I made these inchies for a swap quite awhile back. Inchies are a great way to indulge in short bursts of creativity. I hadn't heard of this until the Inchies Swap was posted, but I was hooked instantly. The swap gallery has many more examples.
****Please click on pictures for higher resolution views****
I started by collaging a sheet of heavy watercolor paper:
Close ups:
Here are the pieces I sent into the wild:
The back, just for fun:
And some of my favorites, selfishly kept for myself:
Two recent stamps: The first is an owl stamp I carved for the One Tiny Thing Swap on Craftster. Second, a hand drawn Popsicle stamp made for my buddy. Enjoy!
This is one of the first things I made for a swap on craftster. It's made with mixed ephemera and findings.
I made this little stuffed elephant by hand for a One Tiny Thing swap on Craftster. He has a lot of attitude, I'm not sure which was harder: tediously sewing him, or sending him off to his new home.
Here are a few I've made for various swaps I've been in.
Follow Your Bliss Pendant, made for the Make-A-Friend Swap:
A pair made for the Silly Santa Swap:
This one I made for no other reason than the fact that I love the tree, Blues Explosion
A watercolor I did a while back for a swap. Somewhat inspired by Audrey Kawasaki. The layering technique I used did not translate well on the left side of her face, unfortunately.
Screen prints I made for a swap awhile back. This was my first attempt at screen printing, and with the tutorial I used, I found it fairly quick and easy! As you can see, I've used it several times, all with different results.
Death - Eater Baby:
Tote:
Little something for myself:
Here is the tutorial I used: Cheap Screen Printing Tutorial
Page #8: "Listen to Your Inner Child"
Yet another page inspired by childhood. Often my favorite inspirations come from memories of childhood.
Page #9: "Let Your Soul Shine"
Chaos is a friend of mine. This page comes with a removable charm with the initial of my swap partner.
This was probably the most difficult and time consuming hand sew I've ever done. It was very tedious, but I really like the results. I'm in the market for some monopoly pieces I can pick up with it.
I'd love to claim this was my own personal idea - but it was created from this tutorial on Craftster: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=103162.0
I've decided to post my back log of pages that I have completed for the Chunky Page Swap on Craftster because the swap is nearing an end. Too bad, this was a fab swap and I'll be needing another journal type swap after this in order to keep my craftiness flowing.
Page #1 "Ode to Sylvia Plath"
I have a deep obsession with Sylvia Plath that started with reading the Bell Jar many years ago. I've always thought it was humorous and unusual how pink all of her books always seem to be (I highly doubt this was a personal choice of hers). So I made a pink and depressing page to pay homage to a creative force in my life.
Page #2 "Movies of My Dreams"
This page is inspired by my favorite Built to Spill song - Car. The lyrics are all amazing, but my personal favorite, and one that I've been quoted as saying many times over the years is "I want to see movies of my dreams" - do I ever....
Page #3 "Love Gone Wrong"
I pretty much love this page and wanted to keep if for myself. The poem is something which has spoken to me since the first day I read it. Beautiful and haunting.
Page #4 "Be Free"
A simple page with an acetate swallow and tags.
Page #5 "Choose Your Muse"
This Ouija page was inspired by the tastes of the recipient. Fun and funky. I like it.
Page #6 "Create Your Life"
Another page inspired by the tastes of the recipient, acetate dragonfly, colorful fibers.
Page #7 "Let Your Imagination Run Wild"
This is the page so nice I had to make it twice. Nothing better than merging adorable imagery and the restless (verging on depressive) longing for childhood, and no one can do that better than Lewis Carroll! The quote, if it's difficult to read is: "I'd give all the wealth that years have piled, The slow result of life's decay, To be once more a little child, For one bright summer day." Oh - and sewing paper is super awesome!
Soldering pendants is one of my go-to crafts. I picked up a soldering iron just over a year ago and although I've singed hair, burned finger tips, and ruined favorite pairs of jeans that I got on sale and will never find a pair as cute so long as I live, I have come out of it with some wonderful pieces of jewelry.
Here is one I finished his weekend (I'm a HUGE Costello fan!):
A mini-collection of some of my first pieces. You can see how poorly done the edges appear. My results have started to look much better since I discovered the importance of flux when it comes to soldering:
Bird pendant:
I found these fab Loteria cards while thrift shopping and decided they'd make an awesome reversible pendant:
A scrabble pendant with flower rub-ons:
Here's a great tutorials for soldering with slides: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=39105.0;topicseen
