By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”.

All right, there’s no point in beating around the bush here: I LOVE this book.

I ordered it because the subtitle mentioned ATCs (Artist Trading Cards), an art form I have just begun to explore, and because the main title said Embellishing with Anything. I am all Over that! And it didn’t hurt anything at all that the cover art was beautiful and interesting. (The author is Gladys Love, and the book is published by C&T Publishing.)

When the book arrived, I fairly flew through the pages, exclaiming at the pictures and promising myself, “I’m going to try that!”

Here’s a look at the blurb on the back:

A look at the table of contents gives you the next hint at what lies between the covers:

• 7 pages explaining 9 techniques
• 7 pages of “Ephemera from Everywhere”, including sushi wrap, bark, clothing labels, and even a dragonfly skeleton
• 6pages on fabric beads
• 54 pages of instructions on creating 17 projects
• 5 gallery pages showing other artists’ works

Here are pictures of a few things in the book:

Felted Beads

Gingko Wall Hanging

Ladybug ATC

 This is one of those books I know I will go back to again and again and again, and I know I will find something I’d missed previously or had forgotten about, something new to try, something that will inspire me all over again.

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”.

Design Originals Bottle Art Book

Design Originals Bottle Art Book – There’s an expression I use from time to time, “A good idea poorly executed.” I’m going to be honest here, and say that as I turned the pages of this book, I found it running through my head fairly often. Tastes differ, of course, but a lot of the projects shown just looked, well, not too great to me.

Having said that, I’ll also say I like this book. A lot.

Why? First, because some the projects really are pretty. And second, because it takes one simple medium–bottles–and turns it into…uh…wait a minute…counting here…at least eighteen different types of art. You can use the instructions in this book to make:

Wind Chimes

Earrings

A Variety of Jewelry Even black boards

There are also instructions for making photo holders, light catchers, terrariums, candle holders, goblets and tumblers, vases, bells, and decorated bottles.

Even better, when the author instructs you to use a technique, she doesn’t assume you know how. She has instructions for soldering a frame around a piece of glass, for cutting bottles into slices, for firing in a kiln (and for the first time, I want one!), working with polymer clay, and more.

In short, I think this book is well worth the purchase price, and that just about anyone is going to find it a very useful addition to his/her crafting library. Hope you will, too!

Showing some how-to instructions

Collage, in both “hard copy” and digital forms is very popular right now, and I’m a fan of both. It’s relaxing, almost zen-like to sit with my materials, arranging, re-arranging, and layering them. Digitally, I love the fact that you can create what are basically transparent layers, which is mostly not an option with “real” images and materials.

Except that it is, at least with printed items. You can make decals, and it’s really quite easy to do it. I’m familiar with two products you can use, Liquitex Gloss Medium, and Omni-Gel. The process is the same with both products.

You’ll need:

Omni-Gel OR Liquitex Gloss Medium
Soft paint brush
Printed images—almost any will work, except for inkjet or photographs
A dish that is larger than your print(s)
Water

So first decide what images you want to use. Cut them out, leaving a generous edge around any that you want to completely cover the collage surface. Protect your work surface with plastic wrap, which will let you peel the finished decals/transfers off when they’ve dried, and lay the images print side up on it. Paint each image with a coat of the medium, allowing the medium to extend beyond the paper just a bit, and let dry. I usually just squeeze a drop or two of medium on the image and spread it around.

When the medium is dry, spread on another layer. If you’ve painted with up-and-down strokes on the first layer, make the second layer’s strokes go side-to-side. Let that layer dry, and paint on a third layer, again with brush strokes that go in a different direction than the layer before.

Three layers of medium is generally enough; I sometimes do four, but it probably isn’t necessary.  You’ll now have what looks and feels like a picture coated with a plastic sheet.

When the last layer is thoroughly dry, peel your images off the plastic and soak them in the dish of water. (If an image resists being peeled off, you can cut right at the edge of the paper, and slip your finger between the picture and the plastic.) Don’t worry if the transfer medium turns a little milky while soaking.

Soak the pictures until the paper is good and wet, but not more than twenty minutes, then take each one out of the water and lay it face-down on a clean, smooth surface—a plate works well.

Rub the paper with your fingers, and it will roll up and come away from the transfer.

Rub until ALL the paper is gone. You’ll know you’re finished when you don’t feel any fuzziness at all, and the transfer is completely transparent.

You now have a decal!

To use it, just paint the back with more of the transfer medium, and apply it wherever you like on your project. Make sure your fingers are absolutely clean—any little bit of anything will imbed itself and show later!

One of the things I love about the finished decal is that it’s stretchy. You can cover uneven surfaces, or pull the image around the edges of a plaque, and smooth it out completely, as you can see from the little project below:

To make it, I used three images I’d turned into decals—the background trees (scrapbooking paper), the blue bird (cut from a magazine), and the bit of music (from an old music book). As you can see, the plaque I used had a crenellated edge, and a raised circle about 1/2″. The transfer stretched over every irregularity and clung there. On the back, I just squished the gathered edge down and used a bit more medium to glue them in place.

You can also use the transfer medium to create pendants. The first image in this post doesn’t give you scale, but each piece is a half-globe in shape, with a transfer stretched over it. The half-globes were molded in measuring spoons—1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, and 1 teaspoon—so they’re quite a nice size to glue on a bail and put on a necklace or bracelet.