Booksale

Every year the UMBC library has at least one book sale where they sell some of their really old books for dirt cheap. My roomate and I always look forward to this sale because some of the books they sell are really beautiful and are great for altered book and collage projects. Heres my book sale booty. . .

this year i only bought 3 books, my roomie went a little crazy and bought 6

i thought this one had really cool illustrations. its written in a different language too

this book has my sister's initials, I love the gold

I think 2 of the books I bought will be really good for collages and chine colle, but I have a special project in mind for the one with my sister's initials. I want to take out the pages and insert new blank pages too make it into a sketch/notebook for my sister. I plan on using some of the existing pages and text to make some interesting dividers and collages within the new pages. I found this really great website that shows you how to convert old books into sketchbooks so I'm pretty excited to get started.

A lot of places sell old books and there are tons of projects you can do with them! Some of my favorite places to snoop around for old books are antique stores and yard sales. Old books are really just too beautiful to go to waste, so don't let them get thrown away! Give them new life through your creativity:)

cuz rives bfk is the best!

Rives bfk is good for me!
(one of my most recent prints on my favorite eco-friendly paper:)

So I'm a print media major and I do a lot of screen printing. I've been screen printing for a few years now and I've found that I really like using a nice sturdy, smooth paper. Rives BFK is my favorite, but I got to wondering, is it eco-friendly? I had never really thought about it before and since I use so much of it, I decided to do a little research. If my search yielded bad results I felt I would have to find a new favorite :( . . .

Luckily for me and the environment Rives BFK as well as the slightly cheaper alternative Arches, are fairly eco-friendly! yeah!

Rives BFK and Arches paper companies proudly bear these three symbols

This symbol means that the paper mill does not use chlorine bleaching when producing their papers.
This symbol means the mill is ISO 14001 certified. I had to look it up to what that means, but basically it means that they comply to high qulaity environmental standards . This certification is supported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
This symbol means that no trees are used to create the paper, the pulp is made from 100% cotton.

Here are my research sources if you wanna check em out.
Legion Papers
Master Control

recycled or recycleable?

As I was shopping around for cardstock at JoAnne's and inspecting the labels, I found myself asking does the little recycle symbol mean the cardstock is made from recycled materials or does it merely mean it's recyclable? And if it is recycled doesn't it have to tell you what percentage of it is recylced? The labels offered me no information and I took this ambiguity as a bad sign. I always feel wary of labels if they seem a bit open ended.

I wasn't sure if I was the only one missing out on this info, or if other eco concious crafters were confused as well. So I decided to do a little research. I found a website that completely cleared everything up.



This symbol means the object has been made from recycled materials. If it has no percentage inside then the object is made from 100% recycled materials. If there is a percentage, then that is the percentage of recycled materials that was used to make the product.



This symbol means the object is recycleable.





I was happy to learn that the cardstock I purchased was indeed 100% recycled as well as recycleable. Thank you internet and thank you JoAnne's for carrying recycled products!

funky wallets

So I've been experimenting with creating wallets from the fused plastic I've been making (learn how to fuse plastic bags). I discovered that if you have clear plastic bags, you can cut out shapes from other colored bags and place them between the layers. You can create fun patterns that way! I had thought about putting other things between the layers (like sequins or dried flowers . . .), but I read on another site that the layers just won't fuse together around the objects and it won't work. I wonder if embossing powder or bits of glitter would work? I'll have to try. Anyways, here's a picture of the first wallet I've made. I'm pretty excited about it.

hehe

My boyfriend was cleaning out his room the other day when he happened upon a ginormous bag bursting at the seems with plastic bags that he couldn't "bear to throw away". Apparently he's been saving them for years, it's destiny I suppose that brought us together (me and the plastic bags;) Anyways there are bags of every color you could imagine! There is even bright pink and teal. I can't wait to start using them. I think I could make some pretty funky stuff.

Hopefully if I get the technique down just right and make some more of these wallets, I'll be posting them on etsy soon, or maybe even selling them at my next show . . . we'll see:)




a way to use those old plastic bags!

I'm pretty excited, I finally found a new way to use plastic grocery bags! Admittedly I don't have that many now because I usually bring my own bag to the grocery store, but sometimes I forget, as do my parents. Well now I know what to do with them!

I learned how to fuse plastic bags together to create a stronger and thicker material. You can sew it, cut it into shapes . . . the possibilities are endless!
So far I've been making these cute little flower pins and hair clips. I think they are pretty cute. I pinned one to the dress I was wearing today and it really looked great! I think it would also look nice pinned to a purse or beach bag.

This is how you do it
1. lay plastic bags on top of one another and try to smooth them out as flat as possible
2. stack about 3-4 plastic bags, make sure the inked side isn't going to touch the iron, just turn it over or fold it inside out, I like to put the prettiest bags on the outside:)
3. cut of the handles and the bottom of the bags so you have one even slab
4. put a piece of wax paper (waxy side down) underneath the plastic bags (if it is up the wax paper will fuse to the bags), then I use a piece of printer paper on top
5. heat the iron to a synthetic setting, but if it is not hot enough, turn it up a bit, you kind of have to experiment, my synthetic setting was way to low, but the cotton setting was way too hot, so I settled somewhere in the middle
6. now its time to iron! keep the iron moving and don't let the iron touch the bare plastic bags (they will melt onto it), move the paper around to where you are ironing. I like to start in the middle and work my way to the edges. (also you should probably do this in a pretty well ventilated area)
7. after that side seems pretty fused and stuck together, turn it over and iron the other side
8. ta dah! now you have a plastic bag slab that you can cut up, sew or do to whatever you want!

just remember practice makes perfect, start out slow, this process is pretty easy, but there are always a few kinks to work out.
(I learned the basics through esty labs.)

I'm hoping to fuse some more tomorrow and maybe experiment with making some little change purses or makeup bags. We''ll see how it goes:)

new stuff

Bottle caps everywhere! I had a ball searching through some old National Geographic magazines to get these images. I love flipping through all the incredible pictures they have packed in there! I've ordered some more chain, so hopefully it will come soon and I'll be able to put these puppies together!


So I've posted a few new things on my etsy shop. I still haven't posted quite as many things as I want, but I'm getting ready to show some of my pieces to a shop in Havre de Grace, and I'm preparing to sell some of my jewelry at a music festival in West Virginia. After divvying up everything, it doesn't leave me too much to post.

check it out!


I should be making some more stuff soon so keep an eye out:)

craftathon

So I'd say my craftathon was pretty successful. I managed to make a few more necklaces and earrings, some boxes, and even some hair barrettes. I think these are my favorite for the day:

Gotta love baltimore legend Edgar Allan Poe. I think my uncle gave me these bottle caps, I'll have to find out what kind of beer they are from. The when I turn 21 (in 16 more days) I'll be sure and buy some.

One thing I've realized though, is that I really need to get organized. I really wanna organize my beads once and for all. If you're like me, you have way more beads then anyone has a right to, and they seem to be sprinkled in whatever container was available at the time without rhyme or reason. I think I'd be a lot more efficient if I could downsize my containers and organize things so that I could actually find them. But you know, Ill probably put that off for another few weeks. I at least want it done before I go back to school. It'll make it a lot easier to bring with me.

Anyone have any great bead/craft supplies organization tips?