Button Moon

Backtracking - 22nd June 2008

I've been to button moon, I've followed Mr Spoon, button moon! (Hope some of you out there reading this remember that TV programme?!) Yup, you got it, buttons!

The challenge on ATC Addicts is "Button It" - I already had the faux washi backgrounds at hand and an idea in my head to use buttons to create frames... so all I had left to do was to find suitable images and buttons and get crafting! I wanted a variety of buttons on each card, so I could show all kinds of buttons you can not only buy but create yourself! My ATCs include ones such as:

• miniature buttons
• cats' eye buttons
• shaped buttons
• decorative buttons (ones with blue stars courtesy of Mumsy)
• plain buttons I have colourised with alcohol inks
• homemade buttons created using punched out shapes of shrink plastic
• recycled buttons (from old clothes etc.)
• buttons rec'd in an RAK from Twiggy (cheers big ears!)

The images are from one of the Crafty Individuals image books (think the one I used is called People and Places) and I matted them onto angel hair to soften the look slightly. I attached the buttons with wire (that took forever!) but I had all night... I needed words to finish off the ATCs, so searched through my stash and found these vellum words... and on a couple of the ATCs I added a lickle flower to make the images stand out more, then I was done! :D

I kept this one for me :)

Doing The Oriental

Backtracking - 16th-17th June

OK, I admit it, I am not a huge fan of Oriental, it has never appealed to me, but after doing a jiggy swap earlier this year, when I had two (*two* !!!) pieces to alter in the Oriental style, I found myself being drawn more towards Eastern images and colours and artefacts, so when a swap came up on UKATC for Oriental ATCs, I jumped right in!

First came backgrounds... and I spied with my little eye some bag ties that I have been hoarding for a while, and wondered... what would happen if I cut them down slightly, glued them onto an ATC and then stuck some faux washi paper over them? This is what happens!

Rather jolly like that effect, and with the direct to paper inking on the backing card, and on some chinese script paper that I glued at the very bottom, I was chuffed with the result. Oh, where did the spots come in?! Well, the paper was in my scraps box and the colours seemed to just match, so I went with it... bit unconventional for Oriental I must admit.

Had downloaded from http://www.digitalcollagesheets.com/ a bottle cap image sheet, so printed off a few to use the Oriental lady image, which I glued into a squished bottle cap (thank you Merlin - that is what I call my Wizard die-cutting machine by the way!)

Finishing touches? Wire and beads, a word, some german scrap and voila - I did the Oriental (and it wasn't painful at all!)