365 Daily Creativity Journal: Weeks 14 & 15

Let's see, what things have I made from my creativity journal lately...Not much!  I think I only have one thing that I made that actually went with a prompt.

Day 106: Make Something With a Thrift Store Find.  I made my postcard binder.  I was planning on making this anyway, but hey it fits!

Postcard Binder Tutorial

I'm very excited to show off my new blog design!  Do you like it?  If you normally read in a reader, you probably won't even notice, but stop by and check it out if you get a chance.  I worked really hard to figure it out and may still have some bugs in it, but it's pretty good so far!  Alright, now on to crafts!

As promised, here is my tutorial for creating your very own postcard storage binder.  That way, when you get a stack of 20+ postcards received in swaps, you have somewhere to keep them :)

To start, find a photo album at a thrift store.  I found this lovely number for $1.  Make sure it is a ring binder type.

Now find some paper or fabric that you would like to cover it with and Mod Podge it to the outside cover.  I chose blue floral fabric.  Do the entire outside and then fold it around the edges towards the inside.

To create the effect on the inside, I Mod Podged some tissue paper onto the inside cover.  I did a very sloppy job of it, leaving lots of little wrinkles.  This will help with the next step.

Squeeze out some clear varnish and add a little acrylic paint.  Start spreading this over the inside cover in small sections, wiping it off as you go.  Try to vary the amounts of paint vs varnish.  This will create the unique textured look.

Finish the whole thing with another coat of Mod Podge.  While it dries, move onto your next step of creating the front cover decoration.  I used some mail-themed rub-ons and used them to decorate a small piece of wood.  I then used hot glue to attach it to the front.

Now the binder is done!  You can start adding in your postcards.  I chose to stagger mine a bit, putting some in the top two rings and others in the bottom two rings.

I then decided to add dividers so I could tell my different swaps apart.  I used card stock and cut out dividers.  I then wrote the names of the swaps on the tabs.

That's it!  Cute, huh?  I'm really glad I did this.  Whenever I first get a postcard, I like to put it up somewhere for awhile.  But it was starting to get a bit overwhelming.  Now I have a binder full of art!

Postcard Swap Update: Post Cards Received

Awhile ago, I shared the postcards that I created for iHanna's postcard swap.  Today I will be sharing the postcards that I received!  I included links to the creators whenever I could but if I missed you, please let me know so I can acknowledge you.

From Eurika

From Frankie

From Derika

From Brian

From Aisling

From Emalin

From Kathryn

From Cara

From Liz

Tomorrow, I will be back with a tutorial for creating a great postcard storage binder.  See you then!

Postcard Swap: My Creations

If you've been reading my blog for awhile now (thank you!), then you might remember the post-card swap I participated in last year.  I had so much fun, that I had to participate again this year!  First, a big shout out to iHanna for organizing this event.  Second, here are the postcards I created!  It's a mix of random illustrations and collages.  I really enjoyed playing with my paper crafting materials; I will have to do that more often!

My postcards are slowly trickling in and I will show them here once I get them all.  Want to see even more postcards?  Check out all the postcards in the flickr group!

New Postcards

I needed some more bird images to create shrinky-dink tags so I decided to make a few more postcards.  I don't have anyone to send them to yet, but I'm sure I can find a friend.  Here they are!

Postcard Swap Wrap-Up

First of all, what do you think of the new design?  I wanted something more custom-designed.  You may continue to see more changes as time goes on.  I stayed up late last night and changed my blog, etsy header, and twitter background.  Whew!  Second, this is a very picture-heavy post.  You may want to take a moment and get comfortable.  Maybe pour yourself a cup of coffee.  Alright, are you ready?  Let's go.

I have now received 10 postcards in the mail, which are all happily sitting on my mantle.  I should be receiving 11 postcards in total; 10 from the iHanna swap and one from the Iron Craft swap. Only one more to go!  I've tried to link up to everyone who sent the card, so let me know if I missed you.  I want to give proper acknowledgment.

Overview of the mantle, complete with some lovely daffodils.

Another mantle shot, complete with my birthday balloons which are still hangin on.

Here is a great sewn postcard with a quote from Barbara Kingsolver, one of my favorite authors.  Thanks Sarah!

Inspirational quote from Kylene.  Great message.

Cool hand postcard from Lis.  The design certainly brings me joy.

A beautifully illustrated card from Laila

Fun photo card all the way from Canada.  I don't have a link for this one, but aren't you curious about what the woman is thinking?  What a saucy lady.

Cute turtle postcard.  Turtles are one of my favorite animals.  No link for this one, but thanks Chris!

This fun stitched card came from Rebecca as part of the Iron Craft Challenge.  Thanks!

This one just came yesterday.  Whew!  Made it just in time.  This one came from Barbara in Italy!

This fun bright snowflake came all the way from Sweden!  Thanks Eva.

In case you missed it the first time, here's my first postcard I received.  Great collage from Ninette

Iron Craft Challenge #14- More Postcards!

Well, I certainly put in my training for this week's Iron Craft Challenge.  What was the challenge you ask?  To create a postcard to send in a postcard swap!  Hmm...that really takes me back a few weeks to the iHanna swap.

I had fun creating another bird postcard.  So much fun that I actually made TWO more!  Check them out:

Another Exciting Mail Day

I got my first postcard from the iHanna swap!  It traveled to me all the way from Finland.  Check it out:

Read the artists blog here

In addition, I received some jewelry findings that I ordered from Troxies on etsy.  I got some ring bases as well as some fun little flowers.  I'm not sure what I will do with the flowers yet (rings?) but they were too cute to resist.

iHanna Postcard Swap

Each day, I read LOTS of blog posts and during this process, I found a great blog called iHanna.  She talks about lots of great crafty things and recently organized a handmade postcard swap (look at some of the postcards here).  It sounded like fun so I thought I would give it a try.  I was randomly assigned 10 people to mail postcards to.  Let me show you what I've been working on!

I decided to try something new for these, so I did ink illustrations and painted them with watercolor.  I stuck with my signature birdies:

I'm a little nervous about mailing watercolors, but I sprayed all of the postcards with sealer, so hopefully that will keep them safe.  I'm flying blind here, so we'll see what happens.

Here are some finished pictures of all of the birds.  I tried going for a less realistic image and more stylized.   I'm happy with most of them, although my dark-eyed junco looks a bit like a penguin.