New ATC's

Just thought I'd post up a few of the ATC's I've made recently for various swaps on swap-bot.com. The first two are for a swap that called for using wire in the ATC's. The bottom ATC's are another go at the Zetti style. I really like them and was sad to see them go!

The Book of Treasures

I'm so happy, because my partner received my "Book of Treasures" I made for her, and she LOVED it! Here's what she said about it on my ratings on swap-bot.com:

"I want to let you know that this is the most wonderful swap that I have EVER received. Ever. I have had ties for favorites up till now but this takes it all. This is the coolest thing I've ever received in the mail I think. It's so well put together. And you did it so fast! And you incorporated so much of my profile into it. And it's exactly what the swap called for plus like 100% more. It was so hard not to just rip that black rubber band off of it to get into the book (don't worry I carefully removed it). I'm actually hesitant to remove any of the treasures because I really want to put in like a museum or something. Seriously. Thank you. Thank you thank you!! I adore it."

Here's some photos of the various pages inside the book. I used an old children's book as the backing, and it was such a perfect book going through various seasons and it fit perfectly to the alterations I did for each page. We had to have a certain number of "treasures" in the book put into it in some way, I used envelopes, ribbon and other ways to put the treasures in. Some of the treasures I included were scrapbooking materials, a finished ATC, a dotee doll in a pop-out bag, a letter that opened up, postcards, a real vintage photograph, some flower photos I took, and a worry doll among other things.

Earth, Sky, Sea ATCs

New ATC's I made tonight for a swap on swap-bot.com - had to use certain things for it, such as sandpaper, chewing gum wrapper, watch parts, shell, wax paper among other things that I used. It's hard to appreciate it when it's little but if you look at it full size you might be able to tell why one is called Earth, one's called Sky and one called Sea.

Foray into Steampunk Jewelry

I created this for a steampunk swap on swap-bot.com - so I hope my partner doesn't see it and have the thrill of receiving it taken away! I had fun, I found the owl at a thrift store and added the watch bits and key to it. I'm proud of it, I haven't really done much altered jewelry but it was a lot of fun.

Recycled Crafting

Looking for crafts that are earth friendly and deal with recycling something to keep it out of the landfill? I've compiled a load of them right here in honor of Earth Day!


The T-Shirt Necklace

Tampon Box Cork Board

The Bra Purse

Denim Pocket Magnets

Victorian Juice Lid Ornaments

Uses for Dryer Lint!

Making Beads from Book Pages

Puzzle Piece Art (I love this)

Using paint chips to make Art

Vinyl LP Record Bangle

Recycled Can Tab Flower

Cute Recycled Paper Flowers

Board Game Card Books

Cracked Plate Jewelry

Seeded Paper Bookmarks (Plant them, they grow!)

Recycled Book Handbag - So cute!

Earth Day is for Recycling

But please remember ... "Every day is Earth Day".

This is one of my recent ATC's that I made from recycled materials I found around the house. Backing is made from the cardboard off my kid's caprisun drinks, used magazine clippings, old used stamps, a fortune from a fortune cookie, a used button, the tabs off soda cans, puzzle piece, and part of a map from junk mail. I think I covered everything but there might be something here or there on there I missed. Stamped it, mod podged it...it's kinda dirty and grimy looking I think but that was my idea. Hope my partner likes it, it's for a swap on swap-bot.com!

There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew. ~Marshall McLuhan, 1964

Collaged Butterflies ATC

Here's a few ATC's that I recently made. Some of them are for the "Collaged Butterflies" swap on swap-bot.com - I do love making collages, probably because I can't really draw or paint but I think I'm pretty creative as far as putting things together. I used one of my own photographs for the green and yellow butterfly ATC in the picture. Took a bunch of butterfly pictures last spring at a butterfly exhibit at a local museum.

I've been working on a "Book of Treasures" for a swap, and it's really a lot of work! There have to be at least 20 treasures in the book, and I've really been trying to make it something my partner would like. I listed out all the things she likes so I'm trying to at least hit a few. I decided to use an old children's book as the base for the book, it's a gorgeous book with lots of beautiful paintings inside of it that goes through the seasons so it fits great. I've pretty much got all the pages done but I still need to figure out what to do to the cover to make it really special. More about this book to come...