SEWN: New class from Mary Ann Moss of Dispatch from LA

SEWN: Paint + Pattern + Paper, a new online class from Mary Ann Moss

So excited about taking a new online class!  The talented and creative Mary Ann Moss, of the wonderful Dispatch from LA blog, instructor from several of my other favorite online classes --  Remains of the Day, Full Tilt Boogie, and Ticket to Venice -- and just all-round cool person, is offering a new class called SEWN starting July 4. It's gonna be great fun. (I know this because ALL of Mary Ann's classes are fun!)  To read more about SEWN, click here or on the button on my sidebar.

Scrappy ephemera houses

Houses made from blank coasters, paper scraps and ephemera

Some ephemera has sentimental value, and we want to keep that in a safe, dry, preferably acid-free environment.  

Other ephemera is plentiful or replaceable, and we enjoy using that in art projects.  The coaster house projects above are fun to make, and the little houses are perfect ways to use small ephemera items.  We decorated our houses with vintage tickets, coat check claims, old playing cards, stamps, airmail envelope stripes and lots and lots of scrapbook paper scraps!  

I'm sure you can think of other ephemera that you could use in a project like this.  Other ideas:  old S&H Green Stamps, maps, vintage magazine pages; the list is endless!  

My company, Bonnie's Best Art Tools, is exhibiting at the Lawrenceville (Georgia) Rubber Stamp and Paper Arts Festival, sponsored by Heirloom Productions, on February 4th and 5th. We'll have a large booth for demonstrating and selling our art products plus a smaller booth specifically for hosting a Make & Take project.  Show attendees are invited to our Make & Take booth to make some of these scrappy little houses -- FREE!

If you will be in the Atlanta area the first weekend of February, we'd love to see you at the show.  You can visit our Facebook page to see show details. 

Happy creating!

Bonnie

Using paper scraps

Sometimes I find it hard to throw things away... that's one reason I have so much ephemera to share!  But bits and pieces of scrapbook paper and ephemera can really pile up if you save them all, so I love projects that allow me to use those bits and pieces.  Here are a few ideas for you if you, too, are a scrap saver.

Birthday card made with leftover strips of scrapbook paper

I have a Genesis Paper Trimmer, which makes perfect straight cuts, so I end up with many long straight strips of paper after making greeting cards and other projects. These thin, perfectly even strips are perfect for birthday candles, so this was a quick, simple card to make with my scraps.

Old notebook covered with paper tape and decorative scraps

Before: Beat-up notebooks before "renovations"

I bought these dog-eared Neatbooks at a flea market for a quarter each.  The covers were bent and frayed, but the inside pages were in like-new condition, which made these books perfect candidates for new covers!  I use these in my purse and in my car for jotting down notes, ideas and "to do" lists.

Watch for more ideas for using scraps in a future post.