Dot & Whimsy

The MAY ARTS RIBBONISTAS

are teaming up this week with a fun-filled blog hop with

ART ANTHOLOGY & BASICALLY BARE

There are 3 prizes up for grabs:

1 spool of May Arts Ribbon, $25 in product from Basically Bare & from Art Anthology

**Start with the May Arts Blog to get a list of the complete hop**

 I chose this "Mixed Media" Album from Basically Bare (BB) to get me started!

All of the papers and stickers are from Doodlebug Designs' "Hip Hip Hooray" Collection

To begin, I took the album apart from it's metal comb binding and set it aside.

I traced the pages onto different patterned papers, cut out and then adhered to the album.

For the tree, I poured some of the "Grass" Colorations Spray by Art Anthology (AA)

into a bowl.  Next, I placed the felt tree top (BB) into the liquid and let it sit until the 

felt was completely absorbed.  **Use gloves or tongs** Remove the felt.

(I had green hands for a couple of days LOL)

Lay the felt onto an absorbent cloth and press out the excess ink. 

Use a heat gun or blow dryer to speed up the drying time.  

Make sure that the piece is completely dry before attaching it to the page or the

paper will soak up some of the color.

 After the album was reassembled, I tied on various May Arts' ribbons to the comb.

Pages 2-3.  
Page three is an acetate page.  To the edge I attached two strips of grosgrain ribbon
with a high-tack adhesive.  I love see-thru pages!  Photos can be attached directly to the
page or left blank.

Pages 4-5
Page four is the back of the acetate page...here I'm showing how I continued the
strip of ribbon completely around the page.
Page five has a cut-out panel that I decided to highlight with a few knotted ribbons.
The chipboard sun by BB was dressed in patterned paper cut to its specs.



 Pages 6-7...just showcasing some more of the Doodlebug cuteness :)



Pages 8-9
 Page eight features one of the clear, acetate cut-out shapes from BB.  I traced
the shape onto a patterned paper, trimmed out and then attached behind the shape.
To attach, I pierced a hole through the center and the inserted a brad through.

Page nine is a combination of the canvas portion of the mixed media album.
I used the same grosgrain ribbon to make a border around the edge of the canvas
by attaching with a fabric glue.
Next, I took the two felt clouds by BB and painted them with the
 Aloha Velvet Dimensional Paint by AA.  


Pages 10-11
Page eleven includes four small cut-out windows.  I wanted a contrasting paper,
so I die-cut four squares of patterned paper the same size as the windows.  Once I had
the back page in place, I was able to glue the four panes through the openings.



Pages 12-13
Again, just two plain pages to the album that I accented with stickers from Doodlebug.

That's all for my sweet little mixed media, birthday boy album!
Here is a complete list of this week's hop:

 Hope you enjoy all of the fun!

It's a THRILLING time at Authentique Paper this week!

We've teamed up with Basically Bare and Art Anthology to create some really

cool Halloween/Fall themed projects.

When I received the product for this swap and saw the "Mayan Gold" Dimensional Paint
 by Art Anthology, I knew that I wanted to create a full moon as a backdrop for a Halloween collage.
  At first I didn't know how well or how much the paint would cover the Thrilling paper,
 but it worked out even better than I had hoped!

 To begin, I started with a 10X10 canvas frame. 
Using the Black Leather Jacket Dimensional Paint by Art Anthology,
 I painted the sides and about a 1" perimeter on the front of the canvas. 
The paint provides great coverage and has a hint of sparkle too it.

For the moon, I cut a 7.5" circle from the Antidote patterned paper and then painted on
 one layer of Mayan Road Dimensional Paint.  After the piece was completely dry, I adhered
 it to the same size chipboard and then machine-stitched around the perimeter.  Next, I gave a
 light spray to the moon using the Raider Colorations Spray.  Before attaching to the prepared
 canvas, I glued on a trim of golden yellow pom pom trim by May Arts.  

After adding the layers of cut-out papers and the cute Halloween motif, I attached a "happy"
 banner using Basically Bare's chipboard banners that I covered in Frenzy paper.
 The sticker letters are also from the Thrilling Collection. 

To the top, the sticker alone just wasn't enough so I added one of the black chipboard pieces
 from Basically Bare's Jailer Keys set.  A little turquoise straw picks up the blue in the
postcard picture and a nice ribbon bow completes the collage.

Authentique Products: Thrilling Collection- Mystic Paper; Antidote Paper; 6x6 Bundle;
Details Stickers and Elements Stickers

Basically Bare Products: Jailer Keys Chipboard; Pennants Chipboard

Art Anthology Products: Mayan Gold and Black Leather Jacket Dimensional Paints;
 Raider Colorations Spray

Come on by and see what all has been crafted with these three fab companies
and leave a comment as there will be a prize pack giveaway!
blog.authentiquepaper.com

Team-up time again here at

The Papered Cottage

and today we're doing it up right with

 When deciding on the theme for my mini album, I was immediately

drawn to the Chipboard Gears by Basically Bare and how cute they

 would be dressed up as snowflakes!

I began by painting the kraft side of each gear with a white acrylic paint.

I then glittered the fronts with a coarse marble glitter. 

I found it best to use Glue Dots when attaching the desired pieces to the top of the glitter.

 Using the Basically Bare Hipster Album, I began plotting out how

best to display the different 'snowflakes' on the different pages...

I wanted them to create a nice backdrop or a vision of snowflakes falling from the sky.

To dress up the various envelope-style pages, I layered two different patterned

papers from the Christmas Wish Collection by Bella Blvd.

The base papers were cut to a 7.75"W x 3.75"H; 

the inner papers were cut to 7"W x 3"H.  I then machine stitched all of

the base and inner pages together.

 I adore house shapes, so the Happy Little Houses were a must have on one of the pages!

I simply traced the shape onto a Christmas Wish paper and cut to size.

I then dressed up the outside with a happy door trimmed in baker's twine and a

few punched snowflakes with pearl centers.

 At the ends of each page I added tabs using the corner stickers 

from the Alpha+Bits (I had two sheets of these stickers, so I was able to line

the backs of each sticker with a matching one...you could also use a piece of scrap paper). 

ether with a zig-zag stitch.

 The pockets make the ideal storage for journaling cards, extra photos or mementos.

I kept the backs of the envelope pages simple by adding different

Just Write Journaling Stickers...these ARE just write for this!

The inner-most page of the Hipster Album is a clear acrylic sheet.

So many things can be done to decorate these!

I simply went with a strip of Designer Tape that I neatly wrapped around the page.

Next, I matched up two sticker borders and applied them to both sides.  

You could also stamp onto the acrylic sheet using a Staz-On ink.

In finishing, I tied on bright matching ribbons to the comb of the album.  Voila!

I loved layering the pieces from Basically Bare along with Bella Blvd's

stickers, buttons, Designer Tapes and Ciao Chip...it's Merry & Bright dontcha think?? :)

Have a wonderful weekend, friends

Two of the hottest places in the 

papercrafting world are meeting up in a duo

Now, you won't be hopping from my blog to another, instead

head on over to the Authentique Blog to see the line-up for the day :)

With back-to-school in mind, I wanted to create

 a couple of special teacher gifts.  

For the first project,

 CURIOUS OWL NOTEBOOK, 

I used portions of the Basically Bare Album. 

 On the front, clear cover I hand-stitched a few buttons

 to the bottom, outlining the shape. 

 I also machine stitched around the perimeter

so that the edge would be defined.

 For the inner cover, I layered the cardboard sheet and felt scalloped sheet