Stamping & Scrapping Rock Star Discovers Tinsel Trading

Another passion of mine is scrapbooking. I like vintage (rusty and slightly decrepit even better), I like metals, darker colors, travel and navigation themes, bits n' scraps of old prose in many languages, layers and layers of various papers. My favorite products are from 7 Gypsies and Tim Holtz -- they both fit my aesthetic.  I buy papers from many lines and wind up mixing them in a layout. Like I said, I like layers. I have about an 18" tall stack of papers to choose from right now, all categorized by my favorite topics to scrap about, each of which have their own colors and style.

Right now I'm working on more of an art piece book -- it's a journal that Amelia Earhart would have written if she had landed on an island in the Pacific and had survived for a bit. It fits my loves of navigation, flight, travel. And it's giving me a challenge to try to channel the imagination I had in childhood. It seems to have gotten beaten into submission by adulthood. What is it like to be in Amelia Earhart's shoes, stranded on an island? I'm still trying to reach that place. Right now I'm finishing the visuals of the pages and researching about Amelia to kick my imagination into gear for what she would have written.

I started this book on Mother's Day weekend, when I visited my mom and sister for a scrapping weekend. We had three fabulous days of scrapbook binge!!! Fun. We went to the Mega Scrap Meet in Novi, Michigan. My sister and I stalked the Stampers Anonymous booth to see Tim Holtz. His classes sold out within minutes, literally, so no chance of taking a class, but we did watch his demonstrations at the booth. And got a pic on the iPhone, of course! So now his blog shows that he discovered Tinsel Trading. Oh man, if he likes Tinsel Trading, that's even more reason I must get to NYC soon! They sell some products on the website but you know there are many more tantalizing vintage metal things in the store.

For now, I have pllllllllllllllllenty of new scrapbooking toys from the Mega Meet -- many new Stampers Anonymous stamps, pile of exotic papers, I am loving the Perfect Pearls product which I'm using to layer snippets of words and writing on papers. Vintaj Earth also has fabulous vintagey metals and looks like they're expanding into scrapbooking, with some products at Archivers stores.

But a really strange thing happened with this Amelia Earhart scrapbook. Flying and travel internationally are two of my loves. My husband has an airplane, a Piper Arrow, so I've dressed as Amelia for Halloween in the past and posed with the plane dressed as her because we happened to fly on Halloween!

So I'm researching Amelia's disappearance, as part of my background homework to figure out what to journal and write in this scrapbook. And I find this group, TIGHAR, that shows plausible evidence that Amelia in fact really may have landed on an island. In fact they just landed on the island for their ninth or tenth mission there to uncover more evidence. This time, they'd like to find DNA for indisputable truth about what happened to Amelia. Wow, what timing. This is giving me lots of material, so I'm pretending she did in fact land on Gardner Island, which it was called in 1937 when she disappeared, and the pictures and details about the island online give good inspiration.

I'm finding my natural aesthetic and interests work well for this project: metals, old looking stuff, navigation, travel ...

So, back to working on the book so there will be photos to post soon ...

Scrappy Metal for Sewing

Need unique metal notions for your sewing projects?

Check out the scrapbook supply section of bigger hobby stores and online scrapbook shops. For metal pieces, Tim Holtz is a prolific producer of ideas -- look for the idea-ology line. I found these swivel clasps and trinket pins at Michaels yesterday, and plan to incorporate them somehow into a garment or accessories with "acceptable edge." My new favorite catch phrase so I can have some edge without going steampunky. Mix these with some snaps, grommets and rivets.

I've seen fasteners like these on sewing supply websites, but here is the same idea from the scrapbooking world, hitch fasteners. I don't know how durable these are, though, for something that would go through more use and wear than a scrapbook sitting on a shelf. Still, they are cute embellishments for a bag when you want metal, but don't want to get as dangerous-looking as spikes.

You could adapt label holders like these by attaching them with rivets on leather or strong reinforced fabric. Showing through the window, attach contrast fabric or even leather pieces stamped with words or symbols. From K&Co.

























Here's another style from Making Memories:

These "word sticks" may make interesting zipper pulls:

7 gypsies hardware & embellishments are another scrapbook fave of mine.

