First ever ATC

I first encountered ATCs (artist trading cards) on youtube, on the APieceofCraftdotcom channel, where Marion Smith talks about starting an ATC club.  The cards are basically made to showcase the artist (a business card of sorts), using any kind of medium/media just as long as it's all contained on a 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" card, which are traded among artists (not sold/purchased).  I was instantly intrigued, not necessarily because I wanted to make them myself, but as an ongoing project for an elective I am teaching in school.  My idea was to assign s specific topic/theme for each month and the students swap cards when they're done.  This is was a bit of a challenge for them since the subject is Special Topics in the Life Sciences, so it was cool to see what ideas they came up with trying to interpret scientific concepts in an artistic or creative way.  I had students who were anxious at first as they feel that they are not creative at all, but it really wasn't about the end product being pretty or visually compelling.  It was actually all about their thought process.  And the swap at the end of each month didn't hurt at all.  So anyway, this particular ATC has nothing to do with the class I was teaching, but it was simply me trying my hand at it.  On a scrap piece of black cardstock, I tried out some stamps (Fiskars and 7Gypsies) that I bought recently and heat embossed the stamped images.  I also added some paper flowers (Prima), brads, and bling.  And then I rounded the corners to finish it off.  It's really very simple, but I'm happy with how it turned out.  And I have it on display in my craft space ever since I finished making it.

Glimmer Misted Paper Flowers

After seeing them on many layouts for a long long long (!) time, I finally gave in and got me some Glimmer Mist.  And all I can say is that I'm am so happy with what it can add to my pages/projects.  Just tried them out here on some white/off-white paper flowers to see what the colors would look like (from the left: Meadow Green, Tattered Rose, Purple Pansy, Starfish, Coffee Shop, Yellow Daisy, Olive Vine, and Walnut Gold).  Aren't they all pretty?

Materials:  Prima Got Flowers? (Winter) and Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist kits (Adventure and Garden Bouquet)

Easy to Make Cards

So after cleaning my desk, the very first thing I made was handmade cards.  I have long been wanting to work on these after being inspired by cards that I've seen in magazines and on youtube.  And I have to make a special mention: Kristina Werner's cards are awesome (http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/).  Her cards are really pretty and simple, and the way she makes them in her videos is simply inspiring.  Though these cards I made were actually inspired by an insert in a Scrapbooks etc magazine that I got last year.  It's a special on cards: 12 cards for any occasion, and I just wanted to do something quick and easy.  Although these were in no way quick since I had to cut out the flower and star shapes.  Sadly, I have to work some more on my scissor skills, but I'm pretty pleased with the results.

 

Tools & Supplies:  cardstock, patterned paper , ribbon, brads, and letter stickers (All About Scrapbooking), ink (Craft Smart and Fiskars), alphabet stamps (Making Memories), corner rounder (EK Success)

This Desk Is Clean

You're probably thinking, "THAT is clean???", but if you had seen my desk last week, you will agree.  All school year long it has been hidden under piles and piles of paper and miscellaneous stuff, and there was less than a square foot of it cleared for my laptop and space for grading papers.  You see, virtually my whole life is in this room - my bedroom.  With stuff for work (books and plenty of paper), for leisure (many more books, cds, dvds), and for crafts (there's A LOT!), not to mention all my personal effects, it's really overwhelming at times.  But all through the summer, I've been chipping away at the seemingly insurmountable task of cleaning/organizing my room.
The first thing I did was grab most of my work stuff and place them (temporarily) in the living room.  So there are now four boxes and stacks of paper and books sitting on the big bench there.  I've left some of the bigger books to occupy the right half of the bookshelf above my desk area.  Most of the media stuff I've left untouched so far, since I still haven't figured out where to store them.  As for the crafting tools and supplies, I've sorted most of them out.  I just have a few boxes/baskets separated from the rest of it because they're for projects that have yet to be finished.  In fact, I just finished one mini-album yesterday (yay!) so that's one less project to tackle.  I still have a looong way to go.  So I can't post a picture of the rest of the room yet as it still is a disaster.  But I'm definitely looking forward to when this will all be done and I can reap the benefits of an organized space that I can relax or work in.
And that I can mess up again. :-p

The Flowers of May

One of the things that I remember doing as a little kid during summer is offering flowers to the Blessed Virgin Mary in church during the Flores de Mayo season.  And it's really unbelievable how summer just flew by and now we have just a few weeks before school starts.  I had planned on sorting out all my stuff and cleaning out my room this summer which, up until now, is a work in progress (more on that later).  And try as I might, I wanted to discipline myself by not doing anything crafty until all the cleaning is done, but I just couldn't help myself!  So I give in every once in a while and work on small things... and one major project (for my niece's birthday).  Lately, I've been enamored by pretty flower embellishments and so I tried my hand at making lace ones and used a bit of bling for the flower centers.  I think they turned out pretty cute.

Now I know my ABC's

I worked on this project early in February as a birthday gift to the sweet little girl of a friend from work.  Due to the busy work sched, I was unable to make it in time for her birthday, but I heard that she liked it.  She especially liked touching it, which was so gratifying for me because I specifically picked all the different elements for their textures.  The bright pink post-its are placeholders for the family members' photos: "N" for Nanay (mom), "T" for both Tatay (dad) and Tala (the birthday girl's name, and such a pretty one at that).  I really had fun with this one and was glad that it can be easily finished in one weekend: one day to choose what goes into it (as I have a lot of stuff that needs sorting through and putting away) and another to put everything together.  Here's the finished project:

This was actually inspired by this project on scrapbooksetc.com:

...which I thought would be a great handmade gift for a baby/toddler.  The only difference probably is that mine was made to be touched, instead of being just on display.  I hope the glue holds up :).  Good thing that I used DCWV Adhesive Paper Prints for all the patterned paper, just needed to be cut into squares and then it sticks readily to the canvas base.  Alphabet stickers and many of the other shapes from All About Scrapbooking, the rest are from Craft World, Darice, K&Company, Making Memories, Michael's, Papermelroti, and Yellow Violet House.

Back to blogging again

Instead of dwelling on how long it is since I've posted anything here (a little more than a year and a half), I will just dive right into it. Since the past school year (plus the months leading up to it) have been incredibly busy, there really hasn't been much room for creativity so I'm determined to be crafty this summer break. I've already worked on a couple of projects: Crafty Summer Project #1: Altered pencil (or paint brush) holder

This was a gift given to me some Christmases ago. Sorry I forgot to take a before picture. But it's the same baby pink shade with one side painted and glittered in a sort of psychedelic retro design. I wanted to recycle and maybe re-gift it and the design was actually inspired by a stationery pad I got from Papemelroti.

I love the tree and the little bird perched on it. The chipboard one I had was not-so-little, but I guess it's okay since the flowers were just as big and bold. Crafty Summer Project #2: Blinged-out pencil holder

[As viewed from the front]

[As viewed from the side] I had another pencil holder I wanted to recycle. It was painted with paw prints on the sides and the front was embellished with flowers and lady bugs. So I just covered it with pretty patterned paper and put bling wherever I can. I seem to be obsessed with it lately and I might've gone overboard here. Hahah. But I'm actually happy with it.