Altered envelope

Thank you Sandra for teaching us this clever little altered envelope at our WCMD workshops.

You slice the top of the envelope off and then crimp the large section, this allows the top section to slide over the bottom part. You can use it to give a gift voucher or a card. We decorated the envelope as shown in the photo.

Altered Embroidery Thread Bobbin book

I have just hosted an Altered Embroidery Thread Bobbin swap, the theme was "feminine". We had to make 25 bobbins all the same and everyone sent them to me. I then collated 25 little collections of bobbins which the participants will bind themselves. They have been returned to the participants in the post but with our current postal workers strike I am not sure when they will receive them back, so I decided to give everyone a little taste of their surprise package.

I put mine onto a 38mm binding ring and the bobbins fit perfectly. The front of my bobbin has been stamped with a Prima clear stamp and Vivid lavender ink. The edges have been sponged with Brilliance pink. The beautiful face is a small portion of a Crafty Individuals stamp stamped in Vivid Cobblestone and the edges are sponged with Brilliance pink, it is matted onto pink card. The decorative strip is achieved by adhering a strip of narrow double sided tape and sprinkling with Micro Beedz and glitter.

The reverse of the bobbin has been stamped with a clear Prima Newsprint background stamped in Vivid Cobblestone, the edges are sponged with Brilliance Pink. The flower image is from an Inkadinkado Inchie set called flower garden and has been stamped in Brilliance Pink and matted onto pink card. The little bobbin has been finished with three tiny pink gems.

The centre of the bobbin measures one inch, so it can be a challenge to work on such a small canvas. I thoroughly enjoyed making mine and just love my little book! Thank you to all the artists that contributed to this fabulous work of art!

Altered Tag

This is my latest creation for an “Artistic Woman Altered tag swap”, there are 30 participants in the swap and the hostess is binding the tags into a book for us. The focus on the tag had to be on paper, stamping and techniques with no embellishments except staples, brads or buttons. I found it quite a challenge initially as I love my ribbon and embellishments, but once the design was complete I was happy with the result. When the book is returned I will take photos and upload them for you to look at.

I worked on large shipping tags – 160mm x 80mm (6.3” x 3.2”) and used Basic Grey clear flourish edge stamps which I stamped in Vivid Taupe onto the tag. I sponged around the edges of the tag with the same ink and added a touch of Vivid tea rose ink sponging on the flourishes. Another technique used was coffee staining pages from an old book which were torn roughly using a Plaid decorative Edge ruler, the scrapbooking paper was also torn in this manner.

The beautiful face is from a Frantic stamper grab bag and was stamped with Vivid taupe ink on pink card and matted onto brown. The quote from Quote Garden was typed up in barcode font.

The flower embellishment was made using a Cuttlebug flower die.

This is the reverse side of the tag:

Again I sponged the edges of the tag with Vivid taupe ink. The corner flourish, a clear stamp by Autumn Leaves, was stamped with the same ink. The flourish was sponged with Vivid tea rose.

The image is from a clear Build a frame collection set by Prima and this was stamped using the Vivid taupe ink onto a sheet of torn wallpaper.

The tag is embellished with a cuttlebugged flower and a strip of digital paper flower pattern from Gina K Designs.