Pretty Lil' Pockets

Hi guys! So, I joined a swap for our group Shabby Chateau on Swap-bot to make these Lil' Pockets of Whimsey! How fun! These have so many wonderful uses and you can make them however you wish, this is just one example.

I started by flattening a 3.5 inch section of a paper towel roll. I lined the inside with felt and stapled one end together. I then used a beautiful brown Lokta paper for the outside. I then adhered a gorgeous vintage style parfume sticker I purchased from Regina's Studio on Etsy, a paradise for altered artists with many quality vintage items to be found! For the back I used a part of a lovely paper napkin she had sent along as a little extra with my purchase. After that I embellished with mini pearls, stained vintage book pages around the top and Rock Candy Stickles, Glimmer Mist and a tiny butterfly sticker. For the handle I used some amazing cabbage roses ribbon in Haunted Woods from another store on Etsy, MemrieMare a yummy little shop with some of the best ribbon! I then filled it with some ceramic buttons, a faerie charm and some of the ribbon for my partner!

So easy, so pretty, so many options! So get creative, these are great to give as gifts or hang on trees as ornament with a little surprises inside! Until next time, happy crafting!

Branching Out...

Here are two of my newest ATC's. I am really trying new things, making may own backgrounds, using inks and masks and many other new tools and techniques.

I am trying to find my own style and see what works for me and what does not. I want to thank bluemama from Flickr for sending me the little art squares along with her last ATC to me! They worked perfectly for these two ATC's I made. Thank you!

Until next time everyone, happy swapping!

A Wilde Fairytale

This little hand drawn ATC I drew for a WTA on Swap-bot. We were supposed to make something relating to the fairytale by Oscar Wilde "The Selfish Giant." This then is the ATC I came up with inspired by this sweet morality tale.

I used pencil, a fine point Sharpie pen in black and colored pencils, around the edges I tinged them with a couple of different Distress Inks and used a silver ink pen to highlight somewhat in the tree. Thanks for stopping by today!

Child's Play

I love images of vintage kids and these are so cute! The first one is one of my first attempts to make an inked background myself, by blending and using a clear mounted stamps. I wanted the focus to be this adorable girl who is so intent on her butterfly, so I kept this ATC fairly simple.

The second was for a new technique using tissue paper and to leave at least 75% of said tissue paper showing on the ATC. I love little challenges and these ATC's I so enjoyed making!

My New Collage ATC's...

So here are 3 new style ATC's for me. I am actually playing around with using pieces of scraps, tissue paper and whatever else I find to create the backgrounds you see here in the first 2 ATC's. I really like making my own backgrounds this way, they are unique and one-of-a-kind and I get to use my scraps of paper instead of jus throwing them out. Waste not want not!

The third ATC shown is just more of an ATC that was mainly collage only. I wanted it to have that feel and I think it came out different from many of my others and different right now is good as I am experimenting and finding my own style!

Don't ever be afraid to mess up some of my mistakes have turned out to the the best thing that has ever happened for my creative process. Embrace little scraps of paper and change and see what your art will do! Until next post, happy crafting!