More ARCs, some seasonal

Last week, or a couple of weeks ago, I finished off the last of a series of altered rolodex card swaps. I had a week of actually being completely up to date! Of course, a few days later I signed up to do a couple of ATC swaps that I just couldn't resist, so I'll be back at it again soon. :-)

shades of blue

I think the name of the swap makes this one self-explanatory. The stamps are by Wordsworth (sentiment) and Paper Angel (image of children).

words of wisdom

This is another that I don't think needs much explanation. The die cut is by Sizzix. The flower and leaf are Primas. The sentiment is by Paula Best and the flower image is by Hampton Arts.

snowflake rolodex

For this rolodex I used a wavy square Sizzix die cut and patterned paper. The acrylic snowflake is by Heidi Swapp with a snowflake button layered on top of it. The sentiment is by Penny Black and stamped using SU white craft ink.

soda can tab challenge

Again, not a tough theme to figure out, given the title. The challenge was to use a soda can tab in some way on an altered rolodex card. They've always looked like buckles to me, so I used it as the buckle on a Santa suit and threaded a strip of black cardstock through it. Black Stickles were used to make buttons. The stocking was a premade die cut. The fa la la sentiment is by Rubber Soul.

These altered rolodex cards are a lot of fun. I use a Bosskut die to make the base so that I can use all sorts of cardstock. I keep my ARCs in a rotary card file and it's neat to see all of the images, colors, and embellishments as each card flips by. It can also be a wonderful resource of ideas for those times when the muse has gone wandering.

One more altered rolodex

snowman wishes

I am just about caught up with my altered rolodex swap items. The one for which I made the above card had a snowman theme. I love this overhead view. The stamps are all by Rubber Soul. There are snowflakes in the background, stamped in Pearlescent Sky Blue Brilliance ink, and there's pearlescent chalking of the snowman as well. Both of those may be tough to appreciate in the photo, but they're there.

More altered rolodex cards

Yes, this does seem to be my latest passion. Here are a couple more altered rolodex cards that I've made for swapping. I finished them this afternoon.

pretty in pink

For this swap, the rolodex was just supposed to be pink. It will be part of a color theme as time goes on. The dress die cut is a Cut 'n' Emboss die by Ellison. The alphas are by Heidi Swapp. The tone on tone background swirls was made using Versamark ink and Purple Onion Designs stamps. I accentuated the embossing on the dress with a Stardust pen, then added some Prima flowers and a silver Stickles center.

word up

The theme for this rolodex swap was a word, any word, used in any way. I have lots of 'art' stamps, so that's what I used. These stamps are all by Ma Vinci. The folder tag is a Sizzix die cut. Everything was stamped using chalk inks. Once again I used that address card die by Boss Kut--it makes doing these altered rolodex cards very quick and easy.

Altered rolodex cards

Wow. I can't believe that it's been so long since I last posted anything here. Okay, so it was only ten days, but I'd been better about keeping up earlier. Well, I've been working on swaps items, so I guess that's a good excuse. I've finished a number of rolodex swaps, so I'll go ahead and post those now.

70s theme

The 70s themed rolodex was made using stamps by Paper Candy. I colored the images with Glaze pens to make them pop a bit more, then I added the funky embellishments.

It's fall!

This altered rolodex was made using patterned paper, Prima leaves, and some of those small paired $1 stamps from Michael's. The ribbon was from Target's dollar spot. Yep, big spender here. ;-)

Anything goes

For this swap, there were no rules, just alter the rolodex. I used patterned paper and a postage stamp die cut to dress this one up.

All that Glitters

A glittery rolodex card was the theme for this swap. Fairies have always been glittery to me, and I accentuated that with some of Gelly Rolls' lightning gel pens, a Stardust pen for the doodles in the background, and then some rhinestones. The fairy is an Ellison thin cut die and I used it on Bazzill metallic paper.

Oriental Lady

This last rolodex was made with an oriental theme in mind. I used textured paper and all of the stamps were by Inka Stamps.

One last note--I didn't spend much time cutting these out. I used to trace and cut out each one, but recently I found out that BossKut makes an address card die. That's what I used to make all of those rolodex cards up above. It worked great in my Sidekick, though I did have to play with shimming it to get it to cut just right. I've seen that Ellison Design has come out with one for the Big Shot, too. I think that's a thick cut die. This one by Boss Kut is VERY thin, but it cuts surprisingly well. I was impressed and very happy with it. Oh, and I should have taken a pic of the back of my rolodex cards. Catslife Press makes a stamp for the back of altered rolodex cards now, just like the ones that you see for ATCs. Makes it even more fun to play with these.

Back in the groove

Well, I'm another year older as of a couple of days ago, and today was a day of getting the girls ready to go back to school in a couple of weeks. I'm happy to say that I managed to get to some swaps, even with all of this going on.

After my adventures with scribbling, I was a little apprehensive about the doodling rolodex swap that I'd signed up for. I'm happy to say that the doodling went much more smoothly. I'd never really doodled on any of my ATCs or cards before. This was new to me. I pulled out my calligraphy pens though and decided to doodle some swirls on the front of my rolodex card. This is how it turned out.

doodling rolodex

The next swap that I tackled was a no layer ATC swap. I've participated in one of these before. It was a lot of fun. I did faux layers on that one. For this one I used torn masking tape over the sentiment and stippled some Fresco ink for the background. I stamped the shoe images on top. Simple design, but I think less is more.

no layer shoes

This last ATC is part of a set that I did, just playing with some dollar stamps from Michael's in anticipation of a swap using some of these dollar stamps. This one was very simple, but I liked it.

thinking of you dollar stamp

Wouldn't you know it? I start getting caught up with swapping and I find myself signing up for more! But as long as this stays fun, I'll keep on doing it.

On a Roll....

Ah, it's August and it feels every bit like summer here in St Louis, hot and humid! The great news is that my craft area is in the basement where it's cool and dry. I love it! I also love that I've been able to work on some of my swaps these last couple of days.

The first one that I worked on was an ATC swap with a sunflower theme. That was right up my alley. I have lots of sunflower stamps. They're probably second in number only to my dragonfly stamps. I used a Posh sunflower stamp and my Marvy markers for this one--direct to rubber, spritzed with water and stamped. The sentiment was stamped on vellum, and I have to say that I like these Glue Dots vellum adhesive sheets. The glue dots are so tiny that you really can't see them! I'm impressed. I also fell back on an old technique. I'd distressed the edges, but the card still looked too plain in the upper left corner. I couldn't think of what to put there, when it occurred to me to add to the distressed look . I pulled out one of my splatter stamps and stamped in the upper and lower corners. It felt more complete to me after that.

Sunflower Day

The second ATC that I did was for a floral/garden swap, which had to include a quote. I love gardening, so coming up with a quote wasn't too hard. Finding one that would fit nicely on an ATC was a little trickier, but it worked out fine. The sentiment was from Designs Ink'd and the thistle from Just For Fun.

Earth Laughs

Altered rolodex cards are new to me. I'd only done one before, so when the opportunity to do more of them came up, I signed up. The theme for this was rainy day quotes. The dancers were done with a Judikins stamp in Versamark. The umbrella is Designs Ink'd in Versafine inks. The sentiment is by Time to Stamp. This was also my first try at faux stitching. I used a paper piercer and my black/gray Souffle pen to try to give it a more 3D effect.

Rainy Day

I have a bit more to say about how I assembled my rolodex, but I'll save that for the next installment.