envelopes ... envelopes!

Hi,

Two days ago I did another mini clean up in my craft room. It was all about envelopes and up-cycling. I kept a big box full of old envelopes (pretty ones AND the ugly ones too). I just don't have the heart to discard them, you see. Until two days ago, I threw a few that had 'no artsy potential' and used some on my new project. How about art journal pages with lots of old envelopes on them??. F.U.N.

See if you could spot those envelopes here;

Love the peek-a-boo pocket from one of them. I wrote 'POSTAGE' on a piece of paper, inserted in before adhering the envelope to the page. I squeezed 7 old envelopes in there!. Simply glued them to the page with gel medium and covered generously with gesso. While the gesso was drying, I freely imprinted the pages with a stamp (with no ink). This would give beautiful texture on the pages when smudged with thin aqua paint later :).

I finger-painted over the envelopes some aqua acrylic, applied thicker paint around the envelopes. Spritzed on the wet aqua paint with water at random so I could clearly stamp some flowers with leftover aqua paint. When dried, inked the edges with brown Stazon. That fern-like design is actually stamped imprint, washed with acrylic paint. I doodled and collaged on the envelopes as I would to my else, flat journal pages. Wrote quotes from Jane Austen's  book, Pride and Prejudice with a black pigment pen. I am such a fan!.

More envelopes. And postage stamps too, of course!. I chose stamps depicted a lady (Juliette), a man (but he's too old to be Romeo), an owl (the messenger) and some green landscape. I cheekily named my pages today "Letter for Juliette, just for fun.

See, you could up-cycle envelopes even on journal pages :).

Here's a chance for you to play along with LESSology Challenge #17:Fun With Envelope. Come join in the fun and you may be a winner of a $25 gift certificate to Gauche Alchemy!. 

And, I'm linking my pages to Art Journal Everyday this week :).

Have a good week end.

Hugs.

LESSology Challenge #17 : Fun With Envelope

Hi there, Happy Thursday. 
I like to share an upcycle project that I made for LESSology Challenge #17: Fun With Envelope. I have earlier playing with a few 'potential' envelope projects but this one has got to be my favorite!. It's trendy enough NOT to be called an organizer. LOL. Well, it is a bit of a sorter, where I could keep receipts, postcards, some loose photos or even business cards in the build-in accordion folders, made out of envelopes.

Front view. Love the 'boho' look of the black-on-black pattern here.

It's a hoot creating this purse. I've got to play with a scallop punch, stamping the foam covers with black gesso, hand-stitched all four corners with black thread, a bit of making beads tassels and using a crochet doily!. Bliss.

Humble materials used in the project. [I changed my mind. Didn't use the evil eye in the end, it's for another project :)]

I created an accordion sorter inside the purse. You could hide the envelopes from showing on the sides with scrap fabrics or strips of pattern paper. I like mine bare, just like so. I scallop-punched pattern papers for easy labeling. You could also use decorative paper clips, wooden pegs or small tags as labels. Love the texture from stamping with black gesso on the foam covers. (Donna Downey said it best, "when in doubt, gesso!". LOL. So cute). I guessed, you could also use Stazon for stamping . And lastly, added beads tassels for additional interest. I used jewelry making tools to assemble the beads & the findings. 

I hope you'll be full to the brim with ideas and ready to play with us @ LESSology!. Have fun upcycling!

Hugs,

Shahrul