The scrapbooking world has many supplies that could be incorporated into our sewing.

I'd start using the embellishments with handbags and belts, things that won't go through the washing machine. Obviously scrapbooks will not go through the rinse n' spin cycle, so I'd expect the supplies aren't washing machine-tested!

Watch for a handbag soon incorporating scrappy metals ...

Happy Sewing Holiday!

Review posts coming soon, when the pics come in. I had to take pics with my dad's camera because ours was stolen and we haven't replaced it yet. I'm actually not disappointed, because it took bad orange pictures in low light conditions. Any suggestions for a good low-light digital camera?

Sewn and gifted:
-- Hot Patterns Slinky Shrug, downloadable pattern -- My Review Post
-- Jalie 979 boy's/men's fleece pullover
-- Green Pepper Santiam Reversible Vest, men's
-- Simplicity 7229 Skirt

Because my mom, sister and I all are avid scrapbookers, I decorated the boxes with the vintage-style hanger above, which is a scrapbook accessory but I don't remember the manufacturer. Clipped to it were measuring tape scrapbook paper tags and button cards that coordinated with the gift colors. The boxes were also decorated with pretty scrapbook papers, and I used plain cardboard hatboxes and photograph storage boxes that my mom and sister can re-cover. And of course I used grosgrain ribbons to secure the gifts. Unfortunately I didn't get pics before everything was ripped open!

And this week is going to be a Happy Sewing Holiday, for real. I'm at the sewing machine instead of at the office all week. Yay!

Wall Jewelry

Just when you think you have an obsession beat, you go to the mailbox. I didn't find a ticket to the funny farm in there, but a stroll down Grandin Road, thus renewing a recurring obsession. A big wall in our living room needs art. There is art that I love on it right now -- long rectangular silk Lao textiles hanging from old wooden looms. We found these in Chiang Mai, Thailand years ago and so there is a story to them. As with many things in our home, looking at them reminds us of travels and people we met and places we've been. But our little b&w cat, Chaai, doesn't like the navy textile. He rips it down. I hang it up. He rips it down. It sits for awhile on the coffeetable, folded into submission. Until I figure Chaai guy has forgotten that he hates this textile. So I hang it up. He rips it down. Before the day is out. I won't win this war. It's a good textile too -- the back is almost as fine as the front, much better quality than most textiles in the Chiang Mai Night Market. And it cost accordingly. Each time Chaai pulls it, his nails and the wooden loom snag it. (and no, I will not declaw him for that)

So I may soon put the Lao textiles in a protection program, and now searching for something more indestructible. Our living room has dark chocolate brown leather, deep orange, golds and greens. Smidgens of deep red. Not like a 70s style, more like Indian-Thai-Japan-Burma-Laos-China style.

These collections from Grandin Road would work well:

I've obsessed previously over many similar pieces by Patricia:

Check out the links. Check out the prices. A year ago one of these may have been on the wall as fast as the Brown Truck could get there. But in these days and times, we must challenge ourselves.

Etsy options from thepaintedlily:

$14 -- find thrifty frames and you have the look for less. You can even put a collection together from thepaintedlily:

And what about scrapbooking papers? They're the perfect size to put a framed collection together, or decoupage them on canvas. For a buck or less each, you can't go wrong. Find square frames to get the complete look and you can always paint the frames if the color or finish isn't quite right. If you can't find square frames, scrapbook paper is infinitely croppable.

I'm eyeing these Italian Scrapbour papers, found in a New Zealand scrapbook store because they're hard to find in the U.S.:

Mix them with 7 gypsies papers, new 2009 releases:

I may likely go the scrapbook paper route, with some type of finish on them to make them look painted and slightly crackled and distressed. Like they were from a great aunt's travels -- you know, the eccentric one who never married, and no one was quite sure where she got all her money to travel so freely but she sure was charming with the men -- and then one day I found the art in a dusty box in her attic and she let me have them. And no, I don't have a great aunt like that. That's probably residual creativity spilling over from last night's bottle of sauvignon blanc.

