Altered File Folder - start to finish

Yes I know I promised this a couple of months back BUT life got in the way ... so now I have deleted that post and this is one that goes from start to finish...

1. I used old manilla file folder with tabs but you can use any of them that don't have a plastic coating ... I took my spray inks and spray box out to the garage and did it up good ... I didn't like the splats it produced and didn't leave much solid coverage so I got a gauze rag I had and started kind of spreading the ink around ... I kind of splatted it also from my re-inker bottle ... I wanted an aged look, you could also do coffee spills, rings and such ... then spray for a more antique look

OH, I have used several images of folders they are NOT of the same folder going thru all the stages ... as always click on the image to enlarge

2. Then take the dry folder to the paper cutter and cut it in half ... yes only one side will have a tab unless you happened to use the folder with the middle tab

3. Now take these to your craft sewing machine and sew around the edges so you make a pocket out of the 1/2 folders ... I chose to use zig-zag and straight stitches ... because the bottom was a fold I didn't stitch around that and I left long strings on both ends for my stitches ... then I did the edges with more ink

4. I pulled out things I thought would make me happy and started arranging them to please my eye and glued them down to the front of the folder ... I ended up making 4 of them they are so much fun to make and I used up lots of my extras from other projects ... I put a long envelope that I cut the end off of and put a notch in it to have a place for other things, down first then built on that ... 

Now go make some that you can enjoy .... oh the lady that is on all of them happens to be from a deck of cards I got several years ago from ArtChix and not sure you can get them anymore ... 

A few more Christmas Cards

Think I am thru designing and just need to settle on one to do several cards ...

This one was fun to do ... after cutting out the Tim Holtz tree trunks thinlette die I got out one of his stencils that reminded me of snow falling and did some embossing paste with it and dusted "Distressed Rock Candy" glitter and gently pressed it into the paste ... let that dry and drug my "Faded Jeans" distress ink onto my falling snow embossing folder then embossed a white cardstock for the background ... when all was dry I mounted them onto a silver cardstock card

Second Book in RR

ok I have now finished book 2 of this Round Robin ... the theme was "Face Off" but not as extreme as the TV program ...

This one is Mother Nature and her Fairy helpers - my drawn faces

This one is Beauty in Simplicity - done with Tim Holtz crayons and Inks

Cards with Tim Holtz Crayons

ok these are some of the cards I did using the crayons and the techniques I have been playing with ...

Playing with Tim

ok not in real life but with some of his techniques .... ;-) ...

This one is using a stencil, distressed inks, spritzer with water  ... rub your ink pad on the stencil, I used 4 colors one in each corner of the stencil ... then spritz with water and lay watercolor paper on the stencil to transfer the watercolor effect of the ink ... then I used gray ink pad and stamped faint background then used black ink pad to stamp butterflies on the watercolor paper and again on scrap watercolor paper ... I cut out butterflies from scrap and using a dry water brush took and colored the butterflies from the same ink pads I had used on the stencil ... 

This one I did the same ink in 4 corners and spritzed but it was with a stamp then stamped on watercolor paper ... then I stamped Wishes in gray ink and stamped the Wizard in black and stamp him again on scrap cut him out and using dry water brush colored him ... after all of that I used the silver "Wink of Stella" pen to accent the sparkles and crystal ball of the Wizard .... think I will use this one for my granddaughters birthday