crafting HAS taken place...

I just can't show the entire pictures yet! These pictures are sneak peeks for a couple swap-bot packages I sent out, and I want to make sure the recipients get them first... I don't want to spoil the surprise!

These two images are peeks at two ATCs I made for a "Back & Forth" swap- my partner sent a packet of paper, embellishments, etc. to me, and I made two ATCs from them, using the materials she sent (along with a couple of my own things). I sent paper and other materials to my partner, and she sent me back a really cool ATC using the menu from our favorite Chinese restaurant, along with a fortune-cookie fortune, and some origami paper. (I will post it as soon as I take a picture.)

These two pics are sneak peeks at two sets of inchies (1 inch x 1 inch collages) I made for another swap, "Recycled Inchie Art" that was a bit challenging for me... I'm still not used to the 1 inch size, and had to work a bit finding small enough images. It was all about using things destined for the garbage or recycle bin; once I got into it, I had a good time finding papers and images to use in unexpected ways- I dug thru my recycle bin for teeny paper scraps, went thru some junk mail and pamphlets, and scavenged from the Ikea catalog, a catalog of posters, and a home decorating catalog (all of these things were dug out of the paper recycling bin). It's amazing how much paper and cardboard packaging we get; it was nice to use at least a tiny bit of it for an art project.

My next swap is also going to take some thought- it involves finding seven specific elements to decorate 2 ATCs with... it should be a lot of fun, once I get into my stash of stuff! I also dug into my stash of felt and am working on some new fall-themed felt pins, since it's starting to cool off here and feel a bit like fall. We don't get fall-colored leaves here in the desert, so I'm going to make my own!

art projects... small ones!

So, I've been busy cleaning and re-oganizing my crafting space this past week. I was inspired by Art Junk Girl , one of my favorite bloggers, who has been re-doing her studio space over the summer, and also by the fact that my craft space is also technically our guest room. And, since my parents are coming to visit at the beginning of October, I thought it might be a good idea if the sofabed actually had room to open. (you may wonder why I'm working on this now, since October is a month away, but organizing for me is a big undertaking- it may take me that long!) I had some of my supplies in cardboard boxes in the closet, but could never find what I wanted, so I bought some heavy-duty shelves. I don't know why it took me so long to think of this, but it's a big improvement- packaging supplies and Etsy crafts now are (mostly) neatly organized, along with sewing supplies, my scrapbooking idea books, and lots of other things. My desk even got cleaned off, which allowed me to actually work on these: This ATC (title: Wounded) was made using one of the backgrounds from the class I took from Bernie Berlin at AU. The heart is layers of aluminum foil that I ran thru the crimper to give it some texture; the spike is actually a spine from our Argentinian Toothpick cactus...

This is another of the same backgrounds; this one (title: Mended) is made from metal duct tape pieced together in a sort of patchwork, along with copper eyelets and string. There is one more of the set that I haven't finished yet; these 3 ATCs are not my usual "style" at all, but they sort of just "came" to me, and I needed to make them to get them out of my head.

And now for something totally different; these 2 mini-collages were made from supplies I won in a blog contest from Art Junk Girl... I won an assortment of collage images, along with some pre-painted background squares and a number of heavy chipboard squares for creating my own collages. The first one was made from a collage image she sent me; the second one was made from images and text cut from one of my vintage cookbooklets. Aren't they nice?? (if I do say so myself... lol!) Now, check out the last pic for another view of them: Yes, that's right, they're only an inch square... they are what's called Inchies, which are Art Junk Girl's specialty. I love her stuff, but wasn't sure I could make anything so small... I still think the ATC size is easier, but inchies are interesting... it's actually fun trying to find things small enough to fit a one inch square!