Catwalk

Why was furball-mommy taking pictures of this box?

Plain Ol' Scrapbook Paper File Made Gift Worthy

Been busy scrapbookin'. And buyin' scrapbookin' stuff for others for Christmas, for me too of course, and buying and making things to hold scrapbookin' stuff. If the behavior of me, my mom and my sister are any indication, scrapbooking should be a recession-resistant sector of this economy. So to hold all the gorgeous papers I got for mom for Christmas, I decorated a box to be part of the gift. With scrapbooking papers of course!

Here's the BEFORE shot. Box from JoAnn's:

The AFTER glamour shot:

Feels like makeover before & afters, where the "before" is notably glum and poorly posed and lighted. However I believe we can all agree, the box as-is is not worthy of a Christmas present.

Here's the makeover process:

Knowing my mom's craft room is called the "green room" for an obvious reason, I chose contrasting green papers and mod podge'd them onto the box. I ripped papers (with the help of a guide, I'm not that neat) to go over the edges and corners. I wanted that edging paper to highlight the papers in the middle, which are the stars of the show.

The details ...

Copper hinges attached with copper brads. I had to use extra long brads to go through the cardboard. The box lid would not open properly once the hinges were attached, so I had to cut off the lid and reattach it solely with the hinges, so it would open properly.

Copper fasteners are super-glued on the front. They are nonfunctional, because both pieces are super-glued to the lid. To open the box, you just simply lift the lid up.

But my favorite is the inside treatment. As with scrapbooks, the real action goes on inside the covers, right? Take a look:

For me, scrapbooking is all about the gorgeous papers (just as sewing is about the fabric), so I chose extra special paper for the inside lid. The rest of the inside remains plain white. You can't see it when the box is full of paper.

Here's a few close-ups of the inside lid:

My mom's first initial is D, so I chose a letter I believe from Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste.

With the copper metal accents on the outside, it needed a metal tie-in on the inside. So here it is:

The copper pieces were in my sewing stash, acquired long before I started scrapbooking. I liked them and figured I'll use them for something, someday. And, here you go. They helped take a box from blah to sensational.

Multi Tasking with Scrapbook Papers & IKEA

So tonight I sit here clearing scrapbook papers that I decided I don't want from my shopping cart at The Scrappy Gourmet. Who the heck broke in and put over 60 papers in there? I did that? Naaaahhh. And for some of these, what was I thinkin'? Though some of the Pink Paislee papers, I'm lovin':

Must break up the tediousness of zooming in on, uh, about 50 papers where I question my sanity when I previously hit "Add to Cart," once I get a closer look. Do you get the positive rushy-glowy effects of binge shopping by adding to cart? That's the only way I can explain this. This is why buying online is good. You can impose a cooling off period. Don't get me wrong, The Scrappy Gourmet has some fantastic papers, and in my short 2-month addiction to scrapbooking, I've already placed several orders. But selectively clearing a shopping cart, when the obsessive side of me doesn't want to let an eye candy opportunity go without another, closer look, is truly tedious.

To break it up, I surf some blogs. And find something really intriguing, right here in the Blogs of Note feature in Blogger Dashboard: ikea hacker. This blog shows how people take IKEA stuff and dramatically modify it, or use it in innovative ways. Our home office is lined with seven beech color IKEA Billy bookshelves with solid doors on the bottom and glass doors on the top. They make nice impact in such multiples, especially with the doors. But they will always feel temporary -- now that I've been in real mahogany-lined home offices, Billy will always reek of those early adult post-college years:

But what if you surrounded Billy shelves with molding below and above so they look like floor-to-ceiling built-ins? You can upgrade the hardware too, as I already have. I may just do the molding trick someday if we want a more permanent installation. No use chucking Billy to the curb, or Salvation Army, or even Freecycle when we really should learn to make the best of some things we got.

Speaking of such, check out this bathroom re-do featured on ikea hacker using IKEA products:

Before:

After:

Amazing, huh? So if you've hacked any IKEA furniture, accessories, anything, the guy at ikea hacker asks you to send him some material to post about!

Now, I go back to scoring some cool Pink Paislee papers ...