Gallery

Riding the exercise bike to retreat!

Monday, April 25, 2011

GM5 Elements in a Niche

I am both tickled and honored to be a guest designer, along with Helen for this week's Grungy Monday Challenge. And the odd thing was, when Linda asked me to do this particular technique, I had already been planning on trying this for a unique way to display an atc swap. I guess we were on the same wave length. It all started when my friend Diana linked me up with this cute little book you can make from one sheet of 12x12 double sided paper. I thought, what a great way to hold all the atc's from a particular swap......and then I thought, how about putting 2 together and getting it to fan out and then mount on something so you could display it on the wall. I immediately thought of foam core and a niche and then I got Linda's email and I was off and running or crafting as the case may be. The 2 books I made are with some very old (10 years old, I think) text weight scrapbook paper and then glued (my first choice when gluing paper is Best Test Paper Cement--when they say it won't curl or shrink they mean it!) together in the middle. And, of course, I didn't measure that paper first and wouldn't you know one side was only 11.75 inches long so I ended up with 3 pages that were a little short on the outside edge. These are the edges I punched holes in and laced some fuzzy fibers through. After I got my niche made as per Tim's instructions, I covered all with Ideology paper and glued my book in. Now, it was time for the bling.
I edged the whole frame with some denim edging from Trims & Trinkets, not even glued, just pinned in with white headed straight pins directly into the foam core. The butterfly is from K&Company and the sparkly butterfly trail is pieced together from Recollections bling.
And finally, I used the letters from Club Scrap's Refresh collection to spell the word breathe in between the alphabet beads that spell out Elements (the title of the atc swap). These were all strung on a very thin bamboo stick taken from a placemat. All of the atcs loaded into the little book have an Elemental theme--Fire, Water, Air or Earth.
I hope you all are enjoying the Grungy Monday Challenges and don't forget to visit Helen my co-guest designer and the folks at All Things Tim. As always, I love it when you share your thoughts with me here.

17 comments:

  1. Rachelle, this is so gorgeous! Love the colors and dimension you achieved and congrats on being picked as one of the guest designers for Grungy Monday! Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hallo, fellow guest designer! I have to say I just LOVE your choice for the technique - it looks incredible.

    ReplyDelete
  3. what a great way to display atc art! this project is awesome!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Absolutely amazing. I love what you have done. The colors and elements are perfect for your ATC'S. ..Donna

    ReplyDelete
  5. this is just fantastic, a great way to showcase the ATCs. All the details are just great. How cool to be chosen to be a guest designer, and well deserved.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great design and love the colors. Fantastic idea to display your ATCs.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm thinking you ROCKED this challenge. Really pretty piece Rachelle.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is so beautiful. Fabulous interpretation of this weeks theme.
    Sue :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. love all the texture and details on your project, colours are beautiful
    hugs

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is wonderful. What a unique take on this challenge. Love your colors too.

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a wonderful creation - love it!

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a great idea. Beautiful piece.

    Marilyn

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh wow its totally stunning Rachelle. Congratulations on being GD you have done brilliantly. Annette x

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow! I thought this looked gorgeous on Linda's bloggie but it looks even better now I have had a closer look at it on your blog. I may have to make some ATCs now!! LOL!!
    Thanks for your kind comments on mine. I do have a little penchant for Flutterbys!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a great design piece. I love all the fabric and texture in your design. Great way to display the ATC!

    ReplyDelete
  16. You did an ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS job as guest designer!! CONGRATS! Love your Niche Book!!!

    ReplyDelete