Blog Launch Giveaway and Design Team Call

Blog Launch Giveaway and Design Team Call

Mini Album Makers Challenge is pleased to announce the launch of this new challenge blog that focuses on handmade mini albums, scrapbooks, journals and book arts.  If you've longed for a place to share and learn more about creating such books, please take a moment to become a follower!  Our monthly challenge theme is any handmade book goes.

Follower's Giveaway!
To encourage growth in this new venture, I'm offering a giveaway of a $25 gift card to the Funkie Junkie Boutique to one lucky follower.  All you need to do to enter is become a follower.  I would love for you to add our blog badge below to your sidebar to help us grow.  Please link it to our homepage.  If you do so, please leave a comment and you will receive an extra entry in the draw.  If you copy and paste this post and repost it on your blog you can receive a third entry.  Just say so in the comments below and give a link to your post.  The winner will be announced on September 1st in our inaugural challenge post.

Design Team Call!
I’m looking for a team of five or so creative individuals who will share design team duties to include:

1. As a part of the monthly challenge inspiration, one project photo per month with link to your own personal blog post containing a tutorial or tips and tricks for assembling one of the abovementioned book forms.
2. Rotating with other DT members to post one complete tutorial on challenge blog per month.  (If five team members, then one complete project every five months.)
3. Encourage, comment and support challenge entries.

Please email Autumn at teamclark@rocketmail.com with questions or applications.  Include your blog and social media links with a permalink to your favorite handmade book(s).  Please note this is a teaching blog and all projects, even if they are CASEd from another designer, must be tutorial based (photos or videos).  Applications will be taken through August 25.  Selected applicants will be notified by August 28.  Challenges begin September 1 with DT announcement (including a photo of your application book and backlink to that post – no new project necessary for September).  Thanks and best of luck!

Please share with your friends and get projects ready for our first challenge September 1!

Effy Wild ❤️❤️❤️ is offering a giveaway to win one of 3 spots in her her new mixed media ecourse class titled Mixed Tape ll.  The class incorporates music as a creative portal.  

**Effy Wild Mixed Tape ll ecourse giveaway**

Altered Paperclips

Creativity comes for me in a whirlwind. Sharp yummy gales of creativity. I ride the crest of creative waves like a seasoned surfer who isn't afraid to fall down and ... get up again. I make no apologies for my work, enjoying the process and not worrying about the end product.

My creative process is not linear. Instead it heads off in a direction, merges and adapts as I process ideas and techniques. For me this melds into a creative energy that speaks to my core. Night before last I watched a video tutorial on making altered paper clips. I thought altered paper clips would be a great addition to the two junk journals I am creating for a swap. While I am not sure you can exactly screw up a paper clip, I have identified a learning curve that I will both embrace and enjoy.

Here are my first three altered paper clips....enjoy!  And please don't hesitate to share your tips, tricks, and ideas!  The more the merrier and creative right?

Hunky Junky Journals

I have been gelli printing recycled paper like a mad woman for my journal signatures sewn on the treadle sewing machine. This in turn creates brayers full of delicious paint that can't be wasted. So I roll them off into my hunky delicious junky composition book journal. This has been a really quick way to get color on pages (no planning). 

One journal essentially feeds and creates layers in another. I have also been gleaning up the last vestiges of paint from the gelli plate on deli papers. This ends up creating delicious layers of thin paper and paint that can be gelled into my jiffy mailer journal. So I have three (or so) journals going at one time. It took a bit of time to get this cycle going, felt awkward at first, but now it's flowing and feeding my art lust!!!  It sounds like a lot but I can work on it in small steps and as time permits. So I don't have to commit large blocks of time to the process. This also lets me recycle! Recycle! Recycle! Anything coming off my art table...which I love.

I disliked my handwriting, so writing with taller, more elongated, slightly slanted, curly tailed letters has resulted in handwriting, while not perfect, makes me happy and I can now write in my journals.

The journal page below is one that I am digging from my hunky junky composition journal. The background was created from paint cleaned off several stencils with a baby wipe, a leftover die cut flower from an ATC swap, a silhouette from a magazine ad and part of a verse that I love and scribbled onto the page. 

So what's going on in your junk journals? Love to hear. Comments? Ideas? Requests?

Here's wishing you fun, color, and light in your day. 

Happy art my friends ❤️
Dawn