point-blank from this sweet, beautiful, incredibly honest blog I stumbled upon.

listening: all day to the jokes of my coworkers, all of whom are in a particularly funny mood today. Working in a newsroom is like being with family sometimes -- a bunch of really warped, genuinely decent human beings.

eating: not so much. Elephant came home sick a couple of weeks back and expectedly passed the virus along to Butterfly. Butterfly, in turn, clung to me like a wee little spider monkey these past few days ... and expectedly passed the virus along to me.

drinking: water, coffee, Pibb.

wearing: actually, surprisingly, not jeans today. I know. I can't believe it either.

feeling: sick. Missing my children very, very much. Especially worried about my little Butterfly's nighttime fevers at the moment and wishing wishing wishing them away, as I whispered several times to her that I would breathe in the nasty germs to make them my own if only they would leave her body completely.

weather: waiting for true fall days to arrive, not this why-are-we-pretending-it's-still-summer charade.

wanting: my kids. To swallow without pain.

needing: love. Tylenol. To pay the mortgage.

thinking: I keep forgetting to make phone calls during the non-work parts of the days. And that I want my shift to be over so I can go home and go to sleep.

enjoying: work. I know. It's a conundrum.

wondering: when I'll get back to my studio to finish all of those projects. When I'll ever list all of the finished things for sale on etsy.

A few projects

At Elephant's school's welcome back night.

A mobile I made to be sold in my etsy shop, soon as I take some decent photos.

A layout of photos from last summer. See? I'm not so far behind.

Grr. Another Canon camera sideways shot. Well ... what can I say? Enjoy! This one's also last summer (I think). Butterfly enjoying some roses.

Proooooooject!

Gotta new one for you. I learned this album technique in a class at at local scrapbook store.

You make pleats to create the spines. It's so awesome and so easy! Remember all of the fans you made in elementary school, flipping the paper from one side to the other until there just wasn't any way you could make one more bend? Yup, exact same concept.

Then you tuck all the little tags and such into the pleats, giving yourself an album with depth.






The trick is just a fun way I picked up somewhere along the way. If you attach a string to the bottom of a tag pocket, then the other end to the bottom of a tag, then leave a bit of blank tag, when you pull the tag out of the pocket, it won't come all the way out. Make sense?

Happy 100th post!

In celebration, I thought I should finish off a post from a few posts back ... lol.

Now that you've clicked on the link above, you know we're back for the second chapter of my little bookmaking experiment.

This is where we kinda left off, with the spine open and waiting for contents.

I just added some good old Elmer's glue along the inside.

I pressed a ribbon in for decoration, then added another line of glue on top of that for the next part.

Press the sheath holding the gathered and tied papers and other things into the spine. Make sure you like where the sheath is positioned, and that you have enough glue to so it can hold on to the parts it wants to hold on to.

(Note: I vertically trailed the ends of the red and white baker's twine I used to bind the sheath, so that any extra length will stick out the top and bottom of the book along with the ribbon.)

Next glue the sheath's flaps onto the original inside covers. As you do this, smooth the paper into the spine along the spine's natural bending points, so that the sheath will have the same give once the book is reopened after drying. You'll see in the final photo that there are points where the sheath isn't actually glued to the book; this helps with this flexibility that I'm talking about.

The cool thing is, the glued-in twine is the strength that holds together the papers etc. BUT the sheath gives all of the papers wiggle room. Does that make sense? Take a look at the photo. You need that give so that you can maneuver the pages, add things to them, etc.

Once you're happy with the positioning, carefully clip the book closed. This helps it dry tightly.

Here it is, several days later. See what I mean there in the bottom right about there being a gap where the sheath's not glued to the book? That's the natural flexibility it needs to be a book:)

So that's it! I might or might not post later photos as the book evolves with the contents I add. It's a special book for me to share with my Butterfly ... and I'm not sure I want to share it with anyone else. We'll see.

Thanks for sticking around to listen to all of this!

It's tooooooo hot!

Ugh. I'm dying to work in my studio, but with temperatures in the 90s and my lack of money to insulate said studio, it's frustratingly on hold. In the meantime ...

More photo playing

This baby girl loves her raspberries. She was so excited when she found out the surprise I had for her was this sweet treat.

These were her brother's overalls, and he wore them for like three years. They were SO long on him at first, and I just shortened the straps and rolled up the pants legs. Eventually, though, as the years passed I couldn't lengthen anything anymore. So I put them away for what I thought would be the day HIS
child(ren) could have them.

Can't you just taste it?

I mean, can't you?

How could I possibly resist?

Forgotten ...

... but not for long. Butterfly gives the flower a drink, in her special way.

Water droplets

Mama peeks out, behind Butterfly.

Shadow/play

Splash!

My latest inspiration

Today

was a productive one!

Tags

Decided to upcycle some really cute packaging from my various goodies. Made some basic tag bases and went to town. These will be for sale on etsy for $5.

I think this one's really cute.

You can slip a little photo into this one.

Extra upcycled bits on this one.


Just a couple of the little ones.

Studio, part 1

So this is for people who think I'm always uber-organized. When I'm in the middle of making stuff, I have layers and layers of things. I just push aside and/or stack because I'm too into what I'm doing to stop and tidy. My grandma ALWAYS told me to clean as I go, but she was talking about in cooking. That I do do, but I hate cooking anymore, so it's kind of a moot point. I suppose those of you who love to cook probably can relate to the messiness, though. You get so into what you're creating,
you don't want to stop for the annoyances:)

Fixing a photo goof

It's as tight as it can get on the left side, but there are a couple of distractions in there. I'm not so into Photoshopping photos --
the journalist in me screams ethical foul.


But I'm not opposed to hiding the distractions:)


Here's the whole layout.

Layout interlude
This one's new. Keeping it simple to highlight the photos.

This one probably looks familiar. I forgot I had that other photo, so I had to make another side:)

Goofball interlude

Studio, part 2

All clean! Kinda.