Collage Money Holder

Well, once again it has been a while since I posted.  It's frustrating when the daily grind gets in the way of my creative time.  I have several projects lying around my studio just waiting for the finishing touches, but I just can't seem to get them done.  While I am grateful that I have a paying job, said job has been literally sucking the life out of me lately and in turn my creative spirit.

As my daughter so eloquently puts it, "Life rips the creativity right out of you and repeatedly stabs it to death".  Yes, a little dramatic, but she is a teenager after all.  :)

I did manage to complete a swap for a demo meeting and am extremely happy with the results.  I didn't feel like making a standard card this time so I created a money holder.

I adapted the size of this money holder from previous ones I have made.  We can only use current product for these swaps and since the slit punch has been retired for awhile now, I needed to find another way to keep the money in place.

This holder measures 3 1/4" x 7", and the inside slider measures 3 1/8" x 6 3/4".  I used the 1 3/4" circle punch to make the "holders" for the money on each end.

I used an Aqua pen filled with re-inker and water to make the splotches on the front of the holder.  Lay your project flat.  Make sure that your work area is protected and items that you don't want colored are not close at hand; I use an old lidded box when I do this so that I don't get ink where I don't want it.  I then took the pen in my right hand and knocked it against my left hand, moving it around the project.  For the larger dots, I let the pen drip onto the project. I also used the Spritzer tool to get a fine mist in some areas.

The flowers were colored by rubbing them over the ink pad and then misting them with water for a softer tone; I used Pool Party, Island Indigo and Midnight Muse.  The doily was folded and torn into fourths, then lightly sponged with Island Indigo.


Stamps: That's The Ticket
Paper: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Naturals White, Fan Fair DSP
Ink: Island Indigo, Midnight Muse, Pool Party
Misc.: Fabric Flower Trim, Pool Party Bakers Twine, Victoria Crochet Trim, Paper Doillies, Ticket Builder, Itty Bitty Butterfly, Scallop Edge, and 1 3/4" Circle punches, Basic Pearls, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Crop-a-dile, Aqua Pen, Color Spritzer tool, Sponges, Mini Glue Dots


ETA:  I started this post a while back, many of these items are retiring.  Today (5/31) is the last day to get items from the Spring Mini and Monday (6/3) is the last day to order retiring items from the 2012-2013 Annual Catalog.  If you are interested in purchasing any of the retiring products, click